Billion Dollar Backstory

Stacy Havener
  • 4.8 (21)
  • Investing
  • Updated Biweekly

Host Stacy Havener brings you the storytelling tips, sales strategies, behavioral secrets, and inspirational stories that help YOU turn your words into dollars. Learn from sales and marketing experts. Meet finance and investment leaders, founders and fund managers who have made it, and the ones on the rise. Because there are people behind the portfolios. Their stories matter. So does yours. Presented by: Ultimus Fund Solutions // www.ultimusfundsolutions.com GemCap // www.geminicapital.ie @stacyhavener // www.billiondollarbackstory.com

  1. 3d ago

    155: The Story Allocators Need Before They Say Yes | Story Snacks Series

    Every fund manager wants the story that gets allocators to lean in and say yes every single time they tell it.  So, this is often a hard pill to swallow…A story that actually works doesn't always get you a yes.  A powerful story either gets you a heck yes or a heck no, but never a maybe.  And even though hearing heck no is uncomfortable, getting closure in sales is everything (so you don’t waste your time on allocators who’ll never be the right fit).  That’s why in this Story Snack, Stacy’s sharing the one kind of story that gets allocators off the fence without fail.  She’s also breaking down how to own the sharp edges in that story that’ll help allocators finally decide: this is for me. Or it isn't. Listen in to learn: Why "maybe" is the outcome you should be trying to avoidHow to connect who you are, why you invest the way you do, and who your strategy is built forWhy your differentiators need to attract and repelA question that’ll help you find your sharp edges fast This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    5 min

  2. Jun 17

    154: Want More Allocator Meetings? Start Here. | Story Snacks Series

    The capital-raising memo says: pitch harder, send the long intro email, and voilà, meetings. Stacy Havener never got that memo. She came into this industry as an English lit major who wanted to be a college professor. Finance was a means to an end, not the whole plan. She had no idea there was a "right" way to do capital raising. So she just led with what she knew best, which was storytelling and creating human connection.  It wasn't until someone tapped her on the shoulder and said, "What are you doing? Because you keep raising money," that she realized what she was doing was different. Different, and working. She took her high school soccer coach's fund from $1M to $500M in two years. Then joined a firm at $17M and helped grow it to $5B in three. In this Story Snack, she's breaking down exactly how and why the answer is never more volume, more cold emails, or more at-bats. Listen in to learn:  Why "get more meetings" is the wrong goal if the meetings you’re getting aren't convertingHow to use small, genuine "gives" to build trust before you ever ask for a meetingWhy give, give, give, ask beats pitch, pitch, pitch every timeThis is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    11 min

  3. Jun 10

    153: “We Only Back Established Managers.” Cool. Now What? | Story Snacks Series

    When an allocator says "We only work with established managers," it can feel like a door closing in your face.  And the natural instinct is to pry it back open by explaining yourself, defending your track record, and making a case for your fund.  Stacy Havener's advice: don't go there. Because handling objections to close deals is a thing. It's just not the right thing in this moment. That’s why, in this episode, Stacy’s breaking down what to do instead when you keep hitting the same wall in meetings. Listen in to learn: Why "too small" or "too new" is usually a timing mismatch, not a hard no The three words that change the whole vibe: "Tell me more." The questions that uncover real requirements around AUM, allocation size, and track record How to capture their language so your follow-up actually lands when the timing is right This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    8 min

  4. Jun 3

    152: How to Talk Process Without Losing the Room | Story Snacks Series

    If you’ve ever thought, “Okay, I have to cover process… but I can literally see their eyes glazing over,” you’re not alone.  Because when you walk through your process like everyone else, allocators don't hear "rigor." They hear "table stakes," and they're already half checked out by the time you get to the good part. In this episode, Stacy Havener breaks down how to fix that without scrapping the slide entirely.  Listen in to hear: How to cover process without just reading the boring slide out loudThe fastest way to make your process feel different (even if the slide isn’t)The one line Stacy wants you to stop using when talking process (because it’s a big fat nothing sandwich)  ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    6 min

  5. May 27

    151: €8B Founder Turned Family Office CIO: Harald Berlinicke on Allocator Trust, LinkedIn, and Why “Give Give Give” Wins

    At 15, Harald Berlinicke got a front-row seat to Black Monday during a bank internship outside Berlin. It was total chaos, with people yelling "SELL!" and a 20% drop in a single day. Most people would have run away from that pressure. But Harald ran toward it. And that's the day he knew he wanted to be in finance. Decades later, he's the guy on the other side of the table as a fund selector and family office CIO, with a surprisingly impressive LinkedIn presence for someone who will tell you straight up that he's an introvert. In this episode, Stacy sits down with Harald to talk about the human side of selection and why "give, give, give" beats "pitch, pitch, pitch" every single time. Listen in to hear: Harald's Black Monday origin story and how that early chaos shaped his view of markets and decision-making Why "people do business with people" is painfully true in fund selection His playbook for building relationships on LinkedIn as an introvert The provocative CFA poll he ran and what that debate says about where the industry might be headed More about Harald Berlinicke:  Harald Berlinicke, CFA is CIO of the fifth-generation Max-Berlinicke-Erben family office in Berlin, where he oversees a multi-asset portfolio with a focus on asset allocation and manager selection. He co-founded New Bond Street Asset Management in London and served as Partner and Head of Structured Credit Investments, growing the boutique to a peak of €8B AUM. He later spent 2014–2023 at Scope Group as Director of Alternative Investments and now advises independently-owned investment boutiques. A CFA charterholder since 2003, Harald is also a long-standing CFA Institute volunteer and a widely followed voice on LinkedIn known for making complex investment topics accessible. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    1h 8m

