Private Equity Funcast

 Devin is joined by Tuck Hardie, a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Restructuring Group. After operating through the bankruptcy at Marvel as a client of Houlihan, Tuck switched sides and joined the HL team over 20 years ago. Tuck introduces the restructuring business, how it has changed during the past two decades, lessons from the GCF (and how we are still feeling the effects), and what's happening in today's "higher for longer" environment. He provides helpful tips for investors and companies trying to avoid needing his services.

Bill Snow, a noted authority on mergers and acquisitions has represented buyers and sellers in a multitude of industries. He joins host Jim Milbery to discuss his new book, Mergers and Acquisitions for Dummies.   In this episode, we focus the conversation on the most common pitfalls that can derail a deal.

Two Hundred and Seventy Three Episodes and Two Million downloads later, it's the 10th anniversary of the PE Funcast.  Indulge your intrepid co-hosts, Devin and Jim, as we walk down memory lane.

This week we sat down with Clark O'Niell and Jay Barlett from BCG to discuss their most recent research report on Generative AI and its implications for PE investors and their portfolio companies.  GenAI is already becoming a game changer, with use cases emerging across all industries; Use cases range from efficiency improvements to long-term advantages (i.e., transformative use cases). And we promise you that Skynet is not listening in.

In this episode of the PE Funcast, we take a deep dive into the relationship between the portfolio company CEO and the private equity Partner. What do they talk about when they talk? How does their connection evolve from the interview, to building the team, to planning for an exit? What does the first year of a PE-backed CEO gig feel like? Devin and our newest portfolio CEO, Dave Lucey, cover it all here in a frank and wide-ranging conversation about Dave's first year at the helm of Biscom. We plan to do follow-ups in the years ahead as Dave and Devin take Biscom from new platform company to eventual exit.

We’ve been hearing more questions and interest in operating partner roles than ever before. In our latest episode of the Private Equity Funcast, Operating Partners Jim and Cici cover some of the most frequently asked questions we frequently hear about the role of Operating Partners. We cover things like why an operating team is needed, the history and evolution of Operating Partners at PE firms, and different Operating Partner models. We also discuss the relationship between Operating Partners and deal teams, how operating teams are structured within a PE firm, and some common paths to becoming an Operating Partner.   This episode is also available in video format on YouTube.

Ted Bililies, Managing Director and Head of Global Transformation Leadership Practice at AlixPartners joins Devin again to review the findings of the 8th Annual PE Leadership Survey. Devin and Ted discuss where PE and Portfolio Executives agree and differ on what's most important in today's turbulent times. They talk about sprinters vs. marathoners, growers vs. grinders, and peace-time vs. war-time leaders. They also cover how technology adds to the challenges of scaling companies and the crisis of middle management and how to address it.

In this episode of the PE Funcast, Devin and our Head of Research, David, discuss our research on software valuations, “What’s a Software Company Worth.” They cover how software valuations have trended over the past 20 years, the challenges that private and public investors will face over the coming year, and inject some of “what we’re seeing” inside our portfolio and the markets we play in.

The grand finale of our two-part conversation with Kelley Powell, a long-time ParkerGale collaborator, and ex-portfolio executive.  Kelley talks about the ins and outs of working with PE from the portfolio company perspective.  She's a wealth of knowledge about working with PE AND helping founders prepare for a PE process.

Part One of a two-part conversation with Kelley Powell, a long-time ParkerGale collaborator and ex-portfolio executive.  Kelley talks about the ins and outs of working with PE from the portfolio company perspective.  She's a wealth of knowledge about working with PE AND helping founders prepare for a PE process.

Jim spends an hour talking about technical due diligence with Dan Bender, and Lukas Ingelheim from Code & Co.  Dan and Lukas have over 250 engagements under their collective belts and have literally "seen it all."  We cover a wide range of topics, including Technical Debt versus Architectural Debt, code "smells," and the top ten things a company should have in place ahead of technical due diligence.

Jim talks with an old friend and comrade, Alan Williamson, about his new book - Think Like a CTO.  Alan shares hard-won lessons on how to thrive in the fast-paced role of Chief Technology Officer. We discuss the ins and outs of establishing successful technology platforms and teams, leveraging practical software selection and implementation frameworks, conducting bias-free interviews and performance reviews, and earning your place with other senior leaders. 

Jim talks Mergers and Acquisitions Roll-up strategies with Matt Lynch, Managing Director at District Capital Partners.  We discuss the various types of add-on acquisitions and answer the key questions.  What is an M&A roll-up strategy, and why does it matter? How does it work?  How do you get started?

Jimmy is joined by Katrina Calihan, Executive Coach and Co-Founder of Wind + Sail Leadership Partners, to discuss and demystify executive coaching. Jimmy and Katrina have been working together since 2019 when they launched L6, the leadership development program that has now become a staple inside ParkerGale and our portfolio businesses. On today’s show, they discuss the landscape of executive coaching and why the impact of an executive coach can be so profound by “bringing you into the room” to a coaching engagement. They also give tips for finding the right coach if you are currently on the market. Katrina even gets Jimmy to talk a little about his own experience with his coach.  This episode is especially for the skeptics. For you all, executive coaching may very well be one of the biggest investments in yourself or in the leaders around you that you aren’t making. Listen to find out why. 

In this episode of the Private Equity Funcast, Operating Partner Cici Zheng is joined by Jared Ranere, President and COO of thrv, a firm that delivers services, training and a software platform using the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework to identify and serve customers' unmet needs. We cover what the framework is and how it's used at PE backed portfolio companies, both during due diligence and post-close, how the JTBD framework potentially expands the total addressable market (TAM) of an industry we're looking at, and how the framework translates into product strategy and go-to-market execution. 

Jim talks with Paul Stansik about his experiences digging in on the sales and marketing function within our portfolio.

In the latest episode of the Private Equity Funcast, Operating Partners Cici Zheng and Paul Stansik discuss the ICP - Ideal Customer Profile. As investors, we're frequently asking our portfolio companies - who is your ICP? Which ones are your best-fit customers, the ones that your product is truly the best fit for to solve their pain points? How do we avoid trying to be the dreaded "swiss-army knife" and being everything to everybody? In this episode we discuss why defining an ICP is important to us and our 3 step process for building out an ICP. 

Jimmy is joined by David Cohen, Human Capital Partner at Kelso and Company. David has been working in the Human Capital / Private Equity space for over a decade and has helped shape the discipline across the PE industry. They break down the various ways that human capital can impact a portfolio business, including alignment to strategy, leadership effectiveness, talent acquisition, and org design. If there’s a word that defines today’s episode, it’s alignment. It is at the center of how both Kelso and ParkerGale think about the human capital practice. To be successful, leadership need to get dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people organized around a common purpose and strategy. If you can’t do that, not much else matters.

In this episode, Jimmy is joined by Laura Queen, founder, and CEO of 29Bison, a Human Capital Consultancy focused on the PE space. Laura is also the author of the book “People Economics: Defining and Measuring the True Value of Human Capital” and is a genius at understanding how strategic human capital management contributes to the value creation process. They break down Human Capital Due Diligence – what it is, how it’s done, and why it’s the fastest-growing of all the diligence workstreams.

Jim talks all things DevOps with Dave Mangot from Mangoteque.  Dave's philosophy is "Get Good at Delivering Software", and he has helped many well-known companies become "best in class"  We discuss the four keys that define a company's competence in software delivery; deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to recovery.  There's also a heated discussion about whether "the cloud" is cheaper than running your own data center.