The Dao of Investing in VC Funds | Jay Rongjie Wang | Superclusters | S4E8

“The first layer is setting up your own strategy. The second layer is portfolio construction. How do you do your portfolio construction based on the strategy you set out to do? And then manager selection comes last. Within the portfolio construction target, how do you pick managers that fit that ‘mandate?’” – Jay Rongjie Wang Jay Rongjie Wang is the founding Chief Investment Officer of Primitiva Global, where she runs a family-backed Multi-asset Strategy. She also works extensively with emerging VC managers, and sits on the Selection Committee of Bridge Funding Global. Jay's background uniquely combines software engineering (at the world's largest fintech platform) and institutional investing (at top funds including Fidelity and Sequoia), as well as general management (3x executive in tech startups). Jay has lived in 5 different countries across 9 major cities, giving her a global perspective. Jay obtained her B.A and M.Sci in Physics from Cambridge University and M.B.A from INSEAD. In 2023 she was listed as an Entrepreneurial Pioneer Under 35 by Hurun Wealth. You can find Jay on her socials here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wangrongjie/ And huge thanks to this episode's sponsor, Alchemist Accelerator: https://alchemistaccelerator.com/superclusters OUTLINE: [00:00] Intro [04:12] Life atop a Daoist mountain [10:27] Qigong and tai chi [12:21] What is dao? [19:18] The weapon that Jay specializes in [21:08] Why did Jay leave the Daoist temple? [24:24] The motivations behind Jay's career shifts [30:05] The difference between underwriting a VC fund and a fund-of-funds [33:08] How does Jay get to know a fund manager? [36:31] The 3-layer process for building an allocation strategy [38:01] Picking the initial asset class [45:29] How much Jay allocates to venture [48:43] What does "reasonably diversified" mean? [49:15] Figuring out the portfolio construction model [54:59] At what point do you stop maximizing for portfolio returns? [56:57] How Jay calculates a 200X target return on direct investments [57:53] Data on returns as a function of portfolio size [1:01:42] The biggest challenge once you've picked your strategy [1:04:40] Selecting the right fund managers [1:14:17] The difference between guqin and piano [1:18:42] Intuition versus discipline [1:24:08] Post-credit scene [1:27:47] Thank you to Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring! [1:28:48] If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean a lot if you could share it with one friend who'd also get a kick out of this! Follow David Zhou for more Superclusters content: For podcast show notes: https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters Follow David Zhou's blog: https://cupofzhou.com Follow Superclusters on X: https://x.com/SuperclustersLP