Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private Markets Michael Sidgmore

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s episode features a masterclass in private markets from a guest who has seen it all.
Jim Strang is a deeply experienced private equity professional who has been part of the industry as a GP, LP, investor, consultant, and now a teacher, board member, and advisor to a number of firms.
I’d probably have to spend a good few pages going through everything that Jim has done and is currently doing in private markets. He’s a practitioner and a teacher, an expert and an operator. After an illustrious career that was punctuated as Chairman EMEA of Hamilton Lane, one of the largest LPs in private markets globally, he now serves in a number of board and advisor roles, which include Chairman of the Board at HgCapital Trust plc, Senior Advisor to CVC Capital Partners, Advisor at Bain & Company, and Director at Pictet Alternative Advisors.
Jim and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of private markets and what the future holds for large and small funds alike, as well as LPs. We discussed:
The step function changes that take private markets from $15T to $30T of AUM.Why traditional asset managers may struggle to replicate the capabilities of alternative asset managers in private markets.The importance of partnerships having a clear ambition and alignment if they want to build a scaled platform.The challenges that managers in the middle face as large platforms and specialist managers are the differentiated firms in the eyes of LPs.Why GPs need to find innovative solutions to address the needs of different types of investors.Why building a strong brand is crucial to success in the wealth channel.Thanks Jim for coming on the show to share your wisdom and experience on private markets.
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency. 
To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and more fund sponsors and asset managers are turning to Ultimus, a leading service provider that blends high tech and high touch in unique and customized fund administration and middle office solutions for a diverse and growing universe of over 450 clients and 1,800 funds, representing $500 billion assets under administration, all handled by a team of over 1,000 professionals. Ultimus offers a wide range of capabilities across registered funds, private funds and public plans, as well as outsourced middle office services. Delivering operational excellence, Ultimus helps firms manage the ever-changing regulatory environment while meeting the needs of their institutional and retail investors. Ultimus provides comprehensive operational support and fund governance services to help managers successfully launch retail alternative products. 
Visit www.ultimusfundsolutions.com to learn more about Ultimus’ technology enhanced services and solutions or contact Ultimus Executive Vice President of Business Development Gary Harris on email at gharris@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Message
02:06 Podcast Theme Song
02:44 Guest Introduction: Jim Strang
02:52 Jim Strang's Career Overview
05:35 State of Private Markets: Challenges and Opportunities
08:04 Fundraising Dynamics in Private Equity
11:25 European Private Equity: Evolution and Insights
15:01 Scaling Challenges and Ambitions in Private Equity
25:41 Technology and Innovation in Private Equity

Welcome to the 10th episode of a collaboration between iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream. 
Here’s the latest episode of the Monthly Alts Pulse, a live conversation in studio with Lawrence Calcano, the Chairman & CEO of iCapital, who as the leader of a platform that is responsible for the majority of individual and advisor-led investment flows into the alts space, has his finger on the pulse of what’s happening in private markets.
In today’s episode, Lawrence and I welcome a special guest. Hightower Advisors Managing Director, Head of Alternative Investments Robert Picard joins us to discuss the operational challenges and solutions in private markets.
Robert has spearheaded the creation of the Alternative Investment Platform offering at Hightower, where he and the team curates investment opportunities in private markets for their advisor teams through research and due diligence. Hightower has 140 advisor teams that collectively manage over $150B AUM. Robert has a wealth of experience in private markets. He was instrumental in building four multi-billion dollar alternative investment platforms at The Carlyle Group / Rock Creek, Optima Fund Management, RBC Capital markets, and State Street / InfraHedge. Most recently, Robert served as Head of Alternative Investments at First Republic Wealth Management.
On this episode, Lawrence, Robert, and I had a fascinating and lively discussion. We covered a number of topics, including:
How wealth platforms like Hightower and infrastructure operating systems like iCapital are creating straight-through-processing solutions across the lifecycle of a private markets investment for the wealth channel.The importance of bringing alts directly to the advisor’s desktop.Why improving the experience for advisors in private markets is critical to increasing adoption.Why it’s important to build across the continuum of needs for different types of high-net-worth investors.The importance of customization and differentiation with private markets solutions for advisors.What is the biggest unlock to enabling greater flows of capital into private markets?What are the implications of opening up the alts superhighway?Thanks Lawrence and Robert for a great episode … looking forward to next month’s conversation!

