About this episode
What if the best private equity opportunities are the ones no one else is set up to pursue?
In this episode, I sit down with Jeff Collins, Founder and Managing Partner of Cloverlay, to explore how he built a $2 billion firm by going where capital isn’t. After 14 years at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Jeff spun out to focus on what he calls “uncorrelated private assets” - niche, often overlooked segments where return dispersion is wide and operator selection matters more than financial engineering.
Highlights:
Why “go where the money isn’t” only works if you build the right organization around it
How Cloverlay built a sourcing flywheel through references and long-term reciprocity
The importance of holding structured “kill calls” to preserve relationships
Why broad dispersion of returns signals opportunity in overlooked markets
How to evaluate niche segments like special mission aircraft, wireless spectrum, and IP
The strategy behind assembling “portfolio premium” assets in industrial outdoor storage
Why uncorrelated private assets can act as ballast in institutional portfolios
How pensions think about completion portfolios and non-beta exposure
The tradeoff between being an A+ specialist versus a well-rounded investor
Why Jeff believes ego should be tied to performance, not AUM growth
The cultural decision to remain focused instead of scaling into adjacent strategies
Guest Bio:
Jeff Collins is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cloverlay, a Philadelphia-based private investment firm managing approximately $2 billion in assets focused on uncorrelated private markets.
Before founding Cloverlay in 2015, Jeff spent 14 years at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he led investments across private market strategies and developed a focus on segments with high return dispersion and limited competition.
At Cloverlay, Jeff and his team specialize in niche asset categories ranging from intellectual property and aviation to industrial outdoor storage and other esoteric markets. The firm partners with highly specialized operators and seeks to generate performance through asset selection, structure, and disciplined portfolio construction rather than market beta or leverage.
Our Podcast now receives more than 300,000 downloads a month. Are you interested in sponsoring an episode? Please email David Weisburd at david@weisburdcapital.com.
We’d like to thank AlphaSense for sponsoring this episode!
Sponsor:
AlphaSense is the AI-powered market intelligence platform trusted by 85% of the S&P 100, helping investment professionals make faster, more confident, data-driven decisions. Built for hedge funds, asset allocators, private venture capital firms, and investment bankers, AlphaSense uses advanced AI and powerful search across pr
