Episode summary
How I Raised $100 Billion w/Rahul Moodgal
How I Invest With David Weisburd
· · 48 min · Hosts: David Weisburd · Guests: Rahul Moodgal
Summary
Rahul Moodgal says fundraising has become materially harder even after crossing $100 billion, because institutions are constrained by liquidity needs, portfolio resets, and macro uncertainty. He argues that today’s best LPs are slower and more deliberate, using the extra time to judge philosophical fit, transparency, and whether a manager will be a durable partner rather than a short-term trade.
His core view is that capital quality matters more than capital speed. He prefers investors who understand the strategy, accept volatility, and stay through rough patches, even if that means waiting 5 to 15 years for a relationship to mature. Rahul says the right LPs often arrive through long-running trust, not aggressive selling, and that many of his best relationships were built through years of conversation, introductions, and consistent behavior.
He also stresses that institutional fundraising is really about alignment, integrity, and communication. He believes managers should disclose mistakes, explain changes quickly, and think carefully about infrastructure as they scale from fund one to fund two and beyond. His broader philosophy is that the best businesses are built through patience, honesty, and selective access, not by chasing every potential check.
Key takeaways
- Rahul Moodgal says fundraising is "so hard" right now because institutions are dealing with liquidity pressure, policy uncertainty, and caution.
- He argues that the best LPs care more about philosophical fit, transparency, and access than recent performance alone.
- Rahul says the strongest relationships often take 5 to 15 years to convert, and the investors who wait longest tend to stay longest.
- He prefers LPs who add capital during volatility, saying that is the real test of whether the partnership works.
- Rahul says quality capital determines capital duration, so being selective early can matter more than simply filling a fund quickly.
Notable quotes
“The thing is with all with all politics everywhere today, people say one thing one day and another thing the other day”
“Smart investors don't chase performance. They're trying to understand is a philosophical fit”
“the quality of the capital determines the duration of that capital and that duration comes from understanding who you're invested with”
“performance is commoditized, but integrity is not”
“I'd rather wait for that than they invest with you and you have having a rough period and they redeem”
How the episode opens
Last time we spoke, you were at $99 billion raised. I've been waiting to ask, have you reached hundred billion? And if so, who who check?
Um I reached it um at the end of September um with a handful of investors and we took a third of that capital and then we'll deploy it over we've deployed it and then we'll call on them when we see more opportunities and stuff. So yeah, so I've I've done it. I'm officially now post October 100.1 billion.
Okay. — Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Now you're immediately thinking about 200. — I said to someone the other day, 250, but I don't know if I'll be alive that long. It's getting harder and harder. So, yeah. How's the capital raising market today?
So hard. So hard. And it's still hard. Um it's getting harder and harder because people have so many issues in their portfolios particularly institutions whether it's changing government policy in the US or it's liquidity or is China exposure whatever it may be that there's there's a lot of things going on so it's not that people I think people are very active they just take their time
And double click on that so you have these liquidity issues these China issues essentially people don't have dry powder or they're stuck in some governance hell — It's a lot thing. So I think they don't have dry powder and the dry powder they have they have to pay out. So that's that's a
They have more requests for funds. Funds are — Well they have re-ups and then they have you know their non for profofit they have their 5% they have to pay out every year. So they need to have that um available to them and then I think just people are taking their time.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- institutional fundraising
- lp alignment
- long-term relationships
- capital raising strategy
- ai market intelligence
Companies and tickers mentioned
- AlphaSense
Watch the episode
Watch “How I Raised $100 Billion w/Rahul Moodgal” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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How I Invest With David Weisburd, this episode and its artwork belong to David Weisburd. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
