Here are some key quotes from my latest podcast with Michael Neus – author, scholar and top industry veteran – talking about his book, investors, emerging managers, vendors and new hires:

“I remember that the first new purchase I had to make [when I joined Soros Fund Management in 1994] was a calculator because I only had an eight-decimal calculator. And the new private equity fund was $1.5 billion in subscriptions, and my calculator kept going into error mode.”

“I’ve always been interested and always wanted to be the general counsel. I find that sort of the nerdy part of my career is that I’ve always been interested in the intersection between law and regulation and the pragmatic way in which businesses operate within that construct.”

“I would say that one thing that stood out more than anything else [from co-writing my book] is the rise of outsourcing.”

“I think that the purpose of the book is to glean best practices across the entire industry, across time, and across firms.”

“I find that when I do ODD – operational due diligence – meetings with sophisticated investors, I always learned something because they see more people in my shoes than I do.”

“I think [when it comes to investors and the middle and back office] the important thing] is to understand in practice how things work to make sure that there’s a separation of powers, that there’s a check and balance system, and that whether it’s highly complex, thousands of people firm or a 10 person firm, that there is a sense that the investor comes first.”

“One thing I would suggest [to new managers], is to make sure that when a founder is looking for somebody who’s going to take on the administrative, non-investment side of the business, they go for not just personal loyalty, but also extreme competence.”

“One of the things that I look for [in a new hire], and it’s probably counterintuitive, but I look to see if it’s the right job for the candidate.”

“I think [out of the working-remote environment] you’re going to see a lot more due diligence, really trying to figure out how in practice people can create that check and balance system in terms of audit, in terms of consultants, in terms of reports.”