E324: How The University of Cambridge Built Their Privates Portfolio

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Mar 13, 2026

Sam Sturge, Head of Private Equity for the University of Cambridge endowment, rebuilt a concentrated buyout and venture portfolio focused on long-term manager alignment. He discusses targeting inflation plus 5%, why buyouts and venture offer structural edges, assessing whether managers chase returns or assets, the scale versus focus tradeoff in venture, and how long relationships and university ties create competitive advantages.

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INSIGHT

Why Cambridge Prioritizes Private Equity

Cambridge targets inflation plus 5% and therefore prioritizes private equity as the highest-return asset class for long-term real value preservation.
Sam Sturge focuses the program on buyouts and venture capital because buyouts enable operational influence and venture offers outlier upside with the right partners.

INSIGHT

Buyouts Give Control Venture Gives Outliers

Buyout managers can drive longer-term revenue and earnings by influencing operations away from public-market short-termism.
Venture provides potential outlier returns when paired with firms that back early disruptive technologies and stay long-term partners.

ADVICE

Choose Managers Motivated To Produce Returns

Prioritize managers whose motives are to generate outlier returns rather than to grow AUM and fees.
Evaluate alignment by assessing whether key decision makers are incentivized to deliver performance over asset gathering.

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What does it take to build a world-class private equity portfolio for an 800-year-old institution? In this episode, I sit down with Sam Sturge, Head of Private Equity at the University of Cambridge endowment, to discuss how he rebuilt the program with a mandate to generate inflation plus 5% returns for generations. Before joining Cambridge, Sam worked at Morgan Stanley and Partners Capital, and today he oversees a concentrated portfolio of buyout and venture relationships within the university’s £4.5 billion endowment.

Highlights:

Why Cambridge targets inflation plus 5% and what that implies for private equity allocation
The belief that buyouts and ventures offer structural advantages over public markets
Why private equity is ultimately a people business built on 15-year relationships
How to assess whether a GP is motivated by returns or asset gathering
The ego divide between great investors and great fundraisers
Venture scale versus focus and when capital is an advantage or a constraint
How endowments can leverage long-term capital and university ecosystems as competitive edges
The DPI slowdown and why fewer LPs competing may create opportunity
Managing liquidity without relying on distributions
How Cambridge underwrites NAV marks and detects aggressive valuation behavior
Why simplicity and strategy discipline drive sustainable alpha
Structural alpha in venture and the challenge of persistence
Lessons from managers who expanded too far, learned, and rebuilt trust
Why networking compounds over decades in private markets

Guest Bio:

Sam Sturge is Head of Private Equity at the University of Cambridge endowment, where he has helped build a concentrated, long-term private equity portfolio across buyouts and venture capital since joining in 2020. Earlier in his career, he worked at Morgan Stanley and Partners Capital, and now focuses on manager alignment, structural alpha, and cultivating long-term GP relationships designed to compound capital over decades.

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Disclaimer:

This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Nothing in this episode should be interpreted as an offer to buy or sell any securities or to participate in any investment strategy. All opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not represent the views of Weisburd Capital. Participants may hold positions or have financial interests in the companies, funds, or investments discussed. Any references to specific investments are for illustrative purposes only. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of capital. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Any third-party data or opinions have not been independently verified. Listeners should conduct their own research and consult their own advisors before making any investment decisions.

(0:00) Why Cambridge Increased Its Private Equity Allocation (0:55) Building a World-Class PE Portfolio From Scratch (3:10) The Incentive Test for Great GPs (5:30) Venture Capital: Scale vs Capacity Constraints (7:10) Cambridge’s Structural Advantage as an LP (9:34) Why the DPI Crisis Is Actually a Buying Opportunity (10:45) Can You Trust Private Equity NAV Marks? (14:50) Incentives All the Way Down in Private Markets (19:03) When a GP’s Mistake Builds Trust With LPs (24:55) Where Venture Capital Alpha Actually Comes From