Private markets, explained
Who pays, who decides, and where the money actually goes. Short, sourced briefings on private equity, venture, credit and secondaries, told from both sides of the table by three folded-paper characters.
Global lens: United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Education only, never a recommendation.
New briefing|GP economics
“Two per cent, skin in the game” is where the question starts, not the answer.
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How much fund managers put into their own funds, why LPs care, the five ways that money is really funded, and how the answer differs in the US, Europe and Asia.
Meet the cast
Every deal has a manager, an investor and someone keeping score. Our cast plays those parts, so you hear each side argue its case.
The Guide · lead presenter
A folded-paper koi who sets up the question, walks through the numbers and keeps score between the two seats. She closes with Koi’s Take: a short, labelled, sourced view that weighs both sides. A guide, never an adviser.
“Two per cent of what?”
LeadsShort Version · Source Check · Koi’s Take · Ask Koi
Sits at the head of the table and keeps score.
The GP · general partner
A paper tapir in a blue scarf. Raises the fund, finds and runs the deals, earns the fee and the carry, and explains how it all looks from the manager’s side, including where the incentives pull.
“Judge me at the end of the fund, not the start.”
LeadsFrom the GP Seat · Kai’s Whiteboard · How a Fund Gets Built
Speaks for the people who run the money.
The LP · limited partner
A paper lion with a red mane. Pension, endowment, insurer, sovereign fund or family office: the capital behind the fund, and the one who asks the awkward questions everyone else is thinking.
“Net, please. Not gross.”
LeadsThe Awkward Question · Leo’s Checklist · Read the Fine Print
Speaks for the people whose money it is.
Topic areas
We’re building the library one briefing at a time. Topics are named, not numbered, and grow as the series does.
Buyouts from the inside: how deals are funded, run and exited, and who gets paid when.
PlannedFund maths, power laws, ownership targets, and why most of the return sits in a few companies.
PlannedDirect lending, unitranche and asset-based finance: where the yield comes from, and the risks.
PlannedLP stake sales, continuation vehicles and GP-led deals, from both the buyer’s and seller’s side.
PlannedHow pensions, endowments, insurers and sovereigns pick managers, and what due diligence looks like.
PlannedFees, carry, hurdles, catch-ups and the GP commitment. Who pays, and who really carries the risk.
First briefing outSingle and multi-family offices: governance, direct deals, co-investment and access.
PlannedLimited partnerships, feeders, parallel funds and the jurisdictions behind them.
PlannedFunding the shift to lower-carbon economies: blended finance, impact claims and what’s measurable.
PlannedTry it|Interactive
Pick a fund size and a GP commitment, then split it between cash, a fee waiver and a loan. See how much is really the team’s own money.
GP commitment calculator
2.0% headline→0.4% own money
The briefing’s hypothetical US$300m Fund I, rebuilt as a calculator you can play with. Runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
Open the calculatorEducation only. Hypothetical inputs, not data on any real fund.
How we teach
The rules every briefing follows before it goes out.
“If a number can’t be traced to a source, it doesn’t go on screen.”
Our house rule for every slide, video and worksheet.
Every figure carries a source line: the publisher, the year and what was measured. Industry data, law-firm surveys and academic papers, cited and paraphrased.
Each claim is logged and checked against the original. Anything we can’t confirm is labelled, or left out.
The GP and the LP both get their say. Opinion is marked as opinion (that’s Koi’s Take), and kept apart from fact.
Practice differs by region, and most data is American. We show where the US, Europe and Asia agree, where they don’t, and where data is thin.
Free download
A practical companion to the first briefing. Use it the next time you read a fund deck, a PPM or an LPA. About 40 minutes. Every fund in it is hypothetical.
Plain English, no spam. One email when a new briefing is out.
Courses · coming soon
Self-paced courses built on the same rules as the videos: sourced numbers, worked examples and worksheets you can reuse at work. The free briefings stay free.
Newsletters|Free
Four short newsletters. Tick the ones you want, choose how often, and change your mind any time.
Fortnightly
Every new explainer, with the video, the worksheet and Koi’s Take.
Weekly
One fund term, explained in under 200 words, with a line from each seat.
Monthly
Public private-markets news, explained and sourced. No tips, no live deals.
Only when there’s news
The waitlist: hear first when a course opens, and help shape it.
Choose your newslettersPlain English, sourced, no spam. Education only.
No. Everything we publish is general education about how private markets work. We don’t recommend any fund, manager, security or strategy, and nothing here takes your circumstances into account. Speak to a licensed adviser before you make decisions.
Carry & Compound is an independent, anonymous education brand. The presenters are characters, by design: the focus stays on the material, not on a personality. Every briefing is researched, sourced and checked before it is published.
They are folded-paper characters. Their voices are synthetic (AI-generated) voices. The scripts are written for each briefing and checked against the cited sources, and every number on screen carries its source.
Anyone who needs to understand private markets without sitting inside a fund every day: allocators and their teams, advisers, founders raising money, finance students and professionals moving across from public markets.
Market practice differs by region, and most public data is American. Where the numbers or the norms differ, we say so, and we say when there simply isn’t good data.
No. We explain structures, terms and trade-offs. Worked examples use hypothetical funds, and we don’t comment on live fundraisings.
Yes, later. The videos, worksheets and quizzes stay free. Join the waitlist and you’ll hear first when a course opens.
Each figure is dated and linked to its source. Market data moves, so check the date on the source line before relying on a number.