Why the 10-Year Venture Capital Fund Model Is Broken
Benjamin Black explains why 10-year venture capital funds fail modern liquidity needs and how institutional LPs are shifting to private equity.
Ben Black on Why Venture Capital Is Broken, the Rise of Secondaries, and Taking VC Public
With David Weisburd, Benjamin Black · Sunday, August 23, 2026
Benjamin Black, founder of Akkadian Ventures and Powerlaw Corp. (Nasdaq: PWRL), joins David Weisburd to discuss the structural breakdown of traditional 10-year venture capital funds and the rise of secondary markets. Black explains why mega-cap tech companies staying private longer demands new liquidity solutions, detailing how he structured a publicly traded closed-end fund under the 1940 Act to give retail and institutional investors evergreen access to elite private technology assets.
Key takeaways
- Private tech companies now routinely stay private for 15 to 20 years, making the traditional 10-year venture fund structure obsolete. Read more →
- Late-stage tech companies now stay private for decades with backing from sovereign wealth and mega-funds, locking out 90% of retail investors from top venture returns. Read more →
- Traditional 10-year fund lifecycles force managers to spend peak deployment years fundraising rather than managing positions. Read more →
- Launching a public closed-end fund under the Investment Company Act of 1940 requires up to 18 months of unpaid preparation before earning a dollar in management fees. Read more →
- Benjamin Black launched Powerlaw Corp. (Nasdaq: PWRL) as a publicly traded 1940 Act closed-end fund to hold late-stage private tech companies without traditional multi-decade lockups. Read more →
- Inflows from family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and platforms like Hiive and Forge eliminated historical secondary discounts on late-stage tech giants, pushing common stock prices to parity with preferred rounds. Read more →
6 articles from this episode
Benjamin Black on 1940 Act Funds and Private Tech Liquidity
Benjamin Black explains how 1940 Act closed-end funds like Powerlaw Corp. (PWRL) bring retail capital into private tech secondary markets.
Permanent Capital Beats the Venture Fundraising Treadmill
Benjamin Black explains why 1940 Act closed-end funds like Powerlaw Corp. beat traditional 10-year venture structures with evergreen balance sheets.
Why Public Venture Funds Trade Carried Interest for NAV Fees
Benjamin Black explains the regulatory friction, 18-month lead times, and compensation tradeoffs of 1940 Act public venture funds.
Why Benjamin Black Took Venture Capital Public on Nasdaq
Benjamin Black explains how Powerlaw Corp uses 1940 Act closed-end funds to replace 10-year private tech lockups with public liquidity.
Why Venture Secondaries Lost Their Discount Edge
Benjamin Black explains why retail platforms broke late-stage secondary discounts and where information asymmetry still creates mispriced deals.
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