E398: Hamilton Lane ($1T AUA) on Venture Capital, AI, and Private Markets

Venture capital now constitutes 31% of private markets, necessitating a strategic shift for institutional investors who can no longer ignore this asset class. Miguel Luina, co-head of Global Venture Capital at Hamilton Lane, explains that while venture is historically high-risk, it is essential for capturing value from disruptive technology companies that remain private longer. Key strategies for success include avoiding index-like approaches in favor of selecting top-tier managers, utilizing secondary markets to manage liquidity and de-risk portfolios, and leveraging conviction investing to concentrate capital in high-performing outliers like SpaceX or Anthropic. Because venture returns are driven by power-law dynamics, investors must balance diversification with the ability to double down on winners. Building a resilient venture portfolio requires deep relationship networks and the flexibility to navigate fund investments, co-investments, and secondaries to optimize long-term returns.