Chronograph

The Carlyle Group’s use of Chronograph across hundreds of portfolio companies, millions of auditable data points, and over $385B in AUM is a testament to the capability of the Chronograph GP solution. With a portfolio spanning many industries, geographies, and strategies, Carlyle chose Chronograph to enable nuanced data collection and workflow design, build an efficient valuation process, and facilitate more robust reporting. The benefits go far beyond time savings as teams are now more proactive, collaborative, and confident in their workflows and downstream deliverables. Learn more about how Carlyle leverages the Chronograph GP solution here. ?? https://lnkd.in/eYfTvYzM

“The best-performing teams are the ones that take advantage of every available resource, both human and technical.” Last week, our team was honored to host the final Chronograph Expert Series dinner event of 2024 with an oversubscribed group of our London-based clients, prospects, and partners. From trauma doctor and UK Covid-19 response leader to astronaut-in-training, our guest speaker Dr. Kevin Fong shared how his unique background has shaped his approach to crisis response, building high-performing teams, and decision making both with and without complete data. This event came at the end of a productive week connecting with our European clients and prospects and builds exciting momentum as we move to the new year. Thank you Kevin for your words and all those who joined to network, learn, and celebrate. Sign up to learn about events near you. ?? https://lnkd.in/gUEUXSf8

??Being a fund allocator in illiquid asset classes is hard. ?? LPs are hungry for distributions and those with venture exposure are waiting even longer. The 12-month yield for distributions as a share of VC NAV has hovered in the single digits for eight consecutive quarters, recently hitting a low of 5%. ?? However, optimists note that premature DPI can ultimately stifle long-run fund performance. Venture capital is a power-law game. A select few winners drive the bulk of returns, and a significant illiquidity trade-off is required for these assets to mature. ?? Big exits take time, and the journey to meaningful distributions is long. Most high-growth assets deliver over half of their returns in the final stretch, so early exits can mean missing out on massive gains. ?? But VCs are fiduciaries first. Finding great compounders is only part of the job; converting them into realized returns is equally essential. As a result, investors must strike a balance of holding onto winners while being mindful of liquidity. ?? In this world, extra attention to portfolio monitoring, cash flow forecasting, and new commitment pacing become table stakes for fund allocator success. ?? Explore the impact of early DPI on final fund returns, how LPs can assess TVPI risks, and interest rates' role in igniting the DPI flywheel at our DPI deep dive — link in the comments.

?? We’re hiring! ?? Due to continued success and growth, we’re expanding across multiple roles and offices. If you’re a proactive, driven individual looking to make an impact in an innovative environment, we’d love to hear from you. Visit our careers page to browse our open positions and learn more about our team and culture.?Join us in shaping the future of private market technology. ?? https://lnkd.in/ga4GtSpU

?? How much TVPI from ZIRP-era vintages will convert to DPI? ?? The clog in the DPI flywheel has left allocators uneasy about the hefty paper markups in their venture portfolios. Can these valuations materialize? Which companies are clinging to unsustainable valuations, and which have the fundamentals to deliver meaningful returns when the exit logjam breaks? ?? For LPs, various market conditions over the past several years have bolstered these concerns. Down rounds, although starting to level off, are still high, and many unicorns are trading below their last valuation in secondary markets. Further, as funding timelines elongate, companies must stretch their resources over extended periods. ?? So, how can allocators pinpoint where TVPI leaks might occur? They can start by assessing valuation haircut risks through: ???? Examining the underlying health of portfolio companies. ??? Identifying overlapping exposures to companies across funds that may be vulnerable to bubbly financing round dynamics. ??? Checking for overexposure to sectors hit hard by current market conditions. ??? Reviewing their GPs' track record of converting TVPI to DPI across various market cycles. ?? Learn how LPs can gauge TVPI conversion risks in our DPI deep dive at the link in the comments.

The secondaries market is booming, with LP-led transaction values soaring 64% YoY in H1 as allocators rebalance and de-risk private portfolios. As secondaries buyers shop for opportunities, how can they streamline the data-heavy burden of pricing large portfolios? Montana Capital Partners uses Chronograph to unlock immediate gains from its data as it navigates the secondaries market. By automatically pulling real-time, validated data from Chronograph into dynamic secondary pricing models, Montana Capital Partners realizes meaningful efficiencies in their evaluation process and accelerates collaborative decision-making in competitive bids. Learn more about how the firm has leveraged Chronograph to streamline data management, enhance reporting, and much more here. ?? https://lnkd.in/eTiSbuP4 Many thanks to Christoph J?ckel, Patrick Gloor, David Stillman, and the Montana Capital Partners team for their collaboration and continued partnership.

