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

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Jake Elmhirst, Partner, Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation at Coller Capital.
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Coller Capital has been a pioneer in the rapidly growing secondaries market. Coller’s tagline? “First in secondaries.” 
Coller might be “first in secondaries.” The industry they focus on has moved to the forefront of private markets. Secondaries are coming in first for many LPs, in part because secondaries are now an active portfolio management solution for LPs (LP-led secondaries) and a way for LPs and GPs to continue to invest in the growth and value appreciation of some of their funds’ best assets (GP-led secondaries). 
The firm completed its first secondaries transaction in 1990 and its first GP-led investment in 1996. Today, Collar has $55B in AUM (as of 3/31/26). 
Jake joined Coller after a long career at UBS, where he partnered with Coller from a few different vantage points co-founding and co-leading the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank and leading the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management. His perspective on Coller was very much a reason why he decided to leave his farm in Yorkshire (as a 23rd generation farmer!) to join Coller as they build out their wealth efforts.
Jake and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of secondaries and how they are increasingly “solutions” for LPs and GPs. We covered:
Jake’s experience witnessing the rise of the early days of private markets and how that’s shaped how he thinks about secondaries today.
Why secondaries are becoming “solutions” for LPs and GPs.
Why secondaries can be a core portfolio holding.
The features of secondaries. 
The drivers of the increase in LP-led sales.
Why have GP-led continuation vehicles become a popular solution?
Why secondaries make sense for private wealth investors.
Bio
Jake is a Partner and Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation. He is based in the firm’s London office.
Prior to joining Coller Capital in April 2022, Jake spent 25 years at UBS where he led the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management, based in London. Prior to that, Jake co-founded and co-led the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank, based in New York.
He previously worked at Freshfields in London, where he qualified as a solicitor working in the Tax Team with a focus on collective investment schemes.
Jake has a degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Bristol.
Jake Elmhirst is a registered representative of Parallel Distributors LLC.
Thanks, Jake, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion in private markets, private wealth, and secondaries.
Show Notes
 
00:00 Live in Berlin Intro
00:39 Jake Elmhirst’s Career Journey
02:08 Wealth Channel Lessons
05:06 Farming Roots Detour
07:34 Secondaries Liquidity Fix
09:26 Continuation Vehicles Impact
11:21 Wealth Channel and Scale
13:21 Why Secondaries Work
15:15 Core Holding for Wealth
16:31 Discount Versus Quality
18:43 Underwriting in CV Era
20:56 Evergreen Portfolio Mix
21:56 Future of Solutions
23:02 Toolbox Expansion Ideas
24:55 Why Scale Matters
25:53 Discount Nuance Explained
27:30 Active Portfolio Management
28:45 Closing Thoughts

