The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated our world’s digital transformation and has made businesses increasingly more virtual. In a tech-driven world, cybersecurity is vital to a business’ success, and it’s an area that is constantly evolving as the tech landscape shifts with new advancements. In fact, in 2021, we saw IT strategy land the number 6 spot in the BluWave Value Creation Index, signifying that cybersecurity was a top area of focus for PE firms, their portfolio companies, and proactive companies.
Staying up to date with the latest and greatest in cybersecurity is a full-time job that most companies don’t account for, causing many to fall short in digitally protecting their business. Thankfully, there are service providers out there that can take on this vital job for you and take care of your cybersecurity needs.
Curious what you may not be doing that you need to be? Trying to determine whether or not third-party cybersecurity expertise is something you need? Check out the PDF below to discover the 10 most common cybersecurity gaps companies face and how to avoid them.
If any of these gaps resonate with you, it may be time to connect with a third-party provider. We have a deep bench of PE-grade, pre-vetted service providers with specializations across various industries that we would be happy to connect you with – contact us here or use the “Start a Project Button” in the top banner.
Interested in learning more about how we can help with firms’ and companies’ digital and IT-related needs? Check out the below case studies:
As part of an ongoing series, we’re sharing real-time trending topics we are hearing from our 500+ PE firm clients. In our most recent installment, one of our Private Equity Consultants, Ryan Perkins, talks about the significant upswing COVID caused in the price of inputs. He shares two approaches companies can take in order to solve for this challenge, the negative impacts of each approach, and how BluWave can help in these scenarios.
Ryan gives an example of how we recently helped a high volume CPG business update their pricing across their product set, stay competitive with their eCommerce counterparts, and grow margins across their portfolio.
You can read another example of how we’ve helped a client with pricing strategy in this case study.
Learn more in the below video.
Do you need to get connected to a pricing analysis consultant or any other third-party resource? Be sure to click the “Start a Project” button above, or contact us here and we would be happy to get started in assisting you.
As part of an ongoing series, we’re sharing real-time trending topics we are hearing from our 500+ PE fund clients. In our most recent installment, our consulting manager, Scott Bellinger, talks about why we have seen an increase in go-to-market & growth strategy needs and how we are supporting clients with those. He shares that growth strategy is continuously increasing, with GTM being the third most used Value Creation use case in 2021, according to the BluWave Value Creation Index.
One of the most common ways we are helping clients with growth strategy needs is by connecting PE funds and their portfolio companies to senior advisors and consultants that can help them expand their reach outside of their current established market.
You can read another example of how we’ve helped a client with a go-to-market need in this case study.
Learn more in the below video.
Do you need to get connected to a GTM or growth strategy resource? Be sure to click the “Start a Project” button above, or contact us here and we would be happy to get started in assisting you.
Recently, BluWave founder & CEO, Sean Mooney, spoke with Gene Hammett on the Growth Think Tank podcast about what we at BluWave call the Karma School of Business. They discussed BluWave, what the first few years were like as Sean was growing the business, and the important leadership value of helping others be successful. Sean shares with Gene a practical example of how during COVID, we at BluWave saw a focus on helping others lead to dramatic growth. They also discuss other important leadership concepts, including knowing when to hire the right people and learning to let others take on responsibilities you have held in the past.
Interested in listening to the whole podcast yourself? Click below.
Every quarter we gather Operating Executives in PE to discuss current industry topics and to offer peers the chance to gather, share information, and decompress with one another. In our most recent event, we gathered to discuss lessons learned in 2021 that will be reinforced in 2022, creative ways to respond to the Great Resignation outside of paying portco teams significantly more, lessons learned from the seismic shift in traditional economy companies from field sales to inside sales approaches, and more.
These forums are invite-only and follow Chatham House Rules, so listed below are high-level takeaways only. Are you in private equity and interested in joining fellow Operating Executives during our next Operating Partners’ Forum? RSVP for the April 13th virtual forum.
Innovation from the COVID period and a return to basics: The COVID period has brought a focus on innovation in addition to a doubling down on the basics. Some of the fundamentals in making a company more valuable were sidelined over COVID due to many pressing and urgent pivots forced by the pandemic. Many operating partners are returning to the basics like pricing structure, automation, and expense management, as they can drive change faster and management teams are more open to listening. That said, the remote world continues to challenge relationships with portfolio companies and their management teams, and many ops teams are trying to solve for this by taking the opportunity to visit companies in person whenever they can safely do so.
Pervasive human capital issues due to wage inflation and scarcity: Nearly every participant expressed challenges related to turnover, recruiting, and wage inflation. These issues are complicated by the virtual or hybrid work postures of portfolio companies. PE firms are holding monthly portfolio-wide forums with key portco execs to share best practices. Portcos are doing things like town halls, stay interviews, and regular employee engagement surveys. PE firms are staying closer with portfolio management teams to ensure they have a handle on turnover, wages, and local comps. Culture continues to surpass most other factors in attracting and retaining key talent.
Moving from field sales to inside sales: Portcos with field sales teams are shifting to inside sales. Operating teams are helping equip these evolutions in a number of ways, including ensuring portcos have the right talent for the roles and bringing in expert advisors to help get the plan right the first time. Shifts to inside sales are being coupled with greater emphasis on account-based marketing, brand, content, and thought leadership via social media.
Digital transformation has been rapidly accelerated: After never quite gaining traction pre-COVID,digital transformation initiatives have been pulled forward by years.Popular digital transformation use cases included remote work, telemedicine, sales and marketing, and cloud migration. Digital transformation initiatives were previously justified based upon potential cost savings, but are now being made with customers and top-line growth in mind.
Analytics Taking Hold: COVID caused many to go deep into their data to inform strategies and tactics. PE firms are now building true analytics capabilities (including SQL, Python, and R know-how) internally and externally.
We thoroughly enjoyed getting to gather with PE Operating Executives to discuss these current hot topics and discuss how 2021 learnings will influence 2022 plans. If we can be of help placing interim executives, connecting you to a group that can help facilitate a digital transformation, or be of help with any other need, please contact us.
Interested in learning more about BluWave? Check out our Introduction to BluWave video to learn more about us and how we can help you.
Every quarter our team analyzes the projects we work on with our 500+ PE fund clients to get a birdseye view of the market. For Q4 of 2021, we not only pulled together our quarterly insights but also analyzed year-over-year trends dating back to 2019 to gain a deeper perspective (grab your copy here).
Key findings from our annual analysis included a sharp increase in the rise of human capital activity and rebounding of operational investment post-COVID.
Learn more about the insights we gleaned from the report by watching the video below.
With the importance of ESG rising in terms of investment evaluation across the board, we are hearing from our more than 500 private equity firm clients that questions on ESG policies and reporting are increasingly coming from LPs. Before you start raising your next fund, here are three steps you can take to start being proactive in being able to answer any questions that may come.
1) Develop policies at the fund level.
If you don’t have them already, the best place to start with ESG is to develop policies at the fund level. These policies can serve as a guiding light for how actions can be taken throughout the firm, down into portco investing, to help advance ESG efforts.
Our clients have leveraged third-party ESG experts to help them develop and implement ESG strategies for the first time.
Additionally, third-party ESG diligence resources have tools and scorecards they use to audit companies against SASB standards, allowing for an easy way for you to measure your target company against other companies in the same field.
3) Monitor progress against ESG targets at both the fund & portco level.
LPs are no longer just going to look for ESG policies to be in place, they are going to look to see if action is being taken against these policies. The best way to prove this is by having metrics that show progress, and we have third-party resources in our network that will help you build in ways to track them over time.
At the portco level, these resources will allow you to collect and visualize your ESG data, making the impact of your efforts easy to understand, demonstrate to LPs, and analyze. These resources will also allow you to implement software tools that will make tracking and monitoring your efforts more automated.
No matter your ESG need, we have the resources to help you streamline your efforts and prove your action. Contact us to schedule a scoping call, we’d be happy to hop on the phone and quickly get started in providing you with the solutions you need.
As a deal quarterback in private equity, Sean Mooney often struggled with getting connected to the PE-grade, specialized resources he needed to drive differential success. Sean found himself spending lots of time searching for providers on google and calling friends in search of an exact-fit service provider. This made the diligence process time-consuming and stressful. It also left only a small amount of time for the other things that matter. In order to combat this pressing issue, Sean came up with the idea for BluWave. In fact, Sean created BluWave specifically with deal quarterbacks in mind and is someone who did the job himself. Now, BluWave helps deal quarterbacks get time back in their day and gives them confidence in the third-party resources that they are utilizing.
We are here to provide deal quarterbacks with the exact-fit, private equity grade service provider they need, exactly when they need them.
If you are a deal quarterback that struggles with due diligence or value creation, we would be happy to connect with you and provide for the need you have, just contact us here.
BluWave founder and CEO, Sean Mooney, recently shared his personal experiences as a private equity deal quarterback and how that led to him founding BluWave. Sean learned through his own experiences that due diligence for deal QBs is a flawed process. He found there are far too many generalist providers that don’t quite fit the bill for the specialized needs they are trying to solve. After spending far too much time during the vetting process, Sean realized there must be another way.