“Vision without execution is hallucination.” Last night, we kicked off the first of our fall Expert Series events in New York with a great turnout of LPs, GPs, and friends of the firm. The evening’s fireside chat featured Melanie Whelan, former SoulCycle CEO turned Summit Partners Managing Director, who shared her path from operator to investor and the challenges she overcame along the way. Thank you, Melanie, for your insight and sharing your empathetic approach to business leadership and to AlpInvest Partners, Apollo Global Management, Inc., Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), GreyLion, Macquarie Asset Management, and many more for joining us for the night. Our network of private capital professionals gathers regularly for exclusive events. Subscribe to learn about future events in your area here. ?? https://lnkd.in/gUEUXSf8

How can GPs use technology to help portfolio companies reach higher benchmarks in subsequent fundraises? Looking at the Seed market, increased capital inflows have driven historically high valuations, creating heightened expectations when companies re-enter the market for capital. Higher valuations entail much more ambitious targets around ARR, customer growth, gross margins, etc. Further, this only snowballs with exit prospects in a slump –?companies must achieve more to go public or become attractive acquisition targets. As a result, investors are only backing companies they believe can achieve substantial exits, raising the stakes even higher. As these Seed companies navigate more demanding terrain to Series A, providing value across GTM, talent acquisition, and more to help companies achieve critical KPIs and milestones will become increasingly paramount. Technology can play a crucial role for VCs regardless of if they have platform teams: a sound value creation plan starts with understanding where to prioritize. A centralized, single source of truth provides the portfolio-level view necessary to assess whether companies are on track to meet more demanding benchmarks. Learn how we’ve helped investors accomplish this here. ?? https://lnkd.in/gtdm9vEy

Running to get Q3 valuations and reporting wrapped? Learn how Peterson Partners tripled their quarterly reporting productivity using Chronograph. ?? As Peterson’s rapid portfolio growth reached an inflection point, leadership recognized the need to upgrade Excel-based workflows. Enter Chronograph. Since implementing Chronograph GP in 2019, Peterson has driven efficiencies across the firm from boosting data integrity, automating quarterly reporting, and streamlining the LP experience, ultimately enabling the team to spend more time collaborating on its most important priorities — making great investments and creating value across its portfolio. To learn more about how Peterson leveraged Chronograph to yield a 3x efficiency gain across valuations and reporting, see the full case study here. ?? https://lnkd.in/eTPdyqEF Many thanks to Jordan Christensen, CPA and the broader Peterson team for their collaboration and continued partnership.

?? Series A winter is here. Should LPs adjust their early-stage venture strategies? ?? ‘Power law’ returns are most pronounced in Seed/Pre-Seed venture, which boasts the highest mean return across the asset class at 50%. However, accessing this return comes down to securing exposure to the handful of outliers in any given vintage— with just a 3% Seed-to-Unicorn success rate, that's no easy feat. ??Getting to Series A represents a pivotal step on that journey. Pre-ZIRP, roughly 30% of Seed companies made it to Series A. However, this graduation rate meaningfully increases in other stages — 60% of Series A companies made it to Series B, and the same goes for Series B to C and C to D. ?? Today, the Seed-to-Series A graduation rate is under pressure and shows no sign of easing. Series A investors are holding out for goldilocks companies that balance growth and profitability, and a bloated post-ZIRP pool of companies means there are plenty of options. ??? For LPs navigating the high-risk, high-reward ecosystem of Seed venture, a tougher bar for Series A sparks questions about the right approach to portfolio construction in this landscape. ?? High-volume seed investing theoretically mitigates some risk by giving fund managers more ‘shots on goal,’ increasing the probability of hitting outliers and achieving a consistently attractive return profile. ?? However, a colder Series A environment may favor a more concentrated approach to investing in which investors can take on a more operator-adjacent role in proactively helping their companies progress. This strategy comes with its own risks, requiring a higher success rate from fewer investments.