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Kyle Kniffen, Managing Director, Global Head of Alternatives, Third Party Wealth at Goldman Sachs. 
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
A little over two years ago, I wrote on AGM about how, at $456B in AUM in alternatives, Goldman Sachs was a “sleeping giant” in private markets. In reality, Goldman is anything but a sleeping giant in private markets, having started its private equity business in 1984 and earning the distinction of being a top-5 alternatives manager by AUM across both traditional and alternative asset managers.
Today, Goldman has grown its alternatives business to over $625B in AUM.
The firm has expanded its platform with the acquisition of Industry Ventures and a partnership with T. Rowe Price to deliver public and private markets solutions to the wealth channel, and, most recently, the creation of its Alternative Investment Platform to provide HNW clients with direct access to private companies.
The evolution of Goldman’s Alternatives business reflects a thoughtful, measured approach to understanding the needs of wealth channel investors and finding the utility and purpose of strategy, product, and product structure.
That was much of the focus of the conversation Kyle and I had in Berlin. We discussed the objective and utility of private markets in a portfolio. We covered:
The growth of evergreen funds.
Why evergreens are the product structure of choice.
Why are evergreens also appealing to institutional allocators, insurance companies, and UHNW investors?
How GPs and LPs are approaching LP composition to evergreen vehicles.
The next wave of product innovation.
The build, buy, partner framework 
Why Goldman is so excited about the GeoWealth partnership and what the future of model portfolios look like.
What is not known but should be known about the Goldman Alternatives franchise.
Bio
Kyle Kniffen is a managing director in the Client Solutions Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He serves as global head of Alternatives for Third Party Wealth (TPW), overseeing client strategy for the firm’s TPW clients globally, delivering the power of the Alternatives investing platform to a broad set of individual investors through our partnerships with financial intermediary clients and their advisors, including Private Banks, Broker-Dealers, RIAs and other distribution platforms. Kyle partners closely with leadership across our Alternatives franchise to develop products that meet our clients’ evolving needs. He is also co-chair of the AWM Global Distribution Working Group.
Prior to this role, Kyle was in Alternative Capital Markets (ACM), serving as head of ACM for Goldman Sachs Ayco and leading coverage for One Goldman Sachs financial sponsors globally. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2018 as a vice president in ACM and was named managing director in 2021.
Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Kyle led a variety of distribution and product management teams for Bank of America’s Alternative Investment Group within their Global Wealth and Investment Management division.
Kyle is a board member for the Institute of Portfolio Alternatives (IPA), and a member of The Economic Club of New York. Kyle earned a BA from Gettysburg College.
Thanks, Kyle, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about private markets and serving the wealth channel.
Show Notes
00:00 AGM Live from SuperReturn Berlin
00:22 Meet Kyle Kniffin
01:10 Wealth Meets Private Markets
01:37 Big Pools Little Allocation
02:24 Alt Strategies Explosion
03:04 Lessons from Hedge Funds
03:34 Start with Client Goals
03:53 Risk Liquidity Tradeoffs
04:10 Portfolio Utility First
04:25 Holistic Private Markets
04:44 Fit and Terms Matter
05:07 Setting Expectations
05:32 Product Innovation Shift
05:52 Evergreens and Flexibility
06:10 Monthly Access and Tactics
06:39 Evergreen Growth Rates
06:45 Education and Dispersion
07:15 Why Evergreens Exist
07:41 Diversification Lower Minimums
08:04 Operational Simplicity
08:21 Evergreen Nuance Phase One
08:47 Goldman in Third Party Wealth
09:26 Institutions Buying Evergreens
10:31 LP Mix and Liquidity Caps
11:36 Institutionalizing Wealth Platforms
13:29 Goldman Platform Advantage
14:46 Feeding the Evergreen Engine
15:13 GeoWealth and Model Portfolios
15:45 T Rowe Price Collaboration
16:12 Build vs Buy Partner Balance
16:42 Industry Ventures Acquisition
17:33 Goldman Alts Heritage
18:35 Pioneering GP Stakes
19:45 Secondaries Since 1998
20:12 Apex of Private Markets
21:08 Will Secondaries Be Core
21:48 Max Flexibility for Wealth
22:42 Customization vs Scale
23:16 Flagships Then Bespoke
23:49 Lessons from Private Wealth
25:10 Broader Menu of Privates
25:34 Closing Thoughts

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Paul Desmarais III, the Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Sagard, the fast-growing $46B global multi-strategy alternative asset manager.
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Sagard combines a rich history and heritage of building asset management businesses with a modern approach to building a global alternative asset manager.
Paul’s deep understanding of the industry comes from being part of a family of multiple generations of asset management pioneers in Canada who have built some of the industry’s largest financial services businesses. 
Paul is the “next first generation” of asset management pioneers to come out of the Desmarais family. He started Sagard with $400M in seed capital in 2016 and, in ten short years, has grown the platform into a global multi-strategy alternative asset manager with over $46B. 
Sagard’s mission to empower founders by being a business that builds businesses shines through in the approach Paul and the team have taken in building Sagard. The firm has incubated, built, and acquired asset management talent and firms to scale across strategy and geography into the global platform that it is today.
Paul and I had a fascinating conversation about the business of asset management and why Sagard exists to serve entrepreneurs around the world. We covered:
Sagard’s entrepreneurial DNA.
What does it mean to build a business that builds businesses?
Being the “next first generation.”
How Sagard approaches the buy, build, partner framework of asset management businesses.
How Sagard has expanded its platform across asset classes and strategies.
How to build a global, multi-strategy asset management brand.
Why specialization matters in asset management.
How to approach the wealth channel.
The decentralized pod shop model.
The future of private markets.
Bio
Paul Desmarais III is the Chairman and CEO of Sagard, an alternative asset management firm active in venture capital, private equity, credit, and real estate.
Paul has led Sagard since 2016, along with a handful of close partners bound by a common vision: partnering with entrepreneurs to catalyze transformation in our investments and communities. Sagard has experienced outstanding growth, with assets under management increasing to over $46B.
Under Paul, Sagard has built a global network of expertise that helps companies lead, embrace, and stay ahead of disruptive trends, expanding activity in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Paul engages actively in growing Sagard companies. Within the Sagard ecosystem, Paul is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Portage (fintech & financial services investing) and the Chairman and Co-Founder of Diagram (venture builder). Within the investment portfolios, he is the Chairman of Wealthsimple, Novisto, and Sagard Wealth, and a director of Nesto and Midas. Paul also sits on the board of Empower, the number two 401(k) business in the U.S.
Show Notes

