PE Firms Archives - Page 39 of 43

Private Equity Human Capital Executive Forum Event Recap

May 8, 2021 Kyle Johnson

Every quarter we gather top human capital executives across leading private equity funds to discuss key topics that are top of mind. In our most recent event, we covered many topics. Below are our top takeaways.

These events are invite-only and follow Chatham House Rules, so this only touches on our high-level learnings. If you are interested in joining our next event, please contact us at events@bluwave.net.

Return to Office: Though there was variance as to private equity funds approach how/if they will return to the office, Labor Day seems to be the flashpoint when most will begin their version of the “new normal.” In the meantime, office attendance seems to be voluntary, sometimes encouraged.

Some firms are using prolonged location flexibility as a recruiting tool for more junior employees, and others are trying a hybrid model, (all-firm Mondays, Deal Team A Tuesdays) to take advantage of the “organized serendipity” aspects of being physically in the same space.
Individuals are encouraged to share their “vaccine plan” but are generally not required to have it.
Questions arose around the attraction and retention of junior talent who prefer a flexible location plan—and how this may balance with the individual competitiveness in employees wanting to gain an advantage by being in person or preference with facetime.

Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion: Most firms are applying a more holistic approach when considering the diversity within the firm and portco structures, and some sort of diversity diligence and board reporting seems broadly applied.

Many firms are partnering with specialized recruiters or diversity-focused associations to maintain a diverse junior candidate pipeline.
To maintain a healthy pipeline of all junior candidates, some firms have introduced internship programs, or have made offers to investment banking candidates earlier in their careers.
A number of firms discussed using emerging public company standards for their portco boards.

Future of Work: There is broad acceptance that some things will likely remain different for the foreseeable future- either from a location flexibility perspective or a difference in frequency of business travel.

Firms are re-thinking what is required to be done in person (and in-office) and what can be done remotely in order to maximize time together.
Business travel will likely be less frequent in the near term (i.e. dial into the monthly board check-in) but more concentrated and purposeful when it happens (i.e. the portco visit will be bi-annually and will be an intense 3 days of plant tours and management meetings). Some firms are limiting travel to more senior individuals so as to reduce juniors’ time away from other essential tasks.
Many firms have targeted and continue to hone all employees’ digital acumen to optimize communication and collaboration across people and teams, regardless of whether they are in-person or virtual.
Virtual work has prompted a focus on the importance of personality assessment tools (like Hogan) to help team members understand each other better and to accelerate remote relationship building.

HR & talent are a key area of focus for us and our clients. In fact, in our Q1 2021 quarterly insights report, we found HR and talent remain private equity’s top area of focus, accounting for nearly 39% of all due diligence and value creation initiatives by PE in Q1 2021. Activity levels in HR and talent continue to grow over time, comparatively accounting for 32% of projects in Q1 2020 and 25% of projects in Q1 2019. Within this category, we are seeing significant investments by PE in ESG and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives.

You can find an overview of our quarterly findings here. To view the full deck, which includes detailed projects by functional area, as well as league tables, reach out to us at info@bluwave.net. A team member would be happy to share our full findings with you and tailor our insights to be most relevant to you and your fund.

April 2021 Roundup: BluWave Private Equity Client Insights

May 3, 2021 Kyle Johnson

BluWave works with over 500 private equity funds from around the globe, connecting them with pre-vetted, best-in-class, interim executives and small groups across a variety of resource and functional areas. From information technology and manufacturing to healthcare and consumer goods, our clients are paving the way for “Industry 4.0.” In other words, they have their heads in the game and their hands on the pulse of news you can use.

Check out the latest, curated collection of reports, insights, and musings from a handful of our PE funds…

In this podcast episode from ParkerGale’s “Private Equity Funcast,” Partner Jim Milbury is joined by Ted Bililies, Managing Partner at AlixPartners, to share the results of the Sixth Annual Private Equity Leadership Survey. The pair discuss value creation, human capital, due diligence, and leadership in the wake of a tumultuous year.

