Instead of sitting across from an allocator, this week we flip the table—and sit in the seat of an emerging manager building a firm from the ground up.
In this conversation with Brandon Ladoff, Founder & Portfolio Manager of Denmark Capital, we explore what it actually looks like to launch a boutique investment firm in today’s market—where every decision mirrors the exact questions allocators ask behind closed doors.

From fundraising realities to portfolio construction, from volatility to conviction, this episode is a case study in what emerging managers must get right to survive—and win.

What we cover:
• The leap from established firm to founder: “burning the boats”
• How emerging managers think about alignment, patience, and capital base
• The tension between unconstrained investing and allocators’ expectations
• The reality of fundraising when your strategy embraces volatility

Why this episode is different:
Most conversations focus on how allocators evaluate managers.

This one shows you the other side:
👉 What it feels like to be the emerging manager
👉 The trade-offs you don’t see in pitch decks
👉 The conviction required when there’s no institutional safety net

As discussed in the episode, launching a firm is less about theory and more about execution under uncertainty—a real-time test of everything we try to understand in emerging manager due diligence.

What does it really take to back the next generation of investment managers?

In this special live recording of the Dakota Live Podcast from Drexel University’s Boathouse Row, host Robert Morier moderates a rare discussion on GP seeding across three different asset classes—hedge funds, venture capital, and lower-middle-market private equity.

While GP seeding is often discussed within a single asset class, this conversation brings together three distinct perspectives to explore how the strategy evolves depending on the market, the structure of capital, and the type of investor being backed.

The panel examines how seed investors identify emerging talent, structure alignment with founders, and help new firms overcome the “chicken-and-egg” challenge of launching a fund.

Joining the discussion:

Scott Schweighauser, Founder & Managing Partner of Borealis Strategic Capital Partners – sharing the hedge fund seeding perspective and the importance of identifying talent early.

Andrea Lo, Founder & Managing Partner of Main Character Capital – discussing GP seeding in venture capital and how to back the next generation of specialized VC managers.

Dan Pogue, Vice President at Catalyst Partners – explaining how seed investors support first-time private equity managers and help institutionalize emerging firms.

Together, they explore:

✓ How GP seeding differs across hedge funds, venture capital, and private equity
✓ Why alignment, structure, and value-add matter in early-stage asset management
✓ The evolving economics of GP stakes and revenue-share structures
✓ How investors identify emerging managers before they become household names
✓ The challenges of launching a firm in an increasingly competitive fundraising environment

For allocators, emerging managers, and anyone interested in the institutional investment ecosystem, this episode offers a rare cross-asset look at how early capital shapes the future of asset management.

In this episode of dakota Live!, we step into a space where venture capital meets operator realism.

While we often sit with allocators and emerging manager gatekeepers, today we turn the lens toward the managers themselves — and examine how early-stage consumer investing mirrors the same discipline allocators demand in emerging manager due diligence.

Robert Morier sits down with Sean Kelly and Christine Wang of Family Fund to unpack what underwriting consumer brands can teach us about underwriting people — and why early-stage due diligence in venture is less about trend-chasing and more about pattern recognition, character assessment, and disciplined execution.

This conversation moves beyond surface-level “consumer is back” narratives. Instead, we explore:
• Why Series A consumer investing may offer asymmetric risk/reward in a valuation-compressed environment
• How data-rich consumer businesses reduce “taste risk” through measurable retention, velocity, and unit economics
• The difference between community as a vanity metric and community as a moat
• How emotional resonance paired with rational economics creates durable companies
• What allocators often misunderstand about consumer venture — and why specialization may be the real edge

For institutional investors and consultants evaluating emerging managers, this episode offers a parallel lens:

Just as consumer VCs must separate fad from durable trend, allocators must separate storytelling from scalable process.

If you allocate to venture, evaluate emerging managers, or think deeply about how consumer behavior drives GDP and exit pathways, this conversation offers a structured view of what early-stage investing looks like beneath the narrative layer.