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Most people have developed a mechanism to reboot their mental compass when life’s curve balls become too incessant. Vacations, prayer, exercise, fasting, solitude, meditation, and other practices are a few ways that many use to reset their emotional bearings. Throughout the years, my go-to method for centering myself has been to dust off two books […]

The tone of a GP’s or placement agent’s fundraising frustration visibly and audibly changes when these individuals believe their product truly embodies or delivers what LPs have historically sought, yet it still fails to gain the expected traction. Even the most even-keeled sponsors find it difficult to hide their agitation when they believe perennial LP

From Judas Iscariot, Benedict Arnold, Marcus Brutus, to Mir Jafar, history is strewn with cautionary tales of figures who played both sides. Whether for eventual personal gain, due to a weak philosophical compass, an overemphasis on decorum, or merely a shortsighted marketing strategy, playing both sides almost always ends poorly. During interactions between GPs and

No politically correct or sanitized corporate jargon can ever rival the pure candor and usefulness of “off the record” or “informal” conversations, also known as “water cooler talk”. There is nothing better than getting a few allocators together to discuss the state of affairs without pretentiousness or judgment. The investment world is full of landmines,

It is remarkable to ponder that, at the most basic level, the right combination of words and numbers can trigger desired actions. The situation is no different when GPs are trying to convince LPs to loosen their purse strings. Of course, these words and numbers must be underpinned by authenticity, truthfulness, confirmability, and coherent delivery;

Sometimes I sit and reminisce on how amazing it would be if the only changes that occurred in life were improvements. Imagine life without the negative effects of aging. Imagine life without the certainty of death. Imagine a life where you found your burning passion early, and this flame never burned out. Imagine a life

“Great question,” “We have never been asked that before,” and “You ask the best and most thoughtful questions” are just a few compliments investment managers use to sweet-talk prospective LPs and help keep the conversation positively flowing. I won’t judge the validity of such praise, but although flattery can be a powerful tool in many

I am willing to bet a good amount of stablecoin that almost every LP is familiar with that dreaded email or voicemail from a GP requesting their availability for a brief phone or virtual call. The words in the communication are always mundane but also eerily ominous. A novice LP would naively see or hear

Both LPs and GPs will agree that during the early stages of courtship, there is usually and inevitably a lull in proceedings. The reasons for this pause are wide-ranging, and include future meeting scheduling issues, internal bureaucratic dog and pony shows within allocator organizations, the time required for GPs to gather a laundry list of

The ongoing vicious cycle of reduced M&A and IPO exit activity, which leads to limited distributions to LPs and subsequently causes a decrease in new investment activity due to a decline in investable capital, appears to be the primary topic of discussion among everyone in the private assets ecosystem these days. Throw into the mix