The new playbook for emerging managers

The new playbook for emerging managers

From Private Equity Spotlight by PEI Group

April 15, 2026 · 29 min · Episode 266

About this episode

This episode discusses the challenges and strategies for emerging managers in the private equity landscape.

This episode is sponsored by Davis Polk and DC Advisory Senior dealmakers at established firms increasingly seem to be choosing to strike out on their own, much like those firms’ original founders once did during the surge in mid-market firms during the late 1990s and early 2000s. But in those years, institutional capital was flooding into a PE market that had proven its model repeatable, whereas the landscape for new firms today is markedly different. Not only do LPs want to see differentiated strategies with a compelling story and outsized returns, they want the young managers with whom they invest to have institutional-level operations and infrastructure. In this episode, Buyouts senior editor Graham Bippart sits down with Michael Hong, a partner in the Investment Management practice at Davis Polk, and Donato de Donato, co-lead of DC Advisory’s GP Strategic Advisory practice, to discuss the state of the emerging manager market. They point out that there is no shortage of challenges and complications lying in wait for would-be new managers, who often may be more restricted by their previous employers than they thought, make all-too-common mistakes in their pitch decks, and may…

People in this episode

Host: Graham Bippart

Guests: Michael Hong, Donato de Donato

Topics covered

  • emerging managers
  • private equity
  • institutional capital
  • investment strategies
  • manager challenges
  • pitch decks
  • LP interest

Keywords

  • emerging managers
  • private equity
  • institutional investors
  • investment management
  • capital raising
  • pitch deck mistakes
  • LP strategies

Sponsors

Davis Polk

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: DC Advisory, Buyouts

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