Private Equity Funcast

Devin and Jim talk about Nassim Nicholas Taleb's gem, "Fooled by Randomness"

Devin and Jim talk discuss Geoffrey Moore's groundbreaking book "Crossing the Chasm" as it applies to the middle market.

Jim talks to portfolio company CFO, Mike Welch about his initial experiences with our ongoing NetSuite implementation.

Devin, Ryan Harris, Ian Larkin and Brad Simmons make their predictions for 2015 ... and BEYOND!

Jim and Devin talk restaurants and cuisine with Chicago's own Chef John Caputo.

Jim and Dirk Shimpach talk through a complete NetSuite implementation at one of our portfolio companies, "serial podcast" style.

Jim and Devin talk shop with Troy Henikoff from TechStars Chicago.

Devin and Jim give thanks for all of our listeners, colleagues and friends.

Jim and Devin talk about the various exit strategies for private equity-backed tech companies.

Devin and Jim talk with Tim Kelly on his research what makes a company "entreprenurial".

Devin and Jim introduce their new firm, Parker Gale Capital

Devin and Jim discuss succcession planning for founders.

Milbery's Mazlow's Hierarchy of Software Needs.  We are officially a year old today and have we got a gift for you.  Jim and Devin spend an hour dissecting Jim's controversial hierarchy of software needs. 

What happens when your relationship with management goes south? This episode is by request   How do relationships between the private equity guys and management go bad?  Shocking!  Yes, that happens some times.  What causes it?  And what can you do to fix it?  Find out here.

As a follow-up to Devin's (surprisingly) popular PEHUB column from early August, Devin and Jim expound on the lingo inside a PE firm.  This isn't sports talk or girl talk, this is private equity talk and it makes about as much sense as some of the wild stories in the Raymond Carver book we stole our title from.  Sit back and enjoy, and just like an after school special starring Robbie Benson, there just might even be a lesson or two to learn in between all the laughing (or is that crying?).

Devin and Jim talk about Satya Nadella's public strategy letter on the future of Microsoft aka "Bold Ambition & Our Core".    How does this apply to the middle market?  Should middle market companies be avoiding commitments to the Microsoft platform? 

Jim sits down with Evan Delaney to talk about Apple's new Swift programming language, the pros the cons -- and whether companies should be jumping into the deep end of the pool and going whole-hog with Swift.

Jim sits down with Evan Delaney to talk about approaches you can use for building your mobile applications on the Apple platform.  Although we do get a little technical in spots, this episode is for the CEO, not the CTO.

Devin and Jim sit down with Northwestern Kellogg School of Management Professor Michael Mazzeo to discuss his upcoming book: Roadside MBA: Back Road Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives and Small Business Owners.  Today we talk about the human side of the business -- hiring your team.

A Series of PE Haikus for the sophisticated listener.  A light-hearted conversation with Matthew Craig-Greene of Pivot Partners Ltd -- our Thursday gift from us, to you!