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Every private equity firm now says it is operationally focused. That usually means they hired one operating partner, gave him a headshot, added a page to the website, and now act as if the firm has been rebuilt in the image of Danaher. It hasn't. Real operational focus
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Private equity firms love saying they want operators. Then they hire the same profile they always hire. Same schools. Same banks. Same consulting firms. Same immaculate CVs full of institutions that impress other people with immaculate CVs. They select for polish, pattern recognition, and the ability to talk confidently about
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They have an answer for the board. That is not the same thing. Every portfolio company is now getting asked the same question: "What's your AI strategy?" And most of them respond with a tool. A chatbot. A copilot. Some half baked workflow automation. A demo
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If I were building a post acquisition integration playbook, the first page would not be about synergies. It would be about the three people you absolutely cannot lose. Not the people with the biggest titles. Not the people who speak most in board meetings. Not the ones who suddenly become
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The fastest way to damage a founder led business is to replace intuition with process theatre. Founders make decisions quickly because they carry the full context in their head. They know the customers. They know the people. They know which numbers matter and which ones are there to keep finance
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Private equity has a media conflict of interest that everybody understands and nobody says out loud. The publications covering the industry depend on the same firms for access, advertising, event sponsorship, subscriptions, and conference budgets. So naturally the coverage is balanced, constructive, and just critical enough to feel legitimate without
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The hardest conversation we have at Claymore is almost never about which technology to buy. It is about proving how that investment shows up in EBITDA. That is where the room goes quiet. Everyone says they want digital transformation. Everyone wants better data, better systems, better reporting, better lead flow,
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This was a 2021 software deal done at peak optimism, peak multiple stupidity, and peak faith that recurring revenue could somehow suspend the laws of physics. Now the music has stopped. Blackstone and the lender group have reportedly refused to keep giving Medallia more payment flexibility, pushing it onto full
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Would you have invested? Put yourself back in 2007. A large Texas power utility. About $4 billion of EBITDA. A clear market position. Hard assets. Predictable demand. An 8.5x entry multiple, which at the time probably felt almost wholesome. Three elite private equity firms pile in. Largest LBO in
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LP theatre has entered its final form. Private equity has been doing this for longer than people think. The job titles just follow whatever LPs were worried about that year. Early 2000s: “Six Sigma / Lean Operating Partner” Translation: hired to fix operations across the portfolio, ended up running workshops no
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The first 30 days should be spent listening. Not unveiling a 90 day plan. Not marching through a diagnostic framework. Not presenting 47 slides on “quick wins” to a management team that already hates you on sight. Too many new operating partners arrive as if the business has been sitting
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A lot of private equity firms love talking about their "proprietary deal flow" as if they've built some secret intelligence network worthy of the CIA. What they usually mean is they know the same brokers as everyone else, get sent the same teaser at the same