Earnest Sweat, Alexa Binns
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Swimming with Allocators dives into the intriguing world of Venture Capital from an LP (Limited Partner) perspective. Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat are seasoned professionals who have donned various hats in the VC ecosystem. In each episode, we explore where the future opportunities lie in the VC landscape with insights from top LPs on their investment strategies and industry experts shedding light on emerging trends and technologies. Follow along and subscribe at swimmingwithallocators.com. See you later, Allocator!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It makes allocator judgment visible, from manager diligence and fundraising signals to portfolio construction and long-term partnership decisions.
Swimming with Allocators treats venture capital as a relationship and portfolio-construction business, with Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat steering interviews toward how capital is actually allocated.
A decade with a fund manager calls for more than a pitch deck, and you know it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A focused look at how LPs and emerging managers think about relationships, liquidity, and fund structure.
This episode tracks how an LP-minded investor moves from direct deals toward working through managers, with Benedict Langer giving that shift a clear, grounded frame.
A clear allocator's view of venture judgment, AI conviction, and the signals that survive diligence.
Jay Rongji Wang brings an unusually wide lens to AI and early-stage venture, moving between physicist, software engineer, analyst, operator, and investor across Silicon Valley, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
A focused LP-side look at manager selection, portfolio construction, and durable firms.
This review keeps its focus on how an allocator thinks about manager selection and portfolio construction in a market that keeps moving. Lara Banks, managing director at McKinnick Capital Management, comes through as someone who has lived both sides of the work, from trading…
A practical LP guide to venture judgment, thesis discipline, and better deal flow.
Ileana Orris Valiente frames venture learning for next-gen family offices and other LPs in a way that stays grounded in how capital allocators actually work.
A candid LP-side look at manager selection, conviction, and why concentrated bets have to matter.
Swimming with Alligators treats Aram Verdean of Accolade Partners as a steady guide to LP thinking. His path through the 2008-2009 financial crisis, consulting, and earlier work at Andreessen Horowitz gives the conversation some useful weight, but the real focus is on how…
A data-first venture conversation that keeps asking what actually separates durable firms from the rest.
David Clark's conversation with Alexa Benz and Ernest Sepp works best when it stays close to the numbers and the mechanics behind them. The discussion keeps circling the same useful questions: which firms allocators keep backing, why venture's power law keeps sharpening, and…
A useful allocator check-in on venture's identity, storytelling, and the sources of capital founders choose.
Alexa Benz and Ernest Sepp frame this DDQ as more than a routine allocator check-in. It becomes a clear look at a venture market still trying to explain itself, with LP, GP, and other market views used to pressure-test where the industry is heading.
Allocator thinking, fund differentiation, and when raising capital starts to require more serious counsel.
This episode keeps allocator thinking grounded in concrete detail, with David Joe in conversation with Alexa Benz and Ernest Sepp as the discussion turns toward what helps a venture fund stand apart.
Demetri Kofinas interviews specialists on geopolitics, energy markets, AI, and finance at length.
BBC's daily business show, from toy-industry founders to Anthropic's Pentagon standoff.
Aram Verdean joins Alexa Benz and Ernest from the LP perspective.
Lara Banks opens with a winding allocator path, from trading locational spreads in power to private equity and venture work at McKinnick Capital Management.
Alexa Benz and Ernest open the conversation with Dario DeVette and Farhan Lalji.
Swimming with Alligators welcomes Vivek Jindal, CIO at Caprock.
Venture feels packed.
Joshua Berkowitz says Berko Corp moved from 60 years of real estate into venture because Canada’s real estate market flattened after 2020 and venture fits a long-term, tax-efficient family office mandate.
Quincy Brown opens with the career path that brought him here.
Capricorn Investment Group frames GP stakes as a way to back managers that can deliver both returns and impact, with Michaela Edwards and Marie-Céline Damnan explaining why the firm moved from ad hoc support to a dedicated strategy in 2021.
DDQ treats venture like a diligence file left open on the table.
Diego de Colombras, founding general partner of Descent Capital, says crypto fund-of-funds should be concentrated, not broadly diversified, because “access is not a strategy anymore.” He explains why Descent backs only crypto venture vehicles, only emerging managers, and only pre-seed and seed funds, with a target portfolio of 10 to 12 managers.
