Emerging Managers & The Future of Venture Capital: An Expert's Perspective with Samir Kaji, Founder & CEO of Allocate

Today on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast we have a domain expert in the world of VC – and someone who has been a visionary when it has come to one of the biggest movements in VC over the past 8 years: emerging managers.

Samir Kaji, the Founder & CEO of Allocate, is a well-respected industry leader in the VC world. He has spent over 20 years partnering with VCs at First Republic Bank and Silicon Valley Bank, where he led the Venture Capital and Private Equity banking efforts. At First Republic, he built out the infrastructure and client base that served the VC and PE community. He’s evaluated over 800 VC fund managers and worked with thousands of LPs at First Republic.

Samir and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of venture capital and what's to come for the industry. He’s seen a lot in his career in Silicon Valley that has spanned multiple market cycles. He shared his perspective on:

• The challenges that GPs and LPs face during fundraising.
• Why the structural inefficiencies of allocating to funds - and perceived risks with emerging managers - led so many LPs to miss out on the Fund I’s of now legendary emerging managers Lowercase Capital, K9, and Initialized Capital.
• The case for emerging managers in a venture portfolio and why emerging managers are the future of venture capital.
• The trend of non-institutional capital coming into the venture world.
• How LPs will be able to better discover and allocate to fund managers in the future.

In his time in Silicon Valley, he’s become an unquestioned thought leader in the world of VC, particularly in the emerging manager space. 

He has consistently written seminal thought pieces and instructional guides on the topic – and now talks about the space with his podcast, Venture Unlocked.

His experiences working with many of the top VC funds and LPs globally has culminated in a journey that he’s now starting by founding Allocate.

He has observed a number of inefficiencies with emerging managers when it comes to firm building and capital raising. 

He’s seen many emerging managers struggle with fundraising due to the difficulties finding the right LPs. 

He’s seen the challenges that LPs have with being able to locate and allocate to new emerging managers, many of whom have gone on to outperform benchmarks and become the next generation of brand name firms.

He believes that the ecosystem is ready for a decentralized, democratized, and diverse ecosystem of fund managers. And Allocate is the connective tissue that will solve these challenges for both GPs and LPs alike. 

Thanks Samir for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom about the world of venture.