August 4, 2025 • 38 mins
Jessica Porter shares her path from Executive Assistant to Executive Business Partner and acting Chief of Staff, working in both venture capital and private equity-backed companies. She talks about managing KPIs, handling turnarounds, being a conduit between PE firms and leadership teams, and leveraging AI to solve business problems. Jessica also highlights the importance of understanding investment theses, using storytelling in board meetings, and joining professional organizations like the Chief of Staff Association for support and growth.
Free Resources:
- Strategic Planning Checklist
- Chief of Staff Skills Assessment Checklist
- A Day in the Life of a Chief of Staff
- Chief of Staff Toolkit
Get in Touch With Emily:
- Connect on LinkedIn
- Follow on YouTube
- Learn more about coaching
- Sign up for the newsletter
- Clarity Call with Emily
Who Am I?
If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want.
Time Stamps:
00:43 Jessica's Early Career and First EA Role
02:33 Transition to Strategic Roles
03:41 Law Firm Experience and Hospital System Role
04:53 Climbing the Corporate Ladder
05:51 Learning from Previous Roles
07:36 Understanding the Executive Business Partner Role
09:19 Working with PE Firms
11:48 Role of a Strategic Conduit
22:31 Board Relations and Communication
27:02 Differences Between VC and PE
33:06 Final Advice and Closing Remarks
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_09 (00:25):
My guest today is Jessica Porter
and Jessica, how are you doingthis week?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_04 (00:30):
I am fantastic.
emily-sander_1_04-11 (00:31):
Beautiful.
So you're gonna tell us a littlebit about your journey from EA
to executive business partnerand acting as chief of staff,
and working in a PE environment,all those good things.
But just for our listeners, canyou do a quick introduction and
kind of background, um, foryourself into maybe like your
first couple EA roles?
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (00:52):
Yeah, so my first EA role was actually
just to pay for college, and Inever thought it would be a
career, but, um, you know.
You're EC college, you haveexpenses and you need a
part-time job.
And I was a clinic secretaryfor, um, a major healthcare
organization.
And from then I just took offwith it, you know, finished
(01:14):
school and, um, dug into, uh,the role.
And as I.
Uh, dug into, I became more intothe strategic role, not just
calendar management or, um,taking meeting minutes, but I
really got into strategy,execution and, uh, managing KPIs
and kind of landed me first anda company that was venture
(01:37):
capital backed.
And as you know, in investmentbacked companies, it runs really
fast.
Decisions are made very quickly.
And then I went to a PE backedcompany, which, you know, I'm so
happy that I had the venturecapital backed experience
because PE ran a little bit thesame way where I was.
Brought in to stabilize acompany and often those kind of,
(02:00):
uh, environments exist also inventure capital.
So that's how I ended up where Iam.
And, um, ended up in theexecutive business partner role,
which in a PE backed company, itis a bit more strategic.
Um, you are managingrelationships as well.
And as you know, in many PE.
Companies.
It runs a very leanorganization, so you don't just
(02:23):
wear a hat of an EA or executivebusiness partner.
I also took on a role in HR anda little bit in IT management as
well, so.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (02:33):
And then how did you go from EA to a
more strategic ea or a morestrategic role?
What was that jump or transitionlike?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (02:40):
So I actually worked again in
healthcare and it started therebecause I was a contract manager
and I did.
Being the contract manager, youhad to really work across
cross-functional teams,
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (02:52):
Yeah.
jessica-porter--she-he (02:53):
managing relationships and things like
that.
And those skills directlytranslated into man being an
executive business partnerbecause when you're an executive
assistant, you're doing a lot oflogistics management.
Um, but executive businesspartner rolls into, again, like
as I mentioned.
Managing KPIs, managingrelationships, managing people
(03:15):
sometimes.
And so that's how I got into theexecutive business partner role,
um, was in contract managementis actually
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (03:24):
Okay.
Gotcha.
So, um, so you were ea and you,and you were going to college
and like part-time work and youwere doing things like calendar
management or admin pieces inthe first EA role you had?
Yes.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1 (03:36):
Yes,
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (03:38):
Okay.
And then what was the very nextrole after that?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (03:41):
The next role was actually at a law
firm, and I was
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (03:44):
Okay.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1 (03:45):
only person who worked in
subrogation.
Um, but I found that that wasn'tquite a match for me because law
firms definitely run a littledifferently.
And then I, um, saw anopportunity, um, in the hospital
system actually during um, andso I thought.
I will take what I've learned atthe law firm regarding contracts
(04:06):
and things like that, and Ireally wanted to get into
procurement and contractmanagement.
Um, but I also wanted to elevateinto more management roles in
the executive assistantposition.
And I didn't know exactly whatthat would look like, but I did
find that mix of being anexecutive assistant and a
contract manager in the C-suite.
And so I took that leverage andjust took off with it.
(04:29):
Um, I actually.
I translated what I learned atthe law firm regarding contracts
and brought it to the hospital.
So that's how I to that positionand kind of climbed up that
ladder into executive businesspartner with that management
experience.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (04:47):
And were you, who were you
supporting?
Who were you supporting as anea?
Was that a CEO back then, or wasthat someone different?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (04:53):
So I started off actually with a
clinic manager, which is kind ofa middle management person
because I, there were manylayers in this very big
healthcare system, and then Iwent into supporting directors
and then from directors to vicepresidents, and then.
Vice presidents to CEOs.
So I kind of have been up anddown organizations.
(05:15):
Um, but when you end up in theSW seat of supporting senior
level, level vice presidents andCEOs, you're often supporting
more than one.
So I've supported CEOs and CFOsat the same time.
Um.
Of marketing and businessdevelopment at the same time.
So I've had a wide range ofresponsibilities in the C-Suite,
(05:38):
but I've been up and down in theorganization.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (05:42):
Which I imagine gives you, uh,
different perspectives, um, andsome advantages going into an
executive business partner roleor a chief of staff role.
I'm curious, what did you, whatdid you learn in your, in your
previous roles that informs whatyou do today or what you did in
later roles?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (06:01):
So one thing I learned is, um, and
this really translate in, leadsinto private equity, and that is
being able to have a full viewof, of the organization and
understanding the organizationand.
By working in revenue andmarketing, um, working along
with the CFO and in contractmanagement and procurement, you
(06:24):
can directly be a strategicpartner to the CEO because they
look at the entire lens of theorganization, um, not just.
The single focus of the CEO'soffice, um, which is a lot of
board and investor relations,right?
But you actually have to go downand dig into the organization,
understand the needs of eachfunctional leader, and being in
(06:47):
each of those offices as anexecutive assistant really help
me understand, understand theirneeds, but also speak to their
needs.
And I think in the executivebusiness partner role, when
you're communicating and you'recommunicating on behalf of the.
CEO and you want to executesomething or you're waiting for
progress or outcomes, you needto speak to the needs of the
(07:07):
person in that functional role,not exactly what you need from
them, right?
So it helped me to understandhow to speak to people in those
roles and story tell in a waythat hits their convictions and
outcomes that they're lookingtowards meeting.
emily-sander_1_04- (07:26):
Storytelling and being able to communicate to
different audiences is.
Is definitely a transferableskill that you can use in many,
many places, and a good thingto, to develop and get good at.
Just for people who maybe aren'tas familiar with executive
business partner, can youexplain what that is and just
how it, how it was set up inyour particular case at your
(07:46):
particular organization?
jessica-porter--she (07:47):
Absolutely.
So when, um, the PE firm'sconsultant called me for this
role, she said, um, we needsomeone who is tactical and
strategic.
So on the EA side, we do needyou to be tactical.
We need you to manage calendarsand events and meetings and take
notes and.
Task management and things likethat.
(08:07):
But we also need you to be abusiness partner looking at the
entire organization, um,managing major projects and
managing small projects.
And I think that's thedifference a little bit, is
sometimes you may be given amajor project to see, to end, to
end and, um, developing.
Um.
The mission behind it, thepurpose, um, working with
(08:30):
various departmentscross-functionally and building
cross-functional teams.
Um, and you won't be handheld todo that.
Um, you will have to managethose teams.
You'll have to manage your workwhile also managing the CEO's
office as well, or the, or thefounder if you're in, um, a
venture capital company andseeing those projects to.
