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Alt Goes Mainstream: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Michael Sidgmore
Join the smartest people in the room to learn how top investors and allocators are incorporating private markets into the portfolios of tomorrow.
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- 1 weeks ago1h 36m
🎥 Lowercarbon Capital’s Chris Sacca and Caie Kelley - investing in the powerhouses driving the new energy economy
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.One of the best-performing venture investors in history is back in the saddle. And this time, he’s bringing the stampede to invest in some of the most consequential companies of our time.For Chris Sacca, the seeds of investing in energy were sown 23 years ago when he was building data centers for Google.His investing career went into full bloom with Lowercase Capital, the venture firm he founded in 2010 with $8.4M in capital. Thanks to early investments in Uber, Twitter, Stripe, Instagram, Blue Bottle Coffee, Docker, Optimizely, and others, Lowercase’s first fund returned over 204x DPI and around 250x MOIC.For his second act, he is going bigger to solve massive problems that require real solutions across energy, power, water, AI, transmission, and nuclear fusion.He and his wife, Crystal, co-founded Lowercarbon Capital (and are the firm’s largest LPs) to invest in companies that own every part of the electrical stack, from sunlight to socket.Chris and Crystal have built out a stellar team to match the opportunity in front of them by bringing together the requisite ingredients to be an expert and differentiated investor in energy, advanced manufacturing, . General Partner Clay Dumas was previously Chief of Staff in the White House Office of Digital Strategy. The firm’s most recent General Partner to join the ranks is Caie Kelley, who leads the firm’s Growth investing efforts. Caie brings to bear a background in private equity at Permira and investing in climate startups at Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures and output so considerable that the Lowercarbon team calls her “CaieGPT,” despite that output being human-generated.Irrespective of political regime, geopolitical chokepoint, supply chain reconfiguration, the world was in dire need of better, faster, safer, cheaper, and cleaner energy alternatives.Chris, Clay, Caie and team at Lowercarbon set out to invest in new energy and manufacturing companies that could become the foundation of the new energy economy when Lowercarbon launched in 2021. In that time, national security, energy security, geopolitical tensions, reorienting of supply chains, and a hotter earth have all undergone seismic shifts. Lowercarbon has invested across the energy stack to back companies addressing these challenges and building the foundation of the new economy.There’s a lot to play for here on Earth, as Chris noted in the podcast, saying “Mars is for quitters. If we are going to Mars, we are giving up on what we have here.”And what we have here is what this fascinating conversation with Chris and Caie focused on. We covered:Why climate may not be the best way to describe Lowercarbon’s investing activities.How big is the energy market?Why Lowercarbon avoids investing in “science projects.”What it takes to underwrite investing in hardware and hard tech companies.How Lowercarbon unearths “fundamentally different technologies that are providing fundamentally different costs,” according to Caie.Lessons learned from Lowercase and how to know when to bet big on an investment.Why the likes of Antora, Crux, Fuse Energy, Base Power, Panthalassa, Cloover, Solar Square, Commonwealth Fusion, Emerald AI, and more could be such consequential companies.Why the Lowercarbon team are “unapologetic capitalists.”BiosCaie Kelley, General PartnerCaie is a General Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, where she focuses primarily on growth stage opportunities and provides a quantitative lens to the team’s deep tech and science-backed work. Prior to Lowercarbon, she was at SOUNDWaves, the climate-focused venture arm of Sound Ventures, where she built out the team’s sustainability strategy, helped raise the fund’s first external capital, and backed founders at multiple stages of growth across batteries, alternative materials, circularity, and climate software.Prior to Sound, Caie was at Permira, an $80b private equity fund based in New York, where she focused on technology and industrial services growth-stage businesses. Caie started her career in the technology investment banking group at JP Morgan in both San Francisco and New York, where she advised IPO-ready companies on how to graduate to the “real world” (public markets).Caie holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and where she wrote a very, very long thesis on Southeast Asia and first became painfully aware of the disparate effects of climate change on developing p
- 2 weeks ago31 min
🎥 Nomura Asset Management International’s Shawn Lytle - pizza, patterns in asset management, and private markets
