Tobin Smith

Starboard Built Big Stake in BILL Holdings, Plans to Nominate Directors "Activist investor Starboard Value owns an 8.5% stake in BILL Holdings and intends to run a boardroom challenge to push for changes at the financial automation software company that serves small and midsize businesses around the world, it said in a filing on Thursday. "BILL Holdings, which has a market value of nearly $5 billion and sees more than 1% of U.S. gross domestic product flow through its platform, saw its stock price lose nearly half of its value since January." #corporategovernance #boardsofdirectors #activistinvesting #shareholderactivism #governancearbitrage https://lnkd.in/gQhi_A5b

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Don't get "stuck in the middle." A recent Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) white paper highlighted the tensions and concerns that institutional LPs are having over the race for "retail" by alternative asset managers. Balancing the needs and demands of both institutional and wealth channel LPs is a question that’s moving to the forefront of conversations between GPs and LPs as the industry evolves to cater to the needs of the new, relatively untapped LP: the wealth channel. Institutional LPs are wondering how GPs that decide to work with the wealth channel will handle the influx of capital from private wealth and what that means for their own relationships with GPs. Scott Ramsower, Head of Private Equity Funds at the $221B AUM Teacher Retirement System of Texas, said this topic is “is top of mind for limited partners.” Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) then said the quiet part out loud. "More pointedly, ILPA elevates these issues at a time when the underlying mix of investments of these products may exacerbate a strategy-structure misalignment ..." Reorienting an asset manager to be able to properly serve the wealth channel requires capital, commitment, and comprehension. Perhaps the most important “c” for firms to internalize? Comprehension. Asset managers will do well to comprehend the nuances of balancing the needs of both the wealth channel and their long-standing existing customers, the institutional LPs. EQT Group CEO Per Franzen said it well when he remarked recently that responsible growth is critical: “If I had a magic wand, I would use that and make sure that every larger player in the private markets industry pursues that opportunity in a long-term responsible way.” Responsible is the keyword here. With people’s retirements hanging in the balance, it’s never been more important to get retail right. If asset managers — and the industry — want to be successful, they can’t afford to get “stuck in the middle” of not serving either institutional or wealth channel LPs well. Read on for more👇 This week's Alt Goes Mainstream's AGM Alts Weekly, brought to you by Nomura Capital Management, covers: 🗂️ AGM Index, an index that tracks the leading publicly traded alternative asset managers. 💻 Who is hiring: Senior-level positions from companies Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Inc., Blue Owl Capital, Franklin Templeton, iCapital, Goldman Sachs, Partners Group, Ultimus Fund Solutions, Allocate, SageSpring Wealth Partners, MSCI Inc. Subscribe👇 to see the latest trends & navigate this rapidly changing landscape as alts go mainstream. https://lnkd.in/ehsbjSBA

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Lackluster Avantor $AVTR, lab-equipment + materials co born of private-equity debt + M&A fees, is replacing CEO+CFO, but U.S. investor Engine Capital, with a history of stripping Philly cos., says it needs more cuts. My latest: https://lnkd.in/gN-HHaPX

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The Operator’s Edge – Part IX From Entry to Exit: Why Operator’s MOIC Is the New Standard for Realization By George Konstantopoulos | PE Operatinghttps://lnkd.in/gaXnizQj

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QLE Partnerships -Bill Gates’ TerraPower has signed a 10yr offtake for HALEU worth $3.5bn -Senator Rick Perry’s Fermi America has a JV with for HALEU at their 11GW Hypergrid Campus in Texas -NECSA in South Africa has an MOU for HALEU production -One 30 Seven under QLE will transform nuclear waste into revenue by accelerating beta decay from hundreds of years to seconds. ….and now the Trumps are investing. This is a humanity changing company and most savvy global operators get it.

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ASVLP 2026 | EMERGING FUND MANAGERS ROUNDTABLE Navigating the 2026 VC Cycle: Opportunities, Constraints & Competitive Edge for Emerging Fund Managers Raising and deploying capital as an emerging fund manager in 2026 is no longer about momentum. It’s about positioning, credibility, and structural advantage. LP expectations have tightened. Capital formation is slower and more selective. And differentiation is no longer declared — it’s demonstrated. At ASVLP — Africa Startup & VC Landscape Preview, this high‑signal roundtable brings together experienced investors, capital allocators, and ecosystem leaders to unpack what it truly takes to compete — and survive — as a new fund manager in the current cycle. This is not a discussion about starting funds. It is a candid examination of how capital is actually being allocated, where emerging managers face real constraints, and what separates those who scale institutional credibility from those who stall. Speakers Emmie van Halder — @/MPower Netherlands Varun Turlapati — Chaanakya Capital Abiola Adediran, MBA, FCA, FIMC, CMC, M.CIoD — GENEA FAMILY OFFICE Emmanuel Adegboye — Madica Mope Abudu — AfriGloCal VC Zachariah George — Launch Africa Ventures Amb. Dr. Dunston P. — Private Office of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Faisal Al‑Qassimi Moderator Maha M. — COREangels MEA The conversation will explore: • What LPs are truly underwriting in emerging managers today • Where structural constraints — not talent — limit fund performance • How new managers can build defensible edge in portfolio construction, signalling, and partnerships • What must change for emerging funds to graduate into durable institutions Who should attend Emerging fund managers, LPs, DFIs, and ecosystem builders focused on shaping Africa & MENA’s next generation of venture capital — with discipline, not hype. ASVLP 2026 Participation is FREE but strictly by invitation. To join: Repost and comment #ASVLP2026 — your registration link will be sent via DM. This Session is Powered by COREangels MEA