(08:51):
The end.
Um, and as you know, in PE andeven in venture capital, um,
things are directly tied to theinvestment thesis.
So you need to understand theinvestment thesis and how that
weaves into the work that you'redoing and the urgency behind
that work and how fast.
It's really not about how fastalso you can get it done, but
(09:13):
the quality behind the work sothat you're creating value in
the organization.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (09:18):
Okay.
And then, um, you mentioned thepe something about the PE
consultancy.
So, uh, were you hired at thefirm level at the PE firm, or
how did that work?
jessica-porter--she-he (09:28):
Actually the, uh, so it was a turnaround
and I think they knew they were,you know, about to turn over
this business at on.
At a certain date.
Um, so they were recruitingahead of time and getting
strategic roles in place.
Um, so the, it was actually theconsultant for the PE firm who
recruited me, and then I metwith, um, the CEO and another
(09:51):
executive leader in the, uh,Portco who interviewed me.
Um, and I heard back instantly.
Um, so, but um.
It was, it was actually quite atransition because I'd never
worked actually in a turnaround.
Um, so I knew very much going inthat I was, it was going to be
(10:12):
stabilizing the company, movingover from a very large
organization with thousands ofpeople globally, to very nimble,
very small, 55 person globalorganization and walk working
across global teams.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (10:26):
It's a little bit different ball
game.
Yes.
That's certainly a, anadjustment.
Um, so just so just for thelisteners, so, um, you were
approached by the PE firm, butthey had in mind we need someone
for this portco who's going to,who's gonna, it's gonna be a
turnaround, um, event here andwe need someone to kind of help
stabilize this thing.
(10:47):
And that's how you were broughtinto your executive business
partner role.
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (10:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that people willfind that with PE firms, if
they're going, if they're in aturnaround, um, you'll see many
consultants in place fillinggaps and even, um, providing Uh,
to the executive leadershipbecause often that executive
leadership either hasn't workedin PE or they're transitioning
over becoming new executives.
(11:12):
So there are consultants fillinggaps such as talent, hr, it, um,
for systems coming in place andvarious other parts of,
depending on the segment and thebusiness type and model.
So you will see, um, sometimesconsultants filling gaps.
Like mine did in HR and talentwhere they're recruiting and
(11:33):
getting gaps filled, and thenthey kind of off the wagon,
which things are morestabilized.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (11:41):
And then were you, what was your
interactions like with the PEfirm and then the CEO or the
C-suite of the portco?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (11:48):
So it was very, I will say, I know
a lot of people like the termliaison, but I see it as a
strategic conduit because you'rereally building relationship
with the PE firm, and you needto understand what they need.
You also need to understand thelanguage that they'll use, like
IRR, ea.
which is very important in the Pfirm and, and the LPs, you know,
(12:11):
you need to understand what theLPs expect from them.
Um, and so understanding thatbuilding a strong relationship,
but you also need to be reliableand understand their sense of
urgency and be able to translatewhat they need to the executive
leadership team, but alsounderstand.
Who needs that information.
Um, it may not always be the p,the CEO, it might be another
(12:34):
team member.
And making sure that you filterthe information, that it's
quality and the information theyactually need, and anticipate
any other questions that theymay have so that you give them a
full scope and full circleanswer.
Um.
Very quickly because decisionsare made very fast when you're
dealing with PE firms, you know?
(12:54):
Um, so that's very important.
And then for the executiveleadership, um, just translating
to them, helping them to stay ontrack.
Um, what you have is the PE firmwith their demands, and then the
internal team with theirdemands.
So you want to make sure thatyou're not, you're, uh,
stabilizing, but not creatingchaos when you're going.
(13:16):
To the leadership team withrequests, right?
I think what you also want to dois be an integrator.
Um, if you can find solutionsand be a problem solver, go
ahead and do that.
As I said, you wear many hatsand I think it's not about
really wearing many hats.
Sometimes it's wearing the righthat at the right time.
(13:36):
so you may just have tointegrate into teams and be a
person who brings solutions.
and, um.
But because like I said,executives, n PE firms are
pulled both ways from investorsand operation partners in the PE
firm and their own internalteams.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (13:55):
Yeah, for sure.
You said so much good stuffthere.
I think, uh, the word conduitreally resonated with me
because.
It.
First of all, the pace changesand so I've seen so many
founders and founding leadershipteams who are going along at
like a, a pretty decent pacestartup life, and we're trying
to grow this thing and we'reagile and making decisions on
(14:17):
the fly, and then they take on.
PE partners and get PEinvestment and it's like whoosh,
like you've just gone into warpspeed, like what is happening?
There's reporting, there's likemajority of minority owners,
there's stuff flying everydirection and if you haven't
done that before, it can be areally.
Jarring experience and to havesomeone help translate
(14:39):
basically, and be a conduitbetween like, okay, here's,
here's what's happening, founderand leadership team.
Here's how we need to run theship and do certain things.
And then that conduit andmessaging to the PE firm and
managing director and deal teamthere.
Like, here's what's happening.
Boots on the ground, here's whatperspective I can give you and
(14:59):
translate what they're saying orwhat they're doing into your
terms that you understand too.
So I think that conduit, um,piece is so important because
it's not that anyone's doinganything wrong necessarily, it's
just like this might be a brandnew situation for people.
Um, especially if it's a firsttime, first time in, uh, first
time in the rodeo for a founderleadership team.
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (15:21):
Yeah, and I think sometimes leadership
can a bit feel like they'reflying blind.
Um, they have this investmentthesis to follow, which is why
the GPS invested in the companyand how they plan to create
value and oftentimes.
Such as a turnaround situation,they can diverge a bit from
that.
And in the executive businesspartner or chief or staff role,
(15:42):
you can ensure and you reallyhave a whole scope of the
organization.
So you can integrate into teamsand really pull down that into
the entire organization, um, sothat they understand what
they're working towards so theydon't diverge from it.
Diverging from it is not alwaysa bad thing.
I think that the investmentthesis is there, but you could
(16:03):
also expand on that, right?
But you need to make sure itstays in scope, um, that you
have the leverage and the teamsto do it, and the infrastructure
to do it as well.
Um, so I think that, um, eventhen, and I think you and I
talked before.
Working, um, in parallel withthat CEO, especially if they're
new to the PE world and helpingthem to understand and really,
(16:26):
uh, keep their teams inalignment really helps.
Um, and I think that's a waythat executive business partners
can really be resourceful.
And another thing is that oftenthings that doesn't really
belong to a certain department,right.
Um.
Many, um, executive businesspartners will take on the
program management or theproject management of those type
(16:50):
of, uh, projects, um, and movethose forward so that you can
keep the company strategicallyaligned.
And, um, those things do come upin, in board meetings.
I've sat through many boardmeetings and they wanna know how
the company's doing.
Um, um, but Emily, one morething, another thing that is a
little bit surprising to, um.
(17:13):
Executive teams and CEOs is howinvolved the PE firms can be in
the company.
Um, sometimes when you operatecorporately, you have someone
who checks in every now and thenor every quarter, but
operational partners are trueoperational partners.
Um, they are in partnership withyou and they're communicating
back and forth and reallyhelping you stabilize the
(17:33):
business.
Um, or if, or turn around thebusiness or whatever the mission
is.
So you'll hear from and, and seefrom them a lot, um, them giving
advice or, um, consultation,anything.
Um, but they do expect a senseof urgency the work that's done.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (17:54):
Yeah, certainly.
I think the, the sense ofurgency, um, people can
underestimate that going in.
It's like, so if, so you said somany things.
There's like fireworks going offin my mind.
Um, first of all, I think peopleneed to understand that, uh,
private equity sometimes gets abad name where people think, oh,
private equity, like bloodthirsty, cutthroat, whatever.
(18:16):
And there are certainly peoplein firms that.
That, um, garner thatreputation, but understand like
the PE universe and world,there's a lot of variety within
that.
And, um, what I found to berefreshing working with and for
PE firms is you never have toguess what they want.
(18:36):
They want to drive value in thecompany, they want top line
revenue and they're not shyabout sharing that.
jessica-porter--she-her (18:41):
Mm-hmm.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (18:42):
they will help you get to that.
