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

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We went to a mecca of football to film the latest episode. This conversation takes us to Turin, Italy, where we were in the Juventus Creator Lab with Italian football (I mean soccer for the Americans) legend and one of the best defenders of all time Giorgio Chiellini.
Giorgio’s career and playing style were defined by Juventus’ very motto, fino alla fine (“until the end”). It’s also a mentality that he brings to every aspect of life on and off the pitch. 
After an illustrious playing career at one of the world’s biggest clubs, Juventus, and a career that also included two World Cup appearances for Italy and winning the Euro 2020 as the Captain of Italy, Giorgio came back home to Turin rejoin the club where he starred for 17 years: Juventus. Giorgio has gone from the pitch to the boardroom, helping to lead Juventus as the Director of Football Strategy. He has brought the player’s perspective to the business side of football, balancing the nuances of sports and business.
Despite the demands that Giorgio faced on the field as a player to maintain a standard of play at the highest levels of the game, he found time during his career to pursue his passion for business. He received his MBA while playing for Juventus and also was involved in the player development side in his final years as a player at LAFC. More recently, he became an investor in LAFC and in Mercury13, a multi-club investor in women’s football teams, including FC Como. He’s also an active investor in the European startup community.
Giorgio and I had a wide-ranging and fascinating conversation that covered several dimensions of the business of sport. We discussed:
How teams, owners, and investors can balance both the sport and business aspects of the game.
What it means for sports now that players can have bigger social followings than their clubs or leagues.
How Juventus has built and amplified its brand through initiatives like the Creator Lab.
How clubs like Juventus can help players build their off-field brand while maintaining a high-quality on-field product.
How Giorgio’s work off the field while playing informed how he wanted to spend his time post-career in business.
What Giorgio’s day-to-day is like as Director of Football Strategy for Juventus.
Why Giorgio invested in LAFC and what he thinks about the future of the MLS.
What American owners and investors can learn from European soccer clubs and owners, and what European clubs and owners can learn from American owners and investors.
Thanks, Giorgio, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and enthusiasm at the intersection of sports and business.
Note: this episode was filmed in October 2025 with a plan to publish the conversation around the World Cup.

Show Notes
00:00 Split Second Decision
01:06 A Message from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
02:10 Meet Giorgio Chiellini
04:17 What Is the Juventus Creator Lab
04:36 Building Fans Through Content
05:27 Football Brand Goes Global
06:15 Revenue From Winning
06:43 Two Hearts One Club
07:52 Winning Versus Storytelling
08:40 Fans Everywhere Now
09:27 Too Many Games Problem
09:51 Stakeholders and Calendar
11:00 Owner Advice Communication
11:28 From Kid to Club 
14:12 Film Study for Matches
15:02 The Saka Tactical Foul
17:26 Social Media and Mental Health
29:32 US World Cup Reality
29:45 Grassroots Long Game
30:09 MLS and USL Momentum
30:14 Stadiums and Growth
30:20 MLS Season vs Playoffs
30:46 Supporters Shield Incentives
31:11 Travel and Rest Mentality
31:33 Europe Stakes Comparison
31:54 Highlights Era Question
32:24 Bite-Sized Sports Culture
33:40 Choosing What to Watch
33:55 Sports Must Adapt
34:33 Owners Business View
35:15 TV Rights and Strategy
36:05 Institutional Money Trend
36:42 Why Funds Love Sports
37:04 Balancing Profit and Emotion
38:12 Fiduciary Duty vs Winning
39:15 Permanent Capital Advantage
40:42 Mission Values Legacy
41:54 Juventus DNA and Family
44:31 Leadership Lessons Learned
45:38 From Captain to Executive
47:05 Humanity and Energy
48:21 Player to Business Challenges
50:00 Investing in Italian Startups
51:47 How He Picks Investments
52:43 Innovation and AI in Sport
53:16 Favorite Alternative Investment
54:34 Profitability and Winning
55:21 Closing