  6. May 20

    150: The Biggest Mistake First-Time Fund Founders Make in Year One | Story Snacks Series

    Six months into launching your fund and already feeling like you're making every mistake in the book? You're in good company. That's exactly how the founder who wrote in is feeling. And honestly, year one can do that to a person.  The chaos is real. The second-guessing is real. The wondering-if-anyone-will-ever-take-you-seriously is very, very real. In this Story Snack, Stacy Havener tackles the fear that tends to sit underneath all of it: "I'm too early to be taken seriously." It's not irrational. It's just not the whole story. And if you believe it too hard for too long, it might be the thing that keeps you invisible when you could be building real conversations. Listen in to hear: The year-one myth Stacy calls BS on: “don’t market until you have 3 years of track + $100M–$200M AUM”Why year one gets derailed more by business decisions than investment decisions (products, partners, hires, marketing choices)Who you should be talking to early (innovators + early adopters) and why they don’t play by the “come back later” rules This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    8 min

  7. May 13

    149: “Emerging Markets” Is Misbranded. Sloane Robinson, CIO, Edward Lam on Scaling from £1M to £3.5B and Rethinking EM Risk.

    What if the biggest problem with “Emerging Markets” is the name? Edward Lam thinks that label has been doing the category a disservice for decades. Today, he’s sitting down with Stacy to zoom out and question the category…then zoom back in to what that means for portfolios, risk, and real alpha. Edward grew up in Hong Kong, went to boarding school in the UK, and landed in EM in 2004.  He had no training program or mentor, just four walls of books he was determined to read. By the time he left, he’d taught himself accounting, built a research function from scratch, and was running a fund that grew from £1M to £3.5B. Listen in to hear:  How Edward built his own training program from scratch and why that became one of his biggest edgesWhat "subordinate currency regimes" means and how it changes everything we thought we knew about EM risk The tension between building something investable and staying true to the thesisWhat scaling from £1M to £3.5B actually looks like when you have to earn every rung yourselfWhy he walked away from asset management, what the gap taught him, and what brought him back More About Edward Lam: Edward Lam entered the fund management industry in 2004 as an analyst at Emerging Markets specialist Lloyd George Management, covering Taiwan and technology. In 2007, he co-founded Somerset Capital Management, where he served as Head of Research and chaired the investment committee. In 2010, he launched Somerset’s EM Dividend Growth strategy, scaling it from a ~$1.5M seed to nearly $4B AUM. Edward left Somerset in 2020, then joined Sloane Robinson in 2023, became CIO, and launched the SR Ocellus fund in 2024. In his free time, he enjoys reading about the history and philosophy of finance, including many areas that others (based on feedback) find boring.  ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    1h 12m

  8. May 6

    148: The LinkedIn Comment Strategy That Actually Builds Trust | Story Snacks Series

    Commenting is one of the most underrated relationship builders on LinkedIn, especially if you want to stay on people’s radar without cranking out content nonstop. But most people comment in a way that does nothing, or worse, makes things weird. You know the two classics: 1. “Great post!” (nothing burger)2. And the thoughtful comment followed by an immediate pitch DM. (instant ick) In this Story Snack, Stacy Havener breaks down how to comment in a way that actually builds familiarity and trust over time, without sounding awkward, annoying, or desperate.  Listen in to hear: How to choose which posts to comment on so allocators and prospects start seeing you everywhere (in a good way)The “what NOT to do next” move that instantly turns goodwill into cringe (and what to do instead)The mindset shift that will help you stop overthinking and start commenting like a real friend giving out high-fives (not weird pitch slaps) Because the people who’ve consistently shown up for Stacy on LinkedIn? She’d run through a wall for them.  That’s what you’re building toward when you do this the right way. Tune in to learn the right way to approach commenting on LinkedIn.  This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week. ---Running a fund is hard enough.Ops shouldn’t be.Meet the team that makes it easier. | billiondollarbackstory.com/ultimus - - -Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

    7 min
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Trailer

4.8
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

Host Stacy Havener brings you the storytelling tips, sales strategies, behavioral secrets, and inspirational stories that help YOU turn your words into dollars. Learn from sales and marketing experts. Meet finance and investment leaders, founders and fund managers who have made it, and the ones on the rise. Because there are people behind the portfolios. Their stories matter. So does yours. Presented by: Ultimus Fund Solutions // www.ultimusfundsolutions.com GemCap // www.geminicapital.ie @stacyhavener // www.billiondollarbackstory.com

Information

  • Creator
    Stacy Havener
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    156
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Stacy Havener LLC | All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Billion Dollar Backstory

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