Customer Type: PE Firms

October 2022 Roundup: BluWave Client Insights

November 4, 2022 Delaney Walker

BluWave works with over 500 PE firms from around the globe as well as their portfolio companies and other proactive independent companies, connecting them with BluWave-vetted, best-in-class, third-party service providers across a variety of resource and functional areas. From information technology and manufacturing to healthcare, consumer goods, and beyond, our clients are expert business builders. In other words, they have their heads in the game and their hands on the pulse of news and insights you can use.

Check out the latest, curated collection of our client’s musings on cybersecurity, AI, market trends, and more. 

Blackstone: Quarterly Webcast

In this latest quarterly webcast, Blackstone’s Joe Zidle and Byron Wien share insight into inflation, global recession risks, and long-run trends to consider.  Key takeaways include recession risks remain higher in Europe, the inflation peak is sticky, and more.

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Permira: Launching AI Capability

With many software providers looking to implement AI-powered features to enhance customer experiences, Gaurav Bhatnagar and Ben Roger from Permira share their insights on launching AI capabilities.  

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Bridges Fund Management: The Value of Cybersecurity

In the third issue of their series “Investing in the Future”, Bridges Fund Management shares a publication on the importance of cybersecurity in the age of technology and the businesses that have emerged as a result of this need.  

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Montage Partners: PE Firm Stereotypes

Montage Partners’ new series breaks down the stereotypes that surround private equity firms and why they are not accurate. On this episode, Connie Bates shares her experience on how capital is not the only thing PE firms can offer a company.  

Watch the video>>>

 

Read what some of our clients had to say last month on employee-based ownership, developing ICPs, creating an employer brand, and more.

If you need PE-grade third parties to help you prepare for the downturn, bolster your cybersecurity efforts, or implement AI, don’t hesitate to give us a shout.

Urgent need for sales & marketing focused org design consultant

PE firm needs consulting group to improve sales and marketing functions

A PE partner came to us with an urgent need for a boutique sales consulting group that could perform a sales diagnostic for their software portfolio company and help with org design for the company’s sales and marketing functions. With the head of marketing no longer at the company, the firm was looking to reset the sales and marketing function to improve growth. They needed someone to come in, assess the current sales and marketing function, identify what channels they should be focused on, and then give them guidance on how to build the department and who to hire in order to achieve growth. The firm needed this guidance as soon as possible and were ideally hoping it would come from someone with past marketing experience, and M&A expertise.

Using pre-vetted network, BluWave identifies exact-fit providers

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade org design and consulting needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of specialized boutique consulting firms that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted groups and independent consultants from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.

Firm engages ideal org design consultant to improve the portco’s sales and marketing

Within 24 hours of the initial scoping call, the PE firm and portfolio company were introduced to three select PE-grade org design consultants that specialized in organizational design & assessment for sales and marketing functions in software companies. The client selected their ideal choice and the firm was able to confidently build out a hiring plan that would allow them to reset their sales and marketing functions and achieve growth thanks to the work of the provider we connected them with.

Critical digital marketing independent contractor to advise software portfolio

Firm needs consultant to enhance digital marketing efforts across portcos

A PE managing director came to us with a critical need for a product marketing and positioning independent contractor who could advise several of the tech and software companies in his firm’s portfolio on their digital marketing efforts. With the digital world evolving quickly, the firm was in critical need of someone who could help their portcos enhance their digital marketing capabilities to best position themselves against their competitors. The firm was looking for someone who could advise on digital content, SEO, and other marketing activities as it related to each company’s product and brand positioning goals. It was crucial that the provider had industry experience and proven functional expertise.

BluWave has exact-fit, PE-grade digital marketing consultants

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade marketing needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of expert marketing independent contractors that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted marketing resources from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.

Firm chooses ideal provider to improve the digital positioning of their portcos

The day after the initial scoping call, the PE firm and portfolio company were introduced to three PE-grade marketing independent contractors that specialized in digital content, SEO, and broader marketing activities for software companies. The client selected their ideal choice. The PE firm engaged the provider and was able to gain confidence in the digital positioning of each company in their portfolio thanks to the advisor’s help.

Merger integration consultant urgently needed for software & industrial services merger

PE firm critically needs merger integration experts

A PE operating partner came to us with a critical need for a merger integration consultant to help them develop a playbook, provide resource coaching, and execute a planned merger of their existing portco with a new add-on in the software sector of the industrial services industry. With a lot of operational integration that needed to be done and the target add-on in the process of acquiring two additional companies, the firm urgently needed a small team of merger integration experts that could manage the complexity of this integration. The PE firm was seeking a provider that had industry expertise, a proven track record of successful merger integrations, and the ability to start in the next month.

BluWave identifies industry-specific consultants within network

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade merger integration needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of merger integration consultants that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then
connected the client with the select pre-vetted merger integration consultants from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.

Firm engages top choice to execute integrations

Quickly after the initial scoping call, the PE firm and portfolio company were introduced to three select PE-grade merger integration providers that had industry expertise and were available to get started immediately. The client selected their ideal choice. The PE firm was able to confidently begin executing the integrations, trusting that the provider BluWave connected them with was handling all of the niche complexities of the situation.

In the Know: The Importance of Interim CFOs

October 27, 2022 Delaney Walker

As part of an ongoing series, we’re sharing real-time trending topics we are hearing from the hundreds of PE firms we work with. In our most recent installment, Erez Schnaittacher, BluWave vice president of client coverage, shares the importance of interim CFOs and why they are a vital resource all PE firms should be taking advantage of. Learn more by watching the video below.

Interested in connecting with interim CFOs? Contact us here to quickly get connected to the exact-fit interim CFO you need.

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Video transcript:

The CFO role is one of the most critical seats in a business. The position plays a key role in ensuring that a business is strong and if PE-backed, that the investment is successful. Because this seat is vital to a company’s success, it is important that it is not left open, and is also filled by someone who possesses the right skillset to execute on the demands that come with being a CFO.

To ensure that both of these are always the case, PE firms often turn towards interim CFOs. At BluWave, we equip our private equity firm clients with interim CFOs for various due diligence, value creation, and prep-for-sale needs. Here are some of the most common use cases for bringing in interim CFOs:

Number one, unanticipated departures. When CFOs unexpectedly resign, it can leave a company’s finance function in chaos. We help PE firms combat this by providing them with exact-fit interim CFOs who can quickly step in, fill the shoes of the role, and keep the ship steady while the search for a permanent placement kicks off.

Number two, longer than normal hiring processes. Even when a CFO seat is expected to be vacant within a certain timeframe, sourcing a candidate to step in at the exact time you need them to can be challenging. With hiring processes taking longer than normal, interim CFOs can help bridge the gap, giving you extra time to ensure you hire the best-fit person for the job.

Number three, professionalizing new portcos’ finance functions. We are supporting many PE firms as soon as a deal closes, by supplying them with interim CFOs. These firms are bringing in these individuals to help new portcos’ finance functions understand what it means to be PE-grade, and help them get the right monthly performance packages in place to ensure that the PE firm is getting the info it needs.

And finally, number four, prep for sale processes. Our clients bring in interim CFOs to respond to diligence requests, assess data, and pull reports prior to a sale. By bringing in an extra set of hands to take care of the extra workload that comes with a sale process, FTEs are freed up to maintain focus on keeping the daily routines going, without causing a delay on the sale process. The modern-day M&A process is fast and furious, valuations decline the second you have to hit the pause button, making it crucial to keep the momentum.

Interim CFOs are one of the most versatile and useful resources available to private equity firms. Hundreds of leading firms come to us with their interim CFOs because of our ability to know before they need, hone in on individuals that meet their specific, unique criteria, and quickly connect them to the select few that are exact-fit.

If we can support your interim CFO needs, please contact us at insights@bluwave.net.

PEI Operating Partners Forum – New York 2022 Event Recap

October 27, 2022 Delaney Walker

On October 19th and 20th, 2022, our team had the opportunity to attend and sponsor the PEI Operating Partners Forum – New York 2022. It was PEI’s largest event to date with over 500 PE ops professionals in attendance, a testament to the growing ops function in private equity.

At the conference, our founder & CEO, Sean Mooney, hosted a panel titled, “Unlocking the Due Diligence Imperative to Rapidly Achieve the Value Creation Plan”. The panelists – Cici Zheng of ParkerGale Capital, Marc Jourlait of The Riverside Company, and Kalyan Mukherjee of Apollo Global Management – all shared insightful thoughts on this topic and we have captured some our key takeaways below:

Leveraging Diligence Streams to Inform Value Creation

  • Overall, value creation plans are being created and put into place earlier in the process than has been done historically.
    • Benefits include building trust with the management teams and having the time and information upfront to formulate a more fully baked value creation plan.
  • Ops teams find it critical to work with specialized groups for commercial due diligence that already know and understand the market.
  • Areas assessed upfront in diligence to help ops teams better understand risk include human capital, technology, operations, and ESG.

Working with Deal Teams & Managing the Diligence Chaos

  • Ops teams have discovered that working with deal teams from day 1 helps avoid any post-close surprises.
  • Early work with the deal team helps the ops teams better understand what the deal team is underwriting for, allowing the ops team to better prioritize and position value creation plans.
  • Many firms are leveraging technology to manage the many diligence processes that are happening at any given time.

We greatly enjoyed learning from these thought leaders and connecting with both familiar as well as new faces at the PEI Operating Partners Forum – New York 2022. You can learn about specific ways we equip PE operating professionals with the exact-fit, specialized third parties they need here. If you have an immediate need we can support, contact us here and we will immediately get started.

ESG consultant needed across portfolio

PE founder needs ESG consultant for 3-year plan

A PE firm founder came to us with a critical need for an ESG consultant that could help their firm develop an ESG plan and implement it across their portfolio. Having recently recognized the growing importance of ESG to GPs and LPs, they urgently needed a specialized consultant to help with their planning on how to effectively implement ESG initiatives at both the firm and portco level. The founder wanted a provider who could build out a 3-year ESG implementation plan focused on the most critical aspects of ESG from an LP’s perspective, as well as help them implement practical efforts to integrate ESG into their standard due diligence process. Ultimately, the founder needed a best-in-class ESG consultant who understood their size fund and how LPs looked at them, could build out a strategic plan that the deal team could execute, and support the firm with the timing of the implementation.

BluWave identifies top provider for client’s needs

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade ESG consultant needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of ESG consultants that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted providers from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.

Firm confidently engages provider to begin ESG strategy work

Within 24 hours of the initial scoping call, the PE firm was introduced to three top ESG strategy providers that met their exact criteria. The founder selected their ideal choice. The PE firm was able to confidently engage a top ESG consultant to build out the plan they needed to implement ESG efforts across both the firm and the portfolio.

ACG M&A East 2022 Event Recap

October 25, 2022 Delaney Walker

Our team had the chance to attend and sponsor ACG M&A East 2022 in Philadelphia on October 17th and 18th. At the conference, our founder & CEO, Sean Mooney, had the opportunity to be one of seven speakers to speak on the topic of “Trends and Best Practices in Value Creation”.

In Sean’s presentation, he shared the most recent data in our Value Creation Index and the functional trends we have been seeing within that- specifically within HR, technology, and sales & marketing. The main points he shared from our data were:

  • PE firms and their portcos are focusing on data & analytics to help them become more agile and change with the times.
  • Organizations that traditionally had outside sales are now transitioning to inside sales due to the digital boom.
  • Marketing functions are becoming more crucial than ever.
  • PE firms are bringing in wartime generals in place of peacetime ministers for the new now.

In addition to Sean’s talk, we were able to listen to insights from Dave Helgerson of Hamilton Lane, Dan Kessler of Energage, Justin Kulla of TZP Group, Keith Scandone of O3, Christopher Simmons of LLR Partners, and Laura Queen of 29Bison. The main topics of their discussions were ESG, DEI, talent & culture, and digitization & customer experience. We have shared our key takeaways below:

ESG

  • The ESG mandate from LPs is growing.
  • The 3 key factors to ESG are framework, investment process, and organizational guide.
  • Implementing ESG can be a competitive advantage that allows you to unlock opportunities that no one else sees.

DEI

  • DEI is an ongoing journey, not a destination.
  • DEI is all about problem-solving.

Talent & culture

  • Capturing the voices of employees is soon to be the biggest trend in diligence – unhappy employees without a voice can become the biggest issue post-close.
  • Implementing frameworks to assess and drive culture initiatives is critical.

Digitization & customer experience

  • Customer experience is a journey, not a funnel.
  • Putting your customers at the center of your business model is a constant that will never change.

We greatly enjoyed learning from these thought leaders and connecting with both familiar as well as new faces at ACG M&A East 2022. If you are in need of third-party resources for your ESG, DEI, talent, or digitization needs, give us a shout and we will be happy to quickly hop-to.

