“Diversification is your one free lunch.” – Charissa Lai

Charissa has experience in Investing, Strategy and Relationship Management across Private Equity and Investment Banking. She's gained global perspective from having worked and lived in South Africa, England, Canada, China and the USA. Her expertise includes selecting fund managers and co-investments, developing alternatives strategies and building relationships. She's a recipient of 2016 Women in Capital Markets Emerging Leaders Award with CPPIB. She serves as a Board Director at the Toronto Humane Society.

Charissa holds an MBA from Northwestern University and an HBSc. from University of Toronto.

You can find Charissa on her socials here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charissa-lai/

And huge thanks to this episode's sponsor, Alchemist Accelerator: https://alchemistaccelerator.com/superclusters

OUTLINE:

[00:00] Intro

[03:51] When Charissa first met the Dalai Lama

[07:08] Charissa's early career

[08:02] Charissa's rejection from her dream job

[11:01] Why did Charissa switch from computer science to investment banking

[12:16] How Charissa became an LP

[14:24] Pinch-me moments for Charissa

[16:04] Building the investment process for a $70B pension fund

[18:37] The duration of partner roles is quite telling

[20:58] Assessing buyout track records

[25:01] Buyout loss ratios

[26:36] When buyouts and VC are getting more and more similar

[28:19] The value of vintage diversification

[32:51] How Charissa thinks about personal portfolio allocation

[40:22] The one VC fund that Charissa invested in[42:53] Charissa's beer can chicken

[47:13] What memory does Charissa cherish?

[49:26] Post-credit scene

[54:38] Thank you Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring!

[55:39] If you enjoyed this episode, a like, comment, or share would mean the world! Follow David Zhou for more Superclusters content: For podcast show notes: https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters Follow David Zhou's blog: https://cupofzhou.com Follow Superclusters on X: https://x.com/SuperclustersLP