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s conversation provides a fascinating window into the world of how one of the industry’s largest wealth managers approaches private markets.
We sat down with the man who holds the keys to the kingdom.
Mark Sutterlin is the Head of Alternative Investments within the Investment Solutions Group at Bank of America. He leads the firm’s strategy and platform development across hedge funds, private credit, private equity, physical precious metals, and real estate, delivering a broad spectrum of institutional-grade investment solutions to advisors and their clients.
Mark brings the advisor’s perspective to bear as he builds the alternative investments menu for Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank and helps educate advisors and clients on how and where to thoughtfully and appropriately include private markets in portfolios.
Mark and I had a fascinating discussion. We covered:
How GPs can work with private banks.
What one of the largest private wealth allocators looks for in GPs.
How Merrill approaches different product structures to deliver solutions across the wealth client spectrum.
What constitutes a manager’s edge.
I loved this conversation with Mark, who takes such a thoughtful approach and brings a true passion to helping clients and advisors build and protect wealth.
Thanks Mark for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and passion on private markets and private wealth.
Show Notes
00:00 Investor Edge Beyond Returns
00:32 Sponsor Message from Ultimus
01:41 Meet Mark Sutterlin
04:15 Advisor Trust and Responsibility
04:24 Penetration Across Wealth Tiers
04:38 Scaling Alts Across Books
04:49 Evergreen to Drawdown Spectrum
05:12 Building the Shelf Challenge
05:32 Evergreen Role in Portfolios
05:42 Serving Broad Client Needs
06:06 Optionality Not One Product
06:20 Diligence as Core Identity
06:48 Nuance in Private Credit
07:27 Long-Term Themes Overlay
07:56 Core and Satellite Question
08:28 Drawdown vs Evergreen Tradeoffs
08:48 Advisor Client Feedback Loop
09:25 Evergreens Now Dominate Flows
09:49 Evergreen Growing Pains
10:14 Education and Expectations
10:42 Rotation Within Evergreens
11:11 Who Can Run Evergreens Well
11:35 Scale Deal Flow Allocation Policy
12:29 Post Sale Servicing Matters
12:52 How Managers Should Service
13:23 Transparency Builds Loyalty
14:03 Vetting Managers for Private Banks
14:45 Investor Skill Is Table Stakes
15:22 Thousand Funds Deep Diligence
16:07 Unpacking Firm DNA
16:23 Private Wealth Is High Touch
16:53 Eyes Wide Open Expectations
17:14 Best GPs Listen and Adapt
18:12 Customization Versus Scale
19:13 Specialists and Custom Funds
19:57 Proposal Tools for Advisors
20:43 Menu Design From Client Needs
21:25 Differentiation in UHNW
22:31 Co-Invest and Capacity Access
24:43 Tech DLT and Streamlining
25:38 Biggest Blocker Education Gap
26:45 Misconception Complexity
27:52 Alts Invitationals Bootcamp
29:45 Where Advisors Are Today
30:16 What Why How Framework
31:32 Implementation Needs Support
31:51 Scaling the Alts Business
32:45 Open Architecture Platform
33:01 Lifecycle Ops Risk Controls
33:40 Where to Invest Next
33:53 Infrastructure and DLT Readiness
34:42 Future Growth Sources
35:37 Advisors Yet to Adopt
36:00 Balanced Growth Outlook
36:58 Client Sentiment Today
38:11 Patience and Long-Term Adoption
38:51 Next Gen Investor Mindset
40:43 Defining a Manager’s Edge
41:23 Specialization and Storytelling
42:31 Building a Menu of Edges
42:47 Business Plan Plus Open Mind
43:44 Advice for GPs Pitching Merrill
44:39 Platform Differentiation and Exclusivity
46:47 What Worries Mark Today
48:19 Excited About AI and Infrastructure
50:42 Wrap Up and Thanks

