Building A Private Markets Platform That Lasts
Claritas Capital’s John Chadwick breaks down the strategies behind building a multi-market investment platform, partnering with elite founders, and mastering risk-adjusted returns for the long haul.
Show Summary
In this episode of the At Depth Podcast, host Ben sits down with John Chadwick, Founder and Managing Partner of Claritas Capital. Drawing on over two decades of experience scaling private market platforms in Nashville, John unpacks his journey from energy lending at Texas Commerce Bank to launching Claritas Capital alongside Don Gilmore. The conversation dives into the nuances of growth equity, late-stage venture investing, and maintaining a disciplined risk-adjusted dollar return model across changing market cycles.
John reveals the key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, the strategic shift from early-stage startups to growth-stage companies with $5M–$25M in revenue, and why private markets offer unprecedented opportunities for direct alignment between investors and management teams.
Show Notes & Links
Links
Investment Concepts & Strategies Referenced
Growth Equity Strategies: This approach provides capital to mature companies with proven revenue to help them scale operations, enter new markets, or make strategic acquisitions. It balances venture-style upside with lower operational risk since the business model is already validated.
Late-Stage Venture Capital: These investments target established startups that have clear product-market fit and strong unit economics but need funding to solidify market dominance before an exit. While requiring larger checks, late-stage venture carries significantly less technical risk than early-stage bets.
Risk-Adjusted Dollar Weighting: This portfolio management strategy allocates capital based on downside probability, intentionally steering larger checks into lower-risk, later-stage opportunities. By avoiding high-mortality early bets, it aims to optimize total fund returns and protect investor capital.
Private Market AUM: This represents the total capital committed by institutional investors to illiquid, long-term private funds managed by an investment firm. Unlike liquid public funds, managing this capital involves multi-year investment horizons, direct platform oversight, and structured exit distributions.
Minority Equity Positions & Board Governance: Investors secure a non-controlling ownership stake paired with dedicated board representation to guide high-level corporate strategy. This structure allows fund managers to influence capital allocation and exit planning while leaving day-to-day operations to executive leadership.
Go-Private Transactions & SPACs: Go-private deals involve buying out all public shares to delist a company, allowing leadership to restructure away from quarterly market pressure. SPACs act as public shell companies that merge with private businesses to offer a faster alternative to traditional IPOs.
Healthcare Private Equity Investing: This strategy focuses on buying or scaling businesses within health tech, medical devices, and care delivery systems. Investors capitalize on the sector's resilient demand while navigating complex regulatory frameworks and payer dynamics to drive efficiency.
Cultural / Conceptual References
The Wall Street vs. Main Street Divide: The fundamental difference between passive, high-volume public market investing and active, relationship-based private equity.
Silicon Valley vs. Regional Markets: Contrast between high-burn Silicon Valley tech models (Y Combinator, Sequoia) and pragmatic regional growth hubs like Nashville, Atlanta, and Dallas.
Multi-Generational Leadership Hand-Offs: Managing firm evolution over 20-plus years and building sustainable platform architecture for multi-generational asset management.