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.What happens when you bring Tokyo-Neapolitan style pizza to New York?You get one of the hottest new reservations in a city full of top restaurants and pizza spots.Are there similarities between pizza and asset management?Different styles of pizza appeal to different people. Same in asset management. But there is one constant: the way the pizza is made matters.At Pizza Studio Tamaki, the Tokyo-Neapolitan pizza is made with acclaimed pizzaiolo’s Subasa Tamaki’s dough flown in directly from Japan. Every detail matters. Every flavor is unique. And it all blends together into a unique pizza experience.That’s something Nomura Asset Management International is aiming to do in the U.S. with both public and private markets.We recently sat down at Pizza Studio Tamaki for a live podcast with Nomura Asset Management International CEO Shawn Lytle, with the wealth channel in the audience, to discuss pizza, patterns in asset management, and private markets.Shawn’s deep experience working for a number of the industry’s largest asset managers and understanding of what the wealth channel needs across public and private markets set the table for a great discussion on the evolution of asset management, how culture impacts how firms work with the wealth channel, and how to bring an international brand into the U.S. market.We ate the pizza while we podcasted, and we even did a pizza rating. Spoiler alert, PST was really good. So was the podcast.BioShawn is Chief Executive Officer of Nomura Asset Management International, where he is responsible for overseeing the business, investment teams, and strategies for clients. He joined Nomura Asset Management as part of Nomura’s acquisition of Macquarie Asset Management’s US and European public investments business in 2025. He also serves as the President of Nomura Funds (formerly, Macquarie Funds) and oversees registered vehicle governance in the US and Europe. Shawn is a member of the Nomura Asset Management International Executive CommitteeHe has more than 30 years of asset management experience. Before joining Macquarie in 2015, he held several management and equity investment roles at UBS Asset Management and various roles at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.Shawn is a member of the Investment Company Institute (ICI) Executive Committee. He is also a board member of OppNet and Philadelphia Financial Scholars, in addition to being the former Chairman of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP).He earned a Bachelor of Science in marketing from The McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.Thanks, Shawn, for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and passion about asset management and private markets.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis 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: ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Tokyo Pizza Meets NYC01:07 Ultimus Fund Solutions Sponsor Message02:05 Meet Shawn Lytle02:18 Inside Pizza Studio Tamaki02:37 No Barstool Review Tonight03:49 Craftsmanship and Culture05:16 Four Firms Four Cultures07:09 Bringing Japan to US Wealth07:40 Asset Manager Fundamentals08:42 Nomura Long Term Edge09:23 Choosing the Right Partner10:06 Diversification Not Mag 711:13 Curated Choice Trend12:11 Models and Mixing Strategies13:30 Beta Is Free Alpha Matters14:32 Building Nom
- 4 weeks ago54 min
🎥 Arcesium’s Jeb Altonaga - where data and decision-making intersect to drive “operational mastery”
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today’s podcast dives into the world of data and decision-making in private markets.We were in the studio with private markets polymath Jeb Altonaga. Jeb is SVP, Head of Business Development in Private Markets at Arcesium, where they have built a financial management data platform aimed at solving the data normalization problem across public and private markets.Jeb’s multihyphenate background puts him in a position to see the data challenges for GPs and LPs alike from all different angles as Arcesium works to take unstructured data and turn it into structured data and insights to help asset managers run their businesses more efficiently and serve LPs better.Jeb’s background spans Citadel, where he was Head of Relationship Management & Operations in Asia-Pacific, to being an LP as the COO at Blue Pool, a large family office based in Asia, to running capital formation and as COO at Australian activist investment firm Sandon Capital. He joined Arcesium in August 2025 to spearhead the execution of business strategy and the product roadmap for Arcesium’s software solutions in private markets.We had such a fascinating discussion given the various vantage points that Jeb has had in private markets. We covered:How to think about data normalization and why it matters.Where and when transparency makes sense.Which asset classes may benefit from less transparency.What secondary markets might do to transparency in private markets.What a tradable market in private markets could look like.The evolution of private credit’s market structure.What Jeb would make more efficient about private markets.Why it’s important to be a lifelong learner.BioJeb Altonaga leads business development for Arcesium’s Private Markets segment, drawing on over 25 years in alternative investments, capital formation and funds management. He founded Clearglass Capital Partners, a private capital advisory firm, and previously served as COO at Sandon Capital in Sydney and Partner & COO at Blue Pool Capital (& Pinyin) in Hong Kong and began his buy-side career at Citadel Investment Group in Chicago. Jeb holds an MBA from NYU Stern and has served on the board of Hedge Funds Care Asia.Thanks, Jeb, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about public and private markets.