Family Offices Reimagined: The a16z Playbook

The Midyear Global Investor Report 2026 draws on nearly 1,000 allocators convened at Global Alts New York and a survey of almost 120 global LPs. The headline: appetite for alternatives is intact, with 59% of LPs planning to increase allocations and just 2% planning to decrease. Underneath it, the room has gotten harder to read: uncertainty about allocation plans jumped from 1% to 11%, 80% now cite geopolitical risk as a top concern, equity optimism has surged, and the Miami and New York audiences flatly disagree on the Fed. For managers, each finding carries a specific implication for how to position a fund right now.

Most allocator research asks a room how it feels once a year. This report had a different setup: a survey of almost 120 global LPs, fielded against the backdrop of nearly 1,000 allocators who convened at Global Alts New York in June, with a comparison point from the Miami audience in February. That makes it one of the few midyear reads on what institutional allocators actually think, measured in two cities four months apart.

Finding One: Alternatives Appetite Is Intact

Start with the number that matters most to anyone raising: 59% of LPs plan to increase their alternatives allocation. Just 2% plan to decrease.

For managers, this is the floor under the market. Whatever the headlines say, the structural bid for alternatives has not gone away, and the ratio of increasers to decreasers is nearly 30 to 1. The raise ahead is not about convincing allocators that alternatives belong in the portfolio. That argument is already won.

Finding Two: Indecision Is the New Competitor

The same room that plans to add is less sure of itself than a year ago. LPs unsure of their allocation plans jumped to 11%, from just 1% in 2025.

That ten-point swing is the finding managers should sit with. Allocators who are unsure do not say no; they say not yet, and not yet is where raises go to stall. When uncertainty rises, the funds that keep moving are the ones already visible and familiar, because an undecided allocator defaults to the managers they know. The practical implication: the cost of going quiet between events just went up. Staying in front of the market year-round is how a fund survives someone else’s indecision.

Finding Three: Geopolitics Is the Dominant Risk Lens

80% of LPs now cite geopolitical risk as a top concern, up from 61%.

When four out of five allocators share one worry, that worry becomes part of every diligence conversation. Managers should expect the geopolitical question in every first meeting, and should have a direct answer for it: how the portfolio behaves under tariff shocks, regional conflict, and policy divergence, not as a disclaimer slide but as a view. The managers who treat geopolitics as a positioning topic rather than a risk-factor boilerplate will sound different from the ones who do not.

Finding Four: Equity Optimism Raises the Bar for the Alts Pitch

26% of LPs expect the S&P 500 to gain 10% or more this year, up from just 5%.

That fivefold jump changes the alternative pitch, because the benchmark allocators compare against just got more attractive. When an allocator believes beta will deliver double digits, the hurdle for paying 2-and-20 style economics rises with it. The answer is not to argue against equities; it is to be precise about what the fund adds that an index does not: uncorrelated return, downside behavior, access to a market public equities cannot reach. Vague diversification language loses to a specific answer this year.

Finding Five: Two Cities, Two Feds

The sharpest divergence in the dataset is on rates. In February, 67% of the Miami audience expected rate cuts. In June, 17% of the New York audience did.

A fifty-point swing between two allocator audiences four months apart means there is no single macro consensus to pitch into. A manager quoting a rates-driven thesis in June is addressing a room that mostly does not expect cuts, and any return bridge built on easing needs to survive a room that has stopped believing in it. The broader lesson: know which macro framework the person across the table brought with them, because it changed between February and June and it can change again before year-end.

What the Conviction Ranking Says About Where the Meetings Are

The report also scores net LP conviction across 21 alternative strategies. Long/short equity leads at +37, multi-strategy follows at +35, and private equity sits third at +30. At the other end, ILS and catastrophe bonds post -14. And private credit shows the report’s most interesting tension: strong on paper, divided in the room.

For managers, the ranking is a map of where allocator attention is concentrated heading into the second half, and the strategy-level detail in the full report goes further: net interest by strategy, which LP types concentrate meetings where, and the top barrier keeping LPs from committing to a new fund. The companion analysis of private equity appetite at Global Alts New York makes the same point from meeting data: strategy fit, named by 31% of allocators, is the number one barrier to a new allocation, ahead of track record and fees.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Midyear Global Investor Report 2026?

An iConnections research report based on nearly 1,000 allocators convened at Global Alts New York and a survey of almost 120 global LPs, covering allocation intentions, risk concerns, market expectations, and strategy-level conviction at the midpoint of 2026.

Are allocators still increasing alternatives allocations?

Yes. 59% plan to increase their alternatives allocation, and just 2% plan to decrease. At the same time, 11% are now unsure of their plans, up from 1% in 2025.

What is allocators’ biggest risk concern in 2026?

Geopolitical risk, cited by 80% of LPs as a top concern, up from 61%.

Which strategies have the strongest LP conviction at midyear 2026?

Long/short equity leads the net conviction ranking at +37, followed by multi-strategy at +35 and private equity at +30, across 21 alternative strategies scored in the report.

The Bottom Line

The midyear picture is a market that still wants alternatives but is harder to close: appetite intact, conviction more selective, and a risk lens dominated by geopolitics. The funds that raise well in this environment are the ones that stay visible through the indecision and arrive with specific answers. The full report, including the complete strategy conviction table and the private credit breakdown, is free to download.

Outbound fundraising is building a list of allocators and working it: research, segment, email, call, repeat. Inbound fundraising is being present and findable in the places allocators go when they are already looking, so the meeting requests come to you. Outbound creates first contact. Inbound creates pipeline. The strongest fundraising teams run both, but they budget for them differently, because a meeting an allocator asked for converts at a different rate than a meeting you asked for.

Every raise runs on some mix of two motions. In one, the manager finds the allocator. In the other, the allocator finds the manager. Both end in a meeting, but they start in very different places, and that starting point shapes everything downstream: cost per meeting, conversion rate, and how much of the team’s week goes to chasing versus talking.

What is outbound fundraising?

Outbound fundraising is the motion most teams know best. You build a target list from databases and research, verify contacts, and work the list through email, calls, and introductions. The allocator is a record in your CRM. The work is research, segment, reach out, follow up.

Outbound is good at what it was built for. It gives you coverage: every allocator that fits your criteria ends up on the list, whether or not they have ever heard of you. It gives you control over timing and narrative. And for a new manager with no brand, it is often the only way to get the first fifty meetings.

