Raising a fund
The first close is the hardest money you will ever raise
This hub covers raising a private fund from the manager's seat: finding the first investors, what an anchor investor asks for, how long the process takes, and what investors check before they commit. It looks at who pays for each choice, from fees and placement to fund size and domicile.
What readers ask
- What is an anchor investor in private equity?
- How do placement agents get paid?
- What does GP commitment mean?
- What is a DDQ questionnaire?
- What is considered an emerging manager?
- What is the 2 and 20 rule in private equity?
In preparation
- Where first-time managers actually find their first LPs, and why cold email rarely works
- The anchor LP's price: what a Fund I anchor asks for, and what it costs you in Fund III
- First close or final close: the incentives that decide who commits early, and who pays for it
- Fund I, month by month: how long raising really takes
- The GP commitment: where the 1 to 3% actually comes from, and what LPs check
- Placement agents: what 2% buys, and when a first-time manager should walk away
- The DDQ is a test you can study for: what LPs are really checking
- Warehoused deals: proving a track record before the fund exists
- The number on your deck decides who takes your call: choosing a fund size
- 2 and 20 in 2027: who still pays it, and what they get in exchange
- Luxembourg or Ireland: what the domicile choice costs an LP three years later
- AIFMD II, six months in: what changed for the funds that raise from Europe
Data and tools in preparation
- DataPlacement agent fees