“Change and complexity can provide for significant opportunities for leading software vendors.” In this deep dive case study, TCV examines how AxiomSL, a leading provider of cloud-enabled software for governance, risk, and compliance regulatory reporting solutions to the financial services industry, found growth in the global financial crisis. Their secret? Adapt quickly and focus on talent strategy.

“While you might think you’ve picked a great time to launch your fundraising, it’s not so easy to sync up your timing with prospective LPs’ forward calendars.” In this deeply retrospective blog post, partners at Parker Gale revisit their lessons learned from their experience raising their first fund. Plus, they share insight into the landing and maintaining relationships with Limited Partners.

This one is a throwback! This time last year, MiddleGround Capital published their manufacturing-focused webinar to help companies understand how PE can help support infrastructure. In the video, MiddleGround partners John Stewart and Scot Duncan are joined by Thomas and Industrial Exchange to discuss what private equity is and how it can work with manufacturing companies and we press on through the coronavirus pandemic.

You can also find last month’s roundup here.

BluWave’s Proprietary Insights Report Shows Private Equity Industry Making Significant Investments In Growth And Development

April 29, 2021 Kyle Johnson

Private equity Intelligent Network finds 70% of PE activity was focused on value creation initiatives during the first quarter of 2021

NASHVILLE — BluWave, a private equity-focused Intelligent Network, today released new data on how private equity funds and their portfolio companies are allocating resources as the economy turns a corner. The results of the report demonstrate that during Q1 2021 the majority of company leaders prioritized investing in growth and people-oriented specialized groups that could accelerate performance during the economic recovery underway. Value creation activities have increased from 56 percent in Q4 2020 to 70 percent in Q1 2021.

“While the economy seems to be moving in a positive, steady direction, not all companies are recovering at the same rate,” says BluWave founder and CEO, Sean Mooney. “We are seeing the private equity industry making investments to ensure the rising tide is lifting all boats.”

BluWave’s proprietary insights report includes data from thousands of projects initiated by the PE industry. Key findings include:

HR and talent remain private equity’s top area of focus, accounting for nearly 39% of all due diligence and value creation initiatives by PE in Q1 2021. Activity levels in HR and talent continue to grow over time, comparatively accounting for 32% of projects in Q1 2020 and 25% of projects in Q1 2019. Within this category, we are seeing significant investments by PE in ESG and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives.
Market strategy advisory was PE’s top activity in due diligence during Q1 2021, accounting for nearly 38% of projects. This compares to 24% of activity in Q4 2020. Market strategy advisory is a common, time-tested practice in the PE industry, leveraging insights to inform growth opportunities for new investments. This shift in Q1 2021 signals significant and growing investment activity by private equity across the U.S. and global economies.
HR and talent accounted for nearly 45% of PE value creation activities during Q1 2021. This compares to 40% in Q1 2020 and 30% in Q1 2019. The PE industry is taking broad action to bring in people with the right skills to grow and develop companies as Covid begins to recede in the U.S. and a new normal is emerging. BluWave is also seeing strong ongoing investments in operations, sales and marketing, and technology capabilities for portfolio companies.

Adds Katie Marchetti, managing director of BluWave: “We anticipate continued strong investments in value creation in 2021 and are seeing a surge of new investment activities underway as a significant number of business owners seek capital from the private equity industry.”

How to Build A Resilient Company in Changing Times

April 21, 2021 Sean Mooney

Do you have a resilient company? Does it navigate shifting tides easily, or do your leaders and teams struggle with every minor disruption? What makes certain people better equipped to roll with the punches?

According to bestselling author and ADP Researcher Marcus Buckingham: “people don’t fear change, they fear the unknown.” To use a timely example, if your company is attempting to rush back to “normal” (going into a physical office, business travel, etc.) he suggests having a concrete plan that offers visibility to senior leadership and their teams as to exactly what this will look like.

