Identifying the next “MAG 7”

Philippe Laffont, founder of Coatue, shares the story behind launching a new type of fund designed to break away from the traditional VC model. Rather than raising discrete funds every few years and locking up capital, Laffont created a flexible, semi-liquid interval fund—backed initially by $1 billion from the Bezosand Dell family officesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →—that blends public equities, private companies, and significant cash positions. Inspired by Berkshire Hathaway, the fund is designed for long-term compounding, able to buy both public and private winners, and to wait patiently when valuations get irrational.

His goal is to identify the next “MAG 7”—the future dominant global tech companies—some of which are still private (like SpaceX or Stripe), while others may be hidden among unloved public equities. Laffont critiques both private and public markets: venture is too slow and insular, while public investors are often forced to hug benchmarks. His firm seeks to bridge both, using public market discipline to price private opportunities and private insight to anticipate public winners.

He also calls out the structural damage caused by regulatory overreach—particularly the decline in IPOs and M&A—warning that this is breaking the startup-to-public-company flywheel that has powered Silicon Valley for decades.

Laffont repeatedly frames his approach as one of disciplined optimism: be imaginative, but price with rigor. Most importantly, he sees his job as building the new index that matters—one that can see across public/private lines and back the companies that will truly shape the next decade.

Y.W.