Dealing with the realities of today's venture market: A conversation with top allocator StepStone's Seyonne Kang

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

On today’s episode, we talk with Seyonne Kang, a Partner at StepStone, which acquired her former firm, Greenspring Associates. StepStone is a global private markets firm that provides customized investment and advisory solutions to some of the world’s most sophisticated investors. 

StepStone has a total capital responsibility of $602B of assets and has $134B of assets under management across the spectrum of private markets investments, giving them incredible purview into the current private markets landscape.

At StepStone, Seyonne is a member of the private equity team, where she focuses on venture capital fund and growth equity investments.

Prior to StepStone, Seyonne was a Partner at Greenspring Associates, a venture capital and growth equity firm that merged with StepStone in 2021. She spent the 7 years prior in investment management, with a focus on private capital, working at Jasper Ridge Partners and Commonfund. She also spent a decade on Wall Street in institutional equities.

Seyonne and I had a fascinating conversation about the current state of venture capital and what it means for LPs and GPs. We discussed: 

• How GPs can weather the storm.
• How LPs can navigate the current venture environment.
• Advice for emerging managers.
• Why secondaries might be an interesting investment opportunity right now.
• How newer allocators to private markets can approach investing into venture and growth.
• Why subject matter expertise matters for fund managers.
• Why Seyonne is excited about innovation and venture in the US in the current market.

Thanks Seyonne for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom and experiences.