The More I Learn, the More There Is to Learn: My Mosaic Fellowship at HCAP Partners
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
As the kids say today, Voltaire ‘really ate’ with that quote. As I reflect on my summer as an ICM Mosaic Fellow at HCAP Partners, I find those words capture my biggest takeaway from the experience better than anything else.
Before business school, I had worked in private equity as an Investment Associate at A-Street, a multistage and education-focused investment firm, and, before that, in investment banking. Naturally, I arrived at HCAP confident that I could hold my own in conversations about investments, diligence, and financial analysis. Looking back, though, I was naïve. I assumed I’d spend the summer building models, writing investment committee memos, and meeting management teams and that my prior experience, plus a fancy business school degree (still in progress), would mean there wouldn’t be any surprises. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
HCAP challenged nearly every assumption I had about investing. The firm is a leading impact investor, evaluating every investment through its Gainful Jobs Approach, a framework that measures not only financial returns but also the quality of jobs a company creates and sustains. Founded in 2000 as a growth capital provider, HCAP has since raised three Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) funds and invests across debt and equity, often through mezzanine financing, a form of capital I had spent little time thinking about. Suddenly, I wasn’t just learning a new investment strategy; I was discovering a whole different world of impact investing.
It quickly became clear that technical skills alone weren’t enough. Evaluating workforce impact alongside financial performance and understanding how operational improvements could produce stronger businesses and better jobs required a broader perspective. The more I learned, the more I realized just how much I still had to learn.
New horizons lie ahead
One of the biggest surprises of the summer was discovering just how many investment structures exist in the private markets. Like many middle-market firms, HCAP Partners maintains an active pipeline of opportunities sourced from a variety of channels. During the summer, I had the opportunity to work on two transactions alongside Independent Sponsors, an area of private equity that I had heard of but knew very little about.
Independent Sponsors are individuals who identify acquisition opportunities before raising committed capital and then partner with investors, like HCAP Partners, to finance and execute the transaction. It is an entrepreneurial model that has grown rapidly in recent years and one that, in certain cases, can complement a growth capital strategy well. Until this summer, I hadn’t fully appreciated just how vibrant this corner of the private markets ecosystem had become.
More importantly, it reinforced a broader lesson. There isn’t one way to invest, one strategy for creating value, or one path to building a successful investment career. Every conversation, deal, and diligence process exposed me to a new way of thinking, reminding me that the investment world is far more expansive than I had imagined.
If this summer taught me anything, it’s that investing is a lifelong pursuit of learning. No matter how much experience you accumulate or how many credentials you earn, there will always be another industry to master and another perspective to challenge your own. My time at HCAP didn’t just deepen my technical knowledge; it expanded my curiosity and my imagination. Exciting times really do lie ahead.
My advice for future Mosaic Fellows
Coming into the summer, I was fortunate to have a handful of great internship options, but I ultimately chose the ICM Mosaic Fellowship because it offered what I valued most: direct mentorship, deal exposure, and the chance to learn from experienced investors in a collaborative environment. Looking back, it was absolutely the right decision.
For those unfamiliar, the ICM Mosaic Fellowship is a competitive summer program that places MBA students from diverse backgrounds into leading private equity, private credit, and venture capital firms for a summer internship. The program includes networking events and professional development while providing fellows with meaningful investment experience across a range of strategies.
HCAP stood out because it combined rigorous investing with measurable impact. The firm’s Gainful Jobs Approach challenged me to think beyond financial returns and consider how investors can create value for employees, communities, and businesses simultaneously. As an SBIC fund, HCAP also offered exposure to mezzanine financing and lower middle-market investing, areas I had limited experience with prior to the fellowship. It certainly didn’t hurt that everyone at HCAP was genuinely kind, incredibly smart, and a pleasure to work with.
Some suggestions to take on board:
Be intellectually curious. You don’t need to know everything on day one, but you should ask thoughtful questions.
Take advantage of every conversation. Some of my biggest learning moments happened outside formal meetings.
Don’t limit yourself to your assigned deals. Read investment memos, sit in on discussions, and learn from transactions you’re not staffed on.
Keep an open mind. The fellowship may introduce you to investment strategies, industries, and career paths you hadn’t previously considered.
And, of course, have fun.