Simply put, it’s not enough to send a company-wide email that says: “Okay folks, starting Monday, business as usual!”

Furthermore, according to his recent study on building resilient teams: Only 17% of the workforce feels “highly resilient.” Clearly, company leaders across business types, industries, and geographies have a tremendous amount of work to do in the area of building a resilient company.

Another interesting finding of note is the correlation between experiencing constant change and resilience. The data show that workers who experience five or more changes at work are 13.2x more likely to be resilient.

To help make the findings actionable, Buckingham breaks down the workforce into three categories: (1) senior leaders, (2) team leaders, and (3) self. For each bucket, he offers tips for how to help build resilience more effectively, based on questions posed to each group. These include things like vivid foresight and visible follow-through; anticipatory communication and psychological safety; and a sense of agency along with doing work we love.

If you’re a company leader, I highly recommend checking out the full study, or his related article What Really Makes Us Resilient in Harvard Business Review. (Bonus: Take his “Gift of Standout” assessment for free here.)

Interview With Forrester’s CMO Executive Partner Sheryl Pattek

April 15, 2021 Kyle Johnson

As Forrester’s Executive Partner serving CMOs and Chief Experience Officers, partner, Sheryl Pattek regularly works with senior-level marketing executives to advance their major initiatives, with a special focus on creating customer-obsessed strategies that drive business growth. She has been named “CMO Whisperer” and “One of 18 People in Marketing You May Not Know, but Should,” as well as “one of the thirty most influential women in marketing technology.” Prior to joining Forrester, Sheryl spent over 30 years leading global marketing organizations for both Fortune 500 and early-stage companies in the logistics, transportation, software, software-as-a-service (SaaS), technology, and telecommunications industries.

Are you impressed yet?

Candidly, as a career marketer, she is both inspirational and intimidating at the same time; but gratefully acknowledges she is continually learning and transforming just like the rest of us. When I requested an interview recently, she graciously accepted and dropped knowledge in areas ranging from how to measure marketing success to why interim CMOs are more important now than ever.

Kyle Johnson: Why is due diligence in digital marketing important?

Sheryl Pattek: When you are doing M&A it is imperative to dig in to see what is really there, versus what you are being told on the surface. As today’s consumers and business buyers prefer to engage in digital channels, it is important to understand the tech stack and get a picture of what products are currently used to manage overall customer engagement. It’s also extremely important to know what the data looks like (is it “clean” data or does it need extrapolation) and who owns the data. To create a connected customer experience in today’s digital environment both a strong tech stack and robust data are critical. Customers will accelerate decision-making if they have a good experience, and if not they will “vote with their feet” (and go right out the door) as the saying goes. So, digging into both areas to ensure they are solid is vital to achieving the value a specific M&A is looking for.

KJ: How do you measure the ability of a company’s marketing function?

SP: In terms of its ability to drive growth, the first thing I look at is the business plan and the marketing plan to determine if they are aligned. In a B2B environment, marketing is seen as a driver of growth, owning part of the pipeline and new customer acquisition, in addition, to cross-sell and upsell opportunities. So, alignment between the business and marketing plan ensures that the marketing team will deliver or exceed expectations. Next, I look at the KPIs to see if they map to business outcomes: I want to know the length of time it takes for a customer to make a buying decision, how many “touches” until someone buys, what the ROI looks like, and if they are doing attribution in a way that is actionable. Once I understand the baseline, I try to assess whether or not the existing marketing team has the core capabilities in place to implement go-to-market plans, customer acquisition strategies, or continuous improvement processes. Beyond that, do they have the ability to make data-based decisions and a 360-degree understanding of their customer base.

KJ: Is interim/fractional CMO a thing? Are you seeing this trend post-Covid?