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis 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: ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Welcome to Alt Goes Mainstream01:25 A Message from Ultimus Fund Solutions02:26 Meet Jeb Altonaga03:02 Career Breadth Advantage04:09 Why Arcesium Now04:47 From Loan Tapes to AI07:07 The Missing Middle Layer08:23 API First Standardization09:09 Do GPs and LPs Want Standards10:54 LPs Must Drive Change11:52 LP Diversity and Budgets14:49 AI Adoption For Different Generations18:12 Private Markets Desktop Race21:41 Speed Delivery and Incentives24:11 Evergreens and Secondaries Push29:22 Secondaries as Rebalancing Tool30:09 Transparency vs Information Edge30:46 Private Equity Needs Less Transparency31:08 Why Private Credit Is Different32:48 Highway Analogy for Market Evolution34:13 Tech Stitching Private Markets Data35:11 Golden Source Data Lake Explained36:16 Arcesium Intelligence and Agents38:01 Why Firms Get Different Outcomes40:50 Tech Democratization and Human Edge42:28 Private
- Oct 6, 202647 min
🎥 Clarion Partners’ Josh Pristaw - an industrious approach to real estate investing
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today’s podcast dives into the world of real estate with one of the industry’s largest managers and investors in industrial real estate.We sat down in Franklin Templeton’s New York City office with real estate veteran Josh Pristaw, Managing Director, President of Clarion Partners, a $73.3B AUM real estate investment firm within Franklin Templeton’s alternatives platform.Josh discussed data and durable demographics, which are drivers of the deeply researched investment process that his team at Clarion employs to invest in industrial real estate.Josh’s background, which spans developing shopping centers to investing in real estate Brazil to running one of the industry’s leading single-family rental investing platforms at Pretium, has helped him lead Clarion, one of the industry’s largest industrial real estate investment platforms.Josh and I had a fascinating conversation, connecting data and demographics to actionable insights in real estate investing. We covered:The durable demographic and secular trends driving Clarion’s investment strategy in healthcare real estate.How 10,000 people turning 80 years old in the US daily is creating an “aging in place” dynamic that is impacting housing supply and self-storage demand.Why industrial demand is tied to e-commerce growth.How Clarion takes a quantitative approach to real estate investing, evaluating sub-markets using recursive factor analysis.How diversification and liquidity drive Clarion’s open-ended fund strategy, with 95% of the firm’s $73.3B in AUM residing in open-ended funds.Why data centers pose liquidity, capex, valuation, and concentration challenges for open-ended fund vehicles.BioJosh Pristaw, equity owner and Managing Director, is President of Clarion Partners. He is a member of the Firm’s Executive Board, Investment Committee, and the Board of Directors for Clarion Partners Holdings, LLC. He joins Clarion from Pretium, where he served as Senior Managing Director and Head of Pretium’s real estate platform. Prior to Pretium, Josh co-founded GTIS Partners.He has more than two decades of real estate experience across property sectors and functions, including acquisitions, asset management, portfolio development, and capital markets. He joined Clarion Partners in 2025 and has been working in the industry since 1997. Josh graduated from Dartmouth College, B.A. (1997).Thanks, Josh, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about real estate investing and your data-driven approach to the asset class.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis 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: ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Introduction01:14 Message From Ultimus Fund Solutions, Our Sponsor02:46 Josh’s Career Origins05:01 Understand Demographics and Mega Trends06:36 Senior Housing Supply Gap07:35 Housing Turnover and Storage08:51 Data Models Across Sectors10:40 Four Drivers of Returns13:06 Timing Bets and Liquidity16:20 Lessons Learned From Building In Brazil22:20 Data Meets Relationships22:35 Clarion Data Science Edge23:32 Asset Class Specialists23:56 Vertical Integration Analytics24:21 Housing Demand Funnel25:03 Industrial Demand Megatrends25:19 Ecommerce Growth Wave26:05 Efficiency and Taller Warehouses26:58 Robotics Power and Floors27:51 Future-Proofing Specs29:08 Infrastructure Constr
- Sep 29, 202657 min
🎥 EQT’s Christian Sinding - “Why not” Europe and building the €1 trillion company