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s podcast is a special show with 3i Members co-founder Mark Gerson.
Alt Goes Mainstream’s first sponsor is 3i Members, an investing network built on community, collaboration and capital that was co-founded by Mark Gerson, Billy Libby, and Teddy Gold. 3i Members is a global deal network for accomplished private investors. Members uncover, share, and diligence high-quality investment opportunities in private markets. The network offers more than just investment opportunities, providing access to expert databases, legal services, international events and retreats, masterclasses, asset allocation workshops, and other resources.
Mark is a serial entrepreneur who has built a number of communities that have revolved around some form of crowdsourcing.
In addition to founding 3i Members, Mark founded Gerson Lehman Group, a knowledge brokerage and primary research firm, that figured out how to use the power of community to serve its customers. He also founded United Hatzalah, a crowd-sourced system of volunteer first response that enables Israelis to be treated within the moments separating life from death following any medical trauma. He also co-founded and is the Chairman of African Mission Healthcare, which enables Christian medical missionaries to provide clinical care, training, and medical infrastructure for people throughout Africa.
From co-founding United Hatzalah of Israel to building a unique community in the private markets space with 3i Members, Mark shares his experiences and the profound impact of community and crowdsourcing in both philanthropy and private markets. The episode dives into the intricacies of building capable, engaged communities, the conceptual differences between a network and a community, and the unique approach of 3i Members in creating a collaborative investing landscape. We discussed:
Mark’s journey and the significance of pro-social behaviors and intellectual curiosity among investors. How 3i Members facilitates a space for private investors to share, scrutinize, and engage with high-quality investment opportunities. The importance of asking the right questions in investment. ROI-based philanthropyThe value of non-transactional relationships within communities.Thanks Mark for coming on the show to share your stories and wisdom.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to the Mainstream: The Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast Intro
00:42 Introducing 3i Members: A New Era of Investing
01:11 Mark Gerson's Journey: Building Communities and Crowdsourcing Success
02:59 The Power of Community in Crowdsourced First Response
07:59 3i Members: Crowdsourcing in the Investment World
09:44 The Art of Building and Maintaining Quality Networks
12:02 The Philosophy of No-Selling in Building Trust and Community
14:59 Engineering Serendipity: Fostering Organic Growth and Engagement
19:59 Investment Strategies and Learning from the 3i Community
24:40 The Future of Investing with 3i Members
34:51 ROI in Philanthropy: A New Approach to Giving
40:09 Closing Thoughts

