Matt Botein is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Gallatin Point Capital, a $1.5 billion private investment company he founded after departing from BlackRock, where he had served as the Chief Investment Officer and Co-Head of the firm’s $160 billion Alternatives business. Before sitting atop that lofty perch, Matt formed a bank after the financial crisis, was a Managing Director at hedge fund Highfields Capital and a private equity Principal at Blackstone.

Our conversation starts with Matt’s early career experience, touching on differences in public and private investing and forming new financial companies after periods of crisis. We then turn to his reconnection with Larry Fink, who in short order tapped Matt to run BlackRock’s giant Alternatives business. We discuss his unusually graceful exit from BlackRock, flexible investment approach at Gallatin Point, and perspective from meeting a wide array of large pools of institutional capital globally. We finish with his take on the opportunities and challenges for private equity, headwinds for hedge funds, and real assets for his personal portfolio.

Back when Matt and I were in school together, he was renowned for taking an occasional snooze in class, getting cold called by the professor, and waking up only to offer the most plugged in and articulate answer anyone could have imagined. I suspected tapping into his brilliant mind would provide lots of food for thought, and he certainly didn’t disappoint.