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Hans Swildens started Industry Ventures in 2000, and this is his first podcast since selling it to Goldman Sachs in 2026.Hans has been buying venture secondaries longer than almost anyone, and the combined business is one of the largest VC portfolios in the world: 525 firms, 1,600 funds, and over $22B in capital commitments.We get into why he sold to Goldman, the barbell market quietly killing middle-stage venture, how VC's are manufacturing their own exits, why most seed funds without a real angle have 5 years left, the LP base that's a completely different species every fund cycle, how he started Industry by acquiring funds at 99% discounts during the Dot Com Collapse, the day he passed on a multi-billion-dollar data center, and why the secondary market may eventually be multiples the size of the primary market.Thank you to Zach Coelius, Will Quist, Emily Zheng, and Andrea McGee for help brainstorming topics for the conversation.Thank you to Numeral, Flex, Amplitude, and Merge for supporting this episode.Numeral: The end-to-end platform for sales tax and compliance https://www.numeral.comFlex: Get premium banking and a net 60 day credit card at 0% APR https://home.flex.one/referral/bananacapitalAmplitude: AI analytics, all you have to do is ask https://www.amplitude.comMerge: Every model. One API. Total control. Check out Merge's Agent Handler. merge.dev/turnerTimestamps:(0:00) Inside Goldman's $22B venture bet(7:57) 1,600 funds over 525 firms(11:11) Why scale lets you “see the cube”(14:17) Most humbling lesson in 26 years(16:19) Three types of Seed funds(18:47) LP's evolve every fund cycle(22:00) VC is a sales game(24:38) A strong CRM is non-negotiable(29:06) Buying secondaries during the Dot Com Collapse(31:33) Triangulating opinions across GP's, founders, and LP's(37:22) Seed without differentiation doesn't work(42:16) Biggest mistakes by first-time GP's(44:31) Buying Enron's VC portfolio at a 99% discount(50:15) Entrepreneurial finance is underappreciated(52:15) Why asset managers are acquiring venture firms(58:47) Why it's hard to start venture programs(1:03:20) Secondaries: $250M to $150B market in 25 years(1:08:06) Continuation funds & debt structured secondaries(1:12:02) “Secondaries might be multiples bigger than primaries”(1:19:52) How to structure secondary transactions(1:26:00) What happens after SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic IPO's(1:30:35) How Seed survives the asset manager era(1:35:16) How to manufacture liquidity(1:41:41) How AI is impacting secondary marketsReferencedIndustry Ventures: https://www.industryventures.com/How Big Is The Secondary Market for Venture Capital?: https://www.industryventures.com/insight/2023-2025e-how-big-is-the-secondary-market-for-venture-capital/Exploring the Growth of Venture Secondaries: https://www.chronograph.pe/exploring-the-growth-of-venture-secondaries/Pitchbook's US Secondaries Market Watch: https://pitchbook.com/news/reports/2025-annual-us-vc-secondary-market-watchFollow HansTwitter: https://x.com/HansSwildensLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hansswildensFollow TurnerTwitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovakLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovakSubscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: https://www.thespl.it/
Hans Swildens is a partner and Head of Industry Ventures at Goldman Sachs. Industry Ventures is one of the pioneers in the secondary market for venture capital, managing several billion in assets across LP stakes, direct secondaries, and primary fund investments. In October of 2025, Goldman Sachs announced they were acquiring Industry Ventures in a deal worth over $900 million dollars. In this episode of World of DaaS, Hans and Auren discuss:The evolution of secondaries from distressed deals to 70% of VC exits Why Goldman Sachs paid almost $1 billion to acquire Industry Ventures How Industry Ventures uses data from 700+ fund LP positions as a competitive edge The future of venture fund structures and permanent capital vehiclesYou can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Hans Swildens on X at @hansswildens.Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)
Industry Ventures' Hans Swildens and Caplight's Javier Avalos talk with The Information's Deputy Bureau Chief of Finance Cory Weinberg about the growing secondary venture market and the rise of continuation funds. We also talk with Phin Barnes, Co-Founder of The General Partnership, about the VC fund concentration, splitting firms into "Alpha VC" and "Beta VC" approaches, and The Information's Erin Woo about OpenAI's new push into AI-generated music. Lastly, we get into using AI to better mental healthcare with April Koh, who discusses Spring Health's approach for safe mental health chatbots.Articles discussed on this episode:https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/openai-working-music-generating-toolTITV airs on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to: - The Information on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation4080/?sub_confirmation=1- The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agenda
Workday CTO Peter Bailis talks with TITV Host Akash Pasricha about the company's $1.1 billion acquisition of Sana and their broader AI strategy. We also talk with The Information's Stephanie Palazzolo and Turing's Jonathan Siddharth about how labs are using "reinforcement learning gyms" to train AI models, and we get into the new era of consumer crypto and on-chain identity with Ty Haney of Try Your Best and Dave Morin from Offline Ventures. Lastly, we get an inside look at the IPO market with The Information's Katie Roof and Industry Ventures' Hans Swildens.Articles discussed on this episode: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/ventures-limited-partners-see-lifeline-ipo-wavehttps://www.theinformation.com/articles/anthropic-openai-developing-ai-co-workersTITV airs on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to: - The Information on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation4080/?sub_confirmation=1- The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agenda
Connie & Alex talk tech news, and then Connie speaks with Hans Swildens, founder of Industry Ventures, a venture firm, fund of funds, and secondary shop with more than $7 billion under management.
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm's investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm's investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]
Hans Swildens is the CEO and Founder of Industry Ventures and manages the overall business. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, he created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an IPO or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 33676]