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today’s podcast takes us to Oslo, Norway, for a very special conversation with Christian Sinding, the former CEO of one of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers, EQT.Christian’s hometown of Oslo provided an ideal setting to showcase both the Nordic heritage that represents EQT’s DNA and the global ambitions of a firm (and one of its portfolio companies, 1X) that is looking to fund Europe’s first €1T company.Christian has been one of the alternative asset management industry’s leaders. He was most recently the CEO of EQT, where he steered the firm on an impressive growth path as a public company and helped scale the firm to almost €300B AUM.He’s now focused on another ambitious project: the Scaleup Europe Fund, a fund that EQT is managing and has support from the European Commission to invest in Europe’s most promising technology companies.With 1X Tech’s NEO humanoid robot joining us for part of the discussion, Christian and I had a fascinating conversation about the past, present, and future of alternative asset management and Europe’s technology ecosystem. Christian and I discussed:The evolution of EQT and alternative asset management.What Europe needs in order to fund the future.How Europe can harmonize its capital markets infrastructure.What it will take to create the €1T company.What it means for companies to have global ambition.The what, why, and how behind EQT’s Scaleup Europe Fund.Why EQT’s Scaleup Europe Fund invested in Iceye and Lovable.Why EQT invested in 1X Tech.How Christian’s “why not” attitude can take Europe’s technology ecosystem to the next level.BioChristian Sinding is an Institutional Partner at EQT with nearly 30 years of experience at the firm. He served as CEO and Managing Partner from 2019 to May 2025, during which EQT quadrupled in size, becoming the fourth-largest company listed on the Swedish stock exchange.As CEO, Christian oversaw EQT’s public listing on Nasdaq Stockholm in 2019 and guided the firm’s development as a publicly listed organization, with a strong focus on governance, transparency and long-term, responsible ownership.Prior to becoming CEO, Christian served as Head of EQT Equity from 2011, where he played a central role in building EQT’s core investment franchise and expanding the firm’s international footprint. Under his leadership, EQT scaled from a market value of approximately €6 billion at listing to around €40 billion in 2025, further strengthening its position as a global leader in private markets.Christian chairs the EQT Council and the Global Investment Forum, serves as Chair of the Investment Committee for the Scaleup Europe fund, and serves on the Investment Committees for EQT Equity and EQT Future. He is also a board member of the EQT Foundation, supporting EQT’s long-term societal engagement.Christian brings deep experience in leadership, governance, public markets and long-term value creation, with a focus on resilience and partnering with founders and management teams to build durable, globally competitive businesses.Thanks, Christian, for sharing your passion, expertise, and wisdom about private markets and building companies and for such a fascinating conversation.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis 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: ultimusfundsolutions.com or email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:info@ultimu
- Sep 22, 202639 min
🎥 KKR’s Pete Stavros - a culture of ownership - live from AGM’s RIA Field Trip
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today’s podcast takes us into the importance of ownership and equity, and how the world’s largest private equity firm (source: PEI 300) has helped create a culture of ownership within its portfolio companies and more broadly across the industry.With the backdrop of KKR’s studio in New York and the firm fresh off the heels of celebrating its 50th Anniversary, we sat down with KKR’s Global Co-Head of Private Equity Pete Stavros for a live conversation during AGM’s RIA Field Trip to discuss how culture can be a competitive advantage and how it defines much of what KKR does both internally and with its portfolio companies.Pete has not only been a leading private equity investor at one of the industry’s largest firms, but he’s also been a pioneer in one of the industry’s most important initiatives: enabling employees of private equity-backed companies to share in ownership of the companies where they work.The firm’s Broad-Based Employee Ownership has delivered on its promise in many ways, with KKR’s recent 14x (and $4.75B) exit on CoolIT providing all 650 CoolIT employees with cash payouts that ranged from approximately one year to more than eight years of annual pay, which, as Pete noted in our conversation, was “life-changing for many employees.”Pete and I had a fascinating conversation about the culture of ownership at KKR, the evolution of the firm’s private equity platform, why it’s so important to make employees owners, and how it’s created a ripple effect in the industry. We covered:KKR’s “we not I” culture.Why the most important trend in private equity going forward will be a shift from “balance sheet and income statement arbitrage to total cultural transformation.”Why and how culture is an advantage — and how KKR sustains its competitive advantage.The power of a scaled platform and why the division of labor is important as firms grow.What Pete means by “persistence in process.”How can companies encourage people to act like owners, and why is it so important for employee retention and productivity?How can sharing equity ownership be used as a tool to change culture?The impact the private equity industry