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s podcast provided us with an in-depth tour of financial markets with a student of both finance and history. And what a tour guide we had. Marc Rubinstein, an investment professional with 25 years of experience researching and investing in financial services joined us on the show.
Marc started his career as an equity research analyst, where he ultimately became a MD at Credit Suisse, leading the European banking sector equity research group before joining Lansdowne Partners. Lansdowne was one of Europe’s largest hedge funds, where he was a Partner and managed the award-winning $4B global long/short financials equity fund.
He retired from Lansdowne in 2016 and, after going back to school to obtain his MBA from LBS, he launched Net Interest, a wildly popular and incredibly thoughtful newsletter on financial sector themes. I find Marc’s thoughts and views on Net Interest equal parts insightful and digestible. Marc is also an active value investor and early-stage fintech investor, where he was an early investor in Revolut. He’s also a contributor to Bloomberg Opinion.
Marc and I had a fascinating conversation about a number of themes that are defining private markets. We discussed:
Why most businesses are marketplaces and what that means for how one should evaluate a business.Whether or not private credit is a systemic risk.Why the Silicon Valley Bank crisis occurred and why private credit firms are filling the void.Where to look for new asset classes and how they become institutionalized.The nuts and bolts of alternative asset managers as businesses.Why pod shops have featured in the hedge fund world and why PE and VC will have different versions of pod shops.Why content is key for financial services businesses.How financial media has evolved and why the narrative arc of companies is a perspective that Marc enjoys coveringThanks Marc for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom on financial services and financial markets.
Chapters
Introduction and Background
Getting into the World of Finance
Banks Today and the Rise of Alternative Asset Managers
Regulatory Concerns and Private Credit
Systemic Risk and Excessive Growth
Identifying Risks in Private Credit
Scale and Returns in Asset Management
The Growth of Large Platforms in Private Markets
The Equilibrium of Scale and Returns
The Convergence of Traditional and Alternative Asset Management
The Trend of Evergreen Funds in Private Markets
The Acquisition of GIP by BlackRock
The Competition Between BlackRock and Blackstone
The Merging of Traditional and Alternative Asset Management
The Future of Active Management
Lessons from the Financial Crisis
The Impact of Media on Financial Services
The Trend of Permanent Capital in Private Markets
The Evolution of Media in Financial Services
The Role of Content in Financial Services
The Importance of Understanding Financial Services History
The Relevance of Deep Analysis in Financial Services
Value Creation through Content
Different Paths for Content Businesses
Purity of Content in Financial Services
The Future of Content in Financial Services
The Impact of AI on Investment Recommendations
The Value of Artisanal Work and Intelligence
Pod Shops in Private Markets
GP Stakes as an Analogy to Pod Shops
The Psychology of Discounting Private Markets
The Growth and Sustainability of Private Markets
Infrastructure as an Interesting Alternative Investment

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s episode features an enabler of the micro VC movement who has now scaled his business into one of the industry’s larger fund administrators. Braughm Ricke is the Founder and CEO of Aduro Advisors, a leading fund administrator that has carved out a sterling reputation in the VC world.
He's grown the business to over $114B+ AUA and over 450+ customers, that counts many of the leading VC funds, including Lowercarbon, Cowboy Ventures, Ahoy Capital, Craft, Haystack, Boost VC, and others, as customers. They've also managed to combine a high-quality service with innovative technology and a partnership strategy that has enabled them to differentiate from other fund admins.
Prior to founding Aduro, Braughm was the founding CFO of True Ventures, a leading Silicon Valley VC fund. Braughm is incredibly knowledgeable about the private markets space more generally and is also an active investor in the private markets startup ecosystem, investing early in the likes of Carta, Allocate, Passthrough, Arch, and others.
Braughm and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of fund administration. We discussed:
Why Braughm started with emerging managers and the unmet need he saw to serve them.Why he believed the emerging manager landscape would grow.How he’s moved upstream beyond venture capital clients.How fund admin can integrate technology.Will AI change fund administration?Advice Braughm would give to founders building in private markets.Thanks Braughm for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom on building a core infrastructure provider for private markets.

Welcome to the 9th episode of a collaboration between iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream. 
Here’s the latest episode of the Monthly Alts Pulse, a live conversation in studio with Lawrence Calcano, the Chairman & CEO of iCapital, who as the leader of a platform that is responsible for the majority of individual and advisor-led investment flows into the alts space, has his finger on the pulse of what’s happening in private markets.
In today’s episode, Lawrence and I welcome a special guest. Arax Investment Partners CEO Haig Ariyan, a wealth management industry veteran, joins us to discuss the evolution of wealth management and the role that alts can and should play in wealth client portfolios. Together with RedBird Capital, an $8.6 billion AUM private equity firm focused on financial services and sports and media, Haig and Arax are partnering with wealth and asset management firms and teams to build a differentiated platform that takes lessons learned and deep experience from Haig's background running wealth management businesses. Following its recent acquisition of $9B AUM U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors, Arax now has over $16.5B in AUM and $13B in regulatory AUM.
On this episode, Lawrence, Haig, and I had a fascinating and lively discussion. We covered a number of topics, including:
The importance of independent and hybrid platforms in wealth management.How to build culture at a wealth management firm.How advisors can utilize alternative investments to benefit their clients.How the industry can collaborate to enhance client outcomes and ensure informed investment decisions.How innovative fund structures could change the landscape of private markets.Thanks Lawrence and Haig for a great episode … looking forward to next month’s conversation!