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Market volatility rewards investors with valuation discipline. In early-stage investing, consensus can crowd into certain sectors and drive valuations above fair value. Alpha then lives at the frontiers, where the signals show up before the crowd prices a premium to the investment trajectory. At Decasonic, we’ve been building toward this reality for years. Our “AI building AI” strategy is backed by substance. It reflects how we systematically surface what others miss. Our latest post, The Alpha Frontier: AI for Early Signal Discovery, proposes a three step framework for deploying AI for non-consensus signals. 1. AI-enabled data sensors to separate signal from noise. The next decade of venture returns belongs to AI Native venture investors who can synthesize diverse, real-time datasets for faint signals versus noise, in addition to the subjective evaluations of investment narratives. 2. AI-driven identification of emerging, non-consensus themes. Frontier markets don’t announce themselves. These are markets engineered by innovators and investors who take early risks to build this category around customer use cases. Patterns for category building emerge, again detected with the help of AI. We are tracking three major themes across our investment sourcing today from a universe of 20 AI defined themes and 100s of subsectors across 8+ data sources. 3. Mapping non-consensus signals to asymmetric early-stage opportunities. When attention, valuations and traction diverge, that’s where outlier returns are born. As I shared recently in our annual investor event, three aspects will ensure we survive and thrive in market volatility: market timing, valuation and durable adoption. Similar playbook for winning dot com and social web investing applies to today's Web3 and AI investing. ⏩ This is the core of our investment edge: combining decades of venture pattern recognition with AI agent teammates and applications that scale our ability to see around corners. We’re investing in the people and technologies pushing the boundaries of Web3, AI, and the broader frontier of AI Native capabilities, long before they become obvious.

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Thanks for surfacing this article, Allison Hartsoe. In 2007, only a handful of executives heeded the initial indicators of systemic stress; those who did navigated the crisis with minimal disruption. A leader’s duty to stakeholders requires resiliency, which means strengthening before going into uncertain times. Value acceleration and exit readiness before a downturn do not require a decision to exit; they are a risk mitigation strategy that provides optionality for opportunities. Today’s fault lines are quieter - buried within covenant-lite structures and stretched leverage across non-bank lenders - but they carry comparable downside potential for unprepared companies. What do you think? Some thoughts for mid-market companies... Window of Favorable Demand Retail Capital Influx - Individual investors are redirecting assets into private credit funds in search of yield. The influx of retail capital and the ongoing search for yield by private funds may sustain high demand for quality businesses, potentially supporting strong valuations in the near term. The Cost of Hesitation Mispricing Risk: Extended froth in private credit could culminate in abrupt repricing once defaults rise. Liquidity Crunch: A wave of refinancing needs or covenant breaches may freeze capital flows, sidelining illiquid positions. Regulatory Overhang: U.S., European, and U.K. authorities are probing private funds - new disclosure mandates or stress-testing requirements could tighten the market. Strategic Imperatives Value-Acceleration Playbook: Initiate operational enhancements leveraging AI tools, customer equity programs, and balance-sheet fortification now, when capital is accessible. Optionality Architecture: Model multiple M&A scenarios - both buy-side rollups or bolt-ons, and sell-side exits - to enable swift, informed decisions. Exit-Readiness Framework: Maintain transparent financials, standardized processes, AI competence to protect employees, and a compelling narrative to stay deal-ready at all times. The next year presents a narrow but potent window for mid-market companies to capture maximum value. Ignoring the early warnings risks replaying history; embracing them can transform uncertainty into a strategic advantage.  Electrigarden's EXITLAUNCH.AI service applies AI-enabled value acceleration and exit readiness for mid-market companies. #midmarket, #privatecredit, #valuecreation, #exitstrategy, #riskmanagement, #businessresilience Shane Hade Avi Reichental Steven Gumins David Friedfeld Steve Royer https://lnkd.in/gWxbSTfJ

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