Fundraising from Family Offices and Maximizing Those Relationships with Malcolm Robinson

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

• Malcolm’s Background and Experience (0:10)
• Experience as an Allocator (2:43)
• LP Perspective on Investment Risks (4:07)
• Advantages of Smaller Check Writers (6:43)
• Criteria for Assessing Fund Managers (8:44)
• Exciting Opportunities in Healthcare and Deep Tech (12:09)
• Challenges of Sourcing Family Offices (15:06)
• Insider Segment: The Impact of AI on Hardware Ecosystems (18:30)
• Interest in Hardware Financing (21:15)
• Diversifying Capital Stacks (22:20)
• Formation of the Black LP Association (24:12)
• Growth of Diverse Emerging Managers (27:27)
• Challenges in Fundraising (30:34)
• Differentiation in Asian Markets (32:12)
• Value Addition as an LP (37:05)
• Internship Opportunities in VC (39:33)
• Building a Talent Pipeline (42:04)
• Final Thoughts on Market Opportunities (44:20)

Malcolm Robinson founded and serves as the executive director of the Black Venture Capital Consortium (BVCC), which educates, trains and places top students from HBCUs into the venture capital and startup ecosystem. In addition, Mr. Robinson co-founded and is the executive director of the Black LP Association (BLPA). Prior to BVCC and BLPA, Mr. Robinson was a general partner at Avenue Capital Group where he launched Avenue's Asia investment management business in 1999 and grew it to over $5 billion AUM, opening 9 offices in 8 countries and building and managing a team of over 110 employees throughout China, India and Southeast Asia. The fund invested in private equity, distressed debt, nonperforming loans and mezzanine investments. Prior to joining Avenue in 1999, he was the chief investment officer for the Richmont-Parley Investment Company, a Hong Kong based investment company. Before that, he was a portfolio manager at The Pacific Group’s Asia Hedge Fund based in Hong Kong and affiliated with the U.S. based hedge fund, Tiger Management Corporation. The Asia Hedge Fund directly invested in long/short equities, convertible bonds, fixed income securities, currencies and derivatives. Prior to that, Mr. Robinson was an investment professional with the Prudential Investment Corporation. During his seven years at Prudential, he participated in $600 million of direct investments in private credit and private equity. Mr. Robinson founded the New Jersey Advocates for Education, a college scholarship program which has awarded scholarships to over 300 students from the greater Newark, NJ area. Mr. Robinson graduated with Honors with a B.S. in Business Administration from Florida A&M University in 1987 and received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1994.

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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.