Swimming with Allocators

Turning Around a Pension Fund with a Modern Venture Strategy

Episode Summary

This week on Swimming with Allocators, Earnest and Alexa welcome Anurag Chandra, a San Jose Federated City Employees Retirement System (FCERS) board trustee and chair of the investment committee. Anurag shares how FCERS has managed to turn around a highly underperforming pension plan and the role venture plays in their now top decile strategy. Anurag discusses the different kinds of family offices actively allocating to venture today and what he’s recommending to his family office clients. He makes the case for investing today in smaller emerging managers and steering clear of capex heavy industries. From reviewing applications for RAISE Global, Anurag also shares how you might stand out from the crowd by claiming a lane. Also, Braughm Ricke also discusses how Adoro Advisors is providing their clients with more comparable benchmark data compared to Cambridge Associates data for fundraising and tracking your competition.

Episode Notes

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

Anurag Chandra’s background encompasses billions of dollars of institutional investing and venture capital experience. He has also held three hi-tech startup senior operating roles reporting directly to founders/CEOs (two M&A exits to public companies). He has expertise in equity and debt and early and later-stage investments and has advised dozens of funds and family offices. His experience includes structuring principal transactions, including SPVs, debtor-in-possession purchases, and asset purchases/acquisitions.

Aduro Advisors is a trusted partner for venture capital fund managers, offering comprehensive and expert fund administration services. Known for being agile, responsive, and focused on making fund operations seamless, Aduro enables fund managers to concentrate on investing. With deep expertise across a variety of fund sizes and strategies, Aduro provides a full suite of services, including fund accounting and compliance. The firm understands the fast-paced nature of venture capital and prides itself on being as innovative and driven as the funds it supports. Aduro doesn’t just manage operations—they help funds scale. https://www.aduroadvisors.com

Swimming with Allocators is a podcast that dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. Each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. 

The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available on this podcast are for general informational purposes only.