Its ceiling is intent. The allocator did not ask to hear from you, so most outbound touches land on people who are not in-market. The cost shows up as low response rates and long conversion cycles, and it scales linearly: more meetings require more outreach.

What is inbound fundraising?

Inbound fundraising is the opposite shape. Instead of finding allocators one at a time, the manager maintains a presence where allocators are already looking, and the allocators initiate.

On a capital introduction platform, that presence is a living fund profile: strategy, track record, materials, and documents, kept current. Allocators search by strategy and mandate fit, view profiles, download materials, and request meetings. On the iConnections platform, allocators ran roughly 70,000 AI-powered searches for managers in the last 90 days, and LP-to-GP profile clicks run at more than 250,000 a year. Nearly half of live event meetings on the iConnections platform are initiated by allocators.

The economics are different. The marginal cost of the next inbound meeting is close to zero, because the profile works while the team sleeps. And every inbound meeting starts at higher intent, because the allocator chose the meeting.

Why does intent change the math?

A meeting is not a meeting. The same hour on the calendar has a different expected value depending on who wanted it.

An outbound meeting starts cold: the first ten minutes are spent establishing why the conversation is happening at all. An inbound meeting starts warm: the allocator has already seen the profile, decided the strategy fits what they are looking for, and asked for the time. The conversation skips qualification and goes straight to substance.

That difference compounds across a raise. If inbound meetings convert to diligence at a higher rate than outbound meetings, then shifting the mix toward inbound raises the output of the whole funnel without adding headcount or hours. The top of the funnel stops being a volume problem and becomes a visibility problem.

Is it either/or?

No, and the strongest fundraising operations treat the two as layers of one stack rather than competitors.

Outbound is the right tool for targeted first contact: a specific allocator you want, a new market you are entering, a list that needs to be worked now. Inbound is the right tool for everything the list misses: allocators you did not know to call, mandates that opened this quarter, interest that exists but has not been expressed to you.

The practical split most teams converge on: outbound creates first contact with named targets, inbound captures demand from the market at large, and both feed the same pipeline. The mistake is running outbound alone and assuming the list is the market.

What does inbound require that outbound does not?

Inbound has its own price, and it is paid in profile quality rather than outreach volume.

An allocator browsing managers makes the decision in seconds, on the strength of what is on the page. A thin profile, stale materials, or a vague strategy description does not get a second look. The managers who win inbound treat their profile like a pitch: complete, current, and specific about what they do and who it fits.

That is the real trade. Outbound costs effort per meeting. Inbound costs rigor once, then pays out continuously.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between inbound and outbound fundraising?

Outbound fundraising is building a list of allocators and working it through email, calls, and introductions. Inbound fundraising is maintaining a presence where allocators are already searching, so meeting requests come to the manager. Outbound creates first contact; inbound creates pipeline.

Is inbound fundraising better than outbound?

They do different jobs. Outbound gives coverage and control for named targets. Inbound captures demand from allocators the manager did not know to call, at higher intent and near-zero marginal cost per meeting. The strongest teams run both.

How do allocators find managers inbound?

On a capital introduction platform, allocators search and filter managers by strategy, track record, and mandate fit, view profiles, and request meetings. On the iConnections platform, that meant roughly 70,000 allocator searches in the last 90 days and more than 250,000 LP-to-GP profile clicks a year.

What does it take to make inbound work?

A complete, current, specific fund profile. Allocators browsing managers decide in seconds, so profile quality, not outreach volume, is what determines inbound meeting flow.

The Bottom Line

Outbound asks: who should we call? Inbound asks: who is already looking? A modern raise needs an answer to both. Build the list, work it, and make sure the allocators searching right now can find you, vet you, and book the meeting without waiting for your email. iConnections is the inbound layer built for exactly that, with 26,000+ active LPs and GPs on the network.

Global Alts Asia 2026 takes place November 16 to 18 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. It is the Asia-Pacific capital introduction event where institutional allocators and fund managers hold pre-scheduled, one-on-one meetings: more than 5,000 across three days, with nearly half initiated by allocators. Registration is complimentary for qualified allocators who commit to taking onsite meetings. Managers attend on AUM-based pricing as iConnections members.

Asia-Pacific is where a growing share of alternatives capital is being allocated, and the hardest part of accessing it has never been interest. It is the logistics of getting the right allocators and the right managers in the same conversations. Global Alts Asia exists to remove that friction: three days of pre-scheduled, pre-vetted meetings at Marina Bay Sands, with the scheduling done on the iConnections platform before anyone boards a plane.

What is Global Alts Asia 2026?

Global Alts Asia is iConnections’ Asia-Pacific flagship capital introduction event. It brings together institutional allocators and fund managers for one-on-one meetings, curated panels, and discussions led by industry thought leaders.

The 2026 edition runs November 16 to 18 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. It is part of the Global Alts series alongside Miami, New York, and, from 2027, Europe.

How do the pre-scheduled meetings work?

Every meeting is scheduled in advance through the iConnections platform. Attendees build their schedules before they arrive, so the three days onsite are spent in qualified conversations rather than open networking.

Two features define the format. First, meetings are pre-vetted for fit: you choose who you see based on strategy, track record, and mandate. Second, a large share of meetings are allocator-initiated, which means managers are frequently meeting LPs who asked to see them. Across Global Alts Asia, more than 5,000 one-on-one meetings run across the three days.

Who attends Global Alts Asia?

The allocator side spans single family offices, multi-family offices, funds of funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, banks and insurers, and pensions. Family offices make up the largest share of the allocator audience, and the most common seniority levels are C-suite and founders, followed by directors and managers.

The manager side spans hedge fund strategies, long-only, private credit, digital assets, venture capital, liquid credit, real estate and infrastructure, multi-strategy, and private equity. By firm size, the audience ranges from sub-$100M emerging managers to platforms above $3B.

Service providers attend to reach both groups, through sponsorships, panels, and hosted experiences.

What does it cost to attend?

Registration is complimentary for qualified institutional allocators who commit to taking onsite meetings. Fund managers attend on AUM-based pricing and must be iConnections members. Service providers participate through tiered sponsorship packages.

How has the event grown?