Full value creation vitally needed for carveout

Firm needs value creation providers across services

A PE firm came to us with a critical need for multiple value creation providers for a recently acquired manufacturing portco. A new carveout from a large company, the firm needed to engage multiple providers to aid with the carveout process over the next 14 months before the TSA that extended critical services ended. They needed PE-grade providers for IT strategy and implementation, hardware replacement, cybersecurity assessment, an interim CFO role, capacity planning and operations improvement, and procurement & sourcing. Each provider needed to meet a unique set of criteria in order to suit the firms needs for the new carveout.

BluWave indentifies pre-vetted providers for each need

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade carveout needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of providers that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria for each carveout need, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted providers from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit each one.

Firm engages PE-grade providers with exacting expertise

Within 24 hours of the initial scoping call, the PE firm and portfolio company were introduced to the first set of providers they needed that specialized in the manufacturing industry. For each carveout need, we presented select providers, and the client then selected their ideal choice. The PE firm was able to quickly engage a variety of top providers to meet each of their needs and ultimately, ensure a seamless carveout process.

Quality of earnings provider needed for healthcare target

On-site quality of earnings provider needed immediately

A PE firm associate came to us with a critical need for a provider to perform quality of earnings diligence on a target healthcare company. With their go-to providers booked up, they urgently needed a provider with capacity to quickly assess the company’s YTD financial and operating information since the business had recently transformed. Not only did the firm need an immediately available provider, but they were also looking for a provider that could work onsite and that had knowledge of the medical and insurance billing industry.

BluWave has exact-fit provider in network with healthcare background

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade quality of earnings diligence needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of QofE providers that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted quality of earnings diligence providers from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.

Firm engaged provider to move forward with the deal

Within less than 24 hours of the initial scoping call, the PE firm was introduced to an exact-fit, PE-grade quality of earnings provider that was immediately available and specialized in the healthcare industry. The client engaged this provider to begin the following week and the firm was able to confidently assess the target’s financial operations and EBIDTA evaluation thanks to their help.

Interim CFO Crucially Needed for Portco Carveout

Firm needs interim CFO to lead carveout

A principal at a PE firm came to us with a critical need for an interim CFO to lead the carveout of a manufacturing company that they had just signed on. With closing occurring in 60 days and a 12-month TSA that would then begin, the firm urgently needed an interim CFO that could be dedicated to the carveout infrastructure. The firm needed an individual who could perform advanced carveout tasks but was also willing to roll up their sleeves and be hands-on in tasks like setting up the GL architecture. It was critical that the firm found an interim CFO with a deep track record in PE, carveout experience, the ability to be onsite 3 days per week, experience in the manufacturing industry, and functional expertise in a wide variety of financial and accounting areas in order for the carveout to be smoothly executed.

BluWave understands unique need & identifies exact-fit interim CFOs in network

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade carveout-specific interim CFO needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of carveout-focused interim CFOs that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted interim CFOs from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.

Firm engages interim CFO and successfully proceeds with carveout

Within 24 hours of the initial scoping call, the PE firm and portfolio company were introduced to two PE-grade interim CFOs with extensive carveout experience and industry expertise. The client selected their ideal choice. The PE firm was able to confidently and quickly engage the interim CFO and trust them to lead the carveout thanks to them already being BluWave-vetted.

Environmental diligence critically needed for target

Evaluating target company, firm needs environmental diligence provider

A PE firm managing director came to us with a critical need for an environmental diligence provider to assess a target company they had in the manufacturing sector. Having recently signed an LOI, the firm had 60 days to quickly perform extensive diligence on all areas of the aluminum manufacturing company. Given the company’s industry, the firm was specifically interested in performing an environmental assessment and discovering what the findings were. The company had multiple locations, so the firm came to us in urgent need of a PE-grade provider that could conduct diligence across multiple states and that also had experience with this subsect of the manufacturing industry.

BluWave identifies pre-vetted environmental diligence providers from network exact-fit for need

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade environmental needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data, and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of environmental diligence providers that uniquely meet the private equity standard. We interviewed the PE firm to understand their specific key criteria, and then connected the client with the select pre-vetted providers from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exacting needs.

Firm engages exact-fit provider to conduct diligence

Within 24 hours of the initial scoping call, the PE firm was introduced to an exact-fit environmental diligence provider that specialized in environmental inspections in the manufacturing industry. The PE firm engaged the provider and was able to successfully complete their environmental assessment within their timeframe, allowing them to move forward with the deal with a full understanding of the environmental standing of the company.