And if you need help in certainareas, they'll provide that.
But I actually found itrefreshing.
It's like we're not playingpolitics.
We're not hiding.
There's no subterfuge.
There's just like, grow thebusiness, boom.
And tell me how you're doing andtell me how you're going the
business.
And if you do, then I'm fine.
Um, and just to.
Just to provide context tosomething you said, the business
(19:04):
thesis that you mentioned is so,so important because when a PE
firm goes in and does duediligence on a company and
evaluates, do I want to pourmillions of dollars into this
organization because I think Ican grow it?
You best be sure they have aplan for how they want to do
that.
And it's, it's the business.
And so the leadership's job isto execute to that business
(19:28):
plan.
And I think I agree that you canchange that business plan if
there's reasonable ways to dothat or reasonable reasons to do
that, where I see leadershipteams get in trouble.
And I'd like your opinion onthis is.
When they switch that planwithout telling anyone, and they
do it for their own reasons,because I see founders used to
(19:50):
running the show, right?
I wanna do this now.
Oh no, I changed my mind.
I wanna do that now.
You can't quite do that withoutchecking in and without data to
back it up in the same way youcould.
So that's where I see people geta little bit, uh, sideways with
PE firms where.
Here was the business plan.
We all agreed on it, and then I,I'm going rogue, I'm going this
way and not telling anyone aboutit, but I'm wondering if you've
(20:12):
seen anything like that or evenhelp people say, Hey, actually,
like, that might be an okaything to do, but we probably
wanna check in and talk aboutthat with our PE partners first.
jessica-porter--she (20:21):
Absolutely.
And I think, um, one of theindicators is just the metrics
that the PEE firm will see.
You know, um, sometimes you'reburning ebitda, right?
Um, and they pay close attentionto things like that.
So if you're spending.
A
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_09 (20:35):
Oh yeah.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (20:36):
on research, and if you have an r
and d, um, and it's burningebitda, they can tell and
they'll dig into those metricsand see something's off there,
what's going on.
It doesn't seem in alignmentwith what we were doing, but
you're right.
And oftentimes, um, and it's notalways on purpose.
It may be that maybe they are,you know, the leadership coming
in wasn't expert in a certainfield or, or, um.
(20:59):
You know, they may have adifferent perspective, but
communication is key.
And letting the PE firm know,um, I see this in the market.
Here's a market intelligence Ihave, or, um, this, this.
Uh, product or a project thatwe're trying to bring, um, to
execution.
We're just having roadblocks.
(21:20):
They have the resources withinthe firm to help you, and even
if they're not in the firm,they're somewhere, they have
incredible resources everywhere.
I mean, you'd be amazed at,they'll have some.
Someone to you the next week tohelp you.
Um, but they're, they certainlywanna be involved, and this is,
like you said, this is theirinvestment too.
But in addition to that, theyhave someone they have to report
(21:41):
to, and that's the LPs.
And the LPs have done their duediligence on the company as
well.
And they're counting on that,their investment thesis as well,
to be followed through.
So there's a lot of playersbeyond, um, just the PE and, and
the portco, but there's otherinvestors too who.
One alignment and they wanna seethat alignment and they check on
(22:03):
that.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (22:04):
Yeah, yeah, certainly.
So the LPs are limited partnerswho are the ones who fund the
private equity.
Equity firms and, and providecapital and funds for, um, their
rounds.
So PE firm have differentrounds.
They go in, right?
I'm just explaining this for thelist.
Might not know what LP means.
So limited partners arebasically people who give the
money to the PE firm and thenthe PE firm manages that capital
(22:25):
and makes investments intoportfolio companies or port or
port codes.
So we get all these acronyms outthere.
Um, but what did you see interms of, uh, reporting?
To the board, so boardgovernance kind of reporting
that communication back andforth.
We had flash reports and we hadweekly reports that went up.
We had our CEO and CFO speakingwith members of the PE team on
(22:48):
a, on a weekly basis, sometimescouple times a week.
And then of course we had ourofficial quarterly board
meetings and my messaging aschief of staff to.
Our leadership team was nosurprises.
Like there should be nosurprises at the board meeting.
This thing should be, um,everyone should know the major
(23:09):
pieces that are going on.
Certainly we can have a morefulsome discussion at the board
meeting and exchange ideas, butthere should be no surprises,
good or bad.
'cause PE firms in myexperience, don't like
surprises.
Good or bad.
They wanna know what's going onahead of time.
So I'm just curious about yourexperience in terms of like
board relations andcommunication and reporting up
to the board.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (23:29):
So you're right.
And they don't like surprisesand I have seen surprises at
those board meetings.
Um, but I always workpreemptively with the PE firm.
Um, and they are, like I said,they want to help.
So I always work with the CEOand, uh, one of the operating
partners at the PE firm to setan agenda that align with those
(23:50):
weekly flash meetings.
Um, the quarterly businessreviews and the monthly internal
monthly business reviews so thatthere wouldn't be surprises, um,
but keeping it in alignmentwith.
What was reported in thatquarter.
Um, and we always reviewed that,but that was shared internally
throughout the team so thatthere weren't silos of
information and that itintegrated into every team so
(24:12):
they could story tell.
Um, and so we work with themthat way, but I serve kind of as
a quality filter at the end,ensuring that the information.
board decks that were sent outalign with what we had already
discussed with the PE firm, andI think that's where chiefs of
staff and executive businesspartners really come into place.
You might be the person thatcatches up.
(24:34):
We, we've never told the boardthat.
Do you wanna have anothermeeting?
I.
With, with, uh, operationpartner or someone to discuss
this metrics that you're goingto bring up to the board.
Or, um, should we put this inthe board deck?
Are we ready to, to report this?
Is this just an idea?
Have we synthesized it enough tobring this information to them?
(24:55):
And so that's the way Iapproached it.
Uh, but I always work veryclosely with the operating
partners.
Um.
To understand also what theywanted us to bring to the board
meeting as well.
Because when you're new, andespecially a young team like we
had, um, you're not used tothose PE board meetings.
And if you, if you don't havethe right, if you take it like a
(25:16):
general corporate meeting whereyou're just reporting your
metrics, it doesn't quite workthat way.
You wanna show that you'restabilizing, you're creating
value that you're, um, pullingdown.
Metrics from the investmentthesis.
And I keep saying investmentthesis because that's your North
star, um, and that you'restaying in alignment with that
and creating value.
(25:37):
And sometimes your LPs are atthose meetings.
Um, so they want to hear it too.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (25:42):
And I think it sounds like you built
on.
Your own ability to story tell,and you helped your leadership
team do that at these boardmeetings, which is so, so
important because like, please,like listener, if you are in
charge of this, do not have yourteam.
Read numbers off of aspreadsheet verbatim.
They can read a spreadsheetlike, please, if you take
(26:04):
nothing else away, don't do thatstory.
Tell like Jessica does story,give a story behind the numbers.
Tell like, Hey, here's whyyou're seeing this increase, or
Here's why you're seeing thisdecrease.
There's always a story behindit.
They can read the numbers, butthey don't have the context and
story behind it.
So I think that's so, soimportant that you provide that.
Extra layer of, uh, ofinformation and that's really
(26:27):
what they want.
And that's, um.
What I found where you get thattwo-way dialogue,
jessica-porter--she-her (26:32):
Mm-hmm.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_093 (26:33):
I always thought a board meeting
is successful if people actuallyare having a discussion, not
just reciting something off of aslide or asking like pre-canned
questions and pre, you know,pre-canned answers.
It's when you have that back andforth exchange, that's
meaningful.
So, um, thank you for, forsharing that.
And, uh, before I, before we.
I, I, I wanna get yourperspective on private equity
(26:56):
and venture capital, because youkind of sit in this unique spot
where you have worked in bothenvironments.
So we've talked a bit about PEhere, but I just wanna get your
take on the differences, thesimilarities, just the
experience of working in the VCspace as well.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (27:12):
So in the VC space, you're working
with ideas, and in the privateequity space you're already
working with establishedbusinesses.
So that's quite the difference.
But I think in the long run,you're both in investment backed
companies where you're inprotecting the capital, the
investment, and you're bringinga product or an idea.
