Building partnerships that outlast the deal

Private markets runs on relationships, but the ones that last are built differently to the ones that don't. At SuperReturn Asia, we sat down with five leaders who have spent their careers inside that question, from the racetrack to the family office, from GP stakes to wealth management. Their answer, consistently, was that durability comes from honesty about risk, shared experience and a responsibility culture rather than a blame culture. Here's what they told us.

The podium mindset with David Coulthard

David Coulthard spent his career at 200mph, but the lessons he brought to the business world were less about speed and more about structure. In our conversation, the 13-time Grand Prix winner explained why every member of a 1,000-person Formula One team matters equally, not just the drivers on the podium, and why that same discipline applies to any high-performing partnership. He also spoke candidly about choosing business partners who are honest about risk rather than those selling a "utopian dream" of guaranteed success.

Watch the interview to learn about:

• Why Formula One operates on a responsibility culture, not a blame culture
• What 1,000 people building one car can teach businesses about alignment
• How to assess risk like a Grand Prix driver
• The proudest transition of his career, and why not knowing everything is an advantage

Scaling GP stakes with Ben Ruffel, Kudu Investment Management

Kudu Investment Management has built its reputation on the lower middle market, a segment Ben Ruffel describes as less crowded and more durable than the increasingly competitive upper end of GP stakes. He talked to us about the "winner's curse" now playing out in parts of the market, why Kudu deliberately avoids running a traditional fund, and how partnering directly with allocators opens doors that an intermediated auction process never would.

Watch the interview to learn about:

• Why being small only works when it creates a genuine edge
• The pricing pressure building in the GP stakes market
• Kudu's open-architecture approach to allocator partnerships
• Where Ben expects to find the next wave of opportunity in Asia

Building institutions, not just funds with Brad Pilcher, Bonaccord Capital Partners

Brad Pilcher co-founded Bonaccord Capital Partners on a simple observation: the mid-market was full of exceptional investment boutiques that had never institutionalised. Nearly a decade on, he explained how GP stakes investing has become a tool for helping founders turn single-strategy, single-geography firms into enduring, global institutions, and why that journey has only become more complex since 2016.

Watch the interview to learn about:

• Why mid-market firms are outgrowing their original structures
• The shift from vertical growth to horizontal expansion across products and geographies
• What institutionalisation actually requires beyond investment performance
• The founder mindset that makes a GP stakes partnership work

From private banking to private markets with Tarun Nagpal, S64

Tarun Nagpal works at the intersection of GPs, private banks and wealth platforms, and he's watched demand for alternatives outpace the infrastructure built to support it. He spoke to us about the operational complexity behind discretionary alternatives portfolios, from liquidity mismatches across managers to the education gap between CIOs and client-facing teams, and why insurance, not just private banking, may be the next major growth channel.

Watch the interview to learn about:

• The two biggest barriers to scaling alternatives for private wealth
• How new share classes are solving the liquidity problem in evergreen funds
• Why look-through analytics on underlying exposures matters more than manager selection alone
• The next frontier: pre-IPO access and the insurance sector's early-stage opportunity

Building family succession that sticks with Ping Ping Lim, LGT

After 21 years at LGT, Ping Ping Lim has watched families approach succession with more information but often the same hesitation. She explained why aspirational language about legacy isn't enough on its own, why sudden loss without a plan can damage family relationships as badly as family capital, and how structured storytelling across generations builds the shared understanding that governance planning depends on.

Watch the interview to learn about:

• Why succession planning stalls even among well-informed families
• The real risk when patriarchs and matriarchs delay the conversation
• How second-generation involvement shapes long-term stewardship
• Using family assemblies to build belonging across generations who didn't grow up in "the garage"