The venture capital ecosystem is grappling with fundamental questions about optimal fund sizing as emerging managers weigh the benefits of scaling operations against maintaining focused specialization strategies. The entire Screendoor team—Lisa Cawley, Layne Johnson, and Jamie Rhode—joined the Superclusters podcast to address critical questions from three emerging GPs about LP motivations, venture transparency, and scaling decisions.

Specialist VCs drive higher valuations and faster exits but fund returns converge with generalists, reshaping investment strategies.

According to PitchBook's Global Benchmarks report, private capital markets delivered a modest 0.47% return in Q1 2025, with significant divergence across asset classes as venture capital posted negative returns while private debt led performance gains.

Robert Hamilton Kelly, partner and global co-head of the Petershill Group at Goldman Sachs, argues that while expectations for a strong 2025 have been dampened by policy uncertainty, most private market investments target services-oriented sectors that aren't directly exposed to trade disruptions.

SEC Chairman Atkins wants to end wealth-based restrictions blocking retail investors from private market opportunities.

Harvard probe threatens to expose $13T private equity industry's questionable valuation practices affecting retirement plans nationwide.

Private credit faces mounting challenges as the $1.7T market confronts transparency demands, liquidity pressures, and fee scrutiny. Key developments include Octagon's $33B direct lending push, BlackRock's 401(k) expansion, and PGIM's $1T merger. Industry veterans warn of market recalibration as PE distributions hit crisis lows while semi-liquid funds surge to $344B, signaling sector maturation amid growing retail access and regulatory evolution.RetryClaude can make mistakes.

Cliff Asness, founder of $100 billion quantitative giant AQR Capital Management, delivered a scathing critique of private markets during Bloomberg's Money Stuff podcast, arguing that private equity firms exploit accounting rules to create artificially smooth returns while charging excessive fees for what amounts to disguised public market exposure. In the conversation, Asness called the industry's push to include private investments in retail 401(k) plans a "terrible idea" dr

Private credit markets flash warning signs with dangerous overheating in core segments as lenders abandon due diligence, while massive growth opportunities emerge across asset-based finance, Japanese markets, and wealth democratization. Major fundraising continues with ICG targeting €10B and strategic shifts toward AI integration in PE. Industry faces tension between record expansion and quality concerns.

Bow River Capital's Evergreen Fund reaches $850M in assets after 5 years, delivering 16.88% annualized net returns since inception.

Private markets face unprecedented challenges as State Street data shows PE underperformed public stocks across all timeframes for first time since 2000, while DoubleLine's Gundlach warns of CDO-like euphoria. Major firms pivot to Europe expansion amid frozen IPO markets, distressed opportunities in France, and growing retail access concerns. BlackRock targets $400B fundraising by 2030 as industry grapples with exit backlogs and liquidity mismatches threatening institutional

DoubleLine Group CEO Jeffrey Gundlach, one of Wall Street's most respected bond managers, delivered stark warnings about private credit markets during Bloomberg's Global Credit Forum in Los Angeles. Speaking with Lisa Abramowicz, Gundlach drew direct parallels between today's private credit boom and the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) mania that preceded the 2008 financial crisis.

In Brief: Bryan Armour, director of ETF and passive strategies research for North America at Morningstar Research Services, discussed...

Private markets face a critical inflection point with rating controversies exposing hidden risks, 30,000 unsold PE companies creating exit backlogs, and industry leaders warning the sector has "lost its way." Yet opportunities emerge through European expansion, AI infrastructure needs, and wealth democratization as regulators push to eliminate accredited investor barriers—reshaping the industry's future.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.

Steve Klinsky, founder and CEO of New Mountain Capital, sat down for an extensive interview about his 44-year journey in private equity, from co-founding Goldman Sachs' first buyout group in 1981 to building New Mountain into a $55 billion alternative asset manager. Klinsky, who witnessed the industry grow from 20 firms managing $1 billion to 5,000 firms managing $5 trillion, argues that private equity has evolved from a financing mechanism into a sophisticated business-build

In a recent Financial Times piece, Oxford professor Ludovic Phalippou mathematically dismantled private equity's favorite performance metric, revealing that Internal Rate of Return (IRR) calculations are fundamentally flawed and deliberately misleading. Major firms like KKR claim 25.5% gross IRRs since 1976, while Apollo boasts 39% gross returns—numbers that would theoretically create impossible wealth levels exceeding global GDP if actually sustained.

EQT AB finalizes its share repurchase program, buying back 4,931,018 shares for SEK 1.41 billion between March and May 2025.

Firsthand Technology Value Fund reports Q1 2025 results with total assets down to $1.49B and NAV per share declining to $0.12.

TriplePoint Private Venture Credit reports Q1 2025 results with total assets of $426.35M, NAV per share at $10.73, down from $11.11 in Q4 2024.

Guggenheim Credit Income Fund 2019 reports Q1 2025 results with total assets down to $1.59B and NAV per share at $0.85.