Highlights: NEXTGEN SUMMIT AUGUST 7, 2019

Our NextGen Summit Inspired and Catalyzed a Global Group

Last week we hosted a special event for multi-gen family offices with vastly different backgrounds but rather common goals. It catalyzed many calls to action, including the creation of our NextGen Global interest Group.

The opening panel shed NextGen lights on challenges and joys of working with successful parents. The audience shared experiences (or plans) of leaving the nest to start platforms; in one instance, the parent later became a client. The second panel discussed investments in cannabis, Ag tech, and venture. Impact investing was the pervasive topic and drew the largest roundtable. The venue on the Highline was spectacular, and co-host Katie Loeb (Loeb.NYC) kicked off the evening with context on it and its architect, the late Zaha Hadid.

Below are takeaways and a list of upcoming events including more on NextGen (e.g. Menlo Park Oct. 22). To participate in our events and Global interest Groups (e.g. NextGen, Impact, Cannabis, and Venture), Onboard here.

Impact Investing & ElderGen. Focusing the ElderGen on impact investing was a common thread. Sophie Lasry (Avenue Capital) told the story of how her father came to launch an impact fund and is proud to play a role. David Burstein (SFO) is enabling his father to get back into venture where he sees opportunities to improve society, pointing out that non-profits alone will not solve the world’s toughest problems. David Nage (Arca) asked how to avoid greenwashing investments, to which Anna-Marie Wascher (Flat World Partners) gave examples of how hard yet critical it is to quantify an investment's “impact.”

Impact in Agriculture. Dave Croom (4Front) quantified not only the cannabis market but also the impact of American Beef's strides in cutting cattle's massive carbon footprint. Barry Adams (Prairie Crest) showed how Midwestern Ag Tech offers global impact investing opportunities and will soon offer a new white paper "Nature over Petroleum." Aaron Desatnik (Ceres) described how his fund provides later-stage growth capital to scale such companies.

Impact in Art. An Asian-American Next Gen described her impact angles in art, making it more accessible and using it for education. Jordan Taylor (True North Studio) described a JV with Meow Wolf which is revolutionizing art and hospitality, which Anna-Marie Wascher called "impact for art."

Investing in Directs and/or Funds. As for investing directly or via funds, Christina Xu (Beijing-NY SFO) does both, across strategies globally; she described her experience in selecting managers and deals for her family and some others. Funds can give family offices access to deal flow for co-investment but also information flow to understand market dynamics from many angles.

Roundtable Take-Aways. The Roundtables fostered energetic discussions that could have gone on for hours had we not asked for our "de-brief reports." Heather Hartnett (Human Ventures) summarized themes from the Venture Roundtable, noting a preference for early stage and emerging managers. For the Cannabis Roundtable, Eric Lindberg (Knowlton Foundation) called cannabis the largest growth opportunity in our lifetime, noting we are in the "early innings", including an understanding of the science. Joe Azzaro (361Firm) summarized the Impact Roundtable discussions on food waste, soil health, return profiles and other dimensions. Adam Rein then underscored the view of Ken Halsband (Territory Pictures) that media can be an effective partner in supporting impact initiatives. 

Enlightened Mingling. As the evening turned to refreshments, the energy remained high. It's one of my favorite parts of our events, to connect a lot of people based on their shared interests, e.g. so that Eddy van der Paardt could compare notes with Toren Kutick on an impact segment, where Kris Wood has operating experience. It's also nice to see others doing the connecting in the same spirit, e.g. Samira Salman helping Jordan on Phoenix real estate, and Dave Croom collaborating already with a family office on a cannabis facility in California. People who never knew each other are meeting again in Chicago next week, a football game in Dallas in October, and having tons of coffee this week - always a good sign.

Future NextGen Discussions. These conversations will be continued at our West Coast NextGen Summit on Oct. 22 in Menlo Park and at our Global Conferences featuring NextGen panels and roundtables, in London Sept. 26-27, New York Nov. 14-15, and our first Global Simulcast Dec. 12 in seven cities/continents including Dubai, Singapore, Bogota, Sydney, Cairo, London, and New York.

Between events, our Global interest Groups (GiGs) enable cross-border collaboration. These GiGs connect family offices globally to leverage the collective wisdom of each other and strategic partners (including funds). The NextGen GiG hosts a mobilization meeting/webcast on Thursday, August 22. To register for this GiG, click here.

More broadly, if you are a family office interested in joining our collaborative eco-system for thoughtful discussions on alternative investments via dozens of events and GiGs, Onboard here.

- Mark Sanor, CEO, 361Firm

Take-Aways

One common theme in Heartland family offices is the need to attract and keep talent, which has led to collaborative community initiatives. Another is the continued rise of $1-10B boutique MFOs and RIAs, most spinning off bulge bracket platforms, with more flexible offerings for family offices, acting like outsourced CFO/CIOs. In Cincinnati, we talked about venture as the city forged a model others now follow, and other asset classes with perspectives from Fund Evaluation Group on allocating $70B. In Indianapolis featured what VC Ben Trumbull (Tamarind Hill) called a “home run crowd” with multi-gen single family offices like LDI and Heritage, applying new models to create value as well as to attract talent to Indiana. MFO KCP Group asked about LatAm, which led to a discussion on China, and circled back to soybeans and the challenges (and opportunities) of the trade dispute. Chicago is enjoying a downtown real estate boom with tech jobs for millennials, yet many noted fiscal and infrastructure strains. While Opportunity Zones were discussed everywhere, we had a deeper discussion in Chicago with a presentation and in Minneapolis with Phoenix-based True North Studio. They love their sports in Minnesota, as we heard from the family owning the Twins, who also pointed out that Minneapolis is the third largest ad/marketing center and home to the largest multi-gen family office. They also love Ag, which is why Ag tech VC Barry Adams (Prairie Crest) joined and shared deals including Peoria-based Natural Fiber Welding. Thanks for collaborating. Be sure to Onboard so we can share our Events and Pipeline including Funds and directs.

- Mark Sanor, CEO, 361Firm

P.S. Here are Highlights of Past Events: the Nov. 2018 New York Conference, Jan. 2019 Miami Conference, Feb. 2019 London Conference, March 2019 Impact Conference, April 2019 Germany Takeaways, April 2019 Midwest Tour, May 2019 New York Conference, and the Heartland Tour July 2019.