Global Alts Asia has grown every year since launch. One-on-one meetings have risen from 962 in 2022 to more than 1,700 in 2023, more than 2,600 in 2024, and more than 3,100 in 2025, with roughly half of meetings allocator-initiated. The 2026 edition continues that trajectory.

Frequently asked questions

When and where is Global Alts Asia 2026?

November 16 to 18, 2026, at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

How many meetings happen at Global Alts Asia?

More than 5,000 one-on-one meetings across three days, pre-scheduled and pre-vetted on the iConnections platform. Nearly half are allocator-initiated.

Is Global Alts Asia free for allocators?

Yes. Registration is complimentary for qualified institutional allocators who commit to taking onsite meetings.

Who should attend Global Alts Asia?

Institutional allocators looking to discover managers in Asia-Pacific, fund managers raising capital who want pre-scheduled LP meetings, and service providers who want to reach both.

The bottom line

If you allocate capital in Asia-Pacific, Global Alts Asia is three days of pre-scheduled meetings with managers you have already vetted for fit. If you are raising, it is the densest concentration of qualified, in-market allocators in the region. Registration is open. Allocators register free; managers get pricing through iConnections membership.

At Global Alts New York 2026, private equity ranked second among 20 strategies in stated LP interest, with 47% of 284 LP contacts naming it a priority. In confirmed meetings it ranked fifth, capturing 7% of activity against an 8% share of attending funds. Appetite is real and rejection is low, at 17%. What is missing is conversion, and the allocators themselves named the cause: strategy fit is the number one barrier to a new allocation, ahead of track record, liquidity terms, and fees. LP appetite for private equity is not a demand problem. It is a matching problem.

There are two ways to measure what allocators want. You can ask them, or you can watch what they do. Most industry research does the first. A platform that runs the meetings can do both, and when the two measurements disagree, the disagreement is usually more useful than either number on its own.

At Global Alts New York 2026, they disagreed about private equity.

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How strong is LP appetite for private equity in 2026?

Ahead of the event, 284 LP contacts were asked which strategies they were interested in and which they were actively not. Private equity came second, with 47% naming it a priority. Only long/short equity scored higher, at 50%. Multi-strategy followed at 46%, global macro at 41%, and venture capital at 40%.

Raw interest tells only half the story, because a strategy can be widely liked and widely rejected at the same time. Netting rejection against interest gives a cleaner reading. Private equity was rejected by 17% of contacts, the fourth lowest rate of any strategy in the room, producing a net conviction score of +30 and a third place finish behind long/short equity and multi-strategy.

That combination matters. High interest paired with high rejection describes a polarizing strategy. High interest paired with low rejection describes a strategy with broad permission. Private equity sits in the second group. The allocators who do not want it are a clear minority.

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Why is stated interest not turning into meetings?

Then the event happened.

Across all confirmed meetings at Global Alts New York 2026, private equity captured 7% of total activity, placing it fifth among all strategies. Measured against its 8% share of attending funds, that produces a punching score of 0.88x, meaning it generated slightly fewer meetings than fund representation would predict.

This is not a collapse. Venture capital, which brought more funds to the room than any other strategy, converted at 0.67x. Private equity is in better shape than that. But it is not turning stated interest into meeting share the way private credit and long/short equity did, and that is the tension at the center of its event performance.

There are two ways to read the gap. Either allocators changed their minds between the survey and the schedule, or the interest was real and simply landed somewhere other than where managers were looking for it. The breakdown by LP type makes the second reading far more likely.

Which LP types are actually taking private equity meetings?

Demand for private equity is not evenly distributed across allocator types, and the distribution is counterintuitive.

Investment consultants allocated 14% of their confirmed meetings to private equity. That is nearly double the 7.3% event average and the highest reading of any LP type in the room. Public pension funds and multi-family offices each came in around 10%. Single family offices allocated 9%, slightly above average. Endowments and foundations were notably quiet, each below 3%.

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Now overlay the size of each group. Investment consultants are roughly 3% of all LP contacts at the event. Single family offices are 33%, the largest group by a wide margin. The most committed private equity audience in the room is also the smallest, and the largest audience is only mildly committed.

For a manager building a meeting schedule, that is a practical problem rather than a philosophical one. Volume comes from single family offices. Conviction comes from investment consultants. A schedule built only for volume fills the calendar with moderate interest. A schedule built only for conviction runs out of names by lunchtime. Both audiences have to be worked, and they have to be worked differently.

What is the biggest barrier to a new private equity allocation?

Allocators at the event were asked to name their single biggest barrier to allocating to a new fund. The answer reframes the entire conversation.

Strategy fit came first at 31%. Performance track record was second at 25%. Liquidity terms came third at 20%, which is unsurprising for an asset class built on long lock-up structures. Of the six options allocators could choose from, fees came last.

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Fees ranking last is the quietly useful finding in that set. For allocators still open to private equity, and the conviction data says most of them are, pricing is not the objection. Neither, primarily, is performance.

The objection is fit. If an allocator cannot quickly answer why this fund belongs in their specific portfolio, the conversation ends before it begins. That is a positioning failure rather than a performance failure, and it is the failure most likely to be sitting behind a 0.88x punching score.

What this means if you are raising

Three things follow from the data.

Lead with fit, not with returns. Strategy fit is the number one barrier by a six point margin. The first question an allocator is answering is not how have you done, it is where do you belong. A deck that opens with performance is answering the second question first.

Segment by LP type, not by AUM. Investment consultants convert at nearly double the event average but are a small population. Family offices are the population. Treating them as one audience with one message is how a strong interest score turns into a middling meeting count.

Start before the room opens. The gap between stated interest and confirmed meetings closes in the weeks when allocators decide who is worth a slot. Managers who are already visible when that decision gets made are not competing for attention on the day.

What this means if you are allocating

The same data has a different use on the LP side.

It tells you where you sit relative to the room. An endowment or foundation running below 3% of meetings in private equity is aligned with its peer group. A family office at 9% is near the median. An investment consultant at 14% is at the front of the pack, which also means the managers who have not reached out are the ones who did not know to prioritize you.

It also tells you what the competitive set looks like. A 17% rejection rate is among the lowest of any strategy in the room, which means the allocators competing with you for capacity in a good fund are not a narrow group of specialists. They are most of the room.

Frequently asked questions

Is LP appetite for private equity strong in 2026?

