In this episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast, host Robert Morier sits down with Matthew Wright, founder of Disciplina Group and former Chief Investment Officer at Vanderbilt University, for a deep dive into manager research, due diligence, and portfolio construction in the OCIO market.

Matthew shares his philosophy for sourcing and underwriting emerging managers, with a particular focus on boutique, employee-owned firms that bring a true “edge” to private markets, venture capital, and hedge funds.

He explains how Disciplina builds conviction-driven allocations in less efficient markets, balances liquidity and return expectations, and integrates alternatives into client portfolios for mission-based institutions.

In this episode:
- How to find and evaluate emerging managers before the crowd
- Building a repeatable due diligence process for alternatives
- Opportunities in multi-stage venture capital and niche private strategies
- Hedge funds as true diversifiers, not equity proxies
- Why conviction sizing matters as much as diversification

If you want to hear how a seasoned CIO approaches alternative investing and manager selection and learn strategies to sharpen your own process, this conversation is for you.

In this episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast, Robert Morier sits down with Ken Frier, Chief Investment Officer at Atlas Capital Advisors, to discuss the role of systematic investing in portfolio construction and decision-making. With more than three decades of experience managing institutional capital at Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Stanford Management Company, and the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, Ken brings a deep understanding of asset allocation, quantitative investing, and cost-conscious portfolio construction.



Whether you're an allocator evaluating systematic managers or a sales professional seeking insight into how data-driven investors think about portfolio construction and decision-making, this episode offers a unique window into how one investor has built a philosophy shaped by decades of experience across some of the most complex institutional portfolios.



Atlas Capital Advisors is a San Francisco-based registered investment advisor providing outsourced CIO (OCIO) and portfolio management services to high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions. The firm emphasizes systematic asset allocation and direct implementation, offering clients institutional-quality portfolios with a focus on transparency, liquidity, and long-term value.



The conversation delves into how Ken’s early background in mathematics and computer science laid the foundation for a career focused on developing repeatable investment algorithms. You’ll hear how a pivotal moment during the dot-com bubble crash reshaped his thinking about portfolio risk, leading to a career-long commitment to evidence-based decision making.



Ken shares how Atlas Capital uses a top-down, factor-based, algorithmic approach to investing across global markets, as well as his candid take on why investors can fail to adjust asset allocation, even in dramatically shifting environments. The episode also touches on the role of liquidity, the rise (and risks) of private credit, and the evolution of ETFs.



From lessons in risk management to the realities of cost, complexity, and governance, Ken offers a grounded perspective on what it takes to make disciplined, data-informed decisions in today’s investment landscape.

In this powerful episode of the Dakota Live! Podcast, we dive deep into the future of venture capital, emerging manager selection, and the evolving dynamics between GPs and LPs with two thought leaders reshaping the industry: Rohit Yadav, author of The Big Book of Venture Capital, and Jamie Rhode, Partner at Screendoor, an LP platform backing early-stage managers with institutional rigor and long-term vision.

Why This Episode Matters
This episode is a must-watch for anyone navigating today’s venture capital landscape, whether you're an emerging manager building your first fund, a GP scaling through Fund II or III, or an allocator rethinking your approach to early-stage investing. Rohit and Jamie bring unmatched clarity and data-driven insight to questions that matter now more than ever:
- What does it take to build a resilient, DPI-generating venture firm?
- How are LP expectations evolving post-ZIRP, post-COVID, and amid shrinking liquidity windows?
- What is the real path forward for exit strategies beyond the IPO myth?

Key Topics Covered
- The role of fund-of-funds in early-stage VC, and why Screendoor is not just picking managers, they’re helping build firms with longevity.
- The power-law myth and how transparency, institutionalization, and repeatability are reshaping LP/GP relationships.
- The need for introspection (not revolution) in venture capital: a central theme from Rohit's Rethinking Venture Capital: A Strategic Lens.
- The future of M&A and secondaries as legitimate exit pathways and how GPs can (and must) be prepared.
- Why early-stage VC is where the outliers live—and how to create a portfolio that finds them.
- How Screendoor evaluates emerging managers, with real talk on what matters more than polish: character, track record repeatability, and transparency.

About BigBook.vc – Venture Knowledge Alpha
Visit: https://www.bigbook.vc
The Big Book of Venture Capital is not a venture fund—it’s a knowledge project. Created by Rohit Yadav, this open-source platform is dedicated to democratizing access to venture capital insights across the global ecosystem. With quarterly strategic reports, cross-sectional data from hundreds of sources, and community-driven dialogue, BigBook.vc offers the venture industry's most comprehensive and strategic research platform. It’s built for allocators, emerging managers, founders, and anyone shaping the future of innovation.
About Screendoor

Screendoor is reimagining LP/GP alignment in early-stage VC. With a fund-of-funds approach backed by leading GPs, Screendoor supports diverse emerging managers with not just capital, but decades of lived experience. Their platform is built for allocators who want disciplined, cost-effective access to the edge of what’s next—and for GPs who want to build enduring firms, not just raise funds.

Watch this episode if you want to:
- Understand the emerging manager landscape post-2021
- Learn how to build a more effective allocation strategy in early-stage VC
- Hear how seasoned LPs like Jamie are transforming access, transparency, and performance metrics
- See how Rohit is laying down the intellectual scaffolding for VC 3.0

This is one of our most important conversations yet, don’t miss it.