On stage at Global Alts New York 2026, one allocator described a year of manager selection in a single sentence: five managers hired out of roughly a thousand meetings. Across the GANY26 sessions, allocators kept returning to the same themes: fit beats track record for the first meeting, references run on and off the list, transparency failures surface eventually, and selectivity is structural, not cyclical. Here is what they said, in their words, and what it means for managers.
Every year at Global Alts New York, allocators take the stage and describe, on the record, how they actually pick managers. The 2026 sessions were unusually blunt. The quotes below are verbatim from the sessions. Together they amount to the clearest published description of how the allocator side of the market thinks.
Five managers, a thousand meetings
“In a typical year, we might hire five managers out of a thousand meetings that we do. So whatever the method, that is half a percent,” said Art Vinokur, manager selection lead at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions, whose team covers hedge funds and private markets.
That is the base rate every manager is raising against. A 0.5% conversion rate is not a sign that meetings do not matter; it is a sign that most meetings were never going to convert, because the fit was not there. Vinokur said the quiet part directly: the problem is not the pitch, it is that the wrong managers are in the room.
Fit gets the meeting, and the meeting is not the allocation
“The odds are really, really low. And just being aware of that and just trying to focus on where the fit is best in terms of what the LP is looking for and what the GP is selling. It’s just as basic as that,” said Bruce MacDonald, CIO of VCU Investment Management Company.
And on what earns the first meeting, George Lai, partner at Valence8: “If the talented investor, the track record is good to have, it’ll get you the meeting with us. But it’s not going to guarantee an allocation.”
Track record is table stakes for entry, not the deciding variable. The deciding variable is fit between what the LP is currently looking for and what the fund actually does, which is why generic outreach fails: it is addressed to no one’s mandate in particular.
How allocators actually source
One allocator on the emerging-managers panel described the old model from the inside: “In the beginning days… it was just a lot of smile and dial and just brand building. This was when I was at the family office. Hi, I’m at a single family office, 200 year old capital looking to allocate to venture, like, can we talk?”
Asked where they find managers today, the same allocator’s answer was simply: “I find them through iConnections.”
The arc between those two quotes is the industry story of the last decade: sourcing moved from cold calls and personal networks to platforms where allocators search on their own terms.
Diligence runs on and off the list
“We do a lot of references, check in with their ex colleagues, just to get a sense,” said Vinokur. Jamie Rhode, partner at Screendoor, took it further: “References, of course on but also off list are really important. And the LP world is small, but the VC world is even smaller, and people have connections and can help validate a track record or can help validate what you’re telling us.”
Rhode’s follow-on warning is the one every manager should internalize: “If you’re not transparent about things, things come out in the end and LPs will find that out. That is our job to find that out.” A fellow panelist added the kicker: “You don’t want to end up on the brown list. We just don’t like surprises in general.”
Diligence is not a form. It is a network of quiet checks that continues whether or not the manager cooperates, so the only viable strategy is the transparent one.
Selectivity is structural, and slow bonds are strong bonds
“Our portfolios are very full and there’s not a lot of space… it’s just very rare that we’re going to get sold something. We have to be looking for something and then there has to be a good fit,” said Bruce MacDonald.
And David Weisburd of Weisburd Pierce, host of the How I Invest Podcast and the panel’s moderator, on what a good LP relationship actually is: “Expecting a quick process is alluring, but it’s also the weakest bond. So what you really want from an LP is somebody who’s going to stick by you through tough times.”
The read for managers: the slow, fit-first process is not an obstacle to route around. It is the product. The allocations that survive drawdowns are the ones built slowly on fit.
Frequently asked questions
What did allocators say at Global Alts New York 2026?
Allocators described extreme selectivity (five hires from roughly a thousand meetings), fit as the deciding variable over track record, reference checks on and off the list, and transparency as the only viable strategy, in verbatim on-stage quotes from the GANY26 sessions.
How many managers do allocators actually hire?
Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions’ Art Vinokur described hiring five managers out of roughly a thousand meetings in a typical year, a 0.5% conversion rate, which is why fit-based targeting matters more than meeting volume.
How do allocators find new managers?
Increasingly through platforms where they search on their own terms.
What do LPs look for in a first meeting?
Fit. Allocators at GANY26 described track record as what earns the meeting, while the allocation decision turns on fit between the LP’s current mandate and what the fund actually does.
The bottom line
The Global Alts New York 2026 allocators described a market where access is easy and conversion is rare, where fit beats pedigree, and where diligence never stops running in the background. For managers, the implications are practical: target by fit, show up where allocators search, and assume everything will be checked. The thousand-meeting funnel is real, and the way through it is precision, not volume.