By the measures allocators state, yes. At Global Alts New York 2026, private equity ranked second of 20 strategies in stated LP interest, with 47% of 284 LP contacts naming it a priority, and posted a net conviction score of +30 against a 17% rejection rate.

Why do private equity managers get fewer meetings than LP interest suggests?

Private equity captured 7% of confirmed meetings against an 8% share of attending funds, a punching score of 0.88x. The barrier data points to positioning rather than demand: 31% of allocators name strategy fit as their single biggest obstacle to a new allocation, ahead of track record at 25% and liquidity terms at 20%. Fees ranked last of the six options measured.

Which LP types allocate most of their meetings to private equity?

Investment consultants led at 14% of their confirmed meetings, followed by public pension funds and multi-family offices at roughly 10% each, and single family offices at 9%. Endowments and foundations were each below 3%. The event average was 7.3%.

What is the biggest barrier to a new private equity allocation?

Strategy fit, at 31%, ahead of performance track record at 25% and liquidity terms at 20%. Fees ranked last of the six options allocators could choose from, which suggests price is not the obstacle for allocators still open to the asset class.

The bottom line

Private equity has the room’s attention. It ranked second in what allocators said they wanted and third in net conviction, and its rejection rate is among the lowest of any strategy in the market. What it has not done is convert that standing into meeting share.

That gap is not a verdict on the asset class. It is a positioning problem with a measurable cause, and the allocators named it themselves: fit comes before performance, and it comes a long way before price.

The Private Equity Investor Report 2026 has the full picture.

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There is no universal number, because it depends on strategy, check size, and how warm the meetings are. But the structure is consistent: funds are won through a funnel, and the funnel is wider at the top than most managers plan for. The two levers that move the number are meeting quality (qualified, pre-vetted, allocator-initiated) and continuity (staying in front of LPs year-round, not just at events). Platform data and Global Alts allocator commentary both point the same direction: a small fraction of meetings convert, so the job is to raise the conversion rate, not just the meeting count.

Ask a room of allocators how many managers they meet and how many they back, and the gap is the story. At Global Alts New York, one allocator described narrowing five managers out of roughly a thousand meetings-worth of pipeline into actual allocations. That is an extreme ratio, but the direction is universal: allocators see far more managers than they will ever invest with. For a manager running a raise, the practical question is not the abstract average. It is how many of your meetings are with allocators who are genuinely in-market for your strategy, and how many of those you convert.

What does the LP meeting funnel actually look like?

Think of a raise as a funnel with four stages: discovery (the allocator learns you exist), first meeting, diligence, and allocation. Attrition happens at every stage, and it is steepest at the top.

The stage most managers underestimate is discovery-to-first-meeting. Getting a first meeting with a qualified allocator is the hardest conversion in the funnel, because it is where cold outreach goes to die. Once an allocator has agreed to a meeting, the probability of progression rises sharply, which is why the quality of the meeting source matters more than the raw count.

Why does meeting quality matter more than meeting count?

Because a meeting with an allocator who is actively allocating to your strategy is worth many meetings with allocators who are not. This is where the source of the meeting changes the math.

A meeting that comes from cold outreach starts at low intent: the allocator did not ask to see you. A meeting that comes from a platform where the allocator searched for your strategy, viewed your profile, and requested the meeting starts at high intent. On iConnections, nearly half of live event meetings are initiated by allocators, which means the funnel is pre-loaded with intent before the first conversation.

The practical implication: ten allocator-initiated meetings can be worth more than fifty cold ones. Managers who treat the top of the funnel as a volume problem end up doing more meetings for the same result. Managers who treat it as a targeting problem raise the conversion rate instead.

How do events change the number?

A well-run capital introduction event compresses the top of the funnel. Instead of booking meetings one at a time over months, a manager can hold a dense schedule of pre-scheduled, pre-vetted meetings in a few days, then move the qualified ones into diligence.

Global Alts events are built for exactly this: meetings are scheduled on the platform before attendees arrive, so the time onsite is spent in qualified conversations. At Global Alts Asia, that has meant more than 5,000 one-on-one meetings across three days.

How does year-round engagement lower the total?

The managers who need the fewest meetings are the ones allocators already know. If an allocator has seen your profile, read your commentary, and watched your updates between events, the first meeting starts further down the funnel.

That is the argument for treating fundraising as continuous rather than episodic. A platform keeps your fund visible to allocators who are searching between events, so by the time you meet, some of the discovery and credibility work is already done. Over a full raise, that continuity is what brings the total number of meetings required down.

The meeting count is downstream of things you can actually control. If you want the mechanics behind each lever, our breakdown of how fund managers get warm introductions to allocators explains where allocator-initiated meetings come from, and continuous capital introduction vs. event-based fundraising covers why the months between events are where most funnels leak. On the input side, what institutional allocators look for when screening fund managers shows what earns a first meeting in the first place, while the ROI of year-round capital introduction puts a cost against every meeting you book. For the current allocator picture, the Midyear Global Investor Report 2026 covers the top barrier keeping LPs from committing to a new fund.

Frequently asked questions

How many LP meetings does it take to close a fund?

There is no single number; it depends on strategy, check size, and meeting quality. The consistent pattern is a funnel with steep attrition at the top, which is why conversion rate matters more than meeting count.

Do allocator-initiated meetings convert better?

Yes. A meeting the allocator asked for starts at higher intent than one from cold outreach. On iConnections, nearly half of live event meetings are allocator-initiated.

Do events reduce the number of meetings needed?

They compress the top of the funnel by concentrating pre-scheduled, pre-vetted meetings into a few days. Global Alts Asia runs more than 5,000 one-on-one meetings across three days.

How can I lower the number of meetings my raise requires?

Raise meeting quality (target allocators actively in-market for your strategy) and stay visible year-round so first meetings start further down the funnel.

The bottom line

You cannot control how many meetings a raise takes in the abstract, but you can control the two levers that move it: how qualified the meetings are, and how visible you stay between them. Focus on allocator-initiated, pre-vetted meetings and continuous engagement, and the total takes care of itself. iConnections is built around both.

A capital introduction platform is a two-sided network where institutional allocators and fund managers discover each other, signal intent, and schedule meetings, year-round and online. It differs from a data provider (which tells you who to call) and from a conference (which concentrates meetings into a few days) by making the introduction itself the product: searchable, continuous, and measurable. iConnections is the capital introduction platform built for alternatives, with 26,000+ active LPs and GPs and $55T+ in represented capital on the network.

