A curated afternoon bringing together GPs, deal sponsors, allocators, wealth advisors, journalists, and policy voices to explore where SPVs and private markets are headed over the next decade and beyond.
September 29
NYC
In partnership with

One afternoon, built entirely around SPV investing
The day includes lunch, two mainstage panels, a fireside chat with Jason Calacanis, and breakout discussions you choose based on what you’re working on.
12:00 PM
Lunch, Check-In & Networking
12:50 PM
Welcome & What to Expect
1:00 PM
Panel—The New Center of Gravity: SPVs in Venture Today
1:45 PM
Transition to Breakout Rooms
2:00 PM
Breakout Session 1
2:40 PM
Return to Mainstage
2:50 PM
Panel—Wealth Meets Venture
3:35 PM
Afternoon Break
3:45 PM
Transition to Breakout Rooms
4:00 PM
Breakout Session 2
4:40 PM
Return to Mainstage
4:50 PM
Fireside Chat — SPVs: A Complete Strategy
5:20 PM
Closing Remarks & Transition to Reception
5:30 PM
Networking Reception · Until 7:30 PM
Speakers
Mainstage Panels
Two panels and a fireside chat on where SPV investing goes next.
1:00–1:45 PM
Panel—The New Center of Gravity: SPVs in Venture Today
SPVs were once a secondary tool used by venture capitalists looking to build a track record or take advantage of opportunistic deals. Today, they have become a fundamental part of the investing toolkit and a primary way that capital reaches private companies. This conversation will cover why more managers are running deal-by-deal strategies without a committed fund, how SPVs are reshaping private markets, and what LPs and regulators now expect from independent venture managers.

Leo Schwartz
Moderator · The Information

Julia Gudish Krieger
PariPassu Ventures

Alex Edelson
Slipstream Investors

Bobby Franklin
NVCA
2:50–3:35 PM
Panel—Wealth Meets Venture
In Hamilton Lane's 2026 private wealth survey, 47% of advisors said they plan to increase allocations to venture and growth this year, more than any other private markets strategy. Many of those clients want specific companies rather than blind pools. Two things are driving this. Advisors now treat alternatives as a standard part of a portfolio instead of a niche allocation. And a younger generation is inheriting the money, with more risk tolerance and more interest in private companies. This panel covers what that means on both sides. For venture managers, wealth capital changes how they fundraise and who sits in the LP base. For advisors, the questions are how to diligence a venture manager, which fee and structure terms they expect, and when a specific company through a single asset SPV beats broad fund exposure.

Shri Bhashyam
Moderator · COO, Sydecar

Lisa Cawley
Partner, Screendoor

Marcel Pfister
Compound Planning

Alan Rios
House of Vanderbilt
4:50–5:20 PM
SPVs: A Complete Strategy
Jason Calacanis has been investing through SPVs for more than a decade. He now runs that strategy from pre-seed through late-stage, with more than 10,000 accredited investors participating alongside him. Even as his firm LAUNCH has raised over $90 million across its two recent funds, Jason continues to leverage a deal-by-deal investing strategy. In conversation with Nik Talreja, Calacanis covers what this strategy demands at volume: sourcing, deal memos, investor communication, and the operational discipline he argues managers underestimate before they try to scale. Calacanis makes the case for SPV investing as a standalone strategy, not just a route to a committed fund.

Jason Calacanis
LAUNCH, All-In Podcast

Nik Talreja
Moderator · CEO, Sydecar
Breakout Sessions
Two rounds. Five conversations in each. Choose the topics that matter to you.
Session 1 · 2:00–2:40 PM
SPVs have a brand problem
SPVs now do institutional work but still carry syndicate-era baggage. This discussion digs into where the reputation gap comes from and what managers, LPs, and the press each get wrong about who's using these vehicles and how.

Helen Min
Articulate

Ashley Mayer
Coalition
Underwriting the Deal-by-Deal Track Record
A track record built deal by deal used to be a gap in the resume; now it's often the whole resume. Thomas Ikeda of Cendana Capital breaks down how allocators evaluate an SPV-focused track record. He’ll cover what counts as track-record and what gets discounted.

Thomas Ikeda
Cendana Capital
The Secondaries Rush: What LPs Are Saying
Secondary volume passed public listings this year, and much of it clears through SPVs. David Zhou co-founded The Side Letter and hosts Superclusters, which keeps him in steady conversation with the allocators writing the checks. His essay Goldilocks and the 3 Secondaries sorts funds by TVPI around year seven and argues that each position calls for its own secondary strategy. This discussion covers how allocators read a manager's liquidity decisions and what a disciplined approach to selling looks like while the window is still open.

David Zhou
The Side Letter
What "Institutional-Grade" Should Mean for SPVs
Private capital is increasingly being deployed through SPVs, but the market still needs institutional standards for these vehicles. Bobby Goodlatte leads a working conversation on what those standards should be: transparent fees and terms, and reporting an LP can trust.

Bobby Goodlatte
Form Capital
What Wealth Clients Actually Want From Private Markets
Beyond the headlines about retail access, we discuss what private wealth clients are really asking for, which requests advisors act on, and where demand is ahead of (or behind) the products available.

Mark Peter Davis
Session 2 · 4:00–4:40 PM
Breaking Venture's Cold-Start Problem
New managers can't raise without a track record and can't build one without raising – the "reputation paradox" as Clayton and Zytnick's research names. With Haley Bryant from Hustle Fund, which has built a repeatable SPV process, this group discusses how deal-by-deal investing breaks the paradox.

William W. Clayton
BYU Law

Haley Bryant
Hustle Fund
The Independent Venture Manager Playbook
In private equity, deal-by-deal investing has a name, a playbook, and institutional recognition: the independent sponsor. Ed Stubbings leads a discussion on what independent venture managers, and the LPs backing them, can take from a model PE established long ago.

Ed Stubbings
Global Emerging Manager Institute
Distribution Is the New Track Record
In venture, brand used to be something you inherited from a firm; now managers must build their own. Erica Wenger, solo GP and host of the Trailblazers podcast, will lead a discussion on turning media and audience into firm infrastructure: deal flow, allocations, and LP trust. LPs will hear what a manager's public voice actually tells you about their judgment.

Erica Wenger
Park Rangers Capital
Continuation SPVs
Discussion led by Dave McClure of First Close Partners.

Dave McClure
First Close Partners
Winning Advisor Confidence
Advisors put their name behind every deal they recommend, and managers who respect that are winning the wealth channel. This discussion covers what earns advisor confidence: fee transparency, structure quality, and the diligence that turns a first allocation into a repeat one.

Michael Thrasher
Modus







