The frameworks in this guide are meant to be used: the liquidity budget from Chapter 6, the documentation file from Chapter 7, the funding logic from Chapter 8, and the 12-point diligence checklist from Chapter 10. Competence compounds the same way portfolios do, through consistent application over time.

Deepen your knowledge. BIP Capital publishes ongoing educational analysis of private market structures, trends, and practices on its Insights page, written for advisors evaluating these questions within real client portfolios.
Join an educational webinar. BIP Capital hosts advisor-focused webinars on private markets, evergreen structures, and fund mechanics, with opportunities to put questions directly to practitioners.
Review fund overviews. Reading fund overview materials, from any sponsor, is a practical way to apply this guide: test each document against the structure, liquidity, fee, and diligence frameworks in the preceding chapters.
Build the practice. Adapt the checklists in Chapters 7 and 10 into your firm's standard process, so that every future private market evaluation starts from documented discipline rather than a blank page.

Private Markets Primer

Mechanics, lifecycle, return drivers, and portfolio construction, organized for advisors building a private markets practice.

Start the learning path

The Complete Guide to Private Credit for RIAs

The companion guide to private credit structures, risks, and portfolio roles.

Coming soon

Sources

Sources are listed in the order they first appear in this guide.

Boston Consulting Group, "Capturing Wealth Management's $3 Trillion Private Market Opportunity," March 31, 2025. https://www.bcg.com/press/31march2025-capturing-wealth-managements-3-trillion-private-market-opportunity
Preqin, "Private Markets in 2030" report, October 2025. https://www.preqin.com/insights/global-reports
Cerulli Associates, The Cerulli Report: U.S. Private Markets 2026 (Scaling Retail Access), and related Cerulli advisor research. https://www.cerulli.com/reports
PitchBook, institutional research and analyst notes on wealth channel capital formation. https://pitchbook.com/news/reports
Bain & Company, Global Private Equity Report 2026, released February 23, 2026. https://www.bain.com/insights/topics/global-private-equity-report/
Christian Diller and Christoph Jäckel, "Risk in Private Equity," BVCA Research Paper, 2015. https://www.bvca.co.uk/Research/BVCA-Publications
Tom Weidig and Pierre-Yves Mathonet, "The Risk Profiles of Private Equity," 2004. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=495482
Cambridge Associates, US Private Equity and Venture Capital Benchmark Statistics. https://www.cambridgeassociates.com/private-investment-benchmarks/
Morningstar and PitchBook, "The Evergreen Fund Landscape," Q4 2025 report, published December 17, 2025. https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/q4-2025-us-evergreen-fund-landscape
Industry data on interval fund assets and fund count, year-end 2025.
Deloitte Center for Financial Services, analysis of semi-liquid and evergreen fund growth. https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/financial-services.html
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Rule 23c-3 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (repurchase offers by registered closed-end funds). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-17/chapter-II/part-270/section-270.23c-3
Investment Company Act of 1940, Sections 54 through 65 (business development companies), and Internal Revenue Code Subchapter M (regulated investment companies). https://www.sec.gov/investment/laws-and-rules
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Rule 501(a) of Regulation D (accredited investor definition). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-17/chapter-II/part-230/section-230.501
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, final order adjusting dollar thresholds under Investment Advisers Act Rule 205-3, issued April 28, 2026 (effective June 29, 2026). https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Form N-23C3A repurchase offer filings (EDGAR full-text search). https://efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index?q=N-23C3A
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Rule 206(4)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the Marketing Rule), and SEC Marketing Rule FAQ. https://www.sec.gov/investment/marketing-compliance-frequently-asked-questions
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Examinations Risk Alert: Observations from Examinations of Private Fund Advisers, January 27, 2022. https://www.sec.gov/files/private-fund-risk-alert-pt-2.pdf
NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. https://www.nacubo.org/Research/NACUBO-Commonfund-Study-of-Endowments
Morningstar research on semi-liquid private market funds and valuation smoothing, together with peer-reviewed academic literature on appraisal-based valuation. https://www.morningstar.com/business/insights/research
Preqin, private credit market data and forward projections. https://www.preqin.com/insights/global-reports
McKinsey & Company, Global Private Markets Report (limited partner survey findings on performance metrics). https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/private-capital/our-insights/global-private-markets-report
Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) Due Diligence Questionnaire and Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) Due Diligence Questionnaire. https://ilpa.org/resources/ and https://www.aima.org/
AQR Capital Management, published research on private asset valuation and the illiquidity premium. https://www.aqr.com/Insights/Research
National Bureau of Economic Research, working paper on the liquidity cost of private equity and secondary market pricing. https://www.nber.org/papers
Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and European Corporate Governance Institute, "Private Equity for All: The Paradoxical Push to Democratize Private Markets," February 28, 2026. https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/02/28/private-equity-for-all-the-paradoxical-push-to-democratize-private-markets/

Glossary of Key Terms

The definitions that appear most often in fund documents, advisor materials, and client conversations.

Accredited Investor. An individual meeting the SEC Rule 501(a) net worth or income test, which unlocks most Regulation D private offerings.

BDC (Business Development Company). A closed-end vehicle created under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to channel capital to small and mid-sized US companies.

