Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry Bruce MacDonald – The Playbook for Building a Mid-Sized Endowment from Scratch (EP.495)
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Apr 6, 2026 
Bruce MacDonald, CEO and CIO who built VCU’s $2.5B endowment with a five-person team. He discusses building a portfolio from scratch, leaning into secular tailwinds like India, Vietnam, gold, and AI. He explains prioritizing liquidity to act in dislocations, team-based underwriting, sourcing niche managers, and lessons from past mistakes.
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Sold Everything And Rebuilt From Scratch
- VCU sold inherited portfolios in 2015–16 and rebuilt from ETFs to manager hires, choosing culture and sourcing over slow transition.
- Starting from scratch during a rising market was painful but helped build process, trust with the board, and sourcing capabilities.
Deliberately Exclude To Amplify Strengths
- Focus your limited team by excluding broad areas where you lack resources or conviction, for example China, Latin America, or private credit if not core.
- VCU runs a five-person team and deliberately left out asset classes to concentrate research effort.
Small Size Enables Niche Access
- Smaller size creates unique advantages: ability to write meaningful first checks into early-stage venture and country-specific allocations like Vietnam.
- VCU's $5–10m checks fit sub-$200m funds and small-country opportunities that large allocators cannot access.
