Decoding Strategy in Private Markets: Mapping GP Archetypes and Value Creation Models
Advisor: Max Sina Knicker, MSc.
Type: Bachelor's Thesis
Start: asap (June 2025)
Overview
What drives strategy in private markets? General Partners (GPs) across private equity, infrastructure, credit, real estate, and venture capital often use rich strategic language—terms like “value-add,” “platform build,” or “opportunistic”—but their actual behavior may tell a different story. This thesis explores how GPs frame their strategies, how those strategies align with their investment activity, and what value creation models they rely on. The goal is to uncover recurring strategic archetypes across asset classes and assess how well they match a firm’s historical performance and market positioning. By systematically analyzing investor materials, whitepapers, podcasts, and fund profiles, this research will classify GP strategies and investigate the link between stated strategy and realized value creation. The outcome is a practical framework that can help students, analysts, and LPs better interpret GP positioning and market dynamics.
Objective
- Collect and analyze GP materials (e.g., decks, interviews, whitepapers) across alternative asset classes
- Identify and classify common strategic archetypes (e.g., sector focus, value levers, risk posture)
- Assess strategy consistency with historical fund behavior and track record
- Explore the alignment between strategic positioning and actual value creation mechanisms
- Develop a structured typology or visual framework that highlights tensions, patterns, and innovation across strategies
Requirements
- Interest in Private Equity, Strategic Thinking, and Investment Models
- Ability to work independently with qualitative and semi-structured data (documents, transcripts)
- Strong analytical and communication skills; curiosity about firm behavior and investor communications
Set-up & Supervision
- Guidance on research design, data collection, and strategic frameworks
- Feedback on structure, argumentation, and industry relevance
- Optional: connection to practitioner input or parallel empirical research at the Chair
Contact & Application
If you are interested in writing your thesis on this topic, please indicate this in your application. Please note that this topic can be expanded and/or taken in other directions depending on the student's own interests and ideas.