SP: It is definitely a thing and a model that is growing quickly for several reasons. For midsize companies, the interim model is an efficient way of covering a tremendous amount of ground in a short period of time. Typically, as you likely know, it takes at least four to five months to find a full-time marketing executive. Then, once they are on-boarded, understand the business, and start having an impact, you are talking at least six to nine months. Even then, you don’t really know if you have the right fit.

The fractional model allows you to hit the ground running with very specific deliverables in a short period of time. It enables you to then iterate quickly. If you are midsize to a smaller company, you may have a marketing organization of doers in place. An interim CMO can quickly provide strategy and some leadership to kickstart results and accelerate growth. Then, you’d have the flexibility to bring in a fractional CMO episodically, as needed.

KJ: Any insight for hiring a fractional CMO?

SP: If you’re a CEO looking for interim talent, my number one suggestion is to not do it on your own. By tapping into experienced, robust networks, you can find a resource that fits culturally, skills-wise, industry knowledge-wise, and many times even geographically. The typical CEO is not going to have a deep well of interim experts at their disposal.

KJ: What is marketing’s role in creating value for a company?

SP: First and foremost, building and driving a growth engine. Second, bringing customer understanding to the c-suite so decisions are made from the outside in. Third, typically marketing is thought of as owning the company brand. But I prefer to think about the value marketing creates as going beyond just the brand. It’s marketing’s role to link together the brand’s value, the customer’s experience, and employee’s experience to provide the necessary underpinnings of the growth engine.

KJ: Last but not least, what is one marketing trend you’re seeing emerge in 2021.

SM: There are quite a few, but the one companies need to adjust for now is related to data privacy and the changes being made with regard to third-party cookies. These sweeping changes underscore the importance of first-party data. In short, companies who own their own data will win.

Why Diversity is Key to Productivity and Innovation

April 6, 2021 Katie Marchetti

BluWave has worked with hundreds of companies across a variety of industries ranging from manufacturing and consumer goods to information technology and healthcare. Despite the differences that exist between them, one thing remains constant: for today’s companies, innovation and diversity are inseparable. There is no bigger obstacle to the introduction and refinement of new ideas than groupthink, which is why the most creative companies are the ones that encourage robust discussion and debate from multiple perspectives. Diversity is not just a matter of recruiting employees with different backgrounds – it is an ethos that your company should seek to cultivate at every level.

How Diversity Can Be An Engine Of Productivity

Diversity is not just a goal companies should pursue for its own sake – it is a way to pressure test ideas and come up with novel and effective solutions to problems. This is why it should come as no surprise that diverse and inclusive work environments often lead to higher performance. For example, a 2018 Boston Consulting Group study found that “increasing the diversity of leadership teams leads to more and better innovation and improved financial performance.” Meanwhile, according to Deloitte, companies with inclusive cultures are twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets.

Certain forms of diversity can lead to a reduction in negative outcomes for companies as well – a report from MSCI ESG Research found “fewer instances of governance-related controversies such as cases of bribery, corruption, fraud and shareholder battles” with boards that included women. However, while eliminating bias and increasing representation are essential to the health of a company, these are ways to address a more fundamental issue: diversity of thought.

When companies prioritize diversity of thought, they do not just become more innovative – they are also better able to identify and hedge against risk. Companies that value diversity of thought have access to a broader range of viewpoints and insights, and they make employees feel like stakeholders whose contributions are welcomed and appreciated. In turn, these employees are empowered to offer their perspectives without reservation and speak freely to managers about problems that need to be addressed.

Challenges To Diversity & Inclusion

A commitment to diversity and inclusion begins with equitable hiring practices, but this is an area that has always been rife with bias and discrimination. For example, studies in Sex Roles and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences have found that female, black, and LatinX candidates were viewed as less competent and hirable than their peers. There is also evidence that women think they need to be more qualified than men do when applying for the same positions.