00:00 Live From SuperReturn
00:10 Meet Paul Desmarais III
01:06 Family Business Roots
01:23 G1 Entrepreneur Mindset
01:35 Launching Sagard 2016
01:51 Generational Reinvention
02:02 Early Spark To Build
03:40 Learning From Mistakes
04:33 By Entrepreneurs For Entrepreneurs
04:45 Sagard Origin Story
04:58 Power Corp Alternatives Gap
05:43 Starting With Credit
06:10 Serving Beyond The Family
06:46 Alignment With Family Capital
07:19 Customer First Performance
07:44 Team Money Invested
07:53 Generational Time Horizon
08:47 Patience Builds Partnerships
09:22 Innovation In The DNA
09:39 Regional To Global Champions
09:53 Why Reinvention Matters
10:26 Platform Strategy Mix
11:02 Pillars Of The Firm
11:25 Fintech Ecosystem Flywheel
11:35 Building The Competitive Moat
12:07 Emerging Managers Advantage
12:41 Synergies At Scale
13:08 Designing Collaboration
13:47 Incentives And Shared Carry
15:07 Values Drive Culture
23:25 Legacy And Entrepreneur Impact
24:39 Closing Thanks

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Brookfield Private Equity CEO Anuj Ranjan. 
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Brookfield has a rich legacy as an asset owner and operator of some of the “businesses that drive the global economy.” Brookfield is a firm where skin in the game (~25% of every fund includes an investment from Brookfield’s balance sheet) meets scale and synergies across its investment platform, which spans private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and energy.
Now, they are looking to own what’s next.
What will the next era of private equity require? A different approach, according to Brookfield Private Equity CEO Anuj Ranjan. 
The conversation that Anuj and I had in the Tiny Space cabin covered big themes.
Brookfield is investing in the megatrends that are driving the world’s economy across its platform, from digitalization to decarbonization to deglobalization. The firm’s focus on industrials in its private equity business makes it well equipped to invest in essential companies, as Brookfield aptly describes their investment focus as “own[ing] the boring that makes exciting possible.”
Anuj and I had a fascinating conversation about the current state of private equity and what it will take to drive value in a new era for the industry where “12 is the new 5.” We covered:
Brookfield’s history as an owner-operator.
How the firm’s long-term perspective informs its investments in and ownership of private equity-backed companies.
Anuj’s experience investing in India was an exercise in patience.
Why is today the era of “roll up your sleeves private equity?”
How Brookfield is approaching value creation in industrial companies.
Where Brookfield believes it can leverage AI to create post-deal operational value.
Why Brookfield partnered with OpenAI to create DeployCo in order to scale enterprise AI deployment.
Where are we in the adoption curve of physical AI and robotics?
Bio
Anuj Ranjan is Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield’s Private Equity Group and Brookfield Business Corporation. In this role, Mr. Ranjan is responsible for the investments, operations, and expansion of the Private Equity business, in addition to managing Brookfield’s external strategic partnerships. He is a member of Brookfield’s Executive Committee.
Mr. Ranjan joined Brookfield in 2006 and has held various positions within the company and its affiliates. He established and previously led Brookfield’s India and Middle East operations.
Mr. Ranjan holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Ivey Business School at Western University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta.
Thanks, Anuj, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about private markets and how to create value through operating companies better.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to SuperReturn
00:07 Meet Anuj Ranjan
00:55 From Software to Finance
02:03 Building India and Mideast
02:48 India Deal Frenzy
03:17 Five Years of Patience
03:22 Learning Before Buying
03:28 First True Buyouts
04:06 Profits and Team Growth
04:16 Taking Model Global
04:32 Growth Amid Headwinds
04:58 Roll Up Sleeves Private Equity Era
05:06 Operational Value Creation
05:12 Brookfield Platform DNA
05:33 Balance Sheet Advantage
05:54 Long-Term Investing
06:12 Patience Gets Rewarded
07:14 Testing Tech on Balance Sheet
07:32 Owning What’s Next
07:41 AI Needs Hard Assets
07:58 Brookfield at the Center
09:09 One Firm Collaboration
09:51 Platform Informs Deals
11:27 Westinghouse Nuclear Bet
15:19 Picking the Right Carve Outs
16:34 Pricing Power Example
17:51 From Five to Twelve
18:59 Why Carve Outs Win Now
20:05 AI for Industrial Ops
20:53 Data Before AI
22:12 Predictive Maintenance Story
23:31 Physical AI and Robotics
24:52 Digitizing the Physical World
25:33 Humanoid Robotics Timeline
26:28 Deploying AI at Scale
26:56 Execution Beats Innovation
27:52 Best AI Investment Thesis
28:00 Buying Boring Businesses
28:52 AI Ready Leadership Team
29:30 Hiring Real Tech Leaders
30:00 Blockbuster vs Netflix
30:43 Closing Reflections

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Vista Equity Partners’ Senior Managing Director, Co-Head of Flagship Fund, Monti Saroya. 
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.

