Why an LP of GPs is Uniquely Valuable | Lisa Cawley | Superclusters | S3E5

Lisa Cawley is the Managing Director of Screendoor, a highly respected LP of GPs, investing in firm-builders by firm-builders, with a unique model for partnering with allocators to access the emerging manager ecosystem. She’s been covering venture capital for more than a dozen years, since 2010 at Ernst and Young, a private investment firm, and now to Screendoor.

Lisa is a proud graduate of Loyola University Maryland where she’s earned her MBA and MS in Finance, as well as her BBA in Accounting, with a double minor in Information Systems and Spanish. Lisa is a CFA Charterholder and holds a CPA from the State of Maryland. In addition, she’s also a member of Class 29 of the Kauffman Fellows.

You can find Lisa on her socials here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/31mml/
Screendoor: https://www.screendoor.co/contact

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

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Alchemist Accelerator.

OUTLINE:

[00:00] Intro
[03:43] How swimming has influenced Lisa’s life to date
[11:16] How does Lisa evaluate competitive spirit in others?
[14:36] The importance of understanding LP side letter terms
[21:33] Investing as a team AND individual sport
[23:45] Screendoor as the LP of GPs
[28:43] How does Screendoor align incentives with their GP advisors?
[31:05] How do GP advisors get assigned to portfolio managers?
[35:09] LP-GP fit
[37:46] Generation 1 vs Generation 5 of a family office
[43:19] How does firm-building differ from fund-building?
[49:09] Reference checking a fund manager’s “unique” value-add
[55:24] Which two life lessons would Lisa canonize in a time capsule?
[57:36] What was in Lisa’s last OS update?
[1:01:23] The different facets of education in Lisa’s life
[1:09:09] Final words on being thoughtful as an LP
[1:14:05] Post-credit scene
[1:25:27] Thank you to Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring!
[1:26:29] If you enjoyed the episode, I’d great appreciate it if you shared it with 1 other person!

SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Screendoor
• Jamie Rhode
• Hunter Walk
• Brandon Sanderson
• Mistborn
• Brandon Sanderson’s Second Law of Magic
• Ho Nam
• Altos Ventures
• Layne Johnson
• Benchmark
• Andreessen Horowitz
• Sequoia Capital
• Satya Patel
• Aileen Lee
• Charles Hudson
• Scott Belsky
• The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky
• Precursor Ventures
• Cowboy Ventures
• Mar Hershenson
• Pear VC
• Rob Hayes
• First Round Capital
• Wayee Chu
• Reach Capital
• Marc Andreessen
• Jaclyn Freeman Hester
• Foundry Group
• S2E8: Jaclyn Freeman Hester on qualitative signals to look for in emerging managers
• Foundry’s announcement on their 2022 fund being their last
• Brad Feld
• Peter Drucker
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Wayne Gretzky
• Michael Scott (character in The Office)
• eBay
• Abercrombie & Fitch
• University of California, Berkeley
• Blake Robbins
• Ludlow Ventures
• Lisa’s bio on Kauffman Fellows
• Alinea
• Nick Kokonas
• Grant Achatz
• Kelsey Barnard Clark
• Beezer Clarkson
• Zig Ziglar
• Will Guidara
• Eleven Madison Park
• Sarah Smith
• Sarah Smith Fund

SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:

“[Swimming, like venture] is both a team and individual sport.” – Lisa Cawley

“If you are governing things from a point of a legal document, whatever that may be and having to refer to that in order to trigger a behavior, that often to me feels emblematic of a transaction, not a relationship.” – Lisa Cawley

“Performance is everybody’s right to continue to do their business in venture.” – Lisa Cawley

“You can be a critic while still helping somebody, and you can be a critic while still giving empathy and doing so with respect.” – Lisa Cawley

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