About this episode
What does it take to build a world-class private equity portfolio for an 800-year-old institution?
In this episode, I sit down with Sam Sturge, Head of Private Equity at the University of Cambridge endowment, to discuss how he rebuilt the program with a mandate to generate inflation plus 5% returns for generations. Before joining Cambridge, Sam worked at Morgan Stanley and Partners Capital, and today he oversees a concentrated portfolio of buyout and venture relationships within the university’s £4.5 billion endowment.
Highlights:
Why Cambridge targets inflation plus 5% and what that implies for private equity allocation
The belief that buyouts and ventures offer structural advantages over public markets
Why private equity is ultimately a people business built on 15-year relationships
How to assess whether a GP is motivated by returns or asset gathering
The ego divide between great investors and great fundraisers
Venture scale versus focus and when capital is an advantage or a constraint
How endowments can leverage long-term capital and university ecosystems as competitive edges
The DPI slowdown and why fewer LPs competing may create opportunity
Managing liquidity without relying on distributions
How Cambridge underwrites NAV marks and detects aggressive valuation behavior
Why simplicity and strategy discipline drive sustainable alpha
Structural alpha in venture and the challenge of persistence
Lessons from managers who expanded too far, learned, and rebuilt trust
Why networking compounds over decades in private markets
Guest Bio:
Sam Sturge is Head of Private Equity at the University of Cambridge endowment, where he has helped build a concentrated, long-term private equity portfolio across buyouts and venture capital since joining in 2020. Earlier in his career, he worked at Morgan Stanley and Partners Capital, and now focuses on manager alignment, structural alpha, and cultivating long-term GP relationships designed to compound capital over decades.
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Sponsor:
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