Allocators do not struggle to find fund managers. They struggle to find the right ones, at the right time, with enough signal to justify a meeting. Managers do not struggle to build target lists. They struggle to get a qualified allocator to actually take the meeting. Both problems are the same problem: discovery and introduction, at scale, with trust. That is the problem a capital introduction platform exists to solve.

What does a capital introduction platform actually do?

A capital introduction platform sits between two groups who need each other but lack an efficient way to connect. On one side are allocators: pension funds, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, funds of funds, and RIAs. On the other side are fund managers: hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real assets, venture capital, and digital assets. The platform gives both sides a persistent, searchable presence and a structured way to meet.

In practice that means four things. Allocators can search and filter managers by strategy, track record, firm size, and mandate fit, and review profiles and materials on their own schedule. Managers can see which allocators are active, what those allocators are looking at, and when interest is genuine rather than cold. Both sides can request and schedule meetings inside the platform instead of through email chains. And every interaction becomes data that makes the next match better.

The result is that the introduction stops being a favor you cash in and starts being infrastructure you rely on.

How is a capital introduction platform different from a data provider?

This is the distinction that matters most, because the two are often confused.

A data provider answers the question “who should I be talking to?” It maintains records on funds, allocators, and historical allocations so you can build a target list and conduct research. That is genuinely useful, and most serious fundraising teams keep a data subscription for exactly that purpose. But a data provider is one-sided: the allocator is a row in a database, and they do not know you are looking at them.

A capital introduction platform answers a different question: “who is already interested, and how do I meet them?” The allocator is a participant, not a record. They manage their own profile, browse managers, and signal intent. On iConnections, nearly half of live event meetings are initiated by allocators, not managers, which is the clearest sign of a genuinely two-sided system.

The two are complements, not substitutes. Research tells you where to aim. A capital introduction platform is where the meeting actually happens.

How is it different from a conference?

A conference compresses introductions into a few days in one city. A capital introduction platform makes them continuous. The strongest version of the model combines both: a year-round platform for discovery and relationship management, plus flagship in-person events where the highest-density meeting schedules happen.

iConnections runs four flagship capital introduction events each year: Global Alts Miami, Global Alts New York, Global Alts Asia, and, from 2027, Global Alts Europe. These are not conferences in the traditional sense. Meetings are pre-scheduled on the platform before attendees arrive, so the time onsite is spent in qualified one-on-one conversations rather than hallway networking.

Who uses a capital introduction platform?

Both sides of the market, for different reasons.

Allocators use it to discover managers they would not otherwise find, including emerging managers without a long placement-agent relationship, and to do it on their own terms and timeline. On iConnections, the allocator base spans single family offices, multi-family offices, funds of funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and pensions, with family offices making up the largest share.

Managers use it to get in front of allocators who are actively allocating, to compress months of outreach into a structured pipeline, and to track engagement instead of guessing at it. The manager base skews toward hedge fund strategies and private credit, which together account for the majority of managers on the platform.

Service providers use it to reach both groups in one place.

What should you look for in a capital introduction platform?

Five things separate a real capital introduction platform from a directory with a login.

First, two-sided activity. If only managers are active and allocators are passive records, it is a database, not a platform. Second, verified participation: profiles should be maintained by the members themselves, not scraped or analyst-maintained. Third, behavioral signal: the platform should tell you what allocators are doing now, not what they allocated to years ago. Fourth, meeting infrastructure: scheduling, document sharing, and follow-up should live inside the platform. Fifth, scale: the network has to be large enough that discovery actually works.

On iConnections, allocators run roughly 70,000 AI-powered searches for managers in a quarter, and LP-to-GP profile clicks run at more than 250,000 a year. That is the activity level at which discovery stops being theoretical.

Is a capital introduction platform worth it for an emerging manager?

For an emerging manager, the math is usually the deciding factor. Cold outreach and placement agents are expensive in time or fees, and both favor managers who already have brand recognition. A capital introduction platform levels that: every firm, whether a $50B platform or a $200M emerging manager, gets access to the same allocators. The differentiator becomes the quality of the profile and the fit, not the size of the Rolodex.

Frequently asked questions

What is a capital introduction platform?

A capital introduction platform is a two-sided network where institutional allocators and fund managers discover each other, signal intent, and schedule meetings year-round. It makes the introduction itself the product: searchable, continuous, and measurable.

How is a capital introduction platform different from a data provider?

A data provider tells you who to call and maintains historical records for research. A capital introduction platform is where allocators actively participate, browse managers, and initiate meetings. One builds your target list; the other is where the meeting happens. Most fundraising teams use both.

How is it different from a conference?

A conference compresses introductions into a few days in one city. A capital introduction platform makes them continuous and year-round. The strongest model combines both: a platform for ongoing discovery plus flagship in-person events for high-density, pre-scheduled meetings.

Who uses a capital introduction platform?

Institutional allocators (pensions, endowments, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, RIAs) use it to discover managers. Fund managers (hedge funds, PE, private credit, real assets, VC) use it to get in front of qualified allocators. Service providers use it to reach both.

Is iConnections a capital introduction platform?

Yes. iConnections is the LP-GP capital introduction platform for alternatives, with 26,000+ active LPs and GPs, $55T+ in represented capital, and four flagship capital introduction events each year.

The bottom line

Capital introduction used to run on personal networks, placement agents, and a handful of conferences. A capital introduction platform turns that into infrastructure: always on, two-sided, and measurable. If you are an allocator, it is how you find the managers you would otherwise miss. If you are a manager, it is how you get in front of allocators who are actually looking. iConnections is built for exactly that. See how the platform works, or explore the insights and research coming out of the network.

The ROI of year-round capital introduction comes from replacing episodic, high-cost fundraising activities with a continuous, technology-enabled process that keeps allocators engaged across the full allocation cycle. For fund managers, the savings show up in reduced IR hours, lower event and travel spend, compressed fundraising timelines, and meetings with allocators who are already screened and mandate-matched. 

What Fundraising Actually Costs

Before evaluating what a year-round platform saves, it helps to understand what the traditional fundraising model costs. Fund managers rarely tally the full expense because the components are spread across budgets, calendars, and tools. 

