Billion Dollar Backstory – Details, episodes & analysis

When you think about European credit investing, most people assume it’s only for the big shops with billions under management. Agata Dornan, Founder & CIO of Chepstow Lane, is here to challenge that, and she’s doing it with smarts, grit, and real talk about what it really takes to succeed.

Agata’s path to launching her own boutique wasn’t a straight line. As a first-generation American who started out on the pre-med track at Middlebury, she discovered her passion for finance by accident (thanks to one random economics class) and never looked back. 

In this Episode, Agata sits down with Stacy to discuss: 

• How a single economics class flipped the script on her entire career
• Why her liberal arts background is a secret weapon (and how it helped her land Chepstow Lane’s first big allocation)
• Lessons from her time at Soros (including what it was like working on Wall Street after 9/11)
• The hard truths every boutique founder needs to know about building a team and finding the right investors
• How Chepstow Lane is winning by focusing on the white spaces most firms overlook
• What she’s seeing in European credit today and why it might be time to pay attention 

About Agata Dornan:

Agata led Soros Fund Management’s European credit investments from 2012 to 2020, managing corporate credit and financials, and became a partner and portfolio manager in 2016. Before that, she was a distressed research analyst at BlueMountain Capital in London, and she started her buy-side career at Soros in 2005 on the Distressed team, which later spun out to form Camulos Capital. She moved to London with them in 2006.

She began her career at Deutsche Bank in NYC as an investment banking analyst in Energy and Chemicals. Agata has been investing in the US since 2005 and in Europe since 2006, with deep experience in restructurings across sectors and credit cycles.

Agata graduated from Middlebury College in 2002 with a degree in International Politics and Economics, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, and completed programs at LSE and Tuck Business School. She lives in London with her husband and two children and is a dual US and Polish national

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Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros.Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

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Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

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Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

Stacy and Rob Morier met over 25 years ago at Julius Baer Investment Management, long before podcasting, LinkedIn, and fund manager personal brands were even a thing.

Fast forward to today, and Rob’s resume reads like an adventure novel. He’s done it all. From Wall Street, to teaching the next generation about all things VC as a Professor at Drexel University, he knows a thing or two about how asset managers can go from scrappy startups to stable, growth-ready firms.

In this Episode, Rob and Stacy dig into: 

• Rob’s backstory – how a history major with dreams of being a teacher ended up on Wall Street
• Lessons learned at a boutique firm with $1.6 billion AUM that grew to $76 billion
• Rob’s “middle innings” specialty: helping emerging managers bridge the gap from scrappy to institutional
• Why being able to “ride the bike while building it” matters for emerging managers
• What he learned about developing resilience and a founder’s mindset through researching teenage lifeguards 
• How raw, hard conversations with his mom behind the mic led him to host the Dakota Live! podcast

This is a conversation about growth, grit, and the power of coming home to yourself. Tune in and meet Rob! 

More About Rob Morier:

Rob Morier is a professor at Drexel University, where he teaches courses on venture capital, early-stage finance, and private markets. With 25 years in business development and investor relations, he’s passionate about empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs and investors.

His research explores environmental factors in ocean lifeguarding and entrepreneurship, studying how lifeguard training fosters resilience, leadership, and decision-making. His work, based in Wildwood Crest, NJ, has been featured in Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange, Financial Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Outside academia, Rob co-founded Twelve Pound Productions LLC and hosts the Dakota Live! Podcast, where he interviews leading investors and shares insights on business and leadership. He also advises asset managers on fundraising strategies, leveraging his experience raising billions in assets.

Rob lives in Philadelphia with his family and enjoys rowing, running, and biking.

Want More Help With Storytelling?

 +  Subscribe to my newsletter to get a weekly email that helps you use your words to power your growth:https://www.stacyhavener.com/subscribe  

 - - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

- - -
Thinking about expanding your investor base beyond the US? Not sure where to start? Take our quick quiz to find out if your firm is ready to go global and get all the info at billiondollarbackstory.com/gemcap

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

There’s nothing worse than walking into a conference room full of investors. Suddenly, everything you thought you knew about running a great meeting goes out the window.

You’re wondering who to make eye contact with, whether anyone is actually interested, and why no one is saying anything. 

Crowded meetings are awkward. They’re intimidating. But they aren’t impossible to rock. You just need a good strategy, and that’s exactly what Stacy’s giving you today. 

In this Episode, she breaks down: 

• Her go-to strategy for preparing for a crowded meeting 
• How to get the inside scoop on who’s attending ahead of time 
• The trick that’ll help you stay laser focused on the RIGHT decision maker during the meeting 
• Simple ways to shake out the awkwardness when no one’s talking

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

Want More Help With Storytelling?

 +  Subscribe to my newsletter to get a weekly email that helps you use your words to power your growth:https://www.stacyhavener.com/subscribe  

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist, behavioral finance expert, and New York Times bestselling author who helps organizations understand the intersection of mind and markets.