To market or an exit strategy,whether that's IPO or a business
(27:37):
buyout, or, and sometimes that'snot the goal.
Sometimes, you know, the companywon't go to IPO.
Um, and then you're, you'rereally working on sometimes, um,
short term, very.
term projects that really haveto be done very quickly, but
with quality.
And I found that in bothenvironments.
(27:58):
Um, but decision making has tobe done quite quickly.
decision making, decisionmaking, um, for the executive
business partner role, um, needsto be very, with agility behind
it and,
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (28:12):
Yeah.
jessica-porter--s (28:12):
understanding that.
The investment is, um, it has atimeline behind it.
You don't have a ton of time,like a regular business, um, and
you don't wanna burn casheither.
Um, so you wanna make sureyou're bringing value and you're
building a product, or you'rebuilding the investment to
(28:33):
survive.
Um, many hard times.
You know, another thing
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (28:37):
Okay.
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (28:38):
we've talked about this, um, is that
you're going to be in bothorganizations in venture capital
and private equity, and you'regoing to dip into various roles
you and put your feet in there.
Um, and it could be a littlerisky at times.
I dipped into HR and it, um,but.
there's kind of the expectationand it's not a nine to five.
(29:00):
Um, you just will not work anine to five in those kind of
roles.
Um, it takes a certain kind ofoperational rigor and you need
to have, um, just a bit of ahigh velocity to stand up to
that and get the job done.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (29:15):
Yeah, so I think, I mean.
You said this at at the start,but VC tends to be earlier in
the process, and PE usuallytakes on a more established
business.
So a proven concept, and theythink they can grow it.
So VC is like, it might just bea dream, it might just be an
idea,
jessica-porter--she-her- (29:33):
Right.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (29:34):
And that's very nascent.
And it's like, okay, let's buildthe product.
Let's do the market fitanalysis, let's get the founding
team members together and we'regonna place a bet that this
one's gonna go big.
Um.
You mentioned decision making.
So in the VC world, what typesof decisions are you making as
an executive business partner?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_04 (29:55):
I think they're, uh, similarly,
but you really, the VC firms arenot as involved as the PE firms.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (30:03):
Yep.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (30:03):
you still have the board meetings
and you still need to show thatyou're creating value, but you
really wanna make decisionsaround a product.
I.
Or an idea.
And you need to have a strongknowledge of market
intelligence, be able to executethat strategy and also
understand that the, uh, seriesof funding that you have and
(30:25):
where you, where those decisionslie in your funding period.
Um, and you wanna really showthat you have a strong product
and you have strong, um, thesisbehind it.
Um, so that.
You can get more funding behindwhat you have.
So I think those, the decisionsthat are made really are around,
um, bringing a product to marketand showing that it's a
(30:47):
valuable, strong product um,venture capitalists can, uh, you
know, feel like they shouldinvest into.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (30:57):
And what types of things?
So like when I work with, um,founders or leadership teams,
um, going for VC money, it'slike the pitch.
It's, you know, networking.
It's building thoserelationships and it's also
being able to tell the story asyou have mentioned a couple
times here of, um, of thecompany, of your personal
(31:18):
journey.
Also how the VC firm fits intothat story.
So it's not like a closed endedbook.
It's like, Hey, the next chapterinvolves you.
What, what?
What have your experience beenlike?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (31:30):
And I was just about to say that.
So also a VC firm that matcheswith your scope.
Um, and you can think of it asyour own investment thesis.
Does
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (31:40):
Hmm.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (31:40):
SEC market segment, um, the
leadership at the VC firm alignwith what the founders want and
need?
Because you want those two toget along.
Um, very well, and you want theVC firm to be great advisors to
this fund.
Um, so you don't wanna get, andI, it usually doesn't happen,
but you don't wanna get into aVC firm that doesn't align with
(32:03):
the product that you have.
Um, so if it's high on retail orsomething and you're trying to
do software that's just not theVC firm for you and also what
kind of, um.
or at the VC firm, do they haveexperience in the product that
you're trying to bring to marketor things like that so they can
advise you in a way that growsyour product.
(32:25):
Um, you wanna really have thatkind of relationship with them,
and I think that's what's best,but also understand the kind of,
the size of the, of thecompanies that they can scale as
well.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (32:37):
Yeah, I mean there's, there's
thousands of different types ofVC firms, and you're right, some
of them have specializations andthere's boutique ones for
certain industries, certain, uh,stages of companies, certain
seed rounds, et cetera, etcetera.
So you definitely wanna, I.
Find the right one for you.
Um, any other, I wish I couldask you more questions, Jessica,
but, uh, any other final wordsof wisdom for chiefs of staff,
(33:01):
for executive business partnersin a VC or PE environment?
I.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (33:07):
So I would say, um, two things.
I would say first, leverage ai.
Um, it will be your best friendbecause as we talked about,
about as high velocity, um,agility, um, you have to make
smart decisions quickly and youhave to fail fast.
So leverage AI as much as youcan.
(33:28):
There's many platforms you canuse.
There's chat, even chat, GPT, ifthat's what you have, but also.
Push for that to be integratedinto the company as well.
Um, and it will be a strategic,a strategic driver and value add
to the organization.
And then my next thing is, um,be good at managing KPIs that
(33:50):
you pull down from theinvestment thesis, but also
integrate ESG into it becauseESG is pulled down from the l.
Sent to the, um, PE firm by theLPs, which then in turn ask you
for that data.
So just go ahead and integratethat into the existing KPIs and,
(34:10):
um, outcomes that you're alreadymeasuring.
it'll, it'll be great.
It'll be a smooth process.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (34:17):
And just, and just for people who
aren't aware, can you break downsome of the, the acronyms there,
e, s, G, and then maybe give anexample of, of what you mean by
that or what you've done withthat.
jessica-porter--she (34:25):
Absolutely.
So it's environmental, social,and governance.
Um, on the environmental side,it can be emissions.
Um, environmental impact andthings like that.
on social, it goes a lot intohuman capital, hr, DI efforts,
talent management.
then, um, then the social impactor the governance side.
(34:47):
Compliance.
Um, accountability.
And on that side, um, Ispecifically being, having HR
had some HR reporting to do andon the compliance side, board
governance, um, and leadershipand the dynamics there for CESG
reporting.
Um, so that's where I got thatdata, data from.
(35:10):
But it was important to captureit early because you need to
report it.
And some of the banks that areinvesting will ask for that data
as well.
So.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (35:20):
Okay.
And then for the, for the ai, sothat's a broad topic, but you
said incorporate and utilize ai,even if it's just chat B, uh,
chat, GBT.
Can you give an example of whereyou've seen that be successful
in portfolio companies?
Or maybe just one or two quickexamples of how you used ai.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (35:36):
Um, I think you have to find the
right capability.
So where, where do you see gaps?
Um, and of course in PE and VCthey often run lean, lean teams.
So where's there, where arethere gaps?
And I saw that it was used bestfor document management, um, and
for people and teams to go findinformation.
(35:57):
Um.
For instance, marketintelligence information or
existing knowledge, historicalknowledge of the product, and
being able to type that in andask questions.
Um, someone else actually builta platform, but it was utilized
by everyone who needed, who hadquestions regarding that
specific area, and they inputthis information, uh, document
(36:20):
knowledge into chat GPT wherepeople can.
Then easily ask the botquestions, and it came out with
very accurate and usefulinformation.
So I think that that's anexcellent way to utilize chat,
GPT, especially when you'rerunning lean teams and people
don't always have time to answerquestions, and you may need an
immediate answer.
emily-sander_1_04-11-20 (36:42):
Gotcha.
Okay.
Beautiful.
And any other just general wordsof wisdom or pieces of advice
for chiefs of staff in general?
It can be like EA to chief of.
Staff.
It can be organizationprioritization, but just any,
anything else you'd want chiefsof staff to know?
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (36:56):
Well, I would say to do what I do, and
that is join an organizationthat will help you grow into the
role.
I joined the Chief of StaffAssociation and I can tell you I
have grown so much and a lot ofthat is because of them.
Um, I'm surrounded by people inall fields.
Pe, venture capital, um,software as a service.
(37:19):
There are so many, and we werejust talking the other day.
We said, anytime any of us havea question, within an hour or
so, someone reaches out to helpyou.
