Record figures in Silicon Valley: $ 9.3 billion went to Silicon Valley based start-ups just in the last quarter. 74 start-ups are valued at over one billion dollars (and called "unicorns"); Uber, for example, is now valued at $50bn. Private investors are lining up to hand out checks, while the companies – contrary to the dotcom era – opt to stay private, enjoying less regulation and more freedom. But pessimists fear a scenario where dying unicorns could tear holes in the balance sheets of venture capital companies, causing a chain reaction. VC firms' yield will go down, affecting their ability to raise money, and start-ups may end up falling like dominoes once the assets aren't going any more their way.
Along with the tremendous wealth creation in the Bay area, there has also been a boom in West Coast wealth managers that have concentrated their client base in the tech industry, and also concentrated their clients’ assets in the tech industry, potentially putting their clients at a higher risk. But even skeptics of the current boom say that the situation is different from 2000 when many companies were already public and the collapse hurt a plethora of small investors and pension funds. This time, a large proportion of highly rated U.S. companies are not public. A potential setback would therefore hit start-up employees and a limited number of investors.
Meanwhile, James Alpha Management believes we are still in the early stages of a technology boom comparable to the late 1990s which they believe will peak by 2020, but you are also advised to be invested in technology now to be able to ride the wave. Early stage venture capital would also reward investors handsomely between now and 2020, but if you wait another year or two, you could be too late. The tough part of this proposition is that it is very difficult to predict which apps and which companies will win or lose, so you have to find a manager who is both astute and has exposure which is diversified enough to benefit, but not so diversified that returns suffer and just mirror the indices.
The Opalesque 2015 West Coast Roundtable, sponsored by Arthur Bell CPAs, took place July 2015 in San Francisco with:
- Chris Winiarz, Investment Officer, University of California
- Brian Lahart, Head of Alternative Investment Research, Abbot Downing
- Alan 'Butch' Andreini, Senior Vice President, James Alpha Management
- Nadine Terman, CEO and Co-Founder, Solstein Capital
- Jason Gerlach, CEO and Managing Partner, Sunrise Capital Partners
- Mike Furlong, Co-Founder, Sliced Investing
- Corey McLaughlin, Member, Arthur Bell CPAs
The group also discussed:
- What are the criteria and process of the University of California, a $95bn institution, to select external managers?
- Given the levels of the equity markets, are investors dialing up alternatives in 2015, including tail risk strategies?
- How does James Alpha Management, a single family office specializing in seeding and growing alternative investment managers, identify start up managers to work with?
- What are the benefits of being based in the San Francisco Bay area?
- What are the best ways to compound capital today?
- How does a CTA with a 36 year track record navigate and succeed in today's environment?
- Has a manager's size become a proxy for quality, safety, and skill? Rightly so? Is the investor base bifurcating with only a minority allocating to smaller managers?
- What are the risks of co-investments that sometimes investors tend to overlook?
- How are managers and investors keeping up with a constantly changing world? How to best identify and profit from mega trends.
- How can FinTech help alternative investment managers and investors? Sunrise Capital's success story with Sliced Investing. Benefits and Benefits and limits of automation.
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 | |
Mon, 01 Aug 2022 | |
Wed, 23 Jun 2021 | |
Mon, 10 May 2021 | |
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 | |
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 | |
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 | |
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 | |
Fri, 06 Dec 2019 | |
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 | |
Wed, 17 Jul 2019 | |
Wed, 10 Jul 2019 | |
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 | |
Wed, 24 Apr 2019 | |
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 | |
Mon, 18 Mar 2019 | |
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 | |
Thu, 31 Jan 2019 | |
Tue, 22 Jan 2019 | |
Fri, 11 Jan 2019 | |
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 | |
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 | |
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 | |
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 | |
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 | |
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 | |
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 | |
Wed, 08 Aug 2018 | |
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 | |
Tue, 12 Jun 2018 | |
Mon, 28 May 2018 | |
Mon, 14 May 2018 | |
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 | |
Fri, 02 Mar 2018 | |
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 | |
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 | |
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 | |
Wed, 17 Jan 2018 | |
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 | |
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 | |
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 | |
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 | |
Mon, 27 Nov 2017 | |
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 | |
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 | |
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 | |
Mon, 16 Oct 2017 | |
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 | |
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 | |
Wed, 03 May 2017 | |
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 | |
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 | |
Sun, 12 Mar 2017 | |
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 | |
Wed, 25 Jan 2017 | |
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 | |
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 | |
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 | |
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 | |
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 | |