In this episode, Dr. Daniel Crosby and I discuss:

• There are fewer Chief Behavioral Officers than people who have walked on the moon… so what the heck is a Chief Behavioral Officer?
• Daniel’s backstory: How he combined his familiarity with financial advising (his dad was an advisor!) with his love of psychology to break away from counseling and get into behavioral finance 
• The science of why storytelling works:
  • How our energy efficient, metabolically expensive brains transform complicated decisions into easier questions
  • Yuri Hassan’s research on brain scans and storytelling
• Are highly intelligent humans like Nobel Prize winners immune to the powers of storytelling?
• Are people buying a fund or are they hiring a human?
  • CAIA’s research study on qualitative vs quantitative due diligence
  • A research study on hiring biases
  • Cialdini's 6 Principles of Influence
• The science behind authenticity and how it helps us connect with people 
• How Daniel’s authentic story about his struggle with Diet Coke went viral and got retweeted by Elon Musk 
• Is storytelling manipulative?
• What qualities a successful salesperson needs (brace yourself for this one)

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Report: CAIA’s report on qualitative due diligence vs quantitative due due diligence

Podcast: Standard Deviations | EP144 with Stacy Havener - The Power of a Story 

Book: Personal Benchmark: Integrating Behavioral Finance and Investment Management by Charles Widger and Daniel Crosby 

Book: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

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Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

Why you need to work on your backstory, the theory behind the backstory framework, how to use the framework, and common mistakes to avoid. 

I cover the 5 most frequently asked questions about backstory:

1. What is your backstory and why should we care?
2. What is the theory behind storytelling?
3. What makes a good backstory?
4. Does storytelling actually work in the investment biz (Spoiler: Yes, it does)
5. What are the biggest mistakes people make in storytelling?

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Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

Words matter in a numbers-driven industry. I'm your host, Stacy Havener, founder of Havener Capital, and I've raised over $8B that has led to $30B for investment boutiques... against the odds. How did I do this? Storytelling. 

Tune in as I interview stories of founders, portfolio managers, and investors who have launched, seeded, and scaled billion dollar businesses. Discover strategies that can help you turn your stories into sales. Get actionable tips I wish I received when I started my entrepreneurial journey over a decade ago. 

Tune in for the inspo, stay for the stories, then go and tell yours.

Whether you’re raising capital on your own or thinking about hiring someone to help, chances are… you’re focused on all the wrong things.

The biggest lesson Stacy learned while raising $8B for boutique asset managers (which ultimately helped drive over $30B in follow-on AUM)? Flashy resumes, market hot takes, and smooth talkers don’t close deals.

The fundraisers who consistently crush it in meetings share four specific traits, and in this Episode, Stacy’s breaking them down, plus:

• Why a CFA and a killer contact list aren’t enough to raise real capital
• The one thing allocators actually care about (hint: it’s not your market commentary)
• Why asking great questions beats delivering the perfect pitch
• What BQ is and why it might matter more than IQ or EQ

This is Story Snacks, a bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in under 20 minutes a week.

Want More Help With Storytelling? 

 +  Subscribe to my newsletter to get a weekly email that helps you use your words to power your growth: https://www.stacyhavener.com/subscribe 

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

Raising capital starts with real relationships. And in 2025, social media is the easiest way to make those connections…right?

Well… not always.

What if the allocators you’re trying to reach aren’t posting? You can’t comment. You can’t DM them. Heck, maybe they don’t even accept your connection requests on LinkedIn. 

Then what? How do you reach someone who seems impossible to reach? How do you start a conversation without sending an email pitch that gets buried?

If these questions sound familiar, you’re in for a treat with this Episode because Stacy is breaking down: 

• Why skipping LinkedIn could be a huge mistake (just because allocators aren’t posting doesn’t mean they’re not watching)
• What to do when an allocator really isn’t on social at all
• How to use the give, give, give, ask framework to book more meetings when social media isn’t an option

This is Story Snacks! A bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in less than 20 minutes per week.

Want More Help With Storytelling? 

 +  Subscribe to my newsletter to get a weekly email that helps you use your words to power your growth: https://www.stacyhavener.com/subscribe 

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

You know storytelling is powerful. You’ve heard that facts don’t close deals—feelings do.

But when it comes time to talk about yourself, it suddenly feels...awkward.

When is the right time to tell a story? And how do you know if you’re sharing too much or sounding too braggy? 

Listen in as Stacy tackles these questions and breaks down: 

• The #1 storytelling mistake fund managers make 
• Why telling your backstory can feel awkward (and how to share yours without sounding braggy)
• How to ditch the boring resume speak and make your story stick

The secret to crafting a story that’s short, powerful, and memorable.

This is Story Snacks! A bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in less than 20 minutes per week!

Want More Help With Storytelling?

 +  Subscribe to my newsletter to get a weekly email that helps you use your words to power your growth:https://www.stacyhavener.com/subscribe  

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership

As a boutique, blending in isn’t just a mistake; it’s a death sentence.

You don’t need to be BlackRock. You need to own what makes your fund different. 

But let’s be real: finding your edge—and actually leading with it—can feel like showing up to a black-tie event in your pajamas. Awkward. Exposed. Uncomfortable.

That’s why in this Episode, Stacy breaks down:

• Why trying to prove you’re “better” is a losing game for boutiques
• The 3D Model for uncovering what actually makes your fund stand out
• How to flip your mindset and start viewing your “weaknesses” as strengths investors value (and spotlighting those strengths in meetings) 
• The #1 edge boutiques have over the bigs in allocators’ eyes (and how to lean into it) 

This is Story Snacks! A bite-sized, jam-packed series for fund managers who are ready to master strategic storytelling in less than 20 minutes per week!

- - -
Make The Boutique Investment Collective part of your Billion Dollar Backstory. Gain access to invaluable resources, expert coaches, and a supportive community of other boutique founders, fund managers, and investment pros. Join Havener Capital’s exclusive membership