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Welcome to the 20th episode of the Alts Pulse, a collaboration between iCapital x Alt Goes Mainstream. 
In the latest episode of the Alts Pulse, we were live from iCapital Connect. iCapital Managing Director, Head of Private Asset Research & Model Portfolios, Kunal Shah, and I had a conversation about how to marry an institutional allocator’s mindset with the nuances of serving wealth clients.
Kunal brings an institutional allocator’s mindset to the wealth channel. At iCapital, he’s focused on the identification, selection, and due diligence of private equity funds offered on the Flagship Platform. Prior to iCapital, Kunal was a Principal in the private markets group at Meketa Investment Group, a leading global investment consultant serving pension funds, endowments and foundations, and family offices. In that role, Kunal was responsible for leading and managing private equity fund investments. He joined Meketa in 2006 and invested globally, covering buyouts, venture capital, private debt, natural resources, and infrastructure investments. He also developed and led Meketa’s secondary funds purchase practice. Kunal has also served on various LP advisory boards. Prior to Meketa, Kunal was an analyst at The Vanguard Group. 

Kunal and I finally turned all those hallway conversations we had at iCapital’s old office of 441 Lexington into a podcast! We had a fascinating discussion about how to evaluate alternative asset managers and what makes a great manager. We covered:
How should wealth managers approach private markets?
Why it’s important to “always be committed” rather than try to time vintages.
Are evergreen structures a “game changer” for the wealth channel and a foundational piece for model portfolios?
What features does a GP need to run an evergreen fund structure?
What does the centralization of the CIO function and OCIO consolidation in the wealth channel mean for GPs?
Thanks, Kunal, for sharing your passion, wisdom, and expertise at the intersection of private markets and private wealth, and for a great conversation that tied together how private markets and private wealth are changing as new product structures and product innovation take shape.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s episode brings commercial real estate credit investing to life with someone who has real estate in his blood. 
Michael Comparato’s grandfather started building single-family homes in upstate New York in 1946. He built his first shopping center in 1958. Michael was born into a family where he was on construction sites from a young age. At 13, he was doing landscaping. At 15, he was hanging drywall. 
Today, Michael is a Senior Managing Director, Head of Real Estate and Portfolio Manager with Benefit Street Partners, as well as Chief Executive Officer of Franklin BSP Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: FBRT). He also serves on the US Executive Committee.
Prior to joining BSP in 2015, Michael was Head of U.S. Equity Investments at Ladder Capital. Before that, he was President at Bank Atlantic Commercial Mortgage Capital.
Benefit Street Partners is part of Franklin Templeton’s family of specialists in private markets. BSP is a specialized private credit firm with over $92B in AUM. The firm manages a wide range of private credit strategies, including direct lending, special situations, commercial real estate debt, infrastructure debt, asset-backed finance, structured credit, and liquid credit. It also manages a non-traded Business Development Company and publicly-listed mortgage REIT.
Since BSP was acquired by Franklin Templeton in 2019, it has partnered with the $1.7T investment manager to expand how it structures various products and funds, enabling more access to the private credit asset class for wealth investors.
From his perch as the Head of BSP’s Real Estate business, Michael has the perspective of how one of the industry’s scaled real estate investment firms is approaching commercial real estate credit and where the firm sees opportunity. 
Michael and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of CRE credit and why now might be an interesting time in the CRE credit space. We covered:
Why CRE, why now.
What bank retrenchment means for CRE credit investors today.
The relative resilience of multi-family.
The maturity wall myth.
Is the “extend and pretend” activity a reality?
How AI impacts commercial real estate.
Thanks Michael for sharing your passion, wisdom, and expertise on commercial real estate credit.
Show Notes
00:00 Meet Michael Comparato
01:17 Real Estate Roots
03:25 Early Lessons and Purpose
03:35 Hurricanes And Tenants
05:05 Story Over Spreadsheet
06:49 Why Origination Wins
08:43 Family Business Ethos
10:59 Trust And Transparency
11:27 Lending Through Covid
13:05 Structuring For Uncertainty
13:56 Boom Times Underwriting Shifts
16:54 Crowded Class A Trade
18:19 Are Values Fair Today
21:46 Operator Shakeout
23:59 Scale and Market Structure
26:16 Banks Pull Back Credit
27:59 Private Credit Fills Gap
29:24 Who Holds Last Dollar Risk
29:29 Returns and Competition
30:35 Competition Compresses Yields
30:58 Maturity Wall Myth
33:05 How Investors Bucket Credit
36:04 Wealth Channel Opportunity
37:49 Why Credit Beats Equity Now
41:58 Megatrends and AI Fears
44:40 Shelter and Multifamily Focus
46:11 Community and Social Real Estate
48:16 Real Estate Constant Evolution
51:06 CRE Credit vs Direct Lending
53:21 Final Wrap and Outro

