Alec Litowitz

In 2025, 25 private market exits turned $15.7B of invested capital into $154.1B in exit value. Notable exits include Wiz, Windsurf, Circle, Figma, and other standout names—several of which are held by fund exposures accessible to client portfolios through our platform. At Crystal Capital Partners, we empower advisors to access institutional-quality private market managers across private equity, venture, and credit. Our platform handles sourcing, diligence, and manager selection so you can focus on building stronger portfolios for your clients. Momentum is strong heading into 2026, with new opportunities already hitting the market. For registered investment advisors only. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: https://lnkd.in/ew7gZYyX Source: Visual Capitalist’s Top 25 Billion-Dollar Exits report

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In commenting on a report prepared jointly by the Council of Foundations and Commonfund, Abby Schultz writes in Barron's that private foundations' "policy spend rate" in 2024 was 5.2% while community foundations spent 4.6%. Assuming 2.5% for inflation, Ms. Schultz underscores that the investment portfolios of private and community foundations must therefore earn 7.7% and 7.1% respectively just to sustain their spending, and maintain the value of their portfolio's corpus. But Ms. Schultz further indicates that only "a third of foundations met or exceeded" their minimum thresholds, while their investment portfolios are now under increased pressure to at least deliver "above-spending" investment results. Especially, given the recent loss of federal funding and grants. Adding to the dark clouds on foundations' investment horizons, venerable practitioners like Howard Marks and Vanguard are both forecasting low single-digit public equity returns for the next decade. For asset owners with set payout requirements and spending hurdles near 7.5%, such insufficiently paltry returns from "the market" thereby nullifies the merits and efficacy of passively and actively tracking the performance of the market index for the next decade - even if passive fees are near zero the "cost" will be insufficient funding. Hence, a fresh perspective focused on a concentrated, absolute return approach to public equity implementation that underwrites for “spendable” actual results (untethered to the flagging index returns forecasted by Mr. Marks and others) is warranted and worthy of consideration. Such an incremental move would complement one’s existing private and public market holdings while improving one’s odds of hitting one’s cash hurdle target - without adding leverage, illiquidity or non-transparency to the corpus.

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"As individual investors, our portfolios look nothing like the portfolios of these large endowment foundations that I have managed capital on behalf of for a very long time." Now there are ways to bridge that gap. Wendy Li Co-founder & Chief Investment Officer Ivy Invest walks us through their endowment-in-a-box solution—delivered through technology to individual retail investors, but structured behind the scenes like a traditional institutional LP. ▶️ https://lnkd.in/g65XqWwU CC: Swimming with Allocators Earnest Sweat

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There's a typical pattern we've come to expect when it comes to an entrepreneurial exit: founder finds the right buyer, sells the business, achieves financial freedom, and they move onto new ventures or retirement. This isn't always the case though. Often during the transition process, founders start to consider what they truly want going forward. Some are happy to sell their business and move on, others realize they're not ready to leave the company they built behind. Then some proceed with the sale but stay with the company in another role. Rather than walk away from their business, they see an opportunity to build something larger than what they could accomplish independently. What path a founder takes ultimately comes down to a critical question: what are you building, and does that work continue to provide purpose? The answer will determine what makes the most sense for business owner.

