Solving the Pre-IPO Liquidity Problem with Ian Leisegang, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of 3Spoke Capital

What do you tell a client sitting on a multi-million-dollar position in a pre-IPO company who needs liquidity today but doesn't want to sell and forfeit the upside? For most wealth advisors, private bankers, and RIAs, the honest answer has been "there isn't a great option." Ian Leisegang, CFA, Managing Partner of 3Spoke Capital, has spent the last 15 years building one with his fellow Managing Partner and Co-Founder Steve Gold.

In this dual-release episode of Asset Backed and ATLalts, Ian walks through the structured secondaries strategy that 3Spoke pioneered — a hybrid solution that sits at the intersection of equity, debt, and alternatives. Rather than buying a shareholder's position outright, 3Spoke advances liquidity against the position and becomes a joint venture partner through the eventual exit, sharing in the upside while taking first-money-out downside protection.

Ian covers:

• His path from South African CPA to Deutsche Bank derivatives to JP Morgan private banking — and the single $2M liquidity problem he couldn't solve for a client that led him and partner Steve to launch 3Spoke
• The mechanics of a structured secondary: how a $100 position becomes a $30–$50 advance with no taxable event, no forfeited upside, and a partnership through to IPO or sale
• Why "growth equity" — the crossover between late-stage venture and early private equity — is the most underserved liquidity zone in the market
• The use cases: common shareholders, option-holders facing expiration, LP fund interests, GP-led secondaries, and GP carried-interest advances
• Portfolio names from 3Spoke's history, including DocuSign, Airbnb, Uber, Canva, Databricks, and eToro
• The "three spokes" origin story: why no structured deal closes without aligning the capital provider, the seller, and the underlying company or GP
• Information asymmetry on pre-IPO platforms and why retail buyers of common stock are routinely paying the wrong price
• The risk framework: targeting companies with $250M–$500M revenue, $1B+ enterprise values, 30–100% growth — and underwriting to 75–95% of investments returning at least 1x with 60–70% downside mitigation
• The problem 3Spoke solves: shareholders, employees, founders, GPs, and LPs who need liquidity from a private position but don't want to forfeit the upside of a sale
• The structure: an advance (typically 30–50% of position value) against the equity, paired with a minority share of the upside through to exit — not a loan, not a buyout
• The "growth equity" sweet spot: late-stage venture meets early private equity — companies with $250M–$500M in revenue and $1B+ enterprise values
• Five use-case categories: common shareholders, preferred shareholders, option-holders facing expiration, LP fund interests, and GP-led secondaries (including carry advances)
• The asset allocation case: structured secondaries offer asymmetric returns — equity-like upside with debt-like first-money-out protection
• The competitive edge: 15 years of structured deal experience, deep cap-table information, and partnership flexibility through to liquidity event

If you advise clients with concentrated pre-IPO positions, sit on an investment committee evaluating secondaries managers, or run a GP that needs to deliver DPI to LPs without exiting a winner, this conversation is for you.

Learn more about 3Spoke Capital by visiting their website at 3spokecapital.com. Listen, subscribe, and access manager profiles at EnduranceX.io