Miles Dieffenbach: Inside Carnegie Mellon’s $4BN Endowment & The Math Behind DPI, TVPI, Illiquidity

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

August 4, 2025

Duration

1h 30m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Miles Dieffenbach is Managing Director of Investments at Carnegie Mellon University, where he helps oversee a $4 billion endowment with a focus on venture capital, private equity, and alternative investments. Under his leadership, CMU’s private book has remained self-funding during some of the toughest years for liquidity. ---------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 01:00 "I Had Cancer at 26 – It Changed Everything" 04:31 Inside the $4BN Carnegie Mellon Endowment: The Investment Blueprint 08:28 Are LPs Getting Screwed in Venture? 10:04 90% of LPs Shouldn’t Be in Venture – Here’s Why 11:55 Seed Funds Are a Trap (And No One Wants to Admit It) 35:29 The $140BN Problem with Multi-Stage Funds 42:22 "Index Is the Best in the Game” – Here's Why They Win 01:01:03 Yale vs. Harvard Analysis 01:11:02 Cash-Rich Giants vs. Liquidity Drought: The Market Paradox 01:20:32 When Founder-Friendly Goes Too Far 01:22:43 Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Miles Dieffenbach on X: https://twitter.com/Curiousjorge65 Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #milesdieffenbatch #carnegiemellonuniversity #managingdirector #vc #lp #ai

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Miles Dieffenbach

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Miles Dieffenbach and Harry Stebbings, Miles Dieffenbach: Inside Carnegie Mellon’s $4BN Endowment & The Math Behind DPI, TVPI, Illiquidity explores inside CMU’s Endowment: Why Most LPs Should Avoid Venture Capital Carnegie Mellon’s Myles Dieffenbach explains how the university runs its $4B endowment, with an 85/15 equity–fixed income split and roughly 50% in private markets, and why he believes most LPs are not being adequately compensated for the risk they take in venture capital.

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