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Had a great time hosting a roundtable at the Middle East Investor Network last week. The main theme of the day was the importance of a solid operating model and good governance, and being able to show investors that a fund manager is running a resilient business, not just a set of positions. One thing that really stuck with me and felt oddly satisfying, is something I’ve been banging on about for the best part of a decade: investing is often not the most important thing for fund managers. I’m very aware that saying that usually causes people to back away slowly, wondering if I’ve lost the plot. But hearing allocators articulate the same point was a good reminder that the message is finally landing. Performance matters...obviously. But the operating model is what determines whether a fund manager lasts long enough for performance to matter. Which brings me neatly to something we’ve just launched at East Emblem We’ve formally opened applications for FM101 (Fund Manager 101) East Emblem’s new flagship program for fund managers. FM101 is a five week institutional incubator designed around one thing: tangible outputs. No fluff. No jargon. Real documents. Real structures. Real outcomes. Managers spend the program building, not listening. with a lot of one-to-one time, small groups by design, and a very practical focus on creating a live, investor-ready operating platform. A big part of the program fee is also very deliberately practical. It covers the heavy lifting that most fund managers dread and often underestimate... the creation of a regulated investment manager entity in the BVI and a Cayman fund, or for existing managers looking to gain exposure to MENA with, a Cat 4 licence in ADGM/DIFC We work with phenomenal, authorised on the ground partners for all structuring and regulatory work and we coordinate the process end-to-end. The goal is simple: take the headache of structuring and setup away, so managers can focus on actually investing and fundraising. FM101 exists because most new (and plenty of existing) fund managers don’t fail because they’re bad investors, they fail because they don’t know what they don’t know. And allocators, understandably, don’t have the time or inclination to teach them. FM101 pulls back the curtain. It explains not just how institutions expect things to be built, but why and where operating models tend to break when governance is treated as an afterthought. If you’re a fund manager thinking seriously about building an institutional platform or if you know any budding or newer fund managers who might benefit please feel free to share. Applications are open here and on the East Emblem website: https://tally.so/r/zxNeWE And there’s more detail on the East Emblem website if useful. East Emblem Louis Ravenscroft Craig Martin Adrian Beattie

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Thanks again SuperReturn for having me last week in LA! Really enjoyed being part of the panel on emerging opportunities and hurdles for new fund managers.   Had a great discussion with fellow panelists Kamran Ansari, and Marquette Chester, with Caroline Gillespie Greer from Commonfund moderating. A few things that really resonated from our conversation:   🎯 Co-invest talk vs. reality: GPs should dig into which LPs actually want to co-invest versus those who just like the idea. The gap between interest and action is real, and it's worth understanding upfront.   🎯 Reputation as your differentiator: When everyone has deal flow and basic differentiation has become table stakes, your reputation becomes the real competitive edge. Focus on leading through action and let your work speak for itself.   🎯 The track record trap: Most LPs treat existing track record as mandatory, but I think that's shortsighted. Attribution is complicated, and over-relying on past performance can lead to complacency. There are other ways to evaluate talent and potential.

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When the Tribune Editorial Board contacted me for a story they wanted to run on Chicago's underwhelming pension returns, I was happy to help piece together the data. Chicago, unfortunately, is facing many financial, credit and economic challenges - but at the root of it all is our woefully underfunded pension system. The more money we have to divert to pension payments (and debt servicing), the less there is for city services and the more pressure there is to raise our already high local taxes. I have previously shared several creative pension funding ideas in prior posts, but I doubt they would get any traction given the vested interests at stake. The most direct way out of our pension nightmare is via reform, as the liability numbers are so astronomical. And yes, I get the state constitutional challenges that make reform exceedingly difficult. Short of reform, what would really help is a generational period of above-trend local economic growth that results in city revenues rising much faster than expenses. However, growth is dependent on external factors as well as local policies, and achieving it is a very long-term project. More immediately, better pension investment returns would alleviate the funding pressure and that's the subject of today's Tribune editorial. Without better returns - and I mean much better returns - and without faster economic growth, the risk for pension beneficiaries is that the plans run out of money. You can throw your state constitutional protections out the window if you have no way of satisfying them. At the end of the day, financial reality matters more than constitutional reality, because it will be a forcing mechanism to dictate legal changes. Thinking you can fall back on raising taxes is highly risky, as we are approaching a point where that might become a political impossibility. Further, that would risk businesses and residents moving out of the city, impeding the economic growth we so desperately need. So... in the interest of avoiding what would be a painful scenario down the road where pension benefits get cut by the reality of our financial circumstances, I would highly encourage Chicago's pension beneficiaries to pressure their plan's trustees to reconsider their allocation and investment management approach. We cannot afford another decade of underperformance. Article Link: https://lnkd.in/g3b5gM7j

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Dry Powder vs. Fundraising Looking again to Preqin's data for fundraising and layering on dry powder a couple interesting observations emerge. (One caveat, dry powder data run through September 2025 while fundraising extends to December 2025). First, despite raising more than half a trillion dollars after 2020, DL dry powder (as of September 2025) stood at 2.5 times funds raised in 2025, not too far off historic range of 1 to 2 times. This supports what I've said in the past: DL creates its own assets. Second, distressed strategies (which do not create their own assets!) saw dry powder relative to funds raised halve in 2025. Looks like that tripling identified in my last post was quickly absorbed. In fact, the ratio appears to be at a 9 year low. Third, only special sits saw a meaningful jump in dry powder relative to funds raised, which now sit at an all-time high ratio of 5 years. This is the result of a 50% increase in dry powder in the first nine months of 2025 on the back of a 47% decline in fund raising in 2025.

