An Interview with Entrepreneur Anthony Scaramucci

Introduction

Anthony Scaramucci is the Founder and Co-Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital. He is the author of four books: The Little Book of Hedge Funds, Goodbye Gordon Gekko, Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole (a 2016 Wall Street Journal bestseller), and Trump: The Blue-Collar President. Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman, LLC in 2001. Earlier, he was a vice president in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs &amp Co.

In 2016, Scaramucci was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100
Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year – New York” Award in the Financial Services category. Anthony is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), vice chair of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board, a board member of both The Brain Tumor Foundation and Business Executives for National Security (BENS), and a Trustee of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation. He was a member of the New York City Financial Services Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2012.

In November 2016, he was named to President-Elect Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee. In June 2017, he was named the Chief Strategy Officer of the EXIM Bank. He served as the White House Communications Director for a period in July 2017. Scaramucci, a native of Long Island, New York, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

Are you an entrepreneur looking for your MVP built? Get in touch with us at hello@devathon.com

Devathon has built software for companies backed by the world’s leading investors like Betaworks, Greylock, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, KPCB, Lightspeed and many more.

In an exclusive interview with Devathon, SkyBridge Capital Founder and Co-Managing Partner Anthony Scaramucci traces his journey so far and his plans for the years ahead.

When did you first discover your entrepreneurial spirit and How is your entrepreneurial career developing so far?

My first taste of entrepreneurship was on Long Island as a paper delivery boy for Newsday. I wasn’t satisfied with my initial route, so I went door to door hawking subscriptions until my distribution was the biggest in my town. Building my own business on the back of hard work and ingenuity was extremely gratifying, and I’ve had the entrepreneurial bug ever since.

What has been the biggest success and biggest failure stories you went through?

You could say SkyBridge is both my biggest success and my biggest failure. I initially founded SkyBridge in 2005 as a hedge fund seeing business, but we weren’t particularly good at seeding and by 2009 were on our last legs. Literally weeks away from closing up shop. An opportunity presented itself to by the alternative investments group at Citi, which was divesting assets to meet capital requirements amid the financial crisis. I was able to acquire those assets, pivot our business model and grow the firm into what it is today.

How did you come up with the idea for SkyBridge Capital and how did it all start?

Again the original idea for SkyBridge was a head fund seeding platform, but that didn’t work well. Great entrepreneurs aren’t stubborn and know how to pivot. When the Citi assets came available, we structured a creative deal to onboard the entire alts team and build out a world class independent fund-of-funds business. We deliver great value to investors as the outsourced chief investment officer of their alternative investments sleeve.

Tell us something about SkyBridge Capital.

SkyBridge is a well-oiled investment business, but the work environment is
more entrepreneurial than your average Wall Street firm. The SALT Conference is a great example of that. If someone has an idea that we can execute, we encourage our employees to run with the ball. We are not a highly bureaucratic organization.

What are your growth plans for the near future?

We plan to at least double the assets under management over the next five years by growing our flagship funds and introducing new investment solutions. One example of that is our SkyBridge Opportunity Zone REIT. We identified a tremendous investment opportunity and built a best-in-class solution for clients. We plan to repeat that several times over the next few years.

Looking back, what did you learn and what would you have done differently?

Before you take the entrepreneurial leap, make sure you are prepared for it. I probably left Goldman too early to start Oscar Capital because I wanted to have my own business. The result was a lot of work and excessive stress, although ultimately we made a success of it. Even though it wasn’t my nature, I probably should’ve cut my teeth for a few more years at the mothership before striking out on my own.

In your opinion, what are the hurdles that keep people away from starting an entrepreneurial career? What advice would you give to the new entrepreneurs?

Self-doubt and self-consciousness. There is security in a salary, the comfort that every two weeks you’ll have enough money in your bank account to meet basic needs. Entrepreneurship is equal parts scary when you’re struggling and exhilarating when you gain momentum. My best advice would be to make sure you have the right partners. Everyone thinks they can do it alone, but partnering with talented, high-character people will be the biggest determinant to your success.

Are you an entrepreneur looking for your MVP built? Get in touch with us at hello@devathon.com

Devathon has built software for companies backed by the world’s leading investors like Betaworks, Greylock, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, KPCB, Lightspeed and many more.