Event costs. A single industry event can cost a fund manager tens of thousands of dollars when you add registration, sponsorship, travel, lodging, and the time cost of prep. Multiply that across several events per year, and the annual event budget alone can exceed six figures for a mid-sized firm. 

Cold outreach hours. IR teams spend hours building lists, sourcing contacts, crafting emails, and following up. Most of those emails go unanswered. The hit rate on cold outreach to institutional allocators is low, and the time spent on it is time not spent on existing relationships or strategy work. 

Scattered tools. Fund managers often stitch together a CRM, a contact database, a separate document-sharing system, an email tracking tool, and a spreadsheet to manage pipeline. Each tool has its own subscription cost, and none of them talk to each other. 

Database subscriptions. Allocator databases charge premium prices for access to contact information that may or may not be current. The data is static. It does not tell you whether an allocator is actively deploying, what their mandate looks like, or whether they are screening for your strategy right now. 

The aggregate cost is substantial, but it is hidden because it is distributed. The question is not whether these costs exist but whether there is a more efficient alternative.

Where a Year-Round Platform Creates Savings

The iConnections platform consolidates the fundraising workflow into a single, continuous process. Instead of building lists and sending cold emails, fund managers are discovered by allocators who are actively searching. Instead of paying for scattered tools, managers have pipeline management, document sharing, meeting scheduling, and allocator engagement in one place. 

Compressed timelines. Mandate-matched meetings mean the allocator is already interested before the conversation starts. There is no cold-to-warm-to-meeting pipeline that takes months. The compression of that cycle saves IR hours and shortens the overall fundraising window. 

IR hours saved. When allocators come to you, the IR team spends less time on outbound prospecting and more time on qualified conversations. The shift from outbound-heavy to inbound-supported fundraising changes the IR cost per meeting significantly.

Efficiency Beyond the Numbers

The value of year-round capital introduction also shows up in qualitative ways that are harder to quantify but no less important. 

Meeting quality. A mandate-matched meeting is structurally different from a cold-scheduled meeting. The allocator has already seen your profile, reviewed your materials, and confirmed that your strategy fits their mandate. The conversation starts at a deeper level. This means each meeting has a higher probability of advancing to diligence. 

Coverage of missing LPs. Fund managers often focus on the allocators they already know. The iConnections platform surfaces allocators who are actively searching for your strategy but who you may not have on your existing list. This expands the universe of potential commitments without expanding the IR team. 

Compounding relationships. Event-based fundraising creates a spike of activity followed by silence. Year-round engagement means the relationship with an allocator compounds over time. An allocator who discovered you at Global Alts New York can follow your profile, track your performance, and reconnect at Global Alts Miami without either side doing manual outreach. The compounding happens because the platform keeps the relationship alive between the data points. 

Allocator-initiated discovery. When ~50% of meetings on the iConnections platform are allocator-initiated, the fundraising model flips. Managers do not need to chase every meeting. A meaningful portion of their pipeline comes from allocators who found them first. 

Fundraising ROI FAQ

Is a capital introduction platform worth it for fund managers?

For most fund managers, the consolidation of tools, reduction in IR hours, and compression of fundraising timelines create measurable savings.

What costs does a year-round platform replace?

A year-round platform replaces scattered tools, reduces event and travel spend, and cuts IR hours spent on cold outreach by enabling allocator-initiated, mandate-matched meetings.

How does meeting quality factor into fundraising ROI?

Mandate-matched meetings on the iConnections platform start with confirmed allocator intent, which means each meeting has a higher probability of advancing to diligence compared to cold-scheduled meetings. This improves the return on IR time even when the cost per meeting is similar.

Institutional allocators screening fund managers evaluate three core areas: track record, strategy fit, and operational diligence. On the iConnections platform, that screening is enhanced by admin-sourced returns through Get Verified, live mandate matching, and AI-powered search filters that let allocators narrow from thousands of managers to the few who match their current allocation criteria.

How Allocators Evaluate Managers

When an institutional allocator begins a manager search, the process typically moves through several layers of evaluation. Understanding what allocators look for at each layer helps fund managers position themselves effectively. 

Track record and performance history. Allocators want to see consistently delivered returns across market cycles, not just a single strong vintage. They look for attribution: did the strategy generate alpha, or did it ride a beta wave? For private credit, they examine default rates, recovery timelines, and NAV transitions. For private equity, they evaluate DPI and MOIC at the fund level. The depth of scrutiny depends on the strategy, but the principle is the same: show me the numbers, and show me they hold up. 

Strategy fit and mandate alignment. An allocator running a live mandate for middle-market direct lending is not going to spend time screening a venture capital fund manager. Strategy fit is the first filter, and it is non-negotiable. Allocators also look at sub-strategy specialization, geographic focus, fund size, and deployment timeline. A manager who can clearly articulate where they fit in the allocator’s portfolio construction is already ahead of one who pitches broadly. 

Operational diligence. Allocators evaluate the fund manager’s infrastructure as closely as the investment strategy. Who handles fund administration? Is there an independent custodian? What does the compliance framework look like? How does the manager handle reporting, investor communications, and fee structures? Operational weakness has killed more promising allocations than performance shortfalls. 

Team depth and stability. Allocators assess whether the team has the experience and staying power to execute the stated strategy across a full fund lifecycle. Key-person risk, team turnover, and succession planning all factor into the assessment. 

These evaluation criteria are general, but they map directly to how the iConnections platform structures manager profiles. Fund managers who present clearly across all four dimensions are more likely to surface in allocator searches and convert those searches into meetings.

Why Verified Performance Matters

The biggest trust gap in manager screening is self-reported performance. Allocators know that managers have every incentive to present returns in the most favorable light. IRR can be massaged. NAV can be smoothed. Benchmarks can be cherry-picked. The result is that allocators spend significant time in diligence simply verifying whether the numbers they were shown are real. 

Get Verified closes that gap. Through the iConnections platform, Get Verified integrates with fund administrators to source returns directly. When an allocator views a verified manager’s profile, the performance numbers they see come from the administrator’s system, not from the manager’s marketing deck. 

This changes the screening dynamic. Allocators can move faster because the verification layer is already built in. Managers who are verified stand out not because their returns are necessarily higher, but because their returns are trustworthy. In a screening process where allocators are comparing dozens of similar managers, that trust advantage can be the difference between getting a meeting and getting passed over. 