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David Booth's post yesterday made me think about my own approach to founder assessment. We look at different things, but with the same logic: there needs to be a balance between competing factors. This balance is what makes the founder's job incredibly hard (and following them as an investor even harder). You need perfect balance in an extreme game that often ends up being 0 or 1. After 250+ founder conversations, I've noticed that the most compelling entrepreneurs I meet aren't driven by pure purpose OR pure greed. They're driven by both. Pure purpose founders understand problems deeply but often lack commercial instincts. Pure opportunity founders master fundraising but chase financial exits over problem-solving. The magic happens in between: founders who genuinely believe something is broken AND see the massive opportunity in fixing it. They're not embarrassed by wanting financial success: they see it as validation that their solution actually works. This is exactly what I look for when evaluating teams for Inverto Ventures. Someone building energy grid optimization software because they're passionate about infrastructure resilience AND because they understand the €4.26B market opportunity from EU grid inefficiencies. David's humility framework applies here too: the best founders I know are confident about their mission but humble about execution. They know the problem intimately, but they're always learning how to solve it better. Purpose gives you staying power when things get hard. Greed gives you the drive to scale when things work. What drives the founders you're most excited about: pure mission, pure opportunity, or something in between? #VentureCapital #FounderAssessment #SystemsThinking #PurposeAndProfit

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The waterfall tells you everything about your GP's real priorities. Look past the pitch deck and examine the distribution waterfall. When principal return comes before promote activation, you're seeing alignment you can track in every distribution check. Most investors focus on preferred returns. Wrong metric. → Capital return waterfalls prioritize your principal recovery first  → GP economics activate only after you've recovered investment  → Zero promote distributions until LP capital comes back This structure changes everything about risk. Your GP gets paid on execution, not AUM. They're betting on actual property performance... not fee collection. Most waterfalls activate promotes at preferred return thresholds. Principal-first structures work differently. You recover every dollar invested before management sees promote income. The quarterly distributions show you exactly where you stand. Your liquidity first, their upside second. When GPs structure deals this way they're putting skin in the game beyond their co-investment. Real alignment. Do you dig into waterfall structures before making investment decisions?

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There's something New happening in Industry. That much was clear at a discussion last week hosted by the Hudson Institute. Nadia Schadlow first led a conversation with builders Russell Varone, Eric Hostetler, and Austin Gray. Then we discussed investing with Peter Meijer and Julius Krein. Some of America's best talent is working to build big valuable companies in physical industries, and it was on full display here. Link to video and transcript in comments.

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The True Role of an Accelerator: Capital, Compass, and Crew 👉 Apply for NextUnicorn #Funding Programs: https://lnkd.in/e9sqwG2e Starting a company often feels like building a plane mid-air - ambitious, chaotic, and deeply isolating. This is where accelerators step in. Not to hand you a ready-made aircraft, but to equip you with the right tools, a compass, and a crew. The best accelerators are belief engines that turn early-stage ideas into traction through mentorship, community, and momentum. They compress years of trial and error into a focused, high-growth journey, helping you avoid costly mistakes and move forward with clarity and confidence. Beyond capital, accelerators elevate founders. They immerse you in a network of mentors, peers, and investors who challenge, support, and accelerate your growth. Yes, there are perks like credits, legal support, co-working spaces but the real value lies in perspective and pace. Not all accelerators are equal; some offer true alignment with your vision, while others simply offer access. The best ones don’t just fund your startup, they help shape you into the founder you're meant to become. 👉 Apply for NextUnicorn #Funding Programs: https://lnkd.in/e9sqwG2e 🔗 NextUnicorn #Whatsapp Direct Connect: https://wa.link/oyv21o 🔗 Join NextUnicorn #Channel: https://lnkd.in/esFkDEb5 🔗 Join NextUnicorn #Community: https://lnkd.in/e3zdnY-C NextUnicorn.Fund | Thamma Darshan | Devi Saha | Emmanuel Tom #startupaccelerator #startupusa #accelerator #startupacceleratorusa #startupeurope #startup #startuptounicorn #accelerator #NextUnicorn #StartupFunding #SeedFunding #EarlyStageStartups #FoundersWanted #PitchToInvestors #StartupSupport #StartupOpportunities #EarlyStageStartups #networking

