“Some of the best investments, as we look back in history, were never obvious at the moment the investments were made. You may not have to be contrarian, but you have to have a variant perception than the rest of the market. Maybe you saw the team differently. You saw the space growing differently. That, to us, inherently, is a single decision maker-type thought process at the earliest stage, when it’s less about metrics. It’s more about how you evaluate the talent and the team.” – Sean Warrington
Sean Warrington leads private market investing at Gresham Partners, a $10 billion multi-family office based in Chicago. Known for being a transparent and user-friendly LP, he and the Gresham team aim to simplify the fundraising process — offering single-check investments, a streamlined diligence process, and prompt, candid feedback to GPs.
You can find Sean on his socials here:
X / Twitter: https://x.com/srwarrington
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srwarrington/
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
OUTLINE:
[00:00] Intro
[03:29] Who is Jeff French?
[05:26] The metrics for success for a junior LP
[07:20] The 3 chapters of Sean’s evolution as an LP
[11:05] Sean’s first investment
[14:44] When GPs put LPs on strict timelines
[16:53] One archetype of GP that Sean is excited about
[19:37] What it looks like to be thoughtful when growing AUM
[23:16] What most LPs don’t understand about solo GPs
[25:58] What happens when a GP leaves a partnership
[27:33] The definition of LP/GP alignment
[30:47] Reference archetypes and how to find them
[35:32] How to manage bandwidths in a small team
[38:58] Frameworks for taking calls
[42:26] How much does Sean travel?
[43:25] Why coffee chats don’t work
[45:30] What Sean’s changed his mind on about investing
[47:12] What did Jason Kelce’s retirement mean to Sean?
[49:36] Post-credit scene
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Gresham Partners
- Alfred duPont Charitable Trust
- Sean’s About Me Notion Page
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Twitter / X
- The tweet Sean called David out on
- Jeff French
- Travis Angevine
- David Gonino
- Irene Zhang
- The Opposite House
- Jason Kelce
- Jason Kelce’s retirement speech
- Jeff Stoutland
- Travis Kelce
- New Heights (podcast)
SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“If you’re 60-70% of the time picking good managers, I think you’re pretty good at this industry.” – Sean Warrington
“Frameworks are not foolproof. What they’re designed to do is help us focus on places where we can get to an eventual yes.” – Sean Warrington
“We don’t want a slow no. A slow no is bad for everybody.” – Sean Warrington
“Some of the best investments, as we look back in history, were never obvious at the moment the investments were made. You may not have to be contrarian, but you have to have a variant perception than the rest of the market. Maybe you saw the team differently. You saw the space growing differently. That, to us, inherently, is a single decision maker-type thought process at the earliest stage, when it’s less about metrics. It’s more about how you evaluate the talent and the team.” – Sean Warrington
“One thing LPs are bad at remembering is we are exceptionally diversified investors. For us, to have anything even be 1% – even a manager being a single percent of the overall pool of capital – is very difficult to do. Many times we’re talking about basis points.” – Sean Warrington
“The big risk that LPs don’t appreciate… There’s this view that these two- and three-person teams coming together create this better judgment. What they’re not factoring in is that these are somewhat forced marriages. These are people who may or may not have long histories together. They may not have great bedside manner when they’re in the thick of it.” – Sean Warrington