Modern Capital: The Private Markets Podcast

Marc Andrew

Conversations with leaders building the infrastructure of private markets.

Episodes

  1. Tens of millions of trades and no one is ready

    6D AGO

    Tens of millions of trades and no one is ready

    Tens of millions of trades are coming to private markets in the near term.  In this episode, Andrew Tarver lays out math that should get everyone interested in scaling private markets very focused indeed: Tarver is one of private markets' most important builders. He's co-founded a unicorn, dozen other companies, ran Capco UK as CEO at 35, and now helps lead private markets strategy across Motive Partners' portfolio - including InvestCloud, which runs $4 trillion in managed accounts. Here's the problem: The industry is staring down a whole new version of the Paperwork Crisis with even a 7-8% model portfolio shift (it'll likely be higher).  That's hundreds of billions in new allocations. And it's not just the initial orders. After a big public markets move, model portfolios automatically rebalance. Markets drop 15%, you're suddenly over-allocated to privates, and the system triggers a wave of redemptions to get back in line.  Every quarter, every drift correction, every strat change generates more orders.  At $10K-$20K ticket sizes, that's tens of millions of orders. Per year. Today's infrastructure handles about 1,000 orders per operational FTE annually. The industry's current NIGO (failed trade) rate sits at 8%. Do the math: At current staffing ratios, scaling this requires 48,000 new operational staffAt $200K–$300K per head, someone needs to find $10 billion to pay themAnd that's just one platform — before RIAs, 401(k)s, or fintechs like Robinhood and Revolut enterTarver's analogy is perfect: private markets today are where payments were 15 years ago: paper slips, manual processing, three copies of everything.  The industry needs to go from imprinter to tap-to-pay. His answer: digital standards, rules-based infrastructure, and accountability at every node... the same playbook he ran at Goldman, UBS, and Merrill's for two decades. "We are no longer in the Wild West." This is the most important infrastructure conversation in private markets right now. Congratulations to Tarver and the entire Motive team - including Rob Heyvaert - for leading this charge.  Huge episode. Listen to the full thing!

    59 min
  2. The Plumber of Private Markets: A conversation with Rob Heyvaert

    11/27/2025

    The Plumber of Private Markets: A conversation with Rob Heyvaert

    What happens when the man who engineered the clearing system for the euro at age 25 turns his full attention on private markets? Rob Heyvaert has spent three decades building the plumbing of finance: founding companies acquired by IBM and FIS, scaling Capco to 7,000 people across 21 offices, and now orchestrating a portfolio at Motive Partners that includes InvestCloud, FNZ, Daphne, CAIS, and others shaping how capital flows. In this inaugural episode of Modern Capital, Rob makes a striking claim: private markets are approaching their "Bezos moment" - the point where customer obsession finally becomes possible, and necessary. What you'll learn: The infrastructure gap: Financial services has spent decades building siloed systems that barely communicate. Rob explains why private markets now offer a rare opportunity to rebuild from first principles—and why legacy systems are the real barrier to customer delight. Why 60/40 portfolios are a historical accident. Institutional investors have 40% allocations to private markets. Retail investors have 2%. Rob argues this isn't about risk... it's about infrastructure that was never built to serve the individual investor. The volume problem that will determine winners. If model portfolios move to even 5% private market allocations, transaction volumes will increase 80-100x. Most providers aren't remotely prepared. Rob explains who will be. What your children's wealth management looks like. Will they use a "super app" that knows everything about them? Or will they still rely on Johnny the wealth advisor - who might be human, might be AI, might be something in between? Rob offers a surprisingly nuanced view.

    42 min

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Conversations with leaders building the infrastructure of private markets.