RPM - Reflections on Private Markets

Host Michael Venne sits down with StepStone's Tyler Johnson and PitchBook's Paul Santarelli to discuss what's changing — and what deal-level benchmarking actually unlocks for GPs, LPs, and the market at large.
 
In this episode:
Why fund-level benchmarking leaves the most important questions unanswered
How to separate alpha from beta in manager evaluation
What the PitchBook × StepStone partnership makes possible — and what stays confidential
Where the private markets data stack is headed as retail investors enter the asset class

Key takeaway: The real unlock isn't a new data set — it's a new default. A world where "show me the comparables" is easy to answer raises the bar for how GPs pitch and how LPs pick.
Now live: SPI Deal Benchmarking, the deal-level benchmarking solution from StepStone and PitchBook, is available now. Fund managers and service providers can access it through the PitchBook platform. Investors can access it through SPI by StepStone.

This episode of RPM explores the evolving landscape of venture capital in 2026, focusing on market shifts, liquidity challenges, and strategic opportunities in secondaries and selectivity. Experts Stephen West and Anthony Giambrone sit down with Maribel Yoo to share insights on innovation, platform shifts, and future value drivers.

In this episode of RPM, Michael Venne sits down with Akhilan Nesaratnam to explore why UK private equity has quietly outperformed, despite the noisy macro backdrop. They unpack three forces shaping the market’s edge—scarcity, specialism, and succession—and what could change as the Mansion House Accord signals a new wave of domestic capital and competition.

In this episode of RPM, Miguel Sosa and David Robbins join co-host Anna Marcus to unpack the implementation gap holding advisors back from private markets—exploring why shifting public market dynamics demand a rethink of the traditional 60/40 portfolio, and how evergreen structures and a practical allocation framework can help advisors bridge the divide.

Suzanne Tavill, Global Head of Responsible Investment, joins Michael Venne to unpack the game-changing themes explored in our two recent whitepapers: how AI-driven energy demand is sparking investment opportunities across the power ecosystem, and how falling exploration costs are reframing the deep sea and space as an extension of Earth’s industrial base.

How energy sources are powering AI (1:57)
The role of private capital (6:19)
Practical bottlenecks around AI growth (8:52)
Remapping of geostrategic value (13:09)
Resources and opportunities in space and the deep sea (15:11)
What’s next (21:55)