Thu, 01 Dec 2016 | |
Thu, 24 Nov 2016 | |
Tue, 15 Nov 2016 | |
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 | |
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 | |
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 | |
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 | |
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 | |
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 | |
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 | |
Mon, 04 Jul 2016 | |
Tue, 21 Jun 2016 | |
Wed, 08 Jun 2016 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Montreal Opalesque Roundtable Series - Montreal (French version) |
More information |
|
|
Thu, 10 Mar 2016 | |
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 | |
Mon, 22 Feb 2016 | |
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 | |
Sun, 07 Feb 2016 | |
Wed, 27 Jan 2016 | |
Mon, 18 Jan 2016 | |
Fri, 01 Jan 2016 | |
Thu, 24 Dec 2015 | |
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2016 Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2016 (Mandarin version) Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2016 (Portuguese version) |
More information |
|
|
Thu, 10 Dec 2015 | |
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 | |
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 | |
Tue, 17 Nov 2015 | |
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 | |
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 | |
Fri, 23 Oct 2015 | |
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 | |
Tue, 06 Oct 2015 | |
Sat, 01 Aug 2015 | |
Wed, 22 Jul 2015 | |
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 | |
Thu, 04 Jun 2015 | |
Thu, 28 May 2015 | |
Fri, 15 May 2015 | |
Wed, 06 May 2015 | |
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 | |
Fri, 20 Mar 2015 | |
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 | |
Tue, 10 Feb 2015 | |
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2015 Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2015 (Mandarin version) Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2015 (Portuguese version) |
More information |
|
|
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 | |
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 | |
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 | |
Tue, 23 Dec 2014 | |
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 | |
Mon, 01 Dec 2014 | |
Thu, 20 Nov 2014 | |
Tue, 04 Nov 2014 | |
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 | |
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 | |
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 | |
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 | |
Thu, 03 Jul 2014 | |
Fri, 27 Jun 2014 | |
Wed, 14 May 2014 | |
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 | |
Wed, 05 Feb 2014 | |
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 | |
Fri, 17 Jan 2014 | |
Tue, 07 Jan 2014 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2014 Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2014 (Spanish version) Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2014 (Portuguese version) |
More information |
|
|
Tue, 17 Dec 2013 | |
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 | |
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 | |
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 | |
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 | |
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 | |
Tue, 16 Jul 2013 | |
Wed, 10 Jul 2013 | |
Tue, 02 Jul 2013 | |
Mon, 24 Jun 2013 | |
Wed, 12 Jun 2013 | |
Thu, 30 May 2013 | |
Mon, 20 May 2013 | |
Tue, 14 May 2013 | |
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 | |
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 | |
Mon, 14 Jan 2013 | |
Mon, 17 Dec 2012 | |
Wed, 05 Dec 2012 | |
Mon, 26 Nov 2012 | |
Thu, 01 Nov 2012 | |
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 | |
Tue, 16 Oct 2012 | |
Tue, 02 Oct 2012 | |
Mon, 24 Sep 2012 | |
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 | |
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 | |
Thu, 05 Jul 2012 | |
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 | |
Thu, 07 Jun 2012 | |
Wed, 30 May 2012 | |
Wed, 23 May 2012 | |
Thu, 10 May 2012 | |
Thu, 03 May 2012 | |
Wed, 04 Apr 2012 | |
Thu, 12 Jan 2012 | |
Wed, 21 Dec 2011 | |
Fri, 09 Dec 2011 | |
Thu, 24 Nov 2011 | |
Mon, 14 Nov 2011 | |
Mon, 07 Nov 2011 | |
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 | |
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 | |
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 | |
Wed, 10 Aug 2011 | |
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 | |
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 | |
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 | |
Thu, 19 May 2011 | |
Mon, 02 May 2011 | |
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 | |
Sun, 10 Apr 2011 | |
Fri, 25 Mar 2011 | |
Thu, 20 Jan 2011 | |
Sun, 19 Dec 2010 | |
Tue, 14 Dec 2010 | |
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 | |
Thu, 18 Nov 2010 | |
Tue, 09 Nov 2010 | |
Thu, 04 Nov 2010 | |
Mon, 25 Oct 2010 | |
Mon, 04 Oct 2010 | |
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 | |
Wed, 16 Jun 2010 | |
Sun, 06 Jun 2010 | |
Sat, 08 May 2010 | |
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 | |
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 | |
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 | |
Thu, 04 Mar 2010 | |
Sat, 09 Jan 2010 | |
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 | |
Mon, 30 Nov 2009 | |
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 | |
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 | |
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 | |
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 | |
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 | |
Tue, 09 Jun 2009 | |
Fri, 29 May 2009 | |
Wed, 13 May 2009 | |
Fri, 24 Apr 2009 | |
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 | |
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 | |
Mon, 17 Nov 2008 | |
Fri, 07 Nov 2008 | |
Mon, 20 Oct 2008 | |
Wed, 01 Oct 2008 | |
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 | |
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 | |
Fri, 23 May 2008 | |
Tue, 20 May 2008 | |
Wed, 30 Apr 2008 | |
Wed, 23 Apr 2008 | |
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 | |
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 | |