You will have questions andthere's always someone there,
but the knowledge andinformation that you get is
invaluable.
So I would say try to join anorganization, um, that gives
(37:40):
you.
The ability to keep up withtrends and stay abreast on the
industry.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2 (37:48):
Perfect.
And we've had Trent, who's the,the CEO of Chief of Staff
Association and Jeremy, who wasthe chief of Staff, of the Chief
of Staff Association on theshow.
And they were fantastic.
So, beautiful.
Jessica, thank you so much forbeing on,
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (38:00):
Thank you, Emily.
It was great to be on your show.
My guest today is Jessica Porter
and Jessica, how are you doingthis week?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_04 (00:30):
I am fantastic.
emily-sander_1_04-11 (00:31):
Beautiful.
So you're gonna tell us a littlebit about your journey from EA
to executive business partnerand acting as chief of staff,
and working in a PE environment,all those good things.
But just for our listeners, canyou do a quick introduction and
kind of background, um, foryourself into maybe like your
first couple EA roles?
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (00:52):
Yeah, so my first EA role was actually
just to pay for college, and Inever thought it would be a
career, but, um, you know.
You're EC college, you haveexpenses and you need a
part-time job.
And I was a clinic secretaryfor, um, a major healthcare
organization.
And from then I just took offwith it, you know, finished
(01:14):
school and, um, dug into, uh,the role.
And as I.
Uh, dug into, I became more intothe strategic role, not just
calendar management or, um,taking meeting minutes, but I
really got into strategy,execution and, uh, managing KPIs
and kind of landed me first anda company that was venture
(01:37):
capital backed.
And as you know, in investmentbacked companies, it runs really
fast.
Decisions are made very quickly.
And then I went to a PE backedcompany, which, you know, I'm so
happy that I had the venturecapital backed experience
because PE ran a little bit thesame way where I was.
Brought in to stabilize acompany and often those kind of,
(02:00):
uh, environments exist also inventure capital.
So that's how I ended up where Iam.
And, um, ended up in theexecutive business partner role,
which in a PE backed company, itis a bit more strategic.
Um, you are managingrelationships as well.
And as you know, in many PE.
Companies.
It runs a very leanorganization, so you don't just
(02:23):
wear a hat of an EA or executivebusiness partner.
I also took on a role in HR anda little bit in IT management as
well, so.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (02:33):
And then how did you go from EA to a
more strategic ea or a morestrategic role?
What was that jump or transitionlike?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (02:40):
So I actually worked again in
healthcare and it started therebecause I was a contract manager
and I did.
Being the contract manager, youhad to really work across
cross-functional teams,
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (02:52):
Yeah.
jessica-porter--she-he (02:53):
managing relationships and things like
that.
And those skills directlytranslated into man being an
executive business partnerbecause when you're an executive
assistant, you're doing a lot oflogistics management.
Um, but executive businesspartner rolls into, again, like
as I mentioned.
Managing KPIs, managingrelationships, managing people
(03:15):
sometimes.
And so that's how I got into theexecutive business partner role,
um, was in contract managementis actually
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (03:24):
Okay.
Gotcha.
So, um, so you were ea and you,and you were going to college
and like part-time work and youwere doing things like calendar
management or admin pieces inthe first EA role you had?
Yes.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1 (03:36):
Yes,
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (03:38):
Okay.
And then what was the very nextrole after that?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (03:41):
The next role was actually at a law
firm, and I was
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (03:44):
Okay.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1 (03:45):
only person who worked in
subrogation.
Um, but I found that that wasn'tquite a match for me because law
firms definitely run a littledifferently.
And then I, um, saw anopportunity, um, in the hospital
system actually during um, andso I thought.
I will take what I've learned atthe law firm regarding contracts
(04:06):
and things like that, and Ireally wanted to get into
procurement and contractmanagement.
Um, but I also wanted to elevateinto more management roles in
the executive assistantposition.
And I didn't know exactly whatthat would look like, but I did
find that mix of being anexecutive assistant and a
contract manager in the C-suite.
And so I took that leverage andjust took off with it.
(04:29):
Um, I actually.
I translated what I learned atthe law firm regarding contracts
and brought it to the hospital.
So that's how I to that positionand kind of climbed up that
ladder into executive businesspartner with that management
experience.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (04:47):
And were you, who were you
supporting?
Who were you supporting as anea?
Was that a CEO back then, or wasthat someone different?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (04:53):
So I started off actually with a
clinic manager, which is kind ofa middle management person
because I, there were manylayers in this very big
healthcare system, and then Iwent into supporting directors
and then from directors to vicepresidents, and then.
Vice presidents to CEOs.
So I kind of have been up anddown organizations.
(05:15):
Um, but when you end up in theSW seat of supporting senior
level, level vice presidents andCEOs, you're often supporting
more than one.
So I've supported CEOs and CFOsat the same time.
Um.
Of marketing and businessdevelopment at the same time.
So I've had a wide range ofresponsibilities in the C-Suite,
(05:38):
but I've been up and down in theorganization.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (05:42):
Which I imagine gives you, uh,
different perspectives, um, andsome advantages going into an
executive business partner roleor a chief of staff role.
I'm curious, what did you, whatdid you learn in your, in your
previous roles that informs whatyou do today or what you did in
later roles?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (06:01):
So one thing I learned is, um, and
this really translate in, leadsinto private equity, and that is
being able to have a full viewof, of the organization and
understanding the organizationand.
By working in revenue andmarketing, um, working along
with the CFO and in contractmanagement and procurement, you
(06:24):
can directly be a strategicpartner to the CEO because they
look at the entire lens of theorganization, um, not just.
The single focus of the CEO'soffice, um, which is a lot of
board and investor relations,right?
But you actually have to go downand dig into the organization,
understand the needs of eachfunctional leader, and being in
(06:47):
each of those offices as anexecutive assistant really help
me understand, understand theirneeds, but also speak to their
needs.
And I think in the executivebusiness partner role, when
you're communicating and you'recommunicating on behalf of the.
CEO and you want to executesomething or you're waiting for
progress or outcomes, you needto speak to the needs of the
(07:07):
person in that functional role,not exactly what you need from
them, right?
So it helped me to understandhow to speak to people in those
roles and story tell in a waythat hits their convictions and
outcomes that they're lookingtowards meeting.
emily-sander_1_04- (07:26):
Storytelling and being able to communicate to
different audiences is.
Is definitely a transferableskill that you can use in many,
many places, and a good thingto, to develop and get good at.
Just for people who maybe aren'tas familiar with executive
business partner, can youexplain what that is and just
how it, how it was set up inyour particular case at your
(07:46):
particular organization?
jessica-porter--she (07:47):
Absolutely.
So when, um, the PE firm'sconsultant called me for this
role, she said, um, we needsomeone who is tactical and
strategic.
So on the EA side, we do needyou to be tactical.
We need you to manage calendarsand events and meetings and take
notes and.
Task management and things likethat.
(08:07):
But we also need you to be abusiness partner looking at the
entire organization, um,managing major projects and
managing small projects.
And I think that's thedifference a little bit, is
sometimes you may be given amajor project to see, to end, to
end and, um, developing.
Um.
The mission behind it, thepurpose, um, working with
(08:30):
various departmentscross-functionally and building
cross-functional teams.
Um, and you won't be handheld todo that.
Um, you will have to managethose teams.
You'll have to manage your workwhile also managing the CEO's
office as well, or the, or thefounder if you're in, um, a
venture capital company andseeing those projects to.
(08:51):
The end.
Um, and as you know, in PE andeven in venture capital, um,
things are directly tied to theinvestment thesis.
So you need to understand theinvestment thesis and how that
weaves into the work that you'redoing and the urgency behind
that work and how fast.
It's really not about how fastalso you can get it done, but
(09:13):
the quality behind the work sothat you're creating value in
the organization.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (09:18):
Okay.
And then, um, you mentioned thepe something about the PE
consultancy.
So, uh, were you hired at thefirm level at the PE firm, or
how did that work?
jessica-porter--she-he (09:28):
Actually the, uh, so it was a turnaround
and I think they knew they were,you know, about to turn over
this business at on.
At a certain date.
