The 4.3 Trillion Dollar Problem: Why Venture’s Liquidity Crisis Is Here to Stay with John Rikhtegar and Peter Walker

The 4.3 Trillion Dollar Problem: Why Venture’s Liquidity Crisis Is Here to Stay with John Rikhtegar and Peter Walker

July 13, 2026 · 45 min · Episode 328

About this episode

This episode features a discussion on the venture capital liquidity crisis and its implications for private markets with insights from industry experts.

In this special episode of Tank Talks, recorded live during Toronto Tech Week at Moomoo Canada’s flagship store in Yorkville, Matt Cohen sits down with two of venture’s sharpest data and investment minds for an unfiltered conversation on the state of private markets. Peter Walker, Senior Director of Insights at Carta, brings the hard numbers from 60,000+ companies and 3,000+ US venture funds, revealing the stark reality behind valuation markups, unicorn deterioration, and the widening dispersion between top-tier and median deals. John Rikhtegar, Vice President at Northleaf Capital Partners and former RBC investor, offers the LP perspective on why trust matters more than ever, why emerging managers are bearing the brunt of capital allocation challenges, and how disciplined pacing and vintage diversification separate winning funds from the rest. Together, they tackle the 4.3 trillion-dollar NAV overhang, the brutal graduation rates for 2021 vintage funds, whether valuations have permanently shifted, and why the ATM analogy might be the best way to understand AI’s impact on venture careers. If you’re a GP raising capital, an LP sorting through manager pitches, or just trying to make…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Cohen

Guests: Peter Walker, John Rikhtegar

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Carta, Northleaf Capital Partners, RBC

Places: Toronto, Yorkville

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