For fund managers, the message is clear: if your returns hold up to independent verification, Get Verified is one of the strongest credibility signals you can send to an allocator in the screening phase.

How Managers Can Present Credibly

Allocators form first impressions quickly. A manager who shows up in search results with a complete, verified profile is already signaling operational seriousness. Here is what a strong manager presentation looks like on the iConnections platform. 

Complete your profile fully. Every section of your manager profile is a signal. Sub-strategy tags, geographic focus, fund size, vehicle structure, and deployment timeline all feed the allocator’s search filters. A profile that is 60% complete will not surface in searches that filter on the missing 40%. 

Share documents proactively. The iConnections document library lets managers share DDQs, pitch decks, fund documents, and performance attachments with allocators who have opted in. Having materials ready and shared means an allocator can begin preliminary diligence before the first meeting. Download tracking shows which allocators are engaging with your materials, so you know where interest is real. 

Get Verified. As covered above, admin-sourced returns eliminate the trust gap. If you have not yet completed the Get Verified process, it should be a priority before raising on the platform. 

Be specific about what you run. “Private credit” is not a strategy. “Senior secured direct lending to lower-middle-market borrowers in the Midwest, targeting 9 to 11% net returns” is a strategy. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to surface in mandate-matched searches from allocators who are looking for exactly what you offer.

How Screening and Meeting Happen in One Place

On the iConnections platform, the screening process and the meeting process are not separated by weeks of email exchanges. When an allocator searches for managers using 200+ filters and identifies a match, the path from discovery to meeting is direct. The allocator initiates a meeting request through the platform. If the manager accepts, the meeting is scheduled and hosted within the iConnections ecosystem. 

This consolidation matters. In a traditional screening process, the allocator finds a manager on a database, reaches out via email, waits for a response, coordinates calendars, and eventually schedules a call. On the iConnections platform, those steps collapse. Discovery, screening, introduction, and meeting happen in one place, with both sides opting in. 

For fund managers, this means that being visible and well-presented on the iConnections platform is not just about being found. It is about being found and met in the same workflow, with context already established and intent already confirmed.

Manager Screening FAQ

What do allocators look for when screening fund managers?

Institutional allocators evaluate track record, strategy fit, operational diligence, and team depth. On the iConnections platform, allocators can also see admin-sourced returns through Get Verified, which adds a trust layer to the screening process. 

How can fund managers present credibly to allocators?

Complete your iConnections profile fully, get verified through the Get Verified process, share documents proactively through the document library, and be specific about your sub-strategy and target returns. 

What is Get Verified and why does it matter for screening?

Get Verified is an iConnections-specific program that sources fund returns directly from administrators, giving allocators confidence that the performance numbers they see during screening are accurate and not self-reported. 

Can allocators screen and meet managers in one place?

Yes. On the iConnections platform, discovery, screening, introduction, and meeting scheduling happen within a single workflow, eliminating the lag between finding a manager and getting a meeting on the calendar. 

How many filters do allocators use when searching for managers?

Allocators on the iConnections platform can search using 200+ filters covering sub-strategy, geography, fund size, deployment timeline, and other criteria.

Private credit fundraising means connecting fund managers running direct lending, distressed, mezzanine, or asset-based strategies with institutional allocators actively deploying capital into those sub-strategies. On the iConnections platform, that connection is mandate-matched and year-round, not limited to a single event window. 

The Private Credit Fundraising Landscape

Interest in private credit has grown sharply over the past several years. Institutional allocators, including pension funds, endowments, insurance companies, and family offices, have been increasing allocations to private credit as they seek floating-rate yield, diversified income, and reduced correlation to public markets. 

For fund managers, that demand is real but not evenly distributed. Allocators are selective. They are looking for specific sub-strategy fit, risk-adjusted return profiles, and operational maturity. A generalist pitch no longer works. The managers who succeed are the ones who can identify which allocators are actively deploying into their specific corner of private credit, and who can get in front of those allocators with the right materials at the right time. 

That precision requires more than a contact list. It requires live mandate data, sub-strategy filters, and a way to connect with allocators who are actively screening for what you run. Private credit search demand – 19K searches annually – reflects how much demand exists on the iConnections platform alone for private credit strategies. The opportunity is there. The question is how to reach it.

Finding LPs Allocating to Private Credit

The first challenge in private credit fundraising is targeting. Not every institutional LP allocates to private credit. Among those who do, not every one allocates to your sub-strategy. A manager running senior secured direct lending needs a different LP universe than one running distressed Opportunity Fund capital. 

On the iConnections platform, fund managers can surface allocators whose live mandates match their specific private credit sub-strategy. The search and matching system uses more than 200 filters, covering sub-strategy, target return, geographic focus, fund size range, and deployment timeline. This means a manager running an asset-based lending fund can find allocators who are actually looking for ABL exposure, rather than pitching broadly to a list that includes allocators who only want senior secured. 

The key shift here is from outbound speculation to inbound alignment. Allocators on the iConnections platform are actively searching for managers. When a fund manager’s profile matches an allocator’s live mandate, the introduction happens on the basis of real intent, not a cold guess. The relationship forms because both sides showed up with a reason to talk. 

Year-Round Private Credit Capital Introduction

Traditional private credit fundraising follows an event-driven calendar. Managers prepare for a few large industry gatherings, schedule back-to-back meetings over a couple of days, and then go quiet for months while they follow up. The momentum stalls. Allocators lose track. The next opportunity to meet in person is months away. 

The iConnections model is different. Capital introduction is continuous, not episodic. Fund managers can engage with allocators through the iConnections platform year-round, between and across Global Alts events. At Global Alts New York, Global Alts Miami, Global Alts Asia, and Global Alts Europe, capital introduction programming includes dedicated private credit content and curated allocator meetings, owned and operated by iConnections. Between those events, the platform keeps the relationship alive: profile views, document sharing, mandate updates, and AI-powered search keep managers visible to allocators who are sourcing. 

This flywheel matters specifically for private credit. Allocator diligence cycles in credit can be long, and the ability to maintain presence across the full cycle, not just at a single capital introduction event, is what separates a funded raise from a stalled one. The relationship starts at Global Alts and continues on the platform. 