Vista Equity Partners has been a pioneer in enterprise software investing. They have been at the forefront of every major technology platform shift, whether it was on-prem to cloud, the adoption of enterprise software, and now the agentification of the enterprise with AI.
The $103B AUM scaled specialist software investor has dedicated its efforts to building “mission critical” enterprise software companies that organizations can’t live without.
Monti has had a front-row seat in building and developing both infrastructure and software that the technology industry can’t live without. He brings to bear the perspective of someone who lived through the early days of the internet from his time at Cisco Systems and Siebel Systems. Through this lens, and drawing on his experience investing in enterprise software companies since joining Vista in 2008, Monti is able to make sense of where, how, and why AI will be adopted within the enterprise, and what it means for both operators and investors.
This conversation with Monti was one of the most illuminating conversations I’ve had on AI recently. He pieced together so much of what is happening in AI today, covering:
The different layers of AI adoption.
Why “harness” companies can be valuable.
Where AI agents are having the most impact on a business.
Why open source is the next wave of the AI buildout.
The Linux lesson for AI.
Why Monti is so excited about the firm’s investment in SambaNova.
Do “harness” companies have a moat?
Why the moats for many AI companies might surprise you.
Why sovereign AI is the next big thing.
Bio
Monti Saroya joined Vista Equity Partners in 2008 and is Co-Head of the Vista Flagship Fund and sits on its Investment Committee.
Additionally, Monti serves as a member of Vista’s Executive Committee, the firm’s governing and decision- making body for matters affecting its overall management and strategic direction, and Vista’s Private Equity Management Committee, the firm’s decision-making body for matters affecting Vista’s overall private equity platform.
Monti is also the Co-Chief Executive Officer of VistaOne, Vista’s evergreen private equity vehicle, and serves on the Investment Committee. Monti helps lead Vista’s artificial intelligence initiatives, driving the firm’s approach to AI adoption through strategic partnerships and the deployment of AI-enabled infrastructure and capabilities across the platform and portfolio ecosystem.
He currently sits on the boards of Acumatica, Allvue Systems, Avalara, Cloud Software Group, Duck Creek, Finastra, Infoblox, Playlist, Smartsheet, Solera, among others. Monti was actively involved in the firm’s investments in Apptio, Cvent (NASDAQ: CVT), Datto (formerly NYSE: MSP), Marketo, PowerSchool (formerly NYSE: PWSC), SumTotal, The ACTIVENetwork, and Transfirst, among others.
Prior to Vista, Monti worked as a Senior Research Analyst for JMP Securities, where he provided research for buy-side clients on public on-demand (SaaS) companies. Monti previously worked as an Associate on the enterprise software/applications team. Before JMP, Monti worked at Siebel Systems in a sales capacity for the CRM On Demand division. Prior to Siebel, Monti worked for Cisco Systems in various operations roles.
Thanks, Monti, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about AI, enterprise software, and technology transformations.
Show Notes
00:00 Intro: Live from SuperReturn
00:10 Meet Monti Saroya
00:20 Why AI Matters Now
00:41 Career Origins Cisco
00:57 Building Internet 1.0 
01:21 Infrastructure Before Apps
01:25 From Compute to Giants
01:38 AI as New Buildout
01:56 Internet 1.0 Lessons
02:17 Change Slower Then Bigger
02:48 Consumer Adoption First
03:08 What We Underestimate
03:26 AI Like Electricity
03:41 Three Layer AI Stack
04:03 Cloud Providers Layer
04:15 App Layer Value Capture
04:26 What Is the App Layer
04:41 Software Needs Humans
05:25 Agents System of Action
05:53 Where Agents Impact Today
06:20 Engineering Productivity Gains
07:29 Augment Not Replace
07:51 Rearchitecting With AI
08:16 Harnesses Around Intelligence
09:17 Routing Cuts Compute Cost
09:26 Model Choice and Governance
10:55 Enterprise Goals Drive AI
11:51 Workflow Context Is Key
12:47 SambaNova Compute Economics
14:27 Token Subsidies Ending
15:39 Open Source Next Wave
16:02 Linux Lesson for AI
17:03 Deploying Is the Hard Part
17:40 Vista Agentic Factory
18:42 Avoiding Services Trap
19:05 Where Value Gets Created
19:32 NeoCloud Inference Centers
20:21 Harness Companies and Moats
21:05 Enterprise Software Reality Check
21:51 CFOs Demand ROI Metrics
22:44 Word Association Game
23:15 Workflow Specific Future
23:48 Sovereign AI Is Coming
24:24 Wrap Up and Thanks