can have through its ability to cascade change.BioPete Stavros (NewYork) joined KKR in 2005 and is Co-Head of Global Private Equity. This includes oversight of assets across Europe, Asia and the Americas and traditional large and mid-cap private equity, core and growth equity. Prior to this role, Pete served as Co-Head of the Americas Private Equity platform. He is a member of several investment committees at KKR. As an investor, Pete has helped lead a number of successful investments across sectors and sizes, including HCA Healthcare, Nielsen, Gardner Denver / Ingersoll Rand, Capsugel, Capital Safety, Hyperion, Flow Control Group, Charter Next Generation, Minnesota Rubber and Plastics, Geostabilization International, Crosby Group and CHI Overhead Doors. Prior to becoming Co-Head of Americas Private Equity, Pete led the Industrials industry team where he pioneered an innovative employee engagement and ownership model. This approach has been successfully implemented at more than 90 KKR companies and has positively impacted more than 200,000 workers. Pete is the Founder and Chairman of Ownership Works, a non-profit focused on building a worker ownership movement globally and enhancing the financial resiliency of the workforce. The goal of Ownership Works is to create more than $20 billion of wealth for working families over the next decade. Pete is also the Founder and Chairman of Expanding ESOPs, an organization focused on dramatically expanding the number of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in corporate America. Prior to joining KKR, Pete was an investor with GTCR Golder Rauner, where he was an investor in the healthcare sector. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry, magna cum laude, from Duke University and an M.B.A. with high distinction, Baker Scholar, from Harvard Business School.Thanks, Pete, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion on private equity and making everyone an owner.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis 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 part
- Sep 17, 20261h 19m
🎥 I Squared’s Dr. Sadek Wahba - it’s time to “Build”
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.We went to Miami to sit down with the professor of infrastructure investing and Founder, Chairman, and Managing Partner of I Squared, Dr. Sadek Wahba.Sadek has blended academic knowledge and a practical approach to infrastructure investing to build I Squared into a $60B infrastructure investment firm in 14 years, some of which he has adroitly distilled into the 2024 book that he authored, Build: Investing in America’s Infrastructure.We had such a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion that I’ve decided to break down our conversation into chapters.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis 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: ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Show Notes00:00 Welcome to Alt Goes Mainstream at I Squared in Miami01:39 A Message From Our Sponsor, Ultimus Fund Solutions02:41 Meet Dr. Sadek Wahba03:18 Career Path Origins03:59 World Bank Lessons07:36 Private Sector Contrast08:55 I Squared Focus Model10:22 Platform Playbook13:02 Dr. Wahba’s Book14:35 AI Infrastructure Wave16:19 No Free Lunch: Ownership and Regulation16:58 Politics And History19:57 Municipal Debt Funding21:55 User Fees Reality25:55 Ownership Management Regulation29:57 Incentives32:40 If It Sounds Too Good To Be True33:57 I Squared Investing Approach37:29 Risk Return Discipline39:17 Building Durable Infrastructure40:37 Regulation Risk Reality42:27 Balancing Risk Return43:50 Why Middle Market Wins45:14 Great Management Traits46:22 Infra Tech And AI49:51 Platform Building Playbook52:59 Capital Flows And Competition57:57 Democratizing Infrastructure Ownership01:04:11 Privatization And Listed Airports01:07:42 Retirement Accounts For Infrastructure01:09:28 Nearshoring And National Security01:16:02 Investor Skillset And Edge01:18:01 What Drives The MissionJoin over 17,300 Substack subscribers & followers, 46,000 LinkedIn and podcast followers, and syndication to the 330,000 Bloomberg Terminal userswho are thought leaders and executives from top private markets firms and wealth management like Blackstone, Apollo, Ares, KKR, EQT, Carlyle, Blue Owl, CVC, TPG, Brookfield, Vista, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, BlackRock, Fidelity, iCapital, Franklin Templeton, Nuveen, Hg, Permira, Stonepeak, Hamilton Lane, StepStone, Partners Group, General Atlantic, Hightower, Focus Financial, Corient, Cerity Partners, and more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit altgoesmainstream.substack.com
- Sep 10, 20261h 13m
🎥 Golub Capital’s David Golub - inside the mind of one of private credit’s pioneers