Standing Out to Private Credit Allocators

Allocators screening private credit managers care about more than returns. They care about the credibility of the inputs. Self-reported performance is a red flag. Admin-sourced returns, verified through the iConnections Get Verified process, give allocators confidence that the numbers they see during screening match the numbers in their administrator’s system. 

Get Verified is an iConnections-specific feature that integrates with fund administrators to source returns directly, eliminating the self-reporting gap. For private credit managers, this matters more than for most strategies. Credit returns are nuanced: NAV transitions, payment-in-kind income, and default recovery timelines all require careful, verified reporting. An allocator who sees admin-sourced returns during screening can move faster in diligence because the trust layer is already established. 

Beyond verification, the document library on the iConnections platform lets private credit managers share pitch decks, DDQs, fund documents, and performance attachments with allocators who have opted in. Download tracking shows which allocators are engaging, and compliance archiving keeps the sharing clean. The manager stays informed without sending a single follow-up email.

For private credit managers specifically, the combination of mandate-matched visibility, verified performance, and secure document sharing creates a fundraising environment where the right allocators find you, see credible data, and can move through diligence without friction. 

Private Credit Fundraising FAQ

How do I raise capital for a private credit fund?

The most effective approach is mandate-matched capital introduction: connecting with allocators who are actively deploying into your specific private credit sub-strategy through a verified, year-round platform rather than relying on cold outreach or episodic events. 

Where can I find LPs for a private credit fund?

Institutional LPs allocating to private credit can be surfaced through the iConnections platform using sub-strategy filters that match your specific approach, whether that is direct lending, distressed, mezzanine, or asset-based. 

Is raising a private credit fund different from raising a private equity fund?

Yes. Private credit allocators evaluate sub-strategy fit, floating-rate exposure, default scenarios, and NAV transitions differently than private equity allocators evaluate equity returns. The targeting, diligence, and verification process should reflect those differences. 

How does Get Verified help private credit managers?

Get Verified sources fund returns directly from administrators, giving allocators confidence that the performance numbers they see during screening are accurate and not self-reported. 

Can I fundraise for a private credit fund year-round?

Yes. The iConnections platform enables continuous capital introduction between and across Global Alts events, so private credit managers maintain allocator visibility across the full allocation cycle, not just at a single event.

Ron Biscardi, CEO and Co-Founder of iConnections, opened Global Alts New York 2026 with the numbers that frame the week. Roughly 3,500 meetings booked through the platform, the most the New York event has ever produced. Private equity and venture meetings also jumped 30% jumped versus one year ago. meetings versus the same event one year ago. Together, Biscardi used the opening to walk the room through Violet, the new conversational AI agent embedded in the platform. He also introduced iConnections Roadshows, the LP-driven program now running in 20 to 30 cities globally. Meanwhile, Bryan Corbett, President and CEO of MFA, followed with the industry-advocacy frame.

The platform-driven event is the only model that produces a meeting count like the one Biscardi opened with.

Specifically, he told the Global Alts New York audience that 3,500 meetings is the new ceiling for the New York event and that private equity and venture meetings ran 30% above last year’s same-event total. The macro story tracks. Liquidity is leaking back into the market, the largest IPO in history is happening in the same week as the event. Capital is rotating back toward private markets after a flat stretch. Biscardi was direct about what gets credit. As a result, the meeting count is a function of the platform, not the venue.

Why the Platform-Driven Event Compounds

Biscardi spent most of his opening on product. Violet is the headline announcement. iConnections has embedded a conversational LLM into the platform. The workflow for booking meetings, building peer groups, drafting messages, and responding to requests now runs through natural language. Members can still book the old way. Biscardi did not recommend it. The agent runs all year round, which is the part that matters for the platform-driven event thesis. Members who only touch the system around the four flagship events leave most of the value on the table.

In addition, the second product anchor is Roadshows. iConnections has run a roadshow module inside the platform for about two years, but the new program flips the model. Instead, rather than waiting for managers to push a roadshow into the system, iConnections goes to LPs in 20 to 30 cities globally. iConnections asks what they want to see, and then uses Violet to match managers into the request. Hundreds of meetings have booked in the six weeks since launch. The platform-driven event no longer means four events a year. It means a continuous LP-driven cadence with Violet doing the matching.

What Year-Round Engagement Looks Like

Biscardi flagged one number that should land with managers: 95 LP-requested meetings are currently sitting in the system without a manager response. However, the engagement gap is not a platform problem. It is a behavior problem. Managers treat iConnections as event-centric infrastructure, which means LP requests that arrive between events tend to sit. All of the Roadshow activity sits inside the standard subscription, so there is no incremental cost. The opportunity sitting unanswered is meaningful. Managers who shift to a year-round cadence get first look at LP-driven roadshow requests, real-time access to Allocator Intelligence, and the compounding network value that the platform-driven event was designed to produce.

Global Alts Europe and the Next Twelve Months

The final announcement closed the geographic loop. iConnections will debut Global Alts Europe at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris during the last week of April 2027. Biscardi reported more than 130 managers already signed up and said the event is tracking toward Miami scale, with 2,000 to 3,000 attendees expected. The Paris debut joins New York, Miami, and the Asia event in the flagship rotation. For LPs and managers in Europe who have wanted a venue at home, the gap is closing.

Bryan Corbett, President and CEO of MFA, took the mic next and framed the industry-advocacy work that sits behind the events. MFA is the leading global trade association for alternative asset managers, with members spanning hedge funds, private credit, and everything in between. Corbett explained that MFA carries the rules-and-regulations work, the policymaker relationships, and the media narrative work that the industry depends on. MFA gets the first call from government officials trying to understand market events, and it is also the first call when the press tries to write a story that the industry needs to correct. The point Corbett made is the one Biscardi backed up by handing him the stage. The events generate the meetings. However, the conditions for those meetings to be productive in the first place rest on the trade association doing the unglamorous work in Washington and Brussels.

In short, the opening landed on a simple frame for the rest of the week. The platform produces the meeting count. Violet, Roadshows, and the year-round cadence extend that meeting engine past the event. MFA carries the regulatory and narrative work that keeps the industry able to operate at scale. Members can map that surface area through iConnections, use Allocator Intelligence and Pipelines to keep the system warm between flagship events, and request Get Verified introductions year-round rather than four times a year. Ron Biscardi opens Global Alts New York 2026 on 3,500 meetings, Violet AI, iConnections Roadshows, and the Paris debut.