Um, so they were recruitingahead of time and getting
strategic roles in place.
Um, so the, it was actually theconsultant for the PE firm who
recruited me, and then I metwith, um, the CEO and another
(09:51):
executive leader in the, uh,Portco who interviewed me.
Um, and I heard back instantly.
Um, so, but um.
It was, it was actually quite atransition because I'd never
worked actually in a turnaround.
Um, so I knew very much going inthat I was, it was going to be
(10:12):
stabilizing the company, movingover from a very large
organization with thousands ofpeople globally, to very nimble,
very small, 55 person globalorganization and walk working
across global teams.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (10:26):
It's a little bit different ball
game.
Yes.
That's certainly a, anadjustment.
Um, so just so just for thelisteners, so, um, you were
approached by the PE firm, butthey had in mind we need someone
for this portco who's going to,who's gonna, it's gonna be a
turnaround, um, event here andwe need someone to kind of help
stabilize this thing.
(10:47):
And that's how you were broughtinto your executive business
partner role.
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (10:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that people willfind that with PE firms, if
they're going, if they're in aturnaround, um, you'll see many
consultants in place fillinggaps and even, um, providing Uh,
to the executive leadershipbecause often that executive
leadership either hasn't workedin PE or they're transitioning
over becoming new executives.
(11:12):
So there are consultants fillinggaps such as talent, hr, it, um,
for systems coming in place andvarious other parts of,
depending on the segment and thebusiness type and model.
So you will see, um, sometimesconsultants filling gaps.
Like mine did in HR and talentwhere they're recruiting and
(11:33):
getting gaps filled, and thenthey kind of off the wagon,
which things are morestabilized.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (11:41):
And then were you, what was your
interactions like with the PEfirm and then the CEO or the
C-suite of the portco?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (11:48):
So it was very, I will say, I know
a lot of people like the termliaison, but I see it as a
strategic conduit because you'rereally building relationship
with the PE firm, and you needto understand what they need.
You also need to understand thelanguage that they'll use, like
IRR, ea.
which is very important in the Pfirm and, and the LPs, you know,
(12:11):
you need to understand what theLPs expect from them.
Um, and so understanding thatbuilding a strong relationship,
but you also need to be reliableand understand their sense of
urgency and be able to translatewhat they need to the executive
leadership team, but alsounderstand.
Who needs that information.
Um, it may not always be the p,the CEO, it might be another
(12:34):
team member.
And making sure that you filterthe information, that it's
quality and the information theyactually need, and anticipate
any other questions that theymay have so that you give them a
full scope and full circleanswer.
Um.
Very quickly because decisionsare made very fast when you're
dealing with PE firms, you know?
(12:54):
Um, so that's very important.
And then for the executiveleadership, um, just translating
to them, helping them to stay ontrack.
Um, what you have is the PE firmwith their demands, and then the
internal team with theirdemands.
So you want to make sure thatyou're not, you're, uh,
stabilizing, but not creatingchaos when you're going.
(13:16):
To the leadership team withrequests, right?
I think what you also want to dois be an integrator.
Um, if you can find solutionsand be a problem solver, go
ahead and do that.
As I said, you wear many hatsand I think it's not about
really wearing many hats.
Sometimes it's wearing the righthat at the right time.
(13:36):
so you may just have tointegrate into teams and be a
person who brings solutions.
and, um.
But because like I said,executives, n PE firms are
pulled both ways from investorsand operation partners in the PE
firm and their own internalteams.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (13:55):
Yeah, for sure.
You said so much good stuffthere.
I think, uh, the word conduitreally resonated with me
because.
It.
First of all, the pace changesand so I've seen so many
founders and founding leadershipteams who are going along at
like a, a pretty decent pacestartup life, and we're trying
to grow this thing and we'reagile and making decisions on
(14:17):
the fly, and then they take on.
PE partners and get PEinvestment and it's like whoosh,
like you've just gone into warpspeed, like what is happening?
There's reporting, there's likemajority of minority owners,
there's stuff flying everydirection and if you haven't
done that before, it can be areally.
Jarring experience and to havesomeone help translate
(14:39):
basically, and be a conduitbetween like, okay, here's,
here's what's happening, founderand leadership team.
Here's how we need to run theship and do certain things.
And then that conduit andmessaging to the PE firm and
managing director and deal teamthere.
Like, here's what's happening.
Boots on the ground, here's whatperspective I can give you and
(14:59):
translate what they're saying orwhat they're doing into your
terms that you understand too.
So I think that conduit, um,piece is so important because
it's not that anyone's doinganything wrong necessarily, it's
just like this might be a brandnew situation for people.
Um, especially if it's a firsttime, first time in, uh, first
time in the rodeo for a founderleadership team.
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (15:21):
Yeah, and I think sometimes leadership
can a bit feel like they'reflying blind.
Um, they have this investmentthesis to follow, which is why
the GPS invested in the companyand how they plan to create
value and oftentimes.
Such as a turnaround situation,they can diverge a bit from
that.
And in the executive businesspartner or chief or staff role,
(15:42):
you can ensure and you reallyhave a whole scope of the
organization.
So you can integrate into teamsand really pull down that into
the entire organization, um, sothat they understand what
they're working towards so theydon't diverge from it.
Diverging from it is not alwaysa bad thing.
I think that the investmentthesis is there, but you could
(16:03):
also expand on that, right?
But you need to make sure itstays in scope, um, that you
have the leverage and the teamsto do it, and the infrastructure
to do it as well.
Um, so I think that, um, eventhen, and I think you and I
talked before.
Working, um, in parallel withthat CEO, especially if they're
new to the PE world and helpingthem to understand and really,
(16:26):
uh, keep their teams inalignment really helps.
Um, and I think that's a waythat executive business partners
can really be resourceful.
And another thing is that oftenthings that doesn't really
belong to a certain department,right.
Um.
Many, um, executive businesspartners will take on the
program management or theproject management of those type
(16:50):
of, uh, projects, um, and movethose forward so that you can
keep the company strategicallyaligned.
And, um, those things do come upin, in board meetings.
I've sat through many boardmeetings and they wanna know how
the company's doing.
Um, um, but Emily, one morething, another thing that is a
little bit surprising to, um.
(17:13):
Executive teams and CEOs is howinvolved the PE firms can be in
the company.
Um, sometimes when you operatecorporately, you have someone
who checks in every now and thenor every quarter, but
operational partners are trueoperational partners.
Um, they are in partnership withyou and they're communicating
back and forth and reallyhelping you stabilize the
(17:33):
business.
Um, or if, or turn around thebusiness or whatever the mission
is.
So you'll hear from and, and seefrom them a lot, um, them giving
advice or, um, consultation,anything.
Um, but they do expect a senseof urgency the work that's done.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (17:54):
Yeah, certainly.
I think the, the sense ofurgency, um, people can
underestimate that going in.
It's like, so if, so you said somany things.
There's like fireworks going offin my mind.
Um, first of all, I think peopleneed to understand that, uh,
private equity sometimes gets abad name where people think, oh,
private equity, like bloodthirsty, cutthroat, whatever.
(18:16):
And there are certainly peoplein firms that.
That, um, garner thatreputation, but understand like
the PE universe and world,there's a lot of variety within
that.
And, um, what I found to berefreshing working with and for
PE firms is you never have toguess what they want.
(18:36):
They want to drive value in thecompany, they want top line
revenue and they're not shyabout sharing that.
jessica-porter--she-her (18:41):
Mm-hmm.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (18:42):
they will help you get to that.
And if you need help in certainareas, they'll provide that.
But I actually found itrefreshing.
It's like we're not playingpolitics.
We're not hiding.
There's no subterfuge.
There's just like, grow thebusiness, boom.
And tell me how you're doing andtell me how you're going the
business.
And if you do, then I'm fine.
Um, and just to.
Just to provide context tosomething you said, the business
(19:04):
thesis that you mentioned is so,so important because when a PE
firm goes in and does duediligence on a company and
evaluates, do I want to pourmillions of dollars into this
organization because I think Ican grow it?
You best be sure they have aplan for how they want to do
that.
And it's, it's the business.
And so the leadership's job isto execute to that business
(19:28):
plan.