There are many ways to address these inequities in the hiring process. First, determine exactly what you are looking for in a candidate and consistently measure potential hires against a specific set of criteria. This can reduce the bias associated with subjective in-person interviews and identify a larger pool of qualified applicants. Second, develop lists of pre-vetted candidates (this is what BluWave provides to our clients) so you know everyone under consideration already meets your requirements, regardless of race, gender, etc. And third, consider hiring employees on a project-to-project basis (what I call the agile workforce). This will naturally bring a broader range of perspectives to the company because it means new employees are being hired on a regular basis.

Diversity in all its forms is becoming a top priority for companies in many different industries. To compete, the first step is building your hiring strategy around the discovery and recruitment of candidates who meet your needs and bring unique skills and experience to the table.

Promoting Diversity In All Its Forms

Companies are increasingly prioritizing diversity across a broad range of categories. As we discussed above, this does not just mean increasing demographic representation – it also means creating an inclusive culture that facilitates open dialogue and cooperation at every level of the company. Real diversity and inclusion require companies to listen to employees, take their contributions seriously, and amplify the widest range of voices possible. There are many forms of diversity – from racial to geographic to socioeconomic – and companies should celebrate and learn from all of them.

According to Gallup, one of the reasons one-third of employees feel disengaged at work is the perception that their viewpoints and concerns are not taken seriously. The survey found that just 30 percent of American employees strongly agree that their opinions seem to count at work. This should be a disconcerting fact to any company that values the diversity of thought – the majority of employees feel like their contributions are being dismissed, which will make them less inclined to offer suggestions and point out problems when they arise.

This is the opposite of inclusion, but companies can change course by actively seeking feedback via the voice of the employee platforms (which can highlight instances of bias or discrimination), encouraging managers to be receptive to all points of view, and breaking down silos that can separate departments and teams from one another.

Diversity is a word that pops up on corporate websites and in training handbooks often, but company leaders often have a superficial commitment to making their workplaces more diverse. But this status quo is rapidly changing as companies increasingly recognize that an emphasis on diversity does not just make the world a fairer place – it also leads to happier, more innovative, and more productive workforces that will have a greater economic impact.

The original version of this article appeared in People Talk.

March 2021 Roundup: BluWave Client Insights

April 1, 2021 Kyle Johnson

BluWave works with over 500 PE funds from around the globe, connecting them with pre-vetted, best-in-class, interim executives and small groups across a variety of resource and functional areas. From information technology and manufacturing to healthcare and consumer goods, our clients are paving the way for “Industry 4.0.” In other words, they have their heads in the game and their hands on the pulse of news you can use.

Check out the latest, curated collection of reports, insights, and musings from a handful of our PE funds…

Demand is increasing for automation technology solutions in warehouses and distribution points. Baird lays out “a set of advanced, fully integrated solutions that deploy differentiated technology to support supply chain executives as they tackle these challenges.” These include warehouse management software, machine-to-machine technology, real-time tracking, robotics, and interoperability. Despite progress made in this area, “there is still much work to be done in the face of accelerating demand drivers.”

As the global economy recovers from the 2020 fluctuations, Heartwood Partners lays out key areas that they observed successfully generated value “within our investments in addition to the straightforward improvement of growing sales and profitability.” Among the list are: broadening or adding key functional management, reducing concentrations, enhancing throughput and capacity, improving customer service, upgrading IT systems, and developing succession plans.

“While you might think you’ve picked a great time to launch your fundraising, it’s not so easy to sync up your timing with prospective LPs’ forward calendars.” In this deeply retrospective blog post, partners at Parker Gale revisit their lessons learned from their experience raising their first fund. Plus, they share insight into landing and maintaining relationships with Limited Partners.

We can learn a lot by watching the failures and successes of some of the world’s most profitable companies. Netflix is one such example. In this case study analysis, TCV examines the journey of the company from its origination to its recapitalization to its current value. As TCV puts it, Netlix’s “drive to market leadership includes plot twists and cliffhangers as surprising as those in the company’s original films and TV shows.”

