Episode summary
Griff Norville, Hamilton Lane - What comes next for technology in private markets?
Alt Goes Mainstream
· · Hosts: Michael Sidgmore · Guests: Griff Norville
Summary
Griff Norville argues that private markets are still in an early technology cycle, moving from relationship-driven workflows and Excel toward digital, data-enabled operations. He says the biggest value comes not just from picking managers, but from using data for portfolio construction, commitment planning, risk management, and benchmarking across a broader private markets allocation.
At Hamilton Lane, that view led to building Cobalt LP in house after an early partnership with Bison, because the firm wanted to control its proprietary workflow and give clients access to the same intelligence it uses internally. Griff says Hamilton Lane still partners and invests in outside tools through HL Innovations, but it prefers to build where the capability is core to its “secret sauce.”
He sees major gaps in data standardization, especially before and after investment, where PDFs, emails, and manual processes still dominate. Griff expects AI to improve meeting summaries, screening, and adviser education, while tokenization and better marketplaces could reduce friction and eventually lower access barriers in private markets. He also thinks smaller firms can now compete better with larger peers if they adopt best-of-breed tools, but scale still matters because data remains a key advantage.
Key takeaways
- Griff Norville says private markets still have “a ton of runway” for data-driven improvement, especially in portfolio construction and benchmarking.
- Hamilton Lane built Cobalt LP to digitize research, reporting, and portfolio analysis because it views that workflow as part of its proprietary edge.
- Griff says the industry’s biggest bottleneck is still messy, unstructured data moving through PDFs and email, both pre- and post-investment.
- He expects AI to help advisers with education, summaries, and screening, while tokenization could reduce friction and high minimums over time.
- Griff argues smaller firms can now “punch above their weight” with cheap tools, but large-scale data access still creates an advantage for bigger platforms.
Notable quotes
“private markets has outperformed in in most years”
“we're building a technology business in house”
How the episode opens
Everybody gets a piece. We're going mainream. Everybody's going to eat.
We're going mainream. All my family sing. See you on mainream.
From Wall Street to Melrose Avenue. We're going mainream. venture capitalists to athletes to creators to the person who's collecting trading cards of culture and finance.
Welcome back to the Alco Mainstream podcast. Today's episode takes us inside the world of technology with a deeply experienced expert in private markets tech. Griff Norville is a managing director and head of technology solutions in Hamilton Lane.
the $865 billion AUM alternative asset manager. Griff leads the firm's tech- enabled analytics, forecasting, and investment diligence platform, Cobalt, LPTM, and related portfolio reporting services and co-heads the firm's technology committee. Griff focuses on building proprietary tools and strategically partnering or investing into private markets, fintech companies as part of the firm's efforts to drive digital transformation within the industry.
Griff also leverages his background on the investment side to help inform how he thinks about technology transformation within private markets. He previously co-led Hamilton Lane's research team where he was responsible for leveraging data to assess private market trends and advise clients on investment and portfolio construction strategy. Griffin and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of private markets technology and why it's an exciting time for innovation in the space.
We discussed how private markets are moving from the stone age and Excel age to a digital age. Why most GPS are still underinvested in technology. How Griff approaches the build by invest question.
Why Cobalt was so foundational to Hamilton Lane's work in private markets. How technology innovation has driven product innovation when working in the wealth channel. And what comes next for technology in private markets.
Thanks, Griff, for coming on the show to share your thoughts and wisdom on how technology is impacting private markets and for the work you're doing to invest in technology that's transforming the space.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- private markets technology
- gp technology underinvestment
- cobalt platform
- ai in private markets
- wealth channel product innovation
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Hamilton Lane
- Cobalt LPTM
Watch the episode
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.