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.We went to Golub Capital’s New York office to sit down with Co-CEO David Golub.David Golub and his brother Lawrence both started their careers in private equity. It was their experiences in private equity in the 1990s that turned them into private credit pioneers.Lawrence and David have built Golub Capital into a $95B private credit behemoth, largely due to their pioneering decision to create the “one-stop” unitranche loan solution for sponsor-backed companies after spotting a gap in the sponsor finance market.Fast forward over 30 years, and Golub Capital is one of the leaders in private credit.David discussed how Golub has spent the balance of its life as a scaled specialist credit manager “honing the competitive advantages” that make the firm so unique. Golub has built a cadre of 200 high-quality sponsor relationships with many of the industry’s top private equity firms, which call on them when they are seeking sponsor financing for their companies.David and I had a fascinating conversation that covered everything from the early days of private credit to the story of pioneering unitranche loans to what LPs should look for in GPs to the psychology of relationships and partnerships. We discussed:What David and Lawrence saw in the early days of private equity informed how they decided to build Golub.Why the unitranche loan became popular with private equity sponsors.What Golub looks for in relationships with private equity sponsors.Why focus has been a key driver of scaling Golub’s business.What LPs should ask GPs when evaluating their fund and firm.Why LPs should evaluate GPs based on how GPs think about their own business.The psychology of relationships and partnerships.How David’s experience being surrounded by a family of psychologists and psychiatrists has given him an edge in investing, negotiating, and building win-win relationships.BioDavid B. Golub, Co-Chief Executive OfficerDavid Golub is Co-Chief Executive Officer of Golub Capital, a market-leading, award-winning direct lender and experienced private credit manager. As of April 1, 2026, Golub Capital had over $90 billion of capital under management, a gross measure of invested capital including leverage. Golub Capital partners with institutional investors and family offices, offering tailored solutions for investors’ credit asset strategies. The Firm specializes in delivering reliable, creative and compelling financing solutions to companies backed by private equity sponsors. Golub Capital has been a top 3 U.S. Middle Market Bookrunner each year from 2008 through Q1 2026 for senior secured loans of up to $500 million for leveraged buyouts. Golub Capital has been consistently recognized with industry awards, including Lender of the Year, Americas (Private Debt Investor, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) Lender of the Decade, Americas (Private Debt Investor, 2023), Senior Lender of the Decade, Americas (Private Debt Investor, 2023), Senior Lender of the Year, Americas (Private Debt Investor, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2025) and BDC Manager of the Year, Americas (Private Debt Investor, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2023).Mr. Golub is active in charitable and civic organizations. Mr. Golub is a member of the Founder’s Council of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, where he was the first board Chairman and a long-time director. Mr. Golub is Co-Founder and Chair of the Golub Capital Nonprofit Board Fellows Network, which operates at 20 leading business schools; its mission is to make nonprofit boards more effective by training hundreds of MBA students each year to become highly skilled nonprofit directors. Mr. Golub is a member of the Association of Marshall Scholars’ Director’s Circle and previously was a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council. He has served on the boards of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, the Hudson Guild and the World Policy Institute. Mr. Golub is on the board of directors of Burton Snowboards and has served on the boards of numerous public and private companies.Prior to joining Golub Capital in 2003, Mr. Golub was a Managing Director of Centre Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm, and of Corporate Partners, a Lazard-sponsored $1.5 billion private equity fund formed to acquire significant minority stakes in established companies.Mr. Golub earned his AB degree magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College. He received an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate Schoo
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Podzilla's Alt Goes Mainstream daily summary?
It's a free AI-powered email that summarizes new episodes of Alt Goes Mainstream as soon as they're published. You get the key takeaways, notable quotes, and links & mentions — all in a quick read.
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When a new episode drops, our AI transcribes and analyzes it, then generates a personalized summary tailored to your interests and profession. It's delivered to your inbox every morning.
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No. Podzilla is an independent service that summarizes publicly available podcast content. We're not affiliated with or endorsed by Michael Sidgmore.
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How often does Alt Goes Mainstream release new episodes?
Alt Goes Mainstream publishes weekly. Our AI generates a summary within hours of each new episode.
What topics does Alt Goes Mainstream cover?
Alt Goes Mainstream covers topics including Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing. Our AI identifies the specific themes in each episode and highlights what matters most to you.
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