Q1 2021 Private Equity Insights Overview

April 1, 2021 Kyle Johnson

Working with over 500 of the world’s top private equity firms gives us insight into what the industry is focusing on. Every quarter our team analyzes the projects we work on with our PE fund clients to get a bird’s eye view of the market. We analyze behaviors across the large variety of clients that we work with on a daily basis and synthesize the data into a comprehensive private equity industry report. You can access the valuable data in this report such as the following:

If you would like to get a copy of the report, reach out directly to your BluWave contact or our team at insights@bluewave.net and we’ll be happy to assist.

Elements of Value Scorecard Revealed

March 24, 2021 Kyle Johnson

What makes a what are the elements of value for a company?

Its people? Definitely.

Its products? Absolutely.

Its patents? Very likely.

But these are the obvious, high-level answers for anyone with a rudimentary understanding of how business (and the economy) works. But it’s the more nuanced elements of value that can make or break a company, particularly during vulnerable times—like an economic downturn or a barrage of new market entrants.

Whether your company is investor-backed, customer-supported, or a combination of both, investors have a significant amount of knowledge about the core elements of value for any business beyond the usual suspects. In part, this is because they are in the “business of growth”—and growth only happens when the products and services being sold have value and can hold value in their specific market.

In a recent CEOWORLD Magazine article, our founder and CEO Sean Mooney offered eight core elements of value that any company can benefit from when prioritized, based on his 20-plus years of experience in private equity. How does your company measure up?

Based on his experience, both from the investor and company founder side, he notes: “By taking the perspective of outside investors, business leaders will identify more opportunities, reduce the risk profile of their company, and drive accelerated value creation over time.”

Check out the full article in CEOWORLD Magazine for details on each core element of value.

Private Equity Interview with MiddleGround Capital founder Lauren Mulholland

March 18, 2021 Sean Mooney

What happens when a former New York investment banker and mother of two young children (with a third not far behind) decides to take a “measured risk?” First, she teams up with long-time colleagues John Stewart (no, not this one, this one) and Scot Duncan in Lexington, Kentucky; next, together they decide to build a franchise focused squarely on the middle market; and, certainly not last, in under three years they grow their private equity firm to a team of nearly 40 individuals, raise capital for three funds, and invest in ten companies within the industrial and manufacturing space. Mission accomplished? Hardly. She’s just getting started.

This is all in a day’s work for Lauren Mulholland, founding partner of MiddleGround Capital. Speaking with her was not only enlightening but inspiring, as she and her team have opened the aperture on what’s possible for private equity investment for the “missing middle.”

Katie Marchetti: What was the genesis of MiddleGround Capital, and what circumstances led you to that choice?

Lauren Mulholland: For me personally, it was an opportunity to be a leader of an organization from day one, and to build a team and culture I could be truly excited about—along with partners committed to a common vision. Scot, John, and I had all worked together for nine years and have complementary skill sets, so I had confidence in our collective ability to execute against our plan. Together we had experience across all aspects of the business: sourcing, execution, back office management, and portfolio operations.

In terms of the firm’s vision, we wanted to build a specialized franchise for the middle market. Most private equity firms start in the lower middle market and then move up-market as they raise bigger and bigger funds. But we are taking a different approach and have committed to our investors to keep our first three flagship funds under $700M. This allows us to stay focused on the middle market, where we see substantial opportunities to acquire privately-held businesses ripe for operational improvement

KM: I like to ask this question because it seems like a good way to understand someone’s thinking in short order. So, as an homage to Hemingway, what is your “six-word story”?

LM: Measure risk, but take your opportunities.

KM: What was the most challenging aspect of raising your first fund and getting those first three portfolio companies?

LM: Getting our first institutional investor was a huge milestone, but we closed three deals before we held a final close on the fund, and this fast-tracked the entire process. The more challenging part was wearing multiple hats at any given time and figuring how to be the most effective. One hour I would be focused on sourcing, the next hour fundraising, the next diligence—plus I was hiring people and constantly acquiring more office space, and this is an entirely different aspect of the business.

