Private Equity Value Creation Podcast

On this episode, Arjan Hannink, Partner at Keensight Capital, explains how their growth buyout firm structures hands-on value creation support across a portfolio of B2B software and IT services companies. Learn why Keensight built an internal team of close to 40 value creation professionals—including in-house CPO, CTO, CMO and CRO functions—and how that team operates alongside management rather than above it.

Hear about an approach ...

On this episode, Amy Kramer, Head of the Go-To-Market Operating Group at Level Equity, shares findings from their 2026 Go-To-Market Insights Report—a benchmark study covering sales efficiency, marketing spend, headcount, compensation and AI adoption across their portfolio companies.

Amy and Shiv dig into what the data shows: why SDRs are having to reach out to more prospects to book the same number of meetings, how the best-performi...

On this episode, Jim Ferry, Partner at Volition Capital, shares how AI is reshaping the growth-stage investment landscape and what it means for the companies they back.

Jim covers why employee count is no longer a reliable signal of company maturity, where real defensibility comes from when code itself is becoming a commodity, and what moats still hold up — from first-party data and proprietary integrations to network effects and sy...

On this episode, Joe Mancini, Co-Founder and Partner at Front Porch Venture Partners, explains how a hybrid fund-of-funds model works in practice—deploying capital both into early-stage venture funds as an LP and directly into seed and Series A companies, with a deliberate focus on the Southeast.

Learn why the most defensible moats in software today are being built around go-to-market and purpose-built vertical features rather than ...

On this episode, Arvindh Kumar, Partner and Co-Head of EQT's Global Technology Sector Team, explains how private equity firms can turn AI laggard companies into AI winners — and why getting that transformation right starts with the CEO.

Arvindh walks through the defensive attributes he looks for when underwriting software investments, including proprietary data, embedded workflows and network effects, and explains how those char...

On this episode adapted from a recent webinar, Shiv Narayanan, CEO and Founder of How To SaaS and bestselling author of AI Marketing Blueprint, explains how companies can adapt their go-to-market and thrive in an AI-first world.

Companies everywhere are missing their revenue targets, and the old playbook is breaking down. Inbound is getting more expensive, more competitive, and less effective.

Why? Because, in an AI-first world, most...

On this episode, Bob Morse, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Strattam Capital, shares how founder-led vertical software companies can embed AI meaningfully into their products and avoid being left behind as the market shifts.

Hear how Strattam approaches AI adoption across its portfolio—from replacing year-long custom development backlogs with 48-hour turnarounds, to tracking the share of deals where AI features are the deciding f...

Luke Sarsfield, CEO and Chairman at Ridgepost Capital, shares how a fund of funds platform can generate differentiated alpha by staying disciplined about market focus and building proprietary data advantages over time.

Luke explains why concentrating on the middle and lower middle market creates structural advantages that broader platforms miss, and how collecting deal-level data across 20-plus years turns an LP relationship into ge...

Ray Carey, Head of NextLevel Operations at Level Equity, explains how private equity firms can take a more systematic approach to driving value across their portfolio with operational support. Hear how Level Equity prioritizes their time and resources, why they connect activities to valuation with metrics, and how firms can identify where operational intervention will have the greatest impact. 

Tune in to learn how to build an effec...

On this episode, Cory Eaves, Partner and Head of Portfolio Operations at BayPine, discusses how private equity firms can turn a need for technology transformation into a repeatable value creation lever, rather than a diligence risk. Drawing on his experience as a multi-time CTO and operating partner, Cory explains how portfolio operations teams can work with management to better identify and prioritize technology opportunities acro...

On this episode, Bob Brown, Founding Partner and Head of Capital Formation and Investor Relations at Motive Partners, shares lessons from three decades inside private equity, including how operational discipline and a clear understanding of what creates value for LPs are critical to driving outcomes. Learn how an “investing, operating and innovating” model embeds operators and technology experts alongside investors to tackle two of...

On this episