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May 2022 Roundup: BluWave Client Insights

June 9, 2022 Kyle Johnson

BluWave works with over 500 PE firms from around the globe as well as their portfolio companies and proactive independent companies, connecting them with pre-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 clients’ musings on digital transformation, PE management, human capital, and more.

The continuous digital transformation of our world has completely changed the way consumers interact with retail brands. In this article, Macquarie dives into how new direct-to-consumer strategies are enabling brands to create personalization at scale, fundamentally changing the future experience of e-commerce.

Ever since private equity was “institutionalized” about 40 years ago, this thriving ecosystem has grown from roughly 20 PE firms to over 5,000 in the US alone. New Mountain Capital (NMC) CEO Steve Klinsky shares NMC’s growth story, style, and path to success. Klinsky outlines a $5.7B gain from just one company and a replicable process to create value for both businesses and the economy.

Monomoy Capital Partners investment team members, Matt Farrell (VP) and Charlie Johnson (Associate), sit down to share a little about themselves and what it’s like to be with the organization. This interview shares a peek at their company culture and the investment team.

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In honor of May being mental health awareness month, MiddleGround Capital’s Founding and Managing Partner John Stewart announced their strategic partnership with BetterHelp, the world’s largest therapy service. MiddleGround Capital is working towards ending the stigma surrounding mental health by providing these professional resources to their employees.

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ParkerGale Operating Team Partner, Jimmy Holloran, is joined by Ted Bililies, Managing Director at AlixPartners, on this episode of The Private Equity Funcast to discuss The Great Resignation, the rising prominence of talent recruitment and retention, and more.

Listen to the podcast >>>

Here’s what some of our clients had to say last month about retail industry news, ESG, and CEO perspectives.

BluWave Team Interviews | Connor Mignone, Jr. Data Analyst

June 8, 2022 Delaney Walker

Every organization has its unique data, and we believe it’s what you do with that data that truly gives you a competitive advantage within your respective industry. Each business decision we make is driven by our data, collected from our 500+ PE firm clients. Gaining a birds-eye view of the market allows us to advise our clients on trends, insights, and proactive measures to support mutual success. We recently sat down with Connor Mignone, Junior Data Analyst, to hear a little bit more about his role and why he joined the team.

What made you interested in applying & why did you ultimately decide to join the BluWave team?

I have always been intrigued by the private equity industry and, after doing some research, was really excited about what BluWave was doing, and the direction it is headed. Seeing it was a high growth the company made it even more compelling to join.

What’s your favorite part about the team and culture?

Everyone is super friendly, there’s great communication among coworkers. It’s truly a supportive and positive environment.

What excites you most about the future of BluWave?

After hearing Sean, our Founder and CEO, talk about his plan and vision for BluWave’s future, I knew I wanted to help and use what I knew about data, models, and machine learning to help the company grow.

From a data perspective, BluWave is phenomenal with a large, clean data set, which puts us in a position to grow unburdened by common scaling challenges. BluWave has an exciting future with a lot of opportunity for machine learning.

Out of the BluWave Values of “Team, Value, Grow, Win”, what is an example of how you have seen these values play out in your time here?

BluWave’s growth plays the biggest role in my day-to-day. The pace at which we plan, implement, then plan to scale dashboards and other data visualizations, is unmatched.

What’s your background?

I received my Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics with a specialization in Actuarial Science from Central Connecticut State University, and most recently graduated with my Masters of Science from Vanderbilt’s Data Science program.

What has been your favorite part of your onboarding experience?

I feel very fortunate to have been able to work part-time at BluWave while I got my graduate degree. Management was more than accommodating. I thought the pace at which I was adjusted into the company was optimal.

The team-building activities like curling have also been super fun!

What’s your favorite part of the job and what do you find most rewarding about it?

The pace and variety. I get bored easily and love having things to do. Data is cross-departmental so one hour I might be working with marketing, the next might be with operations.

The most rewarding part of my job is receiving feedback. Whether it be positive or constructive criticism, it feels good to know my contributions are an important part of the company that the managers use to make decisions.

Now for the fun stuff, what are your favorite hobbies/activities outside of work?

I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Nashville MMA. It’s a great workout and it quenches my competitive streak from being an ex-student-athlete. I try to go 5-6 days a week.

Favorite Nashville restaurant?

Sperry’s in Belle Meade

Favorite podcast?

The Lex Fridman Podcast

If you’re interested in joining the BluWave team, be sure to check out our open positions.

Women in PE Forum Recap | May 2022

June 1, 2022 Kyle Johnson

Every quarter we gather leading women in PE to discuss current industry topics and to offer intelligent women the chance to gather, share information, and decompress with one another. In our most recent event, we gathered to discuss the trending topics of how inflation is impacting the investment life cycle, ESG, and what the future of work looks like in PE. We have shared the themes we heard discussed across different areas below.

These forums are invite-only and follow Chatham House Rules, so listed below are high-level takeaways only. Are you a woman in private equity and interested in joining fellow leading PE professionals during our next Women in PE Forum?  Register for our upcoming Women in PE Forum here.