Alexa Benz and Ernest host Elizabeth Egan, a director at TIFF, on Swimming with Allocators, the VC podcast from the LP perspective.
David Joe joins Alexa Benz and Ernest Sepp for a crossover conversation about venture from the LP perspective.
An interview with Zach Ruchman, a private markets allocator at HB Wealth, discussing how to evaluate venture capital funds from a limited partner perspective.
Emerging manager alpha is the bet here, at least as Michael Downing tells it.
Brian O'Neill opens from his investing background.
Swimming with Alligators examines the emerging manager landscape through an LP lens, analyzing why thousands apply to programs like VC Labs despite harsh fundraising conditions.
Alexa Benz and Ernest Stepp interview Claire McLaughlin, partner at TLI Bedrock family office, discussing her unusual path from arts/nonprofit background to venture investing, family office strategy, and early stage investment approach.
Swimming with Alligators features LP Ileana Orris Valiente discussing her investment framework for the AI era, her contrarian thesis on generalists versus specialists, the three-layer AI stack model, and her Capital Decoded program democratizing LP education.
Swimming with Allocators: SWA’s Best of 2025 (Part 1) recaps the show’s year-end countdown with three named segments from Joshua Berkowitz, Kevin Russell, Rodland, and Jason Howard.
Wendy Lee, co-founder and CIO of Ivy Invest and former managing director of investments at Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, says her firm is building what she calls an “endowment in a box” for individual investors.
Jason Howard, founder of New Catalysts, discusses GP seeding and co-investing from an LP perspective, sharing his career journey from Goldman Sachs to Disney and insights on aligning partnerships in private markets.
Jay Rongji Wang, founder and managing partner of Primitiva Global, explains how a physicist’s training, software engineering, equity research, and startup operating work shape her LP-side investing lens.
Aperva Mehta, co-founder and managing partner at Summit Peak Investments, says he moved from a high school stock market competition to Lehman Brothers, Juilliard, and then a fund built around pre-seed and seed GPs plus direct Series B co-investments.
John Wolkin says Deloitte Ventures is a $150 million fund investing in Series A and Series B companies, with about 20% set aside for fund investments.
Vishnu Amble says Green Bear Group has made over 10 manager investments and now mixes seeding, fund investing, staking, and co-investing as a single-family-office platform.
Ernest Sweat and Alexa Benz use a DDQ format to debate founders misbehaving, venture firm survival tiers, and whether track record should be defined narrowly or by broader decision-making.
Benedict Langer says the best investors are “50% manager, 50% consultant, 50% rabbi,” and he ties that idea to his path from training as a pastor to investing as an LP.
Swimming with Allocators’ best-of 2025 Part 2 centers on Laura Thompson of Sapphire, Megan Reynolds, and the team from Integra Global Advisors, with Evan and Charlotte.
Alexa Benz and Ernest Sepp sit down with David Clark of Vencap International.
Hosts discuss the importance of entering conversations with an open mind, shaped by personal experiences of being different from peers.
Hosts interview an allocator about her career path and insights into venture capital investing.
Hosts interview Brian Brackeen about his Anchor Fund, discussing his journey into venture capital and the role of diversity in strong financial outcomes.
Hosts Alexa Binns and Earnest Sweat interview Evan Finkel and Charlotte Palmer about how LPs can provide feedback to emerging managers and trends in investing across geographies.
Hosts discuss whether the current IPO drought is a new normal for venture capital exits, sharing insights from the LP community.
Hosts discuss and debate what happened in 2023 and what to expect in 2024 in venture capital from an LP perspective.
An interview with Chris DuVos, founder of Ahoy Capital, discussing VC as a heartbreak business, building relationships with institutional investors, and the future of GPs.
Hosts interview a futurist LP about investment opportunities and trends in venture capital.
Hosts interview Tony Meadows, a portfolio manager at a large pension fund, discussing how GPs can build relationships with pension plans and use LP-to-LP conversations for fund sourcing.
Hosts interview a family office CIO about his journey, key criteria for selecting emerging managers, and advice for new allocators in venture capital.