Capital Call. A drawdown fund manager's demand that committed capital be transferred, typically on short notice and at the manager's discretion.

Carried Interest. The manager's share of profits above a defined hurdle, and typically the manager's primary incentive.

Clawback. A provision returning over-distributed carried interest to investors at the end of a fund's life.

Denominator Effect. The tendency of private allocations to rise as a percentage of a portfolio when public markets fall.

DPI (Distributions to Paid-In). Actual cash returned to investors per dollar invested. The hardest performance metric to engineer.

Drawdown Fund. The traditional closed-end private equity vehicle: capital is committed, called over several years, and returned over a fund life of roughly 10 to 12 years.

Evergreen Fund. A perpetual, semi-liquid structure with no fixed end date, subscribed at NAV and offering periodic, limited repurchase opportunities.

Feeder Fund. A vehicle aggregating smaller commitments into a single investment in a larger underlying fund.

First-Lien. A lender's position at the front of the repayment queue in a borrower's capital structure.

Floating Rate. Loan income that adjusts with short-term interest rates rather than being fixed at origination.

Gate. A cap on the shares a fund will repurchase in a given window, which protects remaining investors from forced asset sales.

GP / LP. The general partner is the manager; limited partners are the investors.

Hurdle Rate. The return a manager must clear before incentive fees apply. Also called a preferred return.

Interval Fund. A registered closed-end fund required by SEC Rule 23c-3 to make periodic repurchase offers, commonly 5% of shares per quarter.

IRR (Internal Rate of Return). The annualized return on capital while it was invested. Time-sensitive and subject to flattering by early distributions.

J-Curve. The shape of a drawdown fund's net return path: negative in early years while fees are charged and no exits have occurred, then rising as investments are realized.

MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital). How many dollars came back, or are marked, per dollar invested, ignoring time.

NAV (Net Asset Value). The value of everything a fund owns minus everything it owes, divided by shares outstanding. The price at which investors enter and exit a semi-liquid fund.

PIK (Payment-in-Kind). Interest paid in additional debt rather than cash. A legitimate tool that can also signal borrower stress.

Proration. The pro rata filling of repurchase requests when tendered shares exceed the fund's cap.

Qualified Client. An investor meeting the Rule 205-3 thresholds, which govern whether an adviser may charge performance-based fees.

Qualified Purchaser. Generally an individual or family entity holding $5 million or more in investments, required for Section 3(c)(7) funds.

RIC (Regulated Investment Company). A pass-through tax status requiring distribution of at least 90% of taxable income, which is why BDCs are commonly income-oriented.

Secondary Sale. The sale of an existing fund stake before the fund's term ends, historically at a discount to net asset value.

Senior-Secured. A claim backed by the borrower's assets as collateral, ranking ahead of junior lenders and equity.

Style Drift. A manager's actual investments diverging from its stated strategy in stage, sector, check size, or geography.

Tender Offer Fund. A registered structure making repurchase offers at NAV at the board's discretion rather than by rule.

Tranche. A slice or layer of an investment or loan, often with its own risk and repayment priority.

Vintage. The year a fund makes its first investments. Funds are compared against vintage-year peers.

Volatility Laundering. A critique holding that appraisal-based valuation understates reported volatility and correlation relative to the economic risk borne.

Important Disclosures

This guide is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, and it does not constitute investment, legal, accounting, or tax advice. Any offering of securities is made only through definitive offering documents, which should be read carefully before investing.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investments in private market securities involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Private market investments are speculative, illiquid, and involve a high degree of risk, including limited or no liquidity for extended periods, reliance on manager skill, valuation uncertainty, the use of leverage, and the risk of default in credit strategies. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss.

Any performance figures, market statistics, or third-party data referenced in this guide are subject to verification and compliance review prior to publication and are drawn from sources believed to be reliable; accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. Statements regarding projected market growth are estimates and projections, not guarantees, and actual results may differ materially. Any gross performance figures, where presented, are accompanied by net performance calculated over the same period using the same methodology, consistent with SEC Rule 206(4)-1.

Charts and figures in this guide, including the illustrative J-curve, are hypothetical illustrations intended to explain structural concepts. They do not represent the actual or projected performance of any fund, account, or strategy.

References to specific fund structures, including the BIP Ventures Equity Evergreen BDC and the LAGO Evergreen Credit BDC, are illustrative and educational. They are two distinct funds with different strategies and risk profiles. Share repurchase programs and liquidity windows described for either fund are intentions, subject to board approval and available liquidity, and are not guaranteed.

Conflict of interest disclosure: BIP Capital is a minority owner in LAGO Asset Management and serves as fund administrator for the LAGO Evergreen Credit BDC, receiving compensation, which creates a conflict of interest.

Eligibility standards referenced in this guide, including accredited investor, qualified client, and qualified purchaser definitions, are summaries of SEC rules and thresholds in effect or announced as of the date of drafting and are subject to change. Advisors should verify current thresholds at the time of any investment.

This document has been prepared in alignment with SEC Rule 206(4)-1 (the Marketing Rule) and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and is subject to internal compliance review prior to distribution.

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