Why an LP of GPs is Uniquely Valuable | Lisa Cawley | Superclusters | S3E5

“If you are governing things from a point of a legal document, whatever that may be and having to refer to that in order to trigger a behavior, that often to me feels emblematic of a transaction, not a relationship.” Lisa Cawley is the Managing Director of Screendoor, a highly respected LP of GPs, investing in firm-builders by firm-builders, with a unique model for partnering with allocators to access the emerging manager ecosystem. She’s been covering venture capital for more than a dozen years, since 2010 at Ernst and Young, a private investment firm, and now to Screendoor. Lisa is a proud graduate of Loyola University Maryland where she's earned her MBA and MS in Finance, as well as her BBA in Accounting, with a double minor in Information Systems and Spanish. Lisa is a CFA Charterholder and holds a CPA from the State of Maryland. In addition, she's also a member of Class 29 of the Kauffman Fellows. You can find Lisa on her socials here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/31mml/ Screendoor: https://www.screendoor.co/contact And huge thanks to this episode's sponsor, Alchemist Accelerator: https://alchemistaccelerator.com/superclusters OUTLINE: [00:00] Intro [03:43] How swimming has influenced Lisa's life to date [11:16] How does Lisa evaluate competitive spirit in others? [14:36] The importance of understanding LP side letter terms [21:33] Investing as a team AND individual sport [23:45] Screendoor as the LP of GPs [28:43] How does Screendoor align incentives with their GP advisors? [31:05] How do GP advisors get assigned to portfolio managers? [35:09] LP-GP fit [37:46] Generation 1 vs Generation 5 of a family office [43:19] How does firm-building differ from fund-building? [49:09] Reference checking a fund manager's "unique" value-add [55:24] Which two life lessons would Lisa canonize in a time capsule? [57:36] What was in Lisa's last OS update? [1:01:23] The different facets of education in Lisa's life [1:09:09] Final words on being thoughtful as an LP [1:14:05] Post-credit scene [1:25:27] Thank you to Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring! [1:26:29] If you enjoyed the episode, I'd great appreciate it if you shared it with 1 other person! 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 Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperclustersLP Follow Superclusters on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@super.clusters Follow Superclusters on Instagram: https://instagram.com/super.clusters