KM: Speaking of hiring, do you have a professional guiding mantra or principle for “why” you make the choices you do?

LM: I try to hire people that are smarter than I am but also have the right worth ethic. We seek out individuals who are proactive and entrepreneurial but have mastered certain skills. At the end of the day, we are a services firm in service to our Limited Partners, so it’s all about the “right fit” people.

KM: What is technology’s role in what you do, and for the future of PE in general?

LM: Having access to data is extremely important and gives us an edge, and I see this “data first” mindset being adopted industry-wide. As an example, we work with third parties to obtain data to help us prioritize our sourcing initiatives and optimize where we are spending our time. We have also invested in building out a dashboard using Microsoft BI, so we have comparable analytics on all of our portfolio companies available at our fingertips, enabling us to spot trends quicker and make better decisions. For our portcos specifically, we focus on upgrading them along the tech continuum, including helping them understand and embrace automation as the manufacturing industry goes through a transformational shift.

KM: Third-party resources are a substantial part of what you offer your portcos. Any best practices for how to source and engage with third-parties so everyone wins?

LM: We try to engage with key providers for each specific work area. In other words, “right fit experts” who have deep knowledge and functional expertise in a particular resource area. Beyond that, third-party service providers are an extension of our firm, so they have to be willing to understand our approach and our culture. This is where a firm like yours has been valuable, because, much like our approach, you have data that can easily map resources to our specific needs and even geographical areas. Finding these third–parties quickly is also extremely important.

KM: In ten years, where do you see the private equity industry? What has changed, for better or worse?

LM: I think private equity’s reputation needs to change, particularly with an increasing emphasis on ESG that many firms are putting in place. PE has historically been known as a white man’s world that utilizes high leverage to financially engineer a return and doesn’t invest in its companies or people. That story and reputation is an outdated perspective, and while convenient for media narratives and PE detractors, is not the reality.

At MiddleGround, we are working on a project right now to highlight change agents in the industry and bring to life some stories that talk about diversity, sector expertise, investing in businesses, growing jobs, and ESG efforts. My hope is that, as a community, the firms and professionals who share these shifting perspectives will come together and invest in redefining the brand of private equity. After all, if we expect our portfolio companies to continuously invest in themselves and their markets, we must be willing to do the same.

Head of Sales Needed To Drive Value at Portco

PE firm urgently needs Head of Sales as portco grows

A private equity firm and portco CEO came to us with a critical need for a Head of Sales for their healthcare logistics company. Since the acquisition, the portfolio company had been growing rapidly and they needed to bring in a sales leader that could forge the way for the company to expand into new markets. With a lean sales team, they knew filling the vacant role was a top priority. They urgently needed a PE-grade sales leader who was a strategic thinker and strong seller while having a proven track record of building and leading sales organizations in high-growth, healthcare companies.

BluWave identifies top providers for firm’s needs

Leveraging our founder’s 20 years in private equity, we have extensive frameworks for assessing PE-grade sales executive needs. BluWave utilizes technology, data and human ingenuity to pre-map, assess, monitor, and maintain deep pools of the select executive sales recruitment 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 from our invitation-only Intelligent Network that fit their exact needs.

Firm selects ideal recruiting firm to find candidates

Within 24 hours of the initial scoping call, the PE firm and portfolio company were introduced to two PE-grade executive recruiting firms that specialized in senior sales roles in the healthcare space. The client selected their ideal choice. The PE firm was able to confidently engage the recruiting firm who quickly provided them with the exact-fit sales leader they needed, allowing the fund and portco to drive an excellent outcome without wasting time or cost.

