Alternative asset management is at an inflection point. Private markets are becoming mainstream, but the operating model powering the industry hasn't kept pace. The result is a clear and widening gulf between where the industry wants to go and what it can actually accommodate today.

In Chapter 01 of Building the Alternative, we examine three structural challenges facing private markets managers: a fragmented and burdensome investor experience, GP operations built for a low-volume world that no longer reflects reality, and an ecosystem with near-zero connectivity.

We also explore why AI alone won't solve these problems — and why getting the underlying primitives right is the only path to making AI work for the alternative asset management industry at scale. This is Vega's thesis. And this is just the beginning.