Everyone’s got capital. Everyone’s got deal flow. Almost no one has a real talent strategy.

Capital is commoditised.
So is M&A.

Everyone has access to debt. Everyone’s getting banker decks. Everyone’s playing the same playbook from 2012, just with higher entry multiples.

The last true edge?
Talent.

Not the “we’ll bring in a new CEO post-close” kind of talent.
A proper, institutionalised strategy to identify, attract, deploy, and retain world-class operators across the portfolio.

But most firms aren’t even close.
Because it’s hard. And because they’re not built for it.

PE misses this because the entire ecosystem is optimised around capital deployment and transaction speed. Talent doesn’t fit neatly into that machine. It’s slow. It’s qualitative. It requires network, judgment, and long-term thinking—none of which gets you carry faster.

Here’s why it’s so hard:

• Talent is nonlinear. The difference between good and great can’t be seen on a CV.
• There’s no process for it in most firms. No bench. No real pipeline. Just a mad dash post-close.
• PE still overvalues credentials (fancy brand names, MBAs, prior exits) instead of capability and cultural fit.
• Most firms don’t have the internal experience to assess operators properly—especially in growth and commercial roles.

So what happens?
Same cycle every time.
Close the deal. Scramble for a CEO. Hope for the best. Replace them 18 months later.

Here’s what needs to change:

1. Build a bench before you buy
You wouldn’t wait until you sign a term sheet to raise capital. Stop waiting until close to find leadership. Build a shadow org chart during diligence.
2. Invest in talent infrastructure
This means internal talent partners who aren’t just recruiters. Operating partners who understand what great looks like. Systems for assessing and tracking execs across the funnel.
3. Stop hiring off brand alone
Track record is useful. But functional depth and cultural alignment matter more. A second-tier CEO who understands your customer can outperform a McKinsey-SVP-turned-God-complex nine times out of ten.
4. Treat talent like an investment, not a transaction
Pay to get it right. Onboard properly. Support your operators with coaching, data, and systems. And reward performance in a way that drives outcomes—not just optics.

In a market where everything else is commoditised, execution is the only real alpha.
And execution is powered by talent.

If you don’t have a strategy for it, you’re not doing value creation. You’re just hoping the spreadsheet was right.