Samir Kaji is the Co-founder and CEO of Allocate.

This conversation is a deep dive into the private markets, the evolution of venture capital as an asset class, and how there are now 10x more private investment firms than public companies.

We also unpack why 90% of venture funds simply can’t raise capital right now, advice for anyone raising a fund today, how to stand out as an emerging manager, why secondaries have become a primary driver of liquidity in venture, and how to navigate SPVs as a GP and LP.

We also talk through the AI products they built to evaluate fund managers at Allocate, and how AI is changing venture and company building.

A special thanks to Bolt and Warp for supporting this episode.

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Warp: Automates payroll, handles multi-state tax compliance, and streamlines international contractor payments, so founders can focus on building, not busywork. Try it here.

Timestamps:

(5:31) Evolution of the private markets

(17:55) VC markets post-2020

(21:09) Risk / return profiles of various fund sizes

(24:04) Secondaries will drive future venture returns

(33:17) Creative ways to return capital

(36:27) “Curiosity Revenue” in AI

(41:52) Allocate’s Beyond Summit

(43:42) Samir's AI fund analyzer

(46:15) Fintech only 1% of financial services revenue

(50:13) Triple-layered SPVs

(54:50) Breaking down returns in venture

(58:27) How to gauge a fund manager’s access

(1:00:14) Determining appropriate fund size

(1:05:02) 90% of venture funds cannot raise right now

(1:09:50) How to raise a fund today

(1:15:37) ChatGPT roasts Banana Capital

(1:19:56) Traits of the best VCs

(1:22:41) Vetting grit, hustle, and obsession

(1:31:12) Why using AI is table stakes

(1:36:49) Value of podcasts

Check out Allocate

The Peel episode with Eric Vishria

Samir’s Venture Unlocked Podcast

Follow Samir

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