Investors & Operators · 2026-05-14 · 46 min
Mike Silva is an Investment Manager at CalPERS, where he has spent more than a decade leading the institution’s Emerging Manager Program across private equity, private debt, and real estate. He focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and advocating for emerging managers internally while helping shape CalPERS’ broader approach to middle-market and venture investing. Topics: Where Emerging Managers Should Focus First Nailing the 30-Minute First Meeting Timeline from First Meeting to Commitment Seeding vs. Staking vs. Direct Investment ...and so much more. Top Takeaways If you can’t explain your firm in 2 minutes, LPs will move on. Emerging Managers need to quickly distill their team, strategy, and differentiator into a narrative that sticks. LPs like Mike are meeting hundreds of managers a year. Long-winded explanations don't just waste time but signal a lack of clarity. The managers who cut through can clearly explain four things: who they are, what they invest in, why they're differentiated, and why it matters to that LP specifically. LPs value predictability as much as performance. Mike made the point that trust starts forming well before capital is committed.
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