Inflation: Inflation is impacting every point in the investment lifecycle from capital deployment to portfolio company bottom lines.

Deal Flow: From a deal flow perspective, higher interest rates will rebalance how investors think of risk/reward, but there is still $2 trillion of dry powder waiting to be deployed. Valuations are beginning to come down on the public market side, but it may be months (or years) before valuations come down on the private side. In an era of inflation, generating top-tier returns will take old-school value creation to improve a company’s ability to generate profit.
Portco: From a portfolio company perspective, inflation is impacting labor, commodity prices, and transportation costs. To reduce labor inflationary pressure, double down on culture, embrace tiered comp structures, and lean into automation. To fight back against commodity price increases, consider multi-sourcing, supplier negotiation, and increase prices where necessary. To address transportation/supply chain issues, consider on-shoring or near-shoring to start to balance sourcing.

ESG: Expectations on ESG are continuing to evolve, shifting from a “nice to have” to a “must have.” ESG has climbed into BluWave’s top 10 use cases on both diligence and value creation in the BluWave Activity Index. LPs are now expecting firms to collect ESG data, report on it, and make meaningful progress over time. Firms are baking ESG into value creation planning and creating thorough checklists that apply to the full portfolio.

Future of Work: COVID has disrupted all dimensions of work, from the work itself, to the worker, to the workplace. Employees are now expecting remote/hybrid work. The role of the office will continue to evolve and move towards a hub for creativity, social interactions, and building culture. The work itself is also changing – more portcos are leaning into technology and automation.

We thoroughly enjoyed getting to gather with other leading women in PE to discuss these trending topics. If we can be of help with any of the above, we’d be happy to quickly connect you to the exact-fit, PE-grade, third-party resources you need.

Interested in learning more about BluWave? Check out our Introduction to BluWave video to learn more about us and how we can help you. If you have an immediate need, contact us here or use the start a project button above – we’ll be happy to help you right away.

BluWave Team Interviews | Justin Scott, Controller

May 17, 2022 Delaney Walker

The controller is an integral role in any organization. From optimizing accounting processes to strategic analysis of current processes to compliance, Justin Scott leads BluWave’s finance and accounting operations as Controller. We recently sat down with him to hear a little bit more about his role and why he joined the team.

How did you hear about BluWave and what made you interested in applying & then joining the team?

I first heard about BluWave through a recruiter and I agreed to allow them to submit my name based on the rapid growth of the company and the culture that was described.

What’s your favorite part about the team and culture?

The camaraderie and team effort to achieve goals was what sold me on accepting the offer, and seeing it happen every day is incredible.

Out of the BluWave Values of “Team, Value, Grow, Win”, what is an example of how you have seen these values play out in your time here?

The morning check-ins are a perfect example of true teamwork. When discussing opportunities, I often hear knowledge share, and folks offering to pitch in and help wherever they are needed.

What’s your background?

I’ve been in finance leadership for more than 20 years.

What’s your favorite part of the job and what do you find most rewarding about it?

My favorite part is organizing business processes, and adjusting the cadence for efficiency.

The most rewarding part of my job is helping others identify and achieve their career goals.

Now for the fun stuff, what are your favorite hobbies and activities when you aren’t in the office?

I enjoy reading, pencil drawing, and video games.

Favorite Nashville restaurant?

Monell’s at the Manor for breakfast!

Go-to vacation spot?

Las Vegas.

If you’re interested in joining the BluWave team, be sure to check out our open positions.

April 2022 Roundup: BluWave Client Insights

May 3, 2022 Kyle Johnson

Check out the latest, curated collection of our clients’ musings on everything from retail industry news to ESG and CEO perspectives.

Blackstone recently gathered CEOs across their portfolio companies for their annual CEO Conference. While we live in a world where it’s rare for anyone, nonetheless decision-makers, to agree on political or major topics as well as growth and business strategies, here are some key insights that brought the group together. Highlights include recruiting and retaining talent, finding success in simplicity, and keeping ESG at the top of their agendas.

Vice President at Baird Capital, Becca Schlagenhauf, dives into root causes of grid instability and how the growth in demand can lead to growth in distributed energy resources. The movement towards green energy still comes with its own sets of challenges associated with cost and reliability. As new technologies are being brought online, this has created solutions that are going to be vital to the global electricity infrastructure moving forward.

Learn about Heartwood Partners’ continual increased interest in different recycling and environmental services businesses and about their notion to “do well by doing good.” Their ultimate interests lie in the recyclability of finished products after they have been used by end-customers. Opportunistic themes and strategies involve packaging, agriculture, consumers, and more.

MiddleGround Capital Founding Partner, John Stewart, spills his secrets on how their operational focus enabled their companies to build resilience prior to and during the pandemic. Due to the pent-up demand from 2020 in manufacturing and industrials, Stewart highlights the opportunities for American workers as manufacturing wages are spiking. With the industry being under-invested as a whole for the past few decades, the opportunities for business to take advantage in technologies to produce more products is unmatched.

Here’s what some of our clients had to say last month on cybersecurity, inflation to sales, and more.