And I think I agree that you canchange that business plan if
there's reasonable ways to dothat or reasonable reasons to do
that, where I see leadershipteams get in trouble.
And I'd like your opinion onthis is.
When they switch that planwithout telling anyone, and they
do it for their own reasons,because I see founders used to
(19:50):
running the show, right?
I wanna do this now.
Oh no, I changed my mind.
I wanna do that now.
You can't quite do that withoutchecking in and without data to
back it up in the same way youcould.
So that's where I see people geta little bit, uh, sideways with
PE firms where.
Here was the business plan.
We all agreed on it, and then I,I'm going rogue, I'm going this
way and not telling anyone aboutit, but I'm wondering if you've
(20:12):
seen anything like that or evenhelp people say, Hey, actually,
like, that might be an okaything to do, but we probably
wanna check in and talk aboutthat with our PE partners first.
jessica-porter--she (20:21):
Absolutely.
And I think, um, one of theindicators is just the metrics
that the PEE firm will see.
You know, um, sometimes you'reburning ebitda, right?
Um, and they pay close attentionto things like that.
So if you're spending.
A
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_09 (20:35):
Oh yeah.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (20:36):
on research, and if you have an r
and d, um, and it's burningebitda, they can tell and
they'll dig into those metricsand see something's off there,
what's going on.
It doesn't seem in alignmentwith what we were doing, but
you're right.
And oftentimes, um, and it's notalways on purpose.
It may be that maybe they are,you know, the leadership coming
in wasn't expert in a certainfield or, or, um.
(20:59):
You know, they may have adifferent perspective, but
communication is key.
And letting the PE firm know,um, I see this in the market.
Here's a market intelligence Ihave, or, um, this, this.
Uh, product or a project thatwe're trying to bring, um, to
execution.
We're just having roadblocks.
(21:20):
They have the resources withinthe firm to help you, and even
if they're not in the firm,they're somewhere, they have
incredible resources everywhere.
I mean, you'd be amazed at,they'll have some.
Someone to you the next week tohelp you.
Um, but they're, they certainlywanna be involved, and this is,
like you said, this is theirinvestment too.
But in addition to that, theyhave someone they have to report
(21:41):
to, and that's the LPs.
And the LPs have done their duediligence on the company as
well.
And they're counting on that,their investment thesis as well,
to be followed through.
So there's a lot of playersbeyond, um, just the PE and, and
the portco, but there's otherinvestors too who.
One alignment and they wanna seethat alignment and they check on
(22:03):
that.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (22:04):
Yeah, yeah, certainly.
So the LPs are limited partnerswho are the ones who fund the
private equity.
Equity firms and, and providecapital and funds for, um, their
rounds.
So PE firm have differentrounds.
They go in, right?
I'm just explaining this for thelist.
Might not know what LP means.
So limited partners arebasically people who give the
money to the PE firm and thenthe PE firm manages that capital
(22:25):
and makes investments intoportfolio companies or port or
port codes.
So we get all these acronyms outthere.
Um, but what did you see interms of, uh, reporting?
To the board, so boardgovernance kind of reporting
that communication back andforth.
We had flash reports and we hadweekly reports that went up.
We had our CEO and CFO speakingwith members of the PE team on
(22:48):
a, on a weekly basis, sometimescouple times a week.
And then of course we had ourofficial quarterly board
meetings and my messaging aschief of staff to.
Our leadership team was nosurprises.
Like there should be nosurprises at the board meeting.
This thing should be, um,everyone should know the major
(23:09):
pieces that are going on.
Certainly we can have a morefulsome discussion at the board
meeting and exchange ideas, butthere should be no surprises,
good or bad.
'cause PE firms in myexperience, don't like
surprises.
Good or bad.
They wanna know what's going onahead of time.
So I'm just curious about yourexperience in terms of like
board relations andcommunication and reporting up
to the board.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (23:29):
So you're right.
And they don't like surprisesand I have seen surprises at
those board meetings.
Um, but I always workpreemptively with the PE firm.
Um, and they are, like I said,they want to help.
So I always work with the CEOand, uh, one of the operating
partners at the PE firm to setan agenda that align with those
(23:50):
weekly flash meetings.
Um, the quarterly businessreviews and the monthly internal
monthly business reviews so thatthere wouldn't be surprises, um,
but keeping it in alignmentwith.
What was reported in thatquarter.
Um, and we always reviewed that,but that was shared internally
throughout the team so thatthere weren't silos of
information and that itintegrated into every team so
(24:12):
they could story tell.
Um, and so we work with themthat way, but I serve kind of as
a quality filter at the end,ensuring that the information.
board decks that were sent outalign with what we had already
discussed with the PE firm, andI think that's where chiefs of
staff and executive businesspartners really come into place.
You might be the person thatcatches up.
(24:34):
We, we've never told the boardthat.
Do you wanna have anothermeeting?
I.
With, with, uh, operationpartner or someone to discuss
this metrics that you're goingto bring up to the board.
Or, um, should we put this inthe board deck?
Are we ready to, to report this?
Is this just an idea?
Have we synthesized it enough tobring this information to them?
(24:55):
And so that's the way Iapproached it.
Uh, but I always work veryclosely with the operating
partners.
Um.
To understand also what theywanted us to bring to the board
meeting as well.
Because when you're new, andespecially a young team like we
had, um, you're not used tothose PE board meetings.
And if you, if you don't havethe right, if you take it like a
(25:16):
general corporate meeting whereyou're just reporting your
metrics, it doesn't quite workthat way.
You wanna show that you'restabilizing, you're creating
value that you're, um, pullingdown.
Metrics from the investmentthesis.
And I keep saying investmentthesis because that's your North
star, um, and that you'restaying in alignment with that
and creating value.
(25:37):
And sometimes your LPs are atthose meetings.
Um, so they want to hear it too.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (25:42):
And I think it sounds like you built
on.
Your own ability to story tell,and you helped your leadership
team do that at these boardmeetings, which is so, so
important because like, please,like listener, if you are in
charge of this, do not have yourteam.
Read numbers off of aspreadsheet verbatim.
They can read a spreadsheetlike, please, if you take
(26:04):
nothing else away, don't do thatstory.
Tell like Jessica does story,give a story behind the numbers.
Tell like, Hey, here's whyyou're seeing this increase, or
Here's why you're seeing thisdecrease.
There's always a story behindit.
They can read the numbers, butthey don't have the context and
story behind it.
So I think that's so, soimportant that you provide that.
Extra layer of, uh, ofinformation and that's really
(26:27):
what they want.
And that's, um.
What I found where you get thattwo-way dialogue,
jessica-porter--she-her (26:32):
Mm-hmm.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_093 (26:33):
I always thought a board meeting
is successful if people actuallyare having a discussion, not
just reciting something off of aslide or asking like pre-canned
questions and pre, you know,pre-canned answers.
It's when you have that back andforth exchange, that's
meaningful.
So, um, thank you for, forsharing that.
And, uh, before I, before we.
I, I, I wanna get yourperspective on private equity
(26:56):
and venture capital, because youkind of sit in this unique spot
where you have worked in bothenvironments.
So we've talked a bit about PEhere, but I just wanna get your
take on the differences, thesimilarities, just the
experience of working in the VCspace as well.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (27:12):
So in the VC space, you're working
with ideas, and in the privateequity space you're already
working with establishedbusinesses.
So that's quite the difference.
But I think in the long run,you're both in investment backed
companies where you're inprotecting the capital, the
investment, and you're bringinga product or an idea.
To market or an exit strategy,whether that's IPO or a business
(27:37):
buyout, or, and sometimes that'snot the goal.
Sometimes, you know, the companywon't go to IPO.
Um, and then you're, you'rereally working on sometimes, um,
short term, very.
term projects that really haveto be done very quickly, but
with quality.
And I found that in bothenvironments.
(27:58):
Um, but decision making has tobe done quite quickly.
decision making, decisionmaking, um, for the executive
business partner role, um, needsto be very, with agility behind
it and,
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (28:12):
Yeah.
jessica-porter--s (28:12):
understanding that.
The investment is, um, it has atimeline behind it.
You don't have a ton of time,like a regular business, um, and
you don't wanna burn casheither.
