Logan Henderson, Co-Founder and CEO of Gridline, recently joined Avidian Wealth Solutions ($4B in RAUM) for a conversation on the future of private markets on the podcast Ask Avidian. As one of the fastest-growing boutique family offices in the country, Avidian has been a respected name in wealth management for more than two decades.
In his discussion with Avidian’s Chief Investment Officer, Jake Borbidge, Logan shared his perspective on the current state of the alternatives market, why quality matters more than ever, and infrastructure—not hype—is shaping the future of private market investing.
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A Market Shift Toward Quality And Core Fundamentals
Logan opened the conversation with a clear read on the current market dynamics. After a long stretch of easy capital and sky-high valuations, the environment is normalizing.
“The market has broadly accepted the new rate environment. Money was free, valuations were crazy, but there has been a normalization. There are still some hype cycles… but when assessing opportunities, now the focus is back on quality of revenue and quality of earnings across the board.” — Logan Henderson
Headlines like OpenAI’s $500B valuation reflect an environment where innovation drives excitement—but also one where selectivity matters. As hype cycles flare, the question is increasingly less “Who’s raising?” and more “Who’s built to last?” The conversation framed this as a turning point: fundamentals are back in focus, and investors are seeking clarity, control, and durable strategies rather than simply chasing access.
The Dispersion Advantage Among Market Normalization
While market normalization sets the backdrop, dispersion of returns is what makes private markets uniquely powerful and uniquely challenging.
“Anywhere there’s dispersion, you can do a good job and win big. But you can obviously do a poor job and lose big.” — Jake Borbidge
Private market outcomes vary widely, especially compared to the relatively tight bands of ETF performance. Top-performing funds are often sector-specific and differentiated. Identifying the Alpha from the Fluff requires infrastructure, underwriting discipline, and informed access to elevate confidence in the investment strategy.
This is where Gridline’s approach comes in, pairing technical infrastructure with differentiated investment sourcing to give advisors more visibility and confidence across the full lifecycle.
“There are really two parts to our business. One is technical… The second component is on the asset management and alternative side. Our thesis is really around finding those differentiated investment opportunities.” — Logan Henderson
He also highlighted how Gridline is increasingly leveraging AI and advanced data modeling to evaluate opportunities more efficiently and identify fund managers with consistent performance signals—bringing institutional-grade analysis to the advisory channel.
It’s the Next 10 Years that Matter: Technology’s Role
As dispersion creates opportunity, confidence elevates and often begets elevated allocation to private market investments. The dynamics of scale can creep up, exposing a structural gap that may have otherwise gone unnoticed at 10-15% allocation to alternatives, but now at >15-20% allocation to alternatives, advisors are feeling the growing pains of access without infrastructure.
Jake captured this familiar pain point for many advisors:
“We actually… see a lot of clients coming our direction that have got burn marks on them from prior things that they’ve had. It just wasn’t a good experience. And sometimes the experience isn’t necessarily the return side of it. It’s just the inability to see what you own.” — Jake Borbidge
Historically, advisors have had to navigate opaque, fragmented systems to participate in private markets. Logan emphasized that those legacy frictions don’t have to define the future.
Today, technology and more sophisticated underwriting processes are closing those gaps. What used to be manual, scattered, and uncertain is becoming data-driven, transparent, and continuously updated. Through AI-enhanced deal evaluation and real-time portfolio monitoring, advisors can now see performance and exposure across every investment as it happens, clarity that simply didn’t exist in private markets before.
Today, technology and more sophisticated underwriting processes are closing those gaps. What used to be manual, scattered, and uncertain is becoming transparent, structured, and controllable.
“Gridline is the first turnkey alternatives management platform. And our focus is bringing efficiency into the alternatives ecosystem.” — Logan Henderson
The platform pairs infrastructure (to manage and monitor investments) with asset management (to identify and underwrite quality). Together, they aim to help advisors deliver better outcomes without the operational drag. Unlike much of the industry, which focuses on front-end access and transactions, Gridline is built for the long arc:
“It’s the next ten years that matter.” — Logan Henderson
Private Markets’ Historical Complexity
Both Logan and Jake reflected on just how operationally cumbersome private markets have been. Even after gaining access to deals, inefficiencies stack up fast.
“Everyone has made an investment and has been through the lifecycle of managing PDFs in Excel and trying to understand, ‘what do I own?’ There are a lot of inefficiencies that technology can solve for, like knowing what you own and how much it’s worth. It’s a powerful thing to be able to say the totality of your portfolio, but also what your unfunded commitments are.” — Logan Henderson
Jake summed it up with a laugh:
“That’s important. It’s almost like quantum physics at this point.” — Jake Borbidge
Gridline consolidates those scattered workflows, from subscription through reporting, into a single, integrated turnkey alternatives management platform. Instead of advisors juggling portals and spreadsheets, they get real-time visibility across the full investment lifecycle.
This is how firms shift from managing chaos to allocating intelligently.
Liquidity Mismatch and the Risks Ahead
Looking into the future of private markets, Logan and Jake discussed the mismatch between product wrappers and underlying asset classes, particularly as interest grows in semi-liquid or interval structures.
“Ultimately, it is still an illiquid product because the underlying assets are illiquid. So I think there’s going to be some innovations… but so much of that inefficiency largely comes down to what we’ve solved through technology already by building our own ledgering system.” — Logan Henderson
Logan cautioned that making it easier to get into private investments doesn’t address the structural realities of the asset class, and can create problems when markets turn. More specifically, you may not be able to get your dollars out when you want to, so does the investment strategy truly meet your near-term financial priorities?
The 401(k) Question: What’s Next?
The conversation closed with a look toward the future, including the potential integration of alternatives into 401(k) plans.
“401(k)s are a great use of capital for alternatives. It’s got a long, long holding period. So long duration on both sides. So that’s a huge benefit.” — Logan Henderson
But he also raised concerns about governance and quality control:
“What I don’t want to see is an open market for someone to take their 401(k) out of a low-cost ETF that tracks the S&P 500 and go find random opportunities that someone services to them.” — Logan Henderson
Why It Matters
For many RIAs and family offices, alternative investments remain a high-potential but operationally complex asset class. In his conversation with Avidian, Logan detailed how Gridline’s platform leverages AI for smarter deal evaluation, delivers real-time transparency across portfolios, and maintains a disciplined focus on high-quality fund managers — a combination designed to mitigate the liquidity and structural risks emerging in today’s rapidly evolving private markets.
Logan’s conversation on the future of private markets with Avidian underscores the growing emphasis on:
- Quality over hype — focusing on differentiated managers and real fundamentals.
- Infrastructure over access alone — solving for the full lifecycle, not just the transaction.
- Discipline in liquidity and structure — avoiding mismatches that can hurt long-term outcomes.
Explore More
- Curious to explore the impact a turnkey alternatives management platform could have for your firm? Let’s get to know one another further via an introductory call. Contact Gridline to schedule your complimentary consultation today.
- Listen to the Ask Avidian episode on all streaming platforms, or press play below.
The information presented in this podcast and blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or solicit any investment product or securities. The views expressed are the participants’ own and do not necessarily represent the views of Gridline or Avidian Wealth Solutions. All investments carry risk, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Private market investments are not suitable for all investors and may only be available to those who meet specific eligibility requirements. Attendees should consult with their financial advisors or conduct their own research before making any investment decisions.