Billion Dollar Backstory

Your company's LinkedIn page is not the main character.

It matters. It has a job.
But if your LinkedIn strategy is built around the logo doing all the talking, Stacy Havener has thoughts.
In this Story Snack, Stacy breaks down the biggest LinkedIn mistake she sees asset managers make: treating the platform like something it was never built to be.

And there's a stat behind it that might make you rethink who's actually posting on your firm's behalf.
So yes, "our employees share the company posts" technically creates activity. Whether it creates trust is a different question.

Listen in to hear:
What LinkedIn actually is, and why most firms are using it backwards
The stat that should make you rethink who gets the microphone
Why employee advocacy falls flat when it turns into copy-paste content
What LinkedIn is cracking down on right now, and why it matters
How to show up more human without abandoning professionalism

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

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Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

"Ditch the pitch" is easy to say.

But it's hard to do when you're staring at a calendar invite and realizing you've been leading with the deck for years. 

And you start thinking, “Okay, if I'm not presenting, what am I actually doing in there? Am I just… winging it?”

Nope. In this Story Snack, Stacy’s breaking down what your meetings will actually look like once you put the deck aside and why ditching the pitch is probably a lot easier to pull off than you think. 

Listen in to learn:
How the typical pitch backfires in meetings
Why the allocator should always be the hero of the meeting
The meeting structure that works from a behavioral science standpoint 
How that structure actually removes the pressure to perform 

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

Every fund manager wants the story that gets allocators to lean in and say yes every single time they tell it. 

So, this is often a hard pill to swallow…A story that actually works doesn't always get you a yes. 

A powerful story either gets you a heck yes or a heck no, but never a maybe. 

And even though hearing heck no is uncomfortable, getting closure in sales is everything (so you don’t waste your time on allocators who’ll never be the right fit). 

That’s why in this Story Snack, Stacy’s sharing the one kind of story that gets allocators off the fence without fail. 

She’s also breaking down how to own the sharp edges in that story that’ll help allocators finally decide: this is for me. Or it isn't.

Listen in to learn:
Why "maybe" is the outcome you should be trying to avoid
How to connect who you are, why you invest the way you do, and who your strategy is built for
Why your differentiators need to attract and repel
A question that’ll help you find your sharp edges fast

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

The capital-raising memo says: pitch harder, send the long intro email, and voilà, meetings.
Stacy Havener never got that memo.
She came into this industry as an English lit major who wanted to be a college professor. Finance was a means to an end, not the whole plan. She had no idea there was a "right" way to do capital raising.
So she just led with what she knew best, which was storytelling and creating human connection. 
It wasn't until someone tapped her on the shoulder and said, "What are you doing? Because you keep raising money," that she realized what she was doing was different.

Different, and working.

She took her high school soccer coach's fund from $1M to $500M in two years. Then joined a firm at $17M and helped grow it to $5B in three.
In this Story Snack, she's breaking down exactly how and why the answer is never more volume, more cold emails, or more at-bats.
Listen in to learn: 
Why "get more meetings" is the wrong goal if the meetings you’re getting aren't converting
How to use small, genuine "gives" to build trust before you ever ask for a meeting
Why give, give, give, ask beats pitch, pitch, pitch every time
This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus

When an allocator says "We only work with established managers," it can feel like a door closing in your face. 
And the natural instinct is to pry it back open by explaining yourself, defending your track record, and making a case for your fund. 

Stacy Havener's advice: don't go there.
Because handling objections to close deals is a thing. It's just not the right thing in this moment.
That’s why, in this episode, Stacy’s breaking down what to do instead when you keep hitting the same wall in meetings.

Listen in to learn:
Why "too small" or "too new" is usually a timing mismatch, not a hard no 
The three words that change the whole vibe: "Tell me more." 
The questions that uncover real requirements around AUM, allocation size, and track record 
How to capture their language so your follow-up actually lands when the timing is right

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

---
Running a fund is hard enough.
Ops shouldn’t be.
Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus