Private Equity Funcast

Most B2B software companies have more growth left in what they already sell. This framework shows exactly where to find it — and where to stop looking. Jim Milbery and Paul Stansik walk through the Ansoff Matrix, a simple four-quadrant tool for organizing every growth conversation a software company will ever have. New market or existing market? New product or current product? Sounds obvious, but it's an argument that can derail board meetings, kill roadmaps, and send sales teams down blind alleys. What if chasing new markets and new products is actually the thing slowing you down? Jim and Paul make the case for staying in the green box.

Most B2B sales reps are professionally trained to make you like them in 30 minutes. But when you're recruiting salespeople, likability doesn't guarantee success. Make the wrong hire and you can lose two years and a chunk of your growth plan. In this episode, Devin and Paul walk through the five qualities ParkerGale tests for (customer focus, structure, accountability, problem-solving, drive), the specific questions we ask in a panel interview, and the trick question that breaks through every rapport-building defense salespeople can muster.

Most private equity firms claim to use a leather-bound "value creation" bible nobody's allowed to touch. The truth? It's more of a Cheesecake Factory menu. In this episode, Paul and Jim break down what operating partners actually do once the deal closes — the three buckets that matter (revenue, cost, risk), why many software companies leave revenue on the table with their existing customers, and what "don't buy a company you can't sell" looks like in practice.

In 1995, the typical "PE operating team" was a few old-timer ex-CEOs. Today there are 20,000 of them. Cass and Paul from ParkerGale's ops team sit down with Devin to walk through how private equity operations actually evolved — from the "I got a guy" Rolodex era, to the captive consulting model, to today's proliferation of professional operators. Plus hot takes on the AI-specialist hiring boom, why a lot of operating teams will get skinnier, and how to know if you're helping or propping up a company.

Do operating teams matter? Why is sourcing broken? Are add-ons a strategy or a crutch? What firms have actually "stayed small?" In this episode, Devin and Jim get introspective, reflecting on their biggest lessons to mark the 10-year anniversary of the final close of ParkerGale's first fund. Tell us what you've seen change over the past ten years, and what has stood the test of time.

LPs. GPs. Carry. Waterfalls. Pari passu. The unlock. Quantum. De-Risk. Niko originally thought one of these was a French dish. Liz wants to ban another from all future meetings. In their PE Funcast debut, ParkerGale Associates Liz & Niko join Devin to demystify the private equity alphabet soup, breaking down everything from formal vocabulary to finance bro speak. Whether you're a first year Associate or a founder looking to sell, this is the lingo you should know.

In February of this year, an obscure research report triggered a $1 trillion wipeout in software stocks in seven days. In this episode we decipher what actually happened — and why AI is more likely to be a gift to enterprise software than a death sentence.   Devin and Jim have invested through every major tech transition: PCs, client-server, the browser, mobile, the cloud. This time, they're breaking down the four bear cases for enterprise software (private credit, seat licensing, vibe coding, the AI bubble) and sharing what's actually happening inside their portfolio. The ghost shows up every decade. Here's how not to get spooked.   READ: "The Ghost of Software Future" on Substack

Selling a company isn't just about price - it's about timing, preparation and process. In this episode, Devin sits down with Ryan Milligan to break down how to sell a company - from timing the exit to running a competitive process and getting a deal across the finish line. They walk through the full private equity playbook including when to sell, whether or not to hire a banker and how deals move from early conversations to signed LOIs and closing. If you've ever wondered how exits happen behind the scenes, this episode illustrates how it really goes down.

Everyone loves the chase but what happens when the ink dries on the deal and you actually own a company? In this episode, Jim sits down with Paul Stansik to pull back the curtain on how the combined deal, ops, and management teams come together in the first few weeks and months post-close. They break down what life looks like immediately after an acquisition, including setting up governance, identifying talent gaps and figuring out where the real opportunities (and risks) are hiding. Jim and Paul also hit on the softer side of what happens during the early-hold period, and the importance of curiosity, connection, and trust-building inside ParkerGale's approach to value-creation. Ever wonder what your investors are thinking about during the first few months of a new investment? Curious about what happens when diligence is over and things get real? This is the episode for you.

It all starts with an acquisition, but most people don't understand how private equity firms actually find and buy companies. Devin sits down with Ryan Milligan to break down the mechanics of deal sourcing, banker-led processes and direct founder relationships.  From the early days of rotary phones ringing with deals to today's hyper-competitive sourcing environment, we discuss how firms build pipelines, win founders over, and decide which companies to buy.  If you've ever wondered how private equity truly functions behind the scenes, this is your go-to guide for the entire process.

Raising your first private equity fund is humbling. Like Lloyd Dobler holding a boombox outside an LP's window, you need to be committed and creative. It took us over 150 meetings and almost 2 years to get to the finish line. One LP fell asleep mid-pitch. We got stranded in a monsoon in Connecticut. Kenny the Associate torpedoed us in Manhattan. Jim got locked out, and Devin had to fly solo. We survived. You can too. From hiring a placement agent to practicing your pitch to getting LPs to tell you what they want, to recharging your batteries on the road so you can keep going til the end. This is everything we wish someone had told us. Always Be Closing. Kinda.

In this episode, Devin and Jim rewind to 2014 — and a $12 bottle of Cabernet at the Macaroni Grill — where they hatched the plan to leave their firm and build a new private equity firm from nothing. This is the insider's guide they wish they'd had.

It's our annual Predictions episode (and by annual, we mean just the years we remember to record one). Devin and Jim offer their hot takes on fundraising, liquidity, why artificial general intelligence (AGI) is still years away, and whether or not the world is officially "over-softwared." PE FunCast New Episodes Every Wednesday Follow us on social media and subscribe to our Substack! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parkergale-capital Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/pefuncast Substack: https://substack.com/@pefuncast Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/PE-FunCast/61580605382460/?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=UXSOfkHvpixQjCyB&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2F14VqLVUrhVD%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pefuncast X: https://x.com/PEFunCast

Devin sits down with Funcast listener and Terem Capital CEO Scott Middleton. Terem is a software holdco in Australia, and Scott shares his strategy, investment criteria, sourcing approach, and the difference between US holdcos. 

Jim sits down with Sean Luke (Partner at SPMB Executive Search) to talk about the art of hiring senior engineering and product leaders—especially now that every job description on Earth has "AI" duct-taped to it. We get into why sticking with one great search firm beats "random recruiter roulette," why tech interviewing is tough (spoiler: engineers aren't always born interviewers), and the eternal tension between the two key roles - CTO (big brain science/vision) and VP Engineering (keep the trains running, preferably on the tracks). Then it's on to the AI gold rush: what a normal Head of Engineering should actually be doing with AI (hint: practical stuff like code review, QA, automation), why "Head of AI" is usually a totally separate job, and why "10 years of LLM experience" belongs in the same bin as Web3 buzzword soup. We also cover who's moving jobs right now, why PE can feel like a saner bet than venture (less "moonshot," more "actual exit"), and what candidates must be able to explain: what you did, an

In this episode of The Private Equity Funcast, Jim Milbery sits down with Jennifer Nelson (CEO of Izzy Software), Richard Malone, Rob Swanson (co-founders of CNX Corporation), and Iwona Montgomery to talk about CNX's nearly 30-year glow-up — from green screens to the cloud. After almost three decades in the biz, CNX just joined forces with Izzy Software, and the result? Legacy systems that finally got the spa day they deserved. We dive into how moving to the cloud has made life easier for developers and why low-code tools are giving old-school software a serious second act.

Jim and Leah dive headfirst into a whirlwind chat that covers everything from the fine distinctions between puppets and marionettes to the equally delicate art of building great user experiences. Leah shares her fascinating journey from a Medieval French literature course at Berkeley to leading UX research at companies like Slack, Spotify, Instagram, and Mozilla. Along the way, they tackle why users often don't honestly know what they want, how to avoid building a product no one asked for (looking at you, Juicero), and why good design begins with understanding both people and teams. It’s a conversation about people problems disguised as tech problems—with a few detours into bad movie references, car oil changes, and the mythical Trojan horse. Grab your headphones, settle in, and prepare to laugh, learn, and maybe rethink what “user experience” really means.

Paul Stansik sits down with Shiv Narayanan—founder of How to SaaS and author of Exit-Ready Marketing—to break down what most private equity firms and portfolio companies get wrong about marketing. They explore how to make marketing a measurable, scalable lever for value creation, from diligence to exit. Shiv shares the frameworks he's used across countless engagements to tie marketing strategy, budget, and team structure to real business outcomes. If you’re tired of vague brand goals and unaccountable spend—or you’re just trying to figure out what “good marketing” looks like in a PE context—this episode gives you the language, metrics, and mindset to make marketing work like a growth function.

Devin sits down with Sameer Shamsi, Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey's GP Led Secondaries group. We cover everything you want to know about continuation vehicles, but were afraid to ask (or too dumb to ask?). What is the difference between LP-led and GP-led? How should GPs talk to their LPs about it? What assets are best suited for CVs? How does company management get treated in a CV? Plus so much more you didn't even pay for.

In this episode of the Private Equity Funcast, host Ryan Milligan speaks with OpenBrand CEO Greg Munves and Chief Economist Ralph McLaughlin about their innovative approach to tracking inflation through the OpenBrand Consumer Price Index for Durable and Personal Goods (CPI-DPG). The CPI-DPG is updated weekly, providing a third independent data point for measuring inflation. Its accuracy has been validated with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) as low as 1.6% in specific categories. Additionally, OpenBrand offers scenario-based inflation forecasts, enabling companies and investors to tailor predictions to their expectations and market views. Munves and McLaughlin also outline practical use cases: • Manufacturers and retailers optimizing their pricing and promotional strategies. • Investors seeking early insights on market inflation trends to refine financial models. • Policymakers evaluating the effects of economic policies. Video Version