Apollo CEO Marc Rowan argues AI's massive capital demands will outgrow venture equity and rely on private credit

Marc Rowan has quietly built Apollo from a distressed-focused private equity firm into one of the most important financial institutions in the world, now managing over $1T in assets and becoming the largest provider of retirement income globally.

In this fantastic conversation we covered lessons at Drexel from Michael Milken, Apollo’s origin story from a cold call from France, why AI could outgrow venture equity, and Apollo’s “play to win” culture.

We also connected over our shared belief that “Opportunities live between fields of expertise.”

This was really fun, hope you enjoy! cc @apolloglobal

Love this whole series hosted by the one and only @dhaber

@dhaber @eriktorenberg Marc is a true Legend in finance & an inspiration in a Mench!

@a16z permanent capital + private credit is exactly the stack defense primes need to fund long-cycle production scale

@dhaber 👏👏👏

The interesting shift is that the AI story keeps pulling finance back into the room. Venture funds the dream, but credit finances the factories, power, and pipes. If assets are the scarce resource now, the winners may be the people who know how to underwrite boring things at ridiculous scale.

@dhaber 👏👏👏👏👏👏

@dhaber wild that the cold call from france ended up steering a trillion dollars kinda poetic

@a16z "how the ai revolution will be financed" – this is the question nobody in tech is asking but everyone in finance already is

@dhaber building the retirement machine nobody noticed until now

quiet empire building is always more impressive

@a16z Firm vs Fund!!!

@dhaber This jumps to the top of my to-do list!

@dhaber 🔥

@dhaber Crushing it with the guests lately! I listened to the Lloyd Blankfein episode on a flight last week. Keep it up!

@dhaber $1T managed, retirement income leader, fascinating evolution

@dhaber Apollo being a retirement solutions firm and the only path to diversification being in the private markets are two big takeaways that ought to reshape how young professionals think about a career in financial services.

@sarahdingwang @dhaber yeah Apollo’s evolution is a good example of private credit becoming systemically important rather than niche PE strategy. followed u g

@dhaber heard enough milken stories by now but they linger on

@a16z I vibe-coded an open-source hedge fund, am looking for feedback: https://github.com/utahisnotastate/UtahIsMyQuant

@dhaber funny how a cold call turns into a trillion under management, makes you wonder what plays are hiding in plain sight rn