Episode summary
Evergreen Lens Ep. 2: iCapital Co-Founder, Nick Veronis & KKR, Global Wealth Solutions Doug Krupa
Alt Goes Mainstream
· · Hosts: Michael Sidgmore · Guests: Nick Veronis, Dan Parant, Doug Krupa, Stephanie Davis
Summary
The conversation centers on how private markets are being repackaged for the wealth channel, with Doug Krupa arguing that evergreen structures reduce friction for investors without giving up access to the same underlying private equity, private credit, and infrastructure exposure. He traces KKR’s push from episodic drawdown products for ultra-high-net-worth clients toward continuously offered vehicles that keep capital deployed, simplify administration, and better fit advisers serving a broader audience.
Nick Veronis frames the shift as part of a larger market redesign. He says firms like iCapital are trying to make private markets easier to consume through registered funds, interval funds, and model portfolios, while preserving institutional-style access and pricing. Both speakers argue that the industry is moving from “alternatives” toward “private markets” because the asset classes map more cleanly to equity, fixed income, and real assets.
They also expect education and hybrid partnerships to be decisive. Krupa says the market is already seeing more business in evergreen than episodic structures, while Veronis argues that the biggest firms will likely dominate early because they can invest in distribution, product design, and adviser training.
Key takeaways
- Doug Krupa says evergreen structures remove the choke points of capital calls, tax complexity, and administrative hassle that once limited private markets for wealth clients.
- Nick Veronis says KKR’s willingness to preserve the same deal flow and institutional-style pricing was a key reason iCapital partnered with them.
- Doug Krupa says more business is now being done in evergreen than episodic structures, which he calls a first for the industry.
- Nick Veronis says the industry is shifting from calling these products “alternatives” to calling them “private markets” because they map to equity, fixed income, and real assets.
- Both speakers say education, model portfolios, and hybrid public-private products will be central to wider adoption.
- Doug Krupa says evergreen and closed-end drawdown funds will likely coexist, with evergreen more suitable as a core allocation for some investors.
Notable quotes
“we're trying to solve for the impossible which was how do we sort of get rid of those choke points”
“we have sort of all the above. So we have people all over the country who are presenting”
“it will be the private capital markets and I think people will be like boy you know whether it's equity or credit or infrastructure”
How the episode opens
Do you think we'll ever get to the point where the evergreen structures will become the core way of allocating to private markets and then the closed end funds will become the satellites? It's good to have you with us, Michael. Great to be here.
Thanks for having us. Yeah, good to see you both. Likewise, Doug, you you've built a fascinating business on the wealth side at KKR.
Nick and I are excited to talk with you today about this evolution in the evergreen space. First, I think where we'd love to start is you have such a fascinating background in private markets and and then also just some of the stories that you've shared with us in the past um about what gets you really excited about private markets and bringing it to the wealth channel. So, would love to hear your your background.
Sure. Great place to start. Uh thanks for the question, Michael.
And uh I think you guys both know this, but the benefit of everyone else uh on the podcast, I I've worn a lot of different hats in this industry. I spent time as a banker, a financial advisor, a wholesaler, and more recently building uh distribution teams uh at KKR most recently and and a couple other GPS prior to that. Um, but I've really been very much from the early days in this business, uh, focused or maybe even been fixated is a better terminology on making private markets more available.
So, the first job I had out of school after spending time at a dot was as a financial adviser at what is now a big wirehouse, uh, wasn't known by that back in the day. And, you know, I had an interesting book of business. My my father was a New York City firefighter and he you know he was actually involved in the union and every firefighter upon retirement had an overfunded pension and that money would really come to me.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- private markets
- wealth channel evolution
- democratizing alternatives
- global wealth solutions
- private wealth solutions growth
Companies and tickers mentioned
- KKR
- HLNE
- iCapital
- KKR
- Vista Equity Partners
- Hamilton Lane
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Alt Goes Mainstream, this episode and its artwork belong to Michael Sidgmore. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
