Episode summary
Disintermediating Pod Shops | Will England, Derek Drummond, and Tony Caruso Ep.501
Investment Management Operations
· · 53 min · Hosts: Ted Seides · Guests: Will England, Derek Drummond, Tony Caruso
Summary
Dockside Platforms is presented as a managed account structure that lets institutional allocators access individual portfolio managers with the infrastructure, risk systems, financing, and transparency of a multi-manager hedge fund underneath. Will England, Derek Drummond, and Tony Caruso argue that the model can deliver more cash efficiency, better control, and smoother equity-like returns while lowering fees versus traditional fund-of-funds or pass-through pod shop structures.
The conversation emphasizes that the platform grew out of a 2022 idea and now includes more than 60 managers and billions in assets. Derek and Tony describe how the model lets them find talented single-PM strategies that may not want to join a multi-manager platform, while still imposing explicit risk boxes, daily transparency, and the ability to hedge exposures dynamically. They say this gives them more insight into how managers trade in real time than they would get from traditional monthly fund reporting.
The guests also argue that managed accounts have lost their old stigma. Instead of adverse selection, they see positive selection from experienced managers who want independence and a direct relationship with large asset owners. They frame the business as a win-win: managers get capital and a platform, while allocators get lower costs, greater liquidity, and the ability to redeploy unencumbered cash across their broader portfolios.
Key takeaways
- Will England says Dockside gives allocators the same infrastructure as a multistrat platform while keeping the relationship structurally separate from Walleye’s main pod business.
- Derek Drummond says the platform helps SWIB access talent that would not fit a traditional GP relationship and lets him target risk more precisely.
- Tony Caruso says managed accounts can turn cash inefficiency into a portfolio advantage by using cheap financing and unencumbered cash.
- The guests say trade-level transparency lets them learn more about a manager in days than they would in years of a traditional fund relationship.
- Derek and Tony say the platform’s fee savings are explicit and meaningful, with no second layer of performance fees.
Notable quotes
“you learn more about manager on 3 days on Dside than 3 years if you invested in a fund”
“we're in the business of buying serial good decision makers”
“There's cash efficiency, transparency, better control over the cash, more flexibility, so many different things”
“The most surprising thing with this whole thing was how seamless the technology worked”
“When you see what they're buying and selling every day, we're in the business of buying serial good decision makers”
How the episode opens
Intrammon volatility is a lot higher than you think. If you get one month snapshots and then you get to see the ride throughout the month, it can be a very different story. Derek and I have joked before, you learn more about manager on 3 days on Dside than 3 years if you invested in a fund. You understand what they do, what their portfolio looks like, how it evolves. It's incredible.
When you see what they're buying and selling every day, we're in the business of buying serial good decision makers. And sometimes I joke that my job is playing fantasy football. You're trying to find the best athlete, put them in the right position, hopefully they all march down the field.
Watching how they trade in a draw down, you can see it. You can make much more informed decisions about the people that you're putting on the field. I'm Ted Sides and this is Capital Allocators.
Today's show discusses an innovative joint venture between asset owners and a multi-manager hedge fund that seeks to deliver smooth equity-like returns at a lower cost than available in the marketplace. My guests are Will England, Derek Drummond, and Tony Caruso. Will is the CEO and CIO of 12 billion multistrategy hedge fund Walleye Capital.
Derek is head of external public markets investing at the state of Wisconsin investment board and Tony is managing director of hedge funds at UTIMCO. Together they co-founded Docside, a managed account platform that gives institutional allocators direct access to portfolio managers using the infrastructure risk systems and financing capabilities of a multistrat underneath. Our conversation traces Docside's evolution from a bar stool brainstorm to a platform with more than 60 managers and billions in assets.
We discuss the accessibility of talent through managed accounts, differentiated manager sourcing, due diligence with trade level transparency, capital efficiency across portfolios, hedging, risk management, and onboarding and exiting managers on the platform.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- managed accounts
- multi-manager hedge funds
- capital efficiency
- risk management
- manager onboarding and due diligence
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Walleye Capital
- State of Wisconsin Investment Board
- UTIMCO
- Dockside Platforms
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Investment Management Operations, this episode and its artwork belong to Ted Seides – Allocator and Asset Management Expert. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
