E419: Venture Capital Has a Liquidity Crisis

E419: Venture Capital Has a Liquidity Crisis

August 21, 2026 · 39 min · Episode 419

About this episode

David Weisburd and Benjamin Black discuss the liquidity crisis in venture capital and the evolving secondary market for private companies.

Venture capital was designed around a relatively simple model: invest in a startup, help it grow, and eventually exit through an acquisition or IPO. David sits down with Benjamin Black Powerlaw Corp. (Nasdaq: PWRL), Akkadian Ventures, Ben invests in growth-stage technology companies while providing alternative liquidity to founders, employees, angel investors, and venture funds. In this episode, Ben and David unpack the evolution of the venture secondary market, why great companies staying private longer creates an entirely different opportunity set, how sophisticated investors price illiquid private-company shares, and why liquidity itself is becoming a critical piece of venture capital infrastructure. The result is a different way to think about private markets: the investment opportunity doesn't end after the primary financing round.

People in this episode

Host: David Weisburd

Guest: Benjamin Black

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Powerlaw Corp., Akkadian Ventures, Nasdaq

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