Welcome to The Private Markets Playbook, a podcast for wealth advisors and CIOs navigating portfolios beyond the traditional 60/40. Hosted by Allocate, the show features candid conversations with allocators, asset managers, and industry leaders on building modern, programmatic portfolios—spanning private markets, portfolio construction, and the systems required to manage complexity at scale.
In this episode, Samir Kaji sits down with Dave Engel, Partner and Head of Venture Capital at AlphaCore, to unpack how a wealth advisory firm can thoughtfully bring venture capital into private client portfolios. They trace Dave’s journey from building and selling startups to Palo Alto Networks to now running an endowment-style VC program inside a wealth platform. The conversation dives into what it really takes to access top-quartile venture returns, how to diligence the flood of emerging managers (including spinouts from brand-name firms), why education around illiquidity and risk is so critical for advisors and clients, and how AI-driven innovation—from healthspan to the physical world—is reshaping the opportunity set. Along the way, Samir and Dave explore secondaries, the impact of blockbuster liquidity events like SpaceX and Anthropic, and the traits that separate truly differentiated managers from the pack in today’s venture market.
Dave Engel is a Partner and Head of Venture Capital at AlphaCore. With more than 25 years of experience spanning venture capital, enterprise technology, and financial services, Dave brings a unique perspective shaped by his success as both an operator and investor. Before founding Red Shepherd Ventures in 2021, he led worldwide sales at Zingbox, helping drive 10x growth ahead of its acquisition by Palo Alto Networks, and held leadership roles at NetApp and Oracle. He has also built a strong track record as an angel and venture investor, backing successful startups including Zingbox, Cyabra, and NextAge, and is widely recognized for his expertise in go-to-market strategy, early-stage investing, and company building.
Topics in this conversation include:
* Dave Engel Background and Early Tech Career (1:48)
* Endowment Model Approach to Venture at AlphaCore (5:22)
* Barbell Market Structure of Mega Funds and Emerging Managers (9:34)
* Scale of Emerging Managers and Need for Networked Access (11:31)
* Adverse Selection Risks from Client-Referred VC Opportunities (16:09)
* Storytelling, Updates, and Non-NAV Nature of Venture (20:39)
* Illiquidity Reality and Misplaced Focus on Late-Stage Names (24:21)
* SpaceX IPO, AI Giants, and Liquidity Wave Implications (28:43)
* Comparison to Dot-Com Era and Current AI Valuation Cycles (32:08)
* Sourcing, Picking, and Winning as Core VC Functions (40:55)
* Advice to Younger Self on Humility and Empty-Cup Mindset (43:29)
* Final Thoughts and Takeaways (45:25)
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