Um, so you wanna make sureyou're bringing value and you're
building a product, or you'rebuilding the investment to
(28:33):
survive.
Um, many hard times.
You know, another thing
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (28:37):
Okay.
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (28:38):
we've talked about this, um, is that
you're going to be in bothorganizations in venture capital
and private equity, and you'regoing to dip into various roles
you and put your feet in there.
Um, and it could be a littlerisky at times.
I dipped into HR and it, um,but.
there's kind of the expectationand it's not a nine to five.
(29:00):
Um, you just will not work anine to five in those kind of
roles.
Um, it takes a certain kind ofoperational rigor and you need
to have, um, just a bit of ahigh velocity to stand up to
that and get the job done.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (29:15):
Yeah, so I think, I mean.
You said this at at the start,but VC tends to be earlier in
the process, and PE usuallytakes on a more established
business.
So a proven concept, and theythink they can grow it.
So VC is like, it might just bea dream, it might just be an
idea,
jessica-porter--she-her- (29:33):
Right.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (29:34):
And that's very nascent.
And it's like, okay, let's buildthe product.
Let's do the market fitanalysis, let's get the founding
team members together and we'regonna place a bet that this
one's gonna go big.
Um.
You mentioned decision making.
So in the VC world, what typesof decisions are you making as
an executive business partner?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_04 (29:55):
I think they're, uh, similarly,
but you really, the VC firms arenot as involved as the PE firms.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (30:03):
Yep.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (30:03):
you still have the board meetings
and you still need to show thatyou're creating value, but you
really wanna make decisionsaround a product.
I.
Or an idea.
And you need to have a strongknowledge of market
intelligence, be able to executethat strategy and also
understand that the, uh, seriesof funding that you have and
(30:25):
where you, where those decisionslie in your funding period.
Um, and you wanna really showthat you have a strong product
and you have strong, um, thesisbehind it.
Um, so that.
You can get more funding behindwhat you have.
So I think those, the decisionsthat are made really are around,
um, bringing a product to marketand showing that it's a
(30:47):
valuable, strong product um,venture capitalists can, uh, you
know, feel like they shouldinvest into.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (30:57):
And what types of things?
So like when I work with, um,founders or leadership teams,
um, going for VC money, it'slike the pitch.
It's, you know, networking.
It's building thoserelationships and it's also
being able to tell the story asyou have mentioned a couple
times here of, um, of thecompany, of your personal
(31:18):
journey.
Also how the VC firm fits intothat story.
So it's not like a closed endedbook.
It's like, Hey, the next chapterinvolves you.
What, what?
What have your experience beenlike?
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (31:30):
And I was just about to say that.
So also a VC firm that matcheswith your scope.
Um, and you can think of it asyour own investment thesis.
Does
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_ (31:40):
Hmm.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (31:40):
SEC market segment, um, the
leadership at the VC firm alignwith what the founders want and
need?
Because you want those two toget along.
Um, very well, and you want theVC firm to be great advisors to
this fund.
Um, so you don't wanna get, andI, it usually doesn't happen,
but you don't wanna get into aVC firm that doesn't align with
(32:03):
the product that you have.
Um, so if it's high on retail orsomething and you're trying to
do software that's just not theVC firm for you and also what
kind of, um.
or at the VC firm, do they haveexperience in the product that
you're trying to bring to marketor things like that so they can
advise you in a way that growsyour product.
(32:25):
Um, you wanna really have thatkind of relationship with them,
and I think that's what's best,but also understand the kind of,
the size of the, of thecompanies that they can scale as
well.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (32:37):
Yeah, I mean there's, there's
thousands of different types ofVC firms, and you're right, some
of them have specializations andthere's boutique ones for
certain industries, certain, uh,stages of companies, certain
seed rounds, et cetera, etcetera.
So you definitely wanna, I.
Find the right one for you.
Um, any other, I wish I couldask you more questions, Jessica,
but, uh, any other final wordsof wisdom for chiefs of staff,
(33:01):
for executive business partnersin a VC or PE environment?
I.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_0 (33:07):
So I would say, um, two things.
I would say first, leverage ai.
Um, it will be your best friendbecause as we talked about,
about as high velocity, um,agility, um, you have to make
smart decisions quickly and youhave to fail fast.
So leverage AI as much as youcan.
(33:28):
There's many platforms you canuse.
There's chat, even chat, GPT, ifthat's what you have, but also.
Push for that to be integratedinto the company as well.
Um, and it will be a strategic,a strategic driver and value add
to the organization.
And then my next thing is, um,be good at managing KPIs that
(33:50):
you pull down from theinvestment thesis, but also
integrate ESG into it becauseESG is pulled down from the l.
Sent to the, um, PE firm by theLPs, which then in turn ask you
for that data.
So just go ahead and integratethat into the existing KPIs and,
(34:10):
um, outcomes that you're alreadymeasuring.
it'll, it'll be great.
It'll be a smooth process.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025_0 (34:17):
And just, and just for people who
aren't aware, can you break downsome of the, the acronyms there,
e, s, G, and then maybe give anexample of, of what you mean by
that or what you've done withthat.
jessica-porter--she (34:25):
Absolutely.
So it's environmental, social,and governance.
Um, on the environmental side,it can be emissions.
Um, environmental impact andthings like that.
on social, it goes a lot intohuman capital, hr, DI efforts,
talent management.
then, um, then the social impactor the governance side.
(34:47):
Compliance.
Um, accountability.
And on that side, um, Ispecifically being, having HR
had some HR reporting to do andon the compliance side, board
governance, um, and leadershipand the dynamics there for CESG
reporting.
Um, so that's where I got thatdata, data from.
(35:10):
But it was important to captureit early because you need to
report it.
And some of the banks that areinvesting will ask for that data
as well.
So.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2025 (35:20):
Okay.
And then for the, for the ai, sothat's a broad topic, but you
said incorporate and utilize ai,even if it's just chat B, uh,
chat, GBT.
Can you give an example of whereyou've seen that be successful
in portfolio companies?
Or maybe just one or two quickexamples of how you used ai.
jessica-porter--she-her-_1_ (35:36):
Um, I think you have to find the
right capability.
So where, where do you see gaps?
Um, and of course in PE and VCthey often run lean, lean teams.
So where's there, where arethere gaps?
And I saw that it was used bestfor document management, um, and
for people and teams to go findinformation.
(35:57):
Um.
For instance, marketintelligence information or
existing knowledge, historicalknowledge of the product, and
being able to type that in andask questions.
Um, someone else actually builta platform, but it was utilized
by everyone who needed, who hadquestions regarding that
specific area, and they inputthis information, uh, document
(36:20):
knowledge into chat GPT wherepeople can.
Then easily ask the botquestions, and it came out with
very accurate and usefulinformation.
So I think that that's anexcellent way to utilize chat,
GPT, especially when you'rerunning lean teams and people
don't always have time to answerquestions, and you may need an
immediate answer.
emily-sander_1_04-11-20 (36:42):
Gotcha.
Okay.
Beautiful.
And any other just general wordsof wisdom or pieces of advice
for chiefs of staff in general?
It can be like EA to chief of.
Staff.
It can be organizationprioritization, but just any,
anything else you'd want chiefsof staff to know?
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (36:56):
Well, I would say to do what I do, and
that is join an organizationthat will help you grow into the
role.
I joined the Chief of StaffAssociation and I can tell you I
have grown so much and a lot ofthat is because of them.
Um, I'm surrounded by people inall fields.
Pe, venture capital, um,software as a service.
(37:19):
There are so many, and we werejust talking the other day.
We said, anytime any of us havea question, within an hour or
so, someone reaches out to helpyou.
You will have questions andthere's always someone there,
but the knowledge andinformation that you get is
invaluable.
So I would say try to join anorganization, um, that gives
(37:40):
you.
The ability to keep up withtrends and stay abreast on the
industry.
emily-sander_1_04-11-2 (37:48):
Perfect.
And we've had Trent, who's the,the CEO of Chief of Staff
Association and Jeremy, who wasthe chief of Staff, of the Chief
of Staff Association on theshow.
And they were fantastic.
So, beautiful.
Jessica, thank you so much forbeing on,
jessica-porter--she-her-_ (38:00):
Thank you, Emily.
It was great to be on your show.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.