Family offices are becoming increasingly active in private markets, yet many continue to struggle with strategy, manager selection, investment discipline, and portfolio construction. In this interview, Ivan Nikkhoo, Managing Partner at N3 Capital and Navigate Ventures, shares his perspective on how family offices should approach private assets, why direct investing often leads to poor outcomes, and where opportunities lie in today’s market.

What is the strategy behind N3 Capital and Navigate Ventures?

At N3 Capital, our family office arm, we invest in a diversified manner across multiple private capital strategies—private equity, real estate, private debt, secondaries, and funds of funds—primarily through expert managers and other families. Our philosophy is that success in private assets requires specialization, access to high-quality deal flow, and a clear competitive edge. That is why we prefer to back expert managers in each strategy rather than invest directly.

At Navigate Ventures, our operating business, we take a highly focused approach: direct venture investments in early growth-stage enterprise SaaS companies outside Silicon Valley. We have raised three funds to date, each under $100 million, with a targeted holding period of three to four years. The goal is an accelerated path to DPI with a disciplined, risk-mitigated strategy.

So your approach combines specialization with education for other families?

Exactly. I spend a great deal of time educating family offices at global conferences. Many families built their wealth in operating businesses, but that experience does not always translate into understanding private markets—how to evaluate investments, what questions to ask, or how to construct a portfolio.

Direct investments by family offices frequently underperform. The reality is that the best companies typically raise from institutional investors first. If a startup is turning to a family office for capital, it often means institutional investors have already passed. That’s why I advise families to work with specialist managers and negotiate no-fee/no-carry co-investment rights. This enables them to learn by participating, but with expert guidance and reduced risk.

How should family offices think about private assets?

They should begin with top-down asset allocation: dividing capital between real assets, public assets, and private assets. Within private assets, families then need to decide allocations across the six main strategies: private equity, venture capital, private debt, secondaries, funds of funds, and real estate.

The next step is to determine where to focus—early-stage vs. growth, geographies, sectors—and, most importantly, to select the right managers.

Two factors drive private capital returns: manager selection and vintage year. The underlying strategy is secondary to these two. That’s why careful GP selection and commitment pacing across vintages are critical.

What mistakes do family offices most often make?

The most common mistakes include:

1. Lack of expertise – relying on trusted acquaintances rather than professionals with deep private market experience.
2. Weak infrastructure – insufficient systems to monitor capital calls, distributions, and portfolio performance in real time. Without visibility, liquidity management and outcome evaluation become impossible.
3. Insufficient diligence – families often fail to ask the right questions to optimize their risk/return profile.

How are current market dislocations affecting family offices?

Two trends stand out:

1. Institutional dominance – Pension funds and insurers are allocating more to private capital, making it harder for family offices to access the largest managers, who prefer re-ups from big LPs.
2. Alpha from specialization – Historically, the strongest returns have come from specialized emerging managers in funds two, three, or four. Yet many family offices avoid them, perceiving higher risk.

For proactive families, the real opportunity lies in backing smaller, highly specialized funds under $1 billion. These managers are best positioned to generate alpha—but they are difficult to source and even harder to diligence.

Some argue the system is broken—that it favors large asset aggregators. Do you agree?

Not at all. The system isn’t broken—it’s simply difficult. Asset aggregators exist because they can raise billions and generate enormous fees. But smaller, specialized funds can still thrive.

For emerging managers, the challenge is differentiation. Like startups, if you cannot convince the right investors why they should back you, then perhaps you shouldn’t be in the business.

What differences do you see between U.S. and European family offices?

U.S. family offices tend to be more seasoned private capital investors. In Europe, there remains both significant under-allocation and enormous opportunity. Interestingly, European families are eager to invest in U.S. funds, while American families rarely allocate to European managers. That imbalance is unfortunate, as many European GPs deliver strong returns.

What advice would you give to European family offices looking to expand into private assets?

Start with clarity: define your strategy and risk appetite. From there, identify managers who combine integrity, specialization, and alignment. Invest through them, negotiate co-investment rights, and use the process as a learning opportunity. Above all, remain disciplined—particularly in manager selection and vintage-year diversification.

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