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"We anticipate a plethora of innovative companies building AI transformative solutions around manufacturing." hear Jackson Cummings, Head of Wellington Access Ventures, highlight potential opportunities from deregulation, American competitiveness, and other early-stage #VC trends in 2025: https://lnkd.in/eHDtNJCq

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The US SIF is a premier organization focused on bringing in triple bottom-line investors to underserved communities around the country. Maria Lettini, Bryan McGannon and their teams are leading this effort. Some of the key questions that we ask (as an investor ourselves) are: 1. how does one find communities that need the capital - what are the demographic and other characteristics of these areas that are important for investors; 2. how can we support the investors in building portfolios from the perspective of impact; and, 3. how do we then ensure that there is a feedback loop around our respective Theories of Change. Some of these questions will be discussed in this conference and event. We look forward to seeing you or your representatives at the US SIF Conference next week. We will also discuss various advanced technology - AI and ML tools to support this effort. As a board member of US SIF and part of the Investors Council of the Global Impact Investing Network, we are really keen on increasing this capital flow. Stephanie Rupp, Maria Lettini, Jennifer N. Coombs US SIF, Todd Larsen, Nick Ashburn, Kafi Lindsay National Community Investment Fund, The Global Impact Investing Network Amit Bouri #USSIF

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Endowment campaigns can be game-changers for organizations—but only if the timing, structure, and community alignment are right. Check out this new article for the 2025 summer issue of HaYidion: The Prizmah Journal. Thank you Amy Schiffman of Evolve Giving Group for inviting me to help you outline the seven essential conditions that schools should evaluate before launching an endowment effort. We also unpack: - What makes endowment campaigns different from annual or capital campaigns? - How else can leaders thoughtfully approach long-term sustainability? Read the full article here:  https://lnkd.in/gunMj9FU #Endowments #EndowmentStrategy #SchoolSustainability #StrategicPlanning

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🎙️ New Podcast Announcement! 🎙️ Joel Palathinkal sits down with Brendan Baker, Partner at Ridge Ventures, for a deep dive into the evolution of venture capital, building embedded advantages, and the systematic future of investing. Key Discussion Points: • From engineer to early AngelList employee: Screening thousands of pitches 💡 • Working alongside Naval Ravikant and learning from Reid Hoffman 👥 • The shift to systematic, data-driven venture capital 📊 • Building embedded advantages through technology and process 🏗️ • Ridge's Revenue Network and deep founder value-add 🤝 • Developing judgment and specialization for new investors 🔍 • Aligned, high-impact firm building for the modern era 🚀 Perfect For: Aspiring VCs, data-driven investors, startup founders, and anyone building the next generation of venture capital firms! 👉 Listen Now! 👈 Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/e2-CDju5 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eFbjPTse YouTube: https://lnkd.in/e3dRa2bm #VentureCapital #DataDriven #FirmBuilding #AngelList #SystematicInvesting

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Co-investing is getting a lot of buzz lately and it’s easy to see why, but figuring out if it’s the right fit for your portfolio isn’t always straightforward. In our newest episode of Cambridge Conversations, my colleagues Willis Wilson and Rob Long sat down with Scott Farden, Managing Director and COO at Nonantum Capital Partners, for a candid chat about the fast-paced world of co-investing. They share what it really takes to succeed, what drives value beyond just fee savings, and the best practices they’ve learned from years of experience and partnership. If you’re curious about co-investing or want some practical advice, give it a listen: https://ow.ly/oiFx30sUcNT #CambridgeConversations

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