In this video, he highlights the difficulties he used to face in the due diligence process including:
The speed required to win deals as a private equity deal QB
Common struggles from his experience as a deal QB
The unique advantages BluWave offers
Sean references BluWave as the tool that could have helped him win as a deal QB. Now, BluWave helps over 550 of the top private equity firms in the world win every day, starting with the due diligence process. We facilitate due diligence for deal QBs by connecting them with the exact-fit, PE-grade resources they need exactly when they need them.
As a private equity deal QB, BluWave founder & CEO, Sean Mooney, faced challenges in the value creation process. He felt as though he was consistently getting generalist results from generalist providers. He also faced the pressure of knowing that one wrong move could follow him around for the rest of his career in private equity. After dealing with these challenges and working his way up to be a Partner at a PE firm, Sean decided to create the solution to the problems he always had by founding BluWave. The solution he envisioned gave deal QBs the exact provider they need at the exact time they need them. Providers who have a specialty in specific areas will be connected with the private equity deal QBs as soon as the need arises. This gives success with ease for private equity deal QBs who are lacking value creation with their service providers. That is exactly what BluWave has become today.
BluWave helps with value creation for deal QBs by providing them with:
BluWave founder and CEO, Sean Mooney, recently had the privilege of sitting down with Buyouts Magazine for a keynote interview in their Fund Services Special Report December issue. In the interview, he specifically highlighted the importance of proper use of service providers in private equity.
In this report, he covered the topics of:
Why private equity firms must use third-party service providers
Why it is hard to use third parties successfully
The opportunity cost of not using third-party service providers
How specialization is giving BluWave clients unique competitive edge in both due diligence and value creation
These topics made for a great interview about service providers in the private equity industry and how to use them effectively. If you would like to read the full interview on the Buyouts website, you can do so here.
Additionally, if you would like to check out the full Buyouts Fund Services Special Report December issue, you can do so here.
Since our founding 5 years ago, BluWave has seen rapid growth in many ways – from revenue to headcount, to even the growth of various internal functions. One of the biggest growths we’ve experienced in the past year is in our marketing function, going from a collective team effort across the company to a dedicated department of 3 individuals. Recently, we sat down with the newest marketing hire, Brendan Cooper, our Content Marketing Manager, to learn more about why he chose to join the BluWave team.
How did you hear about BluWave and what made you want to apply for your position?
I found BluWave through a job search on Indeed, where I was looking for creative marketing roles. When I found BluWave’s posting for a Content Marketing Manager position, I first looked at BluWave’s website and was extremely encouraged by the growth of the company. I was impressed by how young BluWave was yet how much had been accomplished in the past 5 years, especially achieving a top 3% ranking on this year’s Inc. 5000 list. Encouraged and excited by the prospect of being part of a fast-growing company in a marketing role that would be heavily creative, I decided to apply for the job.
Why did you decide to join the BluWave team?
The people. Throughout the interview process, I got the vibe from everyone that they genuinely enjoyed working for BluWave, being in each other’s company, and were excited about what BluWave does. I really got the feel that the BluWave team was one that is fast-paced, yet still enjoys taking time to enjoy each other’s company. Having been here for three weeks now, I can definitely say that is true.
Moving into your role and the marketing function specifically, what’s your favorite and most rewarding part of your job?
Going back to what I said on why I joined the BluWave team, my favorite part of the job is working in an environment where the team has a unique energy about it because everyone is truly excited about doing what they’re doing. Having worked in marketing across various B2B businesses for the last 4.5 years, I can definitely say that is not always the case. It makes the job really motivating and gets me excited to come to work each morning.
But for my role specifically, I find designing something from scratch and then seeing it published to be the most rewarding. There’s something very satisfying about creating something and then seeing it on LinkedIn, a website, or any other channel. It’s a great feeling of, “I did that and I’m helping create and contribute to the BluWave identity that is out there in the world.”
So having recently started, what has been your favorite part about the onboarding experience?
My favorite part of the onboarding process has definitely been the fact that I’ve been able to jump right in. I got to start working on projects and be a contributing team member from day one which has been exciting – there have been no dull days! It’s also been really cool that from the get-go I’ve been trusted enough to jump right into things.
Looking forward, what excites you the most about the future of BluWave?
The fast growth for sure. It’s one of the reasons I applied and is definitely something that continues to excite me as I grow in my position along with the company. I feel like the business has been set up cleverly to where the growth doesn’t seem to be slowing anytime soon. That creates a really exciting culture to be a part of because it seems like there is unlimited potential as we keep moving forward.
Now for the fun stuff, what’s your favorite restaurant here in Nashville?
