Time for a pop quiz! Here we go:
Here are the results of two investments. Which one would you rather invest in?
A. 20% in a year.
B. 148% in a year.
Easy, right? With “B,” you’d make 148% — that’s 7x more than “A.”
Today, I’ll show you the two investments that delivered these returns…
Then I’ll explain how to invest in the winner.
QQQ for a 20% Return — Pretty Good
Investors looking to hit the “easy” button for growth often pile into QQQ.
Invesco QQQ Trust (ticker: QQQ) is one of the world's largest ETFs. Designed to track the performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index, it’s heavily weighted toward mega-cap tech and growth companies including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet.
Such companies had a banner year in 2025. Alphabet was up 65%. Nvidia was up 39%. Microsoft was about 15%. That’s why, overall, QQQ was up about 20% for the year.
Not bad, right? But compared to a different investment, QQQ was a dog…
Pre-IPO Companies for a 148% Return — Crazy Good
Caplight is a research and trading company that focuses on the private markets.
Its “Top 20 Index” tracks the performance of the largest pre-IPO companies.
The index is dominated by OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic, xAI, Databricks, and Stripe — six companies that account for 86% of the index by valuation.
And those who invested in these names, rather than public market darlings like NVIDIA, Google, and Amazon, crushed QQQ.
Let me show you:
As you can see, the Caplight Top 20 beat QQQ by 7x.
What’s going on here?
Blast Off! (Now It Happens in the Private Markets)
In the past, companies would IPO after four or five years.
But today, thanks to the nearly unlimited capital that’s available in the private market, companies are waiting to IPO for twelve to sixteen years.
Because of all those extra years, more of a company’s growth — its business growth, and also its growth in valuation — is taking place in the private market.
That’s why there are currently ~1,500 private companies valued at $1 billion or more, up from just 10 of them in 2000.
The extraordinary growth of these unicorns is leading private investors to earn returns that crush the returns of stock-market investors. Again, investors in the Caplight 20 made 7x more money last year than investors in the QQQ.
Bottom line: if you’re really looking to earn the biggest returns, you need exposure to the private markets.
Earn Stronger Returns
Historically, investors would allocate to the private markets as a way to diversify.
But increasingly, the private market is also being recognized for something else: it’s a way to earn market-beating returns.
At Crowdabililty, we educate you about the private markets, show you deals you can invest in — and for our premium readers, we recommend one new startup investment each month.
As private-equity giant Hamilton Lane recently reported, 97% of financial advisors who work with wealthy investors already allocate up to 20% of their clients’ assets to the private markets — and 86% of them are planning to increase their allocations in 2026.
How about you? Are you planning to increase your allocation to the private markets in 2026?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Happy Investing
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
