20VC · Nov 6, 2026 · 58m · 47m saved
With Scott Wilson, CIO of Washington University Investment Management Company
Washington University's endowment was just under $8B when Scott Wilson, CIO of Washington University Investment Management Company, took over about nine years ago, and he told 20VC it is now close to $20B. Most endowments cap any single company at a small slice of the fund, while Scott let SpaceX grow past a fifth of the whole portfolio and kept holding it through the IPO.
"At one point, north of 20% of the portfolio is in SpaceX... we had conviction as a team, and we had many chances to take lots of liquidity in that name, but we advocated for holding it." — Scott Wilson
Scott got to that position by filing redemptions on more than half the portfolio in his first week and selling over 75% of the private book on the secondary market within about 18 months.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 58 minutes of audio, 11 minutes of reading.
Here are the 13 takeaways that matter.
Key Takeaways
SpaceX was once more than 20% of WashU's endowment, and the team used continuation vehicles to keep holding it through the IPO
WashU would target 70–80% in private assets if it did not have to pay out about 5% a year
Its privates have compounded in the low-to-mid 20s% a year over a decade, against about 10% for public equities
Scott's biggest mistake has been not adding capital to winners once they reached 1–2% of the portfolio, which he says has cost billions
WashU avoids funds larger than about $10B, because mega-funds pay higher prices for the same companies
Scott expects about half of today's AI companies not to exist in 10 years, and he doubts the top language models have a defensible profit pool
WashU trimmed and hedged its Cerebras stake around the IPO, because the valuation is hard to justify on trailing results
Comparable European companies trade at small earnings multiples where US peers get large revenue multiples
1. Half Redeemed in Week One
Scott's first act at WashU was to sell, and he did it fast.
Scott filed redemptions on more than half the portfolio in his first week
"We put in redemptions for over half the portfolio in the first week. But I also had the portfolio for a couple months before I actually landed in the seat... It wasn't a complete fire sale." — Scott Wilson
The couple of months of preliminary work meant the decisions were made before his official start. Over the following 18 months or so, WashU turned over more than 75% of its private portfolio through secondary sales. The board had given him roughly three years to show results.
WashU exited every one of its hedge funds
"We had 36, 37 hedge funds in the portfolio, and then we got rid of them all... so we certainly weren't popular in certain parts of Manhattan." — Scott Wilson
