The holiday season has always been a great time to celebrate the movers and shakers in our world. This season we’re celebrating my personal favorites in the LP world. To start this mini-holiday series off, Earnest Sweat and Alexa Binns runs one of the most popular podcasts on venture capital limited partners, Swimming with Allocators. I was also fortunate enough to be on their podcast as well as a bonus crossover episode.
You can find Earnest on his socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/earnestsweat/
X / Twitter: https://x.com/EarnestSweat
You can find Alexa on her socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexabinns/
X / Twitter: https://x.com/alexabinns
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
OUTLINE:
[00:00] Intro
[02:09] Alexa’s earliest relationship with money
[03:28] Earnest’s earliest relationship with money
[04:45] Earnest’s first major purchase
[06:41] Alexa’s first major purchase
[08:25] The difference between public speaking and interviewing
[12:19] Memorable guests on the SwA podcast
[14:46] To do or not to do in-person interviews
[18:05] Evolution of YouTube titles
[20:04] Why err towards evergreen content?
[22:30] Was SwA designed for LPs or GPs?
[24:12] How did Earnest and Alexa meet?
[24:56] How did Swimming with Allocators start?
[27:21] The Pandora’s Box of intros
[28:02] Alexa’s 3 buckets for LP investing
[30:12] What is ‘coming soon’ for Earnest and Alexa?
[36:58] Post-credit scene: Spider-Man & Investors as Avengers
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Swimming with Allocators
- Intel
- Pokémon
- “Don’t Search for a Linear Career Path” by Earnest Sweat (TEDx talk)
- Alexa’s TED talk on “The Power of Entertainment”
- Joe Rogan
- Lex Fridman
- Sarah Samuels
- NEPC
- “The CIO Mindset Every VC Needs” (Sarah Samuels on Swimming with Allocators)
- Stresswood
- Roy Swan
- Ford Foundation
- “Your Path to Greatness” (Roy Swan & Christine Looney of the Ford Foundation on Swimming with Allocators)
- Capital Summit – TechChicago
- Cluely
- Kevin Hart
- Cold as Balls with Kevin Hart
- Adobe Premiere
- Ryan Reynolds
- “How to Write an Elevator Pitch That Inspires Like a Movie Trailer” by Earnest Sweat
- “The Best Investors Aren’t Pattern Matchers. They’re Exception Spotters.” by Earnest Sweat
- VC Lab
- Spider-Man
- Tom Holland
- OpenAI
- 1517 Fund
- Thiel Fellowship
- Mister Fantastic
- X-Men
- Guardians of the Galaxy
SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“Having done my investment philosophy, I’ve got three buckets. There is the ‘Let it ride, you can’t beat the market’ bucket. That’s the majority of what I’m working with. That’s 90[%] plus. There is a bucket where I’ve worked as a VC, I’ve managed a bunch of LP investments, I am better suited to vet deals than the average person. I believe in my ability to pick winners in this very thin layer of finance. Just in angel investing and GP selection where I’ve got lived experience and then my network. And then there’s a bucket for other ways capital can make your life richer.” — Alexa Binns