How I Invest with David Weisburd · Oct 2, 2026 · 41m · 33m saved
With Doug Beyer, Managing Partner and founder of Roaring Brook Holdings
There is roughly $3 trillion to $3.5 trillion of unrealized fair market value sitting on private-equity general partners' balance sheets right now, according to Doug Beyer, and almost none of it has been addressed through the secondary market built to unlock it.
Most of the attention in private markets goes to the biggest names: Doug Beyer left a family office to build Roaring Brook Holdings around the opposite end of the business, the emerging managers institutional allocators routinely pass over.
"If you look at the proper GP stakers, they're focused on larger middle market firms or blue chip or trophy assets. For smaller firms, they're nascent." — Doug Beyer
Beyer backed several dozen emerging managers from the family-office seat before founding Roaring Brook, and sat on the GP side of the table himself building a firm from scratch.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 41 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 8 takeaways that matter.
Key Takeaways
GP staking has grown into a $70 billion-plus asset class, but almost none of it reaches smaller, newer firms
Franchise value doesn't start at fund four — Beyer said a lean, profitable firm can exist from fund one
The single biggest fundraising mistake is not communicating transparently with LPs
75% of venture LP capital goes to the same five firms, and in buyouts it's 95% to the top five
An LP's decision to fully diligence a fund matters 10 times more than whether they ultimately invest
"ABC" (always be closing) fails with LPs — Beyer's rule is "ABAV": always be adding value
The secondary market moved $200 billion in 2025, against $3 to $3.5 trillion of unrealized GP balance-sheet value
Meeting an LP 10 times without a check becomes "almost embarrassing" for both sides, Beyer said
1. The Emerging-Manager Gap
Beyer spent his career on both sides of the GP-LP relationship: building an investment platform from scratch at a family office, and backing several dozen emerging firms from the allocator's seat. That dual view, he said, is what led him to found Roaring Brook.
There is plenty of capital for mature private-markets firms, and almost none built specifically for new ones, despite GP staking growing into a $70 billion-plus asset class
"If you look at the proper GP stakers, they're focused on larger middle market firms or blue chip or trophy assets. For smaller firms, they're nascent." — Doug Beyer
Roaring Brook exists to be an owner of the underlying asset-management business, not just an investor in its funds, providing anchor capital and working capital so new firms can get through what Beyer calls the "cold start problem."