The 5 Key Ingredients To Building A Thriving Business

March 11, 2021 Sean Mooney

During my 20 years in private equity in New York, I learned quite a few lessons about what makes a thriving business and its people tick — for better or for worse. Some are driven by dollars and cents; some are motivated by a people-first philosophy that puts human beings at the center of decision-making. Many fall somewhere in between.

When I decided to spin out of the private equity world and start a company, I quickly realized how important it was to articulate my own philosophy. Otherwise, how could I lead others in any direction with a clear purpose?

Fortunately, my entrepreneurial craze turned out to be the right move, and four years later — with patience, grit, and an amazing team — we’ve exponentially grown and now serve more than 500 of the world’s top private equity firms. I believe this is in part due to a handful of “ingredients” — all of which reinforce one another and somehow ensure that we are getting back what we put in. Follow this recipe and your business will likely be the better for it:

Ingredient No. 1: Do good with good.

This is probably about as simple as it gets. I call it the “Karma School of Business”: Do good things with and for good people, and the world tends to take care of itself. It’s not necessarily the fastest path to Rome, but in my experience, this approach yields the highest percentage chance of long-term success.

The Karma School of Business principle is at the center of my company’s work, where we connect business leaders with service providers to help create a successful environment for both parties. We actively test the service providers we invite into our network for this mindset, and I consider it one of the key reasons why we have grown so quickly.

Ingredient No. 2: Work and learn hard.

Secretary Colin Powell said it well: “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” I built my career in an industry filled with many of the smartest people in the world. I most definitely was not the smartest person in most of the rooms I shared with peers. The thing that differentiated me was that I worked exceptionally hard, asked lots of questions, and sought answers from those who had already figured out the thing I needed to know.

The lesson here: Don’t recreate the wheel. Instead, ask a lot of questions, take time to learn how things operate, and then work tenaciously to make it happen.

Ingredient No. 3: Use the word ‘no.’

In our business, it’s our job to connect private equity firms with specialized third parties (e.g., boutique advisors, independent consultants, interim executives, etc.). If a resource isn’t the perfect fit, we tell them. “No” is always the best answer.

This is often hard to do, particularly if you think someone is otherwise smart, effective, and likable. But this doesn’t always mean they are the right person for the job. The trick is learning to say “No” in a self-aware and gracious way. I take a lot of time to explain how life is too short to put yourself in a bad position. To throw another quote in the mix, according to Warren Buffet, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Your customers will thank you for saying “No” when it’s not the right situation and will remember you when it is.

The caveat to this ingredient: Do not be anti-everything. “No” can be the easiest thing in the world to say. But if you’re not being thoughtful, you can become paralyzed in the face of otherwise confidently manageable risk. Good people know the difference between an errant “no” and one that is applied with introspection and purpose.

Ingredient No. 4: Prioritize growth.

Whether you’re committed to personal growth or the growth of the business, this ingredient is vital to the health and longevity of any thriving business. The ability to learn, be agile, and always on your toes is often the difference between success and failure.

My dad had many wise sayings when I was a kid. One relevant one that comes to mind is, “The second you start to feel like you’ve figured the world out, you’re already falling behind.” Investing time and energy into constantly advancing knowledge and skills (for yourself, your employees, and your customers) will benefit you and your business in spades.

Word to the wise: Growth-oriented organizations are far more likely to retain their best employees. Your best people will eventually leave if they feel bored or stagnant.

Ingredient No. 5: Adopt a winning mindset.

When push comes to shove, at the end of the day, ingredients one through four are foundational for success. However, you still need to have a winning mindset to create a thriving business that matters. It’s imperative that you work to win for your customers, win for your stakeholders and win for your company and yourself.

To be clear, I’m not talking about a “winner takes all” mentality, where someone else is always losing. Healthy relationships are not transactional. They should be built around core commitments that are important and lead to the success of both parties.

A winning mindset means that you’re always looking for ways to ensure that both you and your peers end up ahead.

The 5 Key Ingredients To Building A Thriving Business originally appeared on Forbes.com.