My guest today is Scott Wilson. Scott is the CIO of Washington University’s endowment, which manages over $13 billion. In this conversation we discuss WashU’s non-traditional endowment model and cover a variety of asset classes and geographies. We talk about the qualities Scott looks for in managers, lessons from investing in Asia and emerging markets, and red flags in the venture space. Please enjoy this conversation with Scott Wilson.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern Saas platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. I’ve been so impressed by the platform that my firm, Positive Sum, recently made an investment in Tegus. We did so because we feel that Tegus will be the gold standard platform for investing research for decades to come. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus. -----   Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best.   -----   Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:02:38] - [First question] - What he learned about markets from quant fixed income trading  [00:04:42] - How his experience shaped his degree of skepticism of the world [00:05:15] - The story that brought him to Grinnell College  [00:06:45] - What his education was like back in 2010 and what seemed sensible and insane when he arrived [00:08:05] - The style of investment he learned at Grinnell compared to his style now [00:09:37] - His philosophy around trying to have more direct ownership [00:11:00] - Why their co-investment approach is outperforming the rest  [00:12:03] - Lessons learned about choosing good partners and doing it effectively over time [00:13:51] - Things that are most enjoyable about getting to know new managers  [00:14:25] - The role that global travel and having boots on the ground plays in his success [00:16:17] - Why they spend so much time in frontier and emerging markets [00:18:21] - Lessons learned from investing in China and thoughts on it today  [00:20:10] - What else he’s learned in continental Asia outside of China [00:21:02] - Interests and red flags when it comes to investing in the venture space [00:23:16] - The worst things he sees from venture investors  [00:24:39] - Whether or not venture investors should care more  [00:26:16] - The virtues and vices in private equity and his thoughts on that space [00:27:55] - What percentage of investors in private equity are investors versus just involved to try and engineer returns [00:28:59] - His impressions on hedge funds and the