The April 2026 Connetic Signal: why advisors read shadow valuations vs. NAV backwards, a Narratize company spotlight, and the Data Corner case for patience in venture.
Hello There,
This month looks at how private-market structures are being read — and misread. Brad Zapp breaks down why the spread between price and NAV is a shadow valuation with an expiration date, we spotlight a Northern Kentucky AI company worth knowing, and the Data Corner makes the quiet case for patience in venture.
Webinar Replay
Builders Backing Builders: A New Model for Venture Access
Founder and Portfolio Manager Brad Zapp and Stacklist founder Kyle Hudson walk through what Connetic built — a data-driven sourcing engine that surfaces companies most firms never see, and a structure designed to make venture practical inside a client portfolio.
VCX launched at a $19 NAV, traded as high as $575, and now sits near $120 — and the underlying assets never changed. The real question for every advisor evaluating these structures: are you paying a premium for access that will eventually disappear, or buying assets at a price that may already be conservative? The full piece covers the VCX case, why a shadow valuation has an expiration date, and why a fund drifting from $10.00 to $9.85 is not what most people assume.
A Northern Kentucky, female-founded AI company you should know. Narratize — founded by Katie Taylor and Catherine O’Shea — is helping large enterprises like Delta and Goodyear turn deep technical knowledge into clear, compelling narratives at scale.
Some of the best-performing funds in the world share one unglamorous trait: time. Venture capital rewards patience — and the data makes the case more clearly than any narrative can.
KPIs, Scorecards, and a 9-Person AI Advisory Board
We’ve shifted into high-gear performance mode at Connetic — KPIs, scorecards, and milestones are dominating board conversations. But the most interesting shift internally has been how we’re using AI. We started on ChatGPT, moved to Claude, and haven’t looked back.
For fun, Brad had Claude build a nine-person advisory board drawn from the written works of Milton Friedman, Elon Musk, Seth Godin, Scott Galloway, “Future Brad Zapp,” Thomas Sowell, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, and Jesus Christ. He asks them the hardest questions and they write a consensus answer — with dissenting opinions. (Jesus dissents a lot. It’s hilarious.)
