Allocator10x - Capital With a Soul - Jessie Jia Guo, Investment Partner at Next Legacy Partners

100% of your flagship funds distributions go to charity.

The whole firm actually is very mission driven. We also have a big community of leaders from the sports and entertainment industries.

Does having that capital with a soul make you more willing to take big risks on experimental managers or does it make you more conservative?

The short answer probably is like both. We have backed a lot of alpha driven and experimental emerging managers over the years, but we also take a very full spectrum coverage.

And how do you advise your GPs on how they should think about liquidity inside the fund?

The previous practice of waiting for the IPO or M&A exit, I don't think that's the norm or the playbook now.

How do you distinguish between a GP who has real technical conviction in AI versus one who is just chasing the current hype cycle?

They typically have been ahead of the wave. They were naturally curious.

Hey everyone, this is Prashant and I'll be your host for the VC10X podcast and today we have Jesse Giaguo with us. Jesse is an investment partner at NextLegacy, a venture fund of funds managing over $3.5 billion where 100% of distributions from his legacy funds go to non-profit causes. crossing three billion dollars to date we discuss capital with the soul how they pick managers the new liquidity playbook and spotting real ai conviction versus hype so without wasting any time let's dive right in This episode is brought to you by Podcast Enix, the team behind the show you're listening to. As an investor, you're already talking with founders, allocators, and operators. We just turn those conversations into a branded podcast and each recording becomes a YouTube video, an audio episode, short clips, LinkedIn posts, and a newsletter, activating all your marketing channels at once. This keeps you top of mind with LPs and founders without taking away much time from your week. You can book a free strategy call with me at podcast10x.com. I'll add the link in the show notes below. Now,

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Hey Jesse, so good to have you on the VC10x podcast. How are you doing?

I'm doing well. Thank you, Prashant.

It's a pleasure having you on the podcast. And to start things off, let's talk about how you originally joined NextLegacy through a cold email. What exactly did you say to cut through the noise and how does that influence how you judge cold pitches from managers today?

You certainly did your homework. Yeah, I did land my current position here at NextLegacy through a cold email to our founder, Russ Hall. Gosh, this is back in 12 years ago. I was an international MBA student, came to the US in 2012. after working in Beijing on the LP side and venture technology side for a few years. Through that experience in Beijing, I identified my career interest in the LP investment very early on. So I wanted to continue my career here in the US. That's where I did my homework. I had a short list of IOP organizations like funder funds, foundations in the Bay Area, and I reached out to our founder. I remember there was no expectation of getting back or anything, but in that email, I basically I guess a couple of points, like one, I was clear that this is the thing I want to do,