New Managers
July 2012
47N Series: Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman 47 Degrees North Capital Management is a specialist alternative investment firm, and a pioneer in early-stage hedge fund investing. It was selected as one of three successful candidates out of 97 applicants to manage the emerging hedge fund managers program at CalPERS. 47N is a leading proponent of corporate governance in the hedge fund industry; so the objective of this series of articles is to discuss and inform on current corporate governance issues. Fraser McKenzieArthur Miller-s character Willy Loman in his theatre play Death of a Salesman evokes the feeling of despair and dread that can come from the failure to achieve something we had hoped for. As specialists in early-stage hedge fund investing, we routinely see failure - although not often on the dramatic scale of Death of a Salesman. This article - one in a series on issues and problems facing early-stage managers - outlines some hopefully helpful hints on how salespeople for early-stage funds can avoid the pitfalls of the initial pitch to investors. What are we looking for and what-s important? We don-t wish to play the armchair arbiter of sales skills or to try and make ourselves appear better than our applicants - but the fact is we do sometimes see some howlers and, more commonly, oft-repeated avoidable mistakes. Firstly, make sure you have a clear value proposition; how are you going to make money? Is it because of cheap underlying securities where you will run a long bias? If yes - ma...................... To view our full article please login
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