J-curve returns The costs are steep and the risks many, but the payoff can be worth the wait. Social media company Twitter has been a good bet for those able to take advantage of its quick doubling in price following its listing on the New York Stock Exchange last November.

But those profits are small when compared to the returns enjoyed by those who bought into Twitter when it was a small private company, such as Partners Group, which made 16 times its initial outlay.