Timothy Reick, chief executive officer at Liberty Street Advisors -- advisor to the Private Shares Fund -- says that private equity is an asset class that is not correlated to the broad stock market, and that individual investors largely overlook its potential role in their portfolios. Reick notes that with private companies waiting much longer both in terms of time in business and the asset size they grow to before turning to public markets -- if they ever go that route -- investors will find a vibrant market that they can approach in many different ways. Private Shares Fund is an interval fund that pursues mostly late-stage firms, but he notes that the space includes everything from angel investors to companies on the verge of going public, across virtually all businesses and industries.