Fundraising
Conditional Commitment
An LP's agreement to invest in a fund contingent on specific conditions being met, such as reaching a minimum fund size or obtaining a key person.
A conditional commitment is an LP's pledge to invest in a fund that is contingent upon the satisfaction of specified conditions precedent. Common conditions include the fund reaching a minimum size threshold, obtaining commitments from other specified anchor investors, maintaining key persons, or achieving specific governance structures. The commitment becomes binding only when all conditions are satisfied.
In Practice
The family office made a $10M conditional commitment to the emerging manager's first fund, contingent on the fund raising at least $50M in total commitments within 12 months and hiring a senior operating partner with public company experience.
Why It Matters
Conditional commitments create chicken-and-egg problems for fundraising: LPs won't commit without others committing first. Emerging managers need to carefully manage the sequencing of conditional vs. unconditional commitments.
VC Beast Take
The best approach for emerging managers is to secure a few unconditional anchor commitments first, then use those as momentum to convert conditional commitments. A fund built entirely on conditional commitments is house of cards.
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