Secondaries, Continuation Vehicles, and Sidecar Funds: Private Equity with HarbourVest’s Scott Voss
Run the Numbers
Exploring the Evolution of a Leading Investment Firm
This chapter explores the growth and operations of a notable investment firm, focusing on its contributions to private market access, especially in venture capital. It highlights the firm's diverse strategies, from primary investments to direct co-investing, while tracing its development since 1982 and its impact on the investment industry.
Scott Voss, Managing Director of Boston’s preeminent private markets firm HarbourVest, joins CJ for an in-depth exploration of secondaries, continuation vehicles, and sidecar funds. Scott starts by outlining HarbourVest's value proposition and investment strategies, covering primary investments, secondaries, and direct co-investments while underscoring the importance of private market access for diversified portfolios. He shares the framework HarbourVest uses to identify and support emerging fund managers ahead of their success, and the process of due diligence and evaluation. Scott sheds light on how continuation vehicles work in the private equity space and other trends or innovations he has identified. The discussion also covers the complexities of succession planning within private equity firms, the evolving landscape of global entrepreneurship and venture capital internationally, and Scott’s views on AI.
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Preview and Intro
(01:46) Sponsor – Operators Guild | Maxio
(05:02) HarbourVest’s Value Proposition
(09:39) Accessing the Private Market
(11:28) Investing in Early Fund Managers Ahead of Their Success
(13:13) The Process of Due Diligence and Evaluation
(14:20) Identifying Investments Versus the Ability to Access the Right People
(16:16) Sponsor – Leapfin | Mercury | NetSuite
(19:35) How Continuation Vehicles Work in the Private Equity Space
(23:27) Quality Versus Timing When It Comes to Continuation Vehicles
(24:04) Other Trends or Innovations in the Space
(26:19) Sidecar Funds
(28:07) Succession Planning in VC and PE Firms
(32:17) GP Stake Funds
(34:28) How Succession Planning Is Likely to Evolve over Time
(35:13) Private Equity in the Capital Markets and the State of Global Entrepreneurship
(37:25) Sequestering International Versus Domestic Investments
(40:31) The Potential Emergence of China as a Sci-Fi Innovation Hub
(42:48) Scott’s Take on AI
(44:09) Career Insight: Luck Versus Talent
(47:35) Advice About Hobbies
(50:26) Wrap
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