Sep 28, 2026 · 45 min
Private markets enter a harder era of selection and liquidity
Erik Hirsch, CEO of Hamilton Lane, on the Explosive Growth of Private Markets
As private assets reach more individual investors, the episode examines whether access is expanding faster than investors’ ability to assess correlation, valuation, and manager risk.
- 1Private equity is not truly uncorrelated with public markets; reporting lags and infrequent marks can conceal shared risks.
- 2Private-market outcomes vary sharply by manager, making diligence, diversification, and portfolio construction more important than broad asset-class labels.
- 3Private credit’s growth has created useful financing capacity but also exposes investors to uneven underwriting, concentration, and liquidity pressures.
Don't miss
The speakers expose the inconsistency of redeeming from private credit while moving into private equity without fully considering their shared economic risks.
The brief
Hamilton Lane CEO Erik Hirsch describes the firm’s expansion from $6 billion in assets under management to roughly $146 billion, with more than $1 trillion under advisory.
The conversation challenges private equity’s supposed independence from public markets: infrequent marks and reporting lags can make shared exposure look like diversification.
The post-2021 reset brings slower exits, fewer distributions, and tougher selection. Hirsch says broad-based alpha has faded, leaving manager dispersion and portfolio construction decisive.
Private credit grew rapidly after banks pulled back, but weak diversification, aggressive underwriting, and software concentration can turn a seemingly steady income strategy fragile.
The sharpest tension arrives around liquidity: investors may redeem from private credit while buying private equity, despite overlapping exposure to economic and credit stress.
As private-market products reach Schwab, Fidelity, and tokenized channels, the episode’s central warning is that wider access does not remove the need for selectivity.
Featuring
Hamilton Lane
Yale University
S&P 500
CalPERSListen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.