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today’s episode is with a founder who is building mission-critical valuation and portfolio monitoring software for alternative asset managers.
We are joined by Yann Magnan, the Co-Founder and CEO of 73 Strings, to discuss how valuation work and portfolio monitoring is moving from manual to automated and why that’s so important for the industry. 73 Strings has leveraged AI and automation to more seamlessly and cost-effectively extract data, monitor portfolios, and streamline middle-office processes for valuations. 73 Strings works with a number of the industry’s top alternative asset managers and has received investment from Blackstone, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Hamilton Lane, Golub, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, and Broadhaven Ventures, amongst others.
Yann has brought his experience as a senior member of the Duff & Phelps team, where he was EMEA Market Leader and member of the Global Operating Committee and as a Partner at EY’s Transaction Advisory Services to help bring valuation and portfolio monitoring solutions into the mainstream.
Yann and I had a fascinating conversation about how technology innovation and AI are impacting private markets and perspectives on valuation work today. We discussed:
The challenges with manual valuation services businesses.
How to create uniformity and standardization with private markets fund performance data.
How AI is changing private markets post-investment reporting processes.
Does automation in private markets help big funds or small funds more?
The evolution of post-investment private markets market structure.
The biggest technology innovation still missing from private markets.
Why the growth of the wealth channel and evergreen funds increases the need for more streamlined reporting and valuation solutions.
Thanks Yann for coming on the show to share your expertise, insights, and passion about private markets.
Show Notes
00:00 AI Since Day One
01:06 A Message from our Sponsor, Ultimus
02:02 Introduction to Yann Magnan
04:11 From Manual To Automated
04:44 Excel Google Email
04:58 Cloud And Early AI
05:07 Governed Auditable Process
05:30 Founding 73 Strings
05:36 Two Valuation Platforms
05:55 Scaling With Alts Growth
06:28 Evergreen Acceleration
06:54 Retail Investor Expectations
07:09 Transactions Need Fresh NAVs
07:44 Valuations For Transactions
08:14 Continuation Vehicles Context
08:42 Reporting To Trading Shift
09:07 Illiquid Vs Liquid Compare
09:18 Mimicking Public Markets
09:43 Valuation Philosophy Changes
10:27 Back Office To Front Office
11:25 New Stakeholders To Balance
11:59 Why Private Must Feel Public
12:20 Transparency And Liquidity
13:18 Is Liquidity Good
15:11 Evergreen Process Differences
16:09 Higher Frequency Requirements
18:00 Tech Leverage Points
18:53 People Plus Technology
19:44 Portfolio Data As DNA
21:02 No Single Valuation Standard
21:47 Consistency Over Time
22:20 Human In The Loop
22:42 Art And Science Framework
24:03 No One Best Method
24:55 Wealth Channel Education
25:30 What LPs Should Ask
26:46 What Top GPs Want
27:38 Global Tech Adoption
28:49 Fundraising Drives Ops
30:23 AI Data Extraction Story
31:48 Standardizing Data Labels
32:21 Data Model Requirements
32:52 Is Data A Moat
33:14 Turning Data Into Insights
33:54 Scale Versus Specialization
35:04 Tech Helps Small Managers
36:21 AI Impact On All Funds
36:44 Starting Before GenAI Boom
37:42 ML And NLP Foundations
38:40 Agents Accelerate Valuations
39:26 Overnight Valuation Refresh
39:57 More Frequent Valuations
40:10 Limits Of Daily Data
41:03 Explainability And Trust
41:42 Next Market Structure Shift
42:09 Digital GP LP Data Sharing
43:12 Interconnection Needs Trust
43:46 Closing Thanks

A Word from Our Sponsor, Ultimus
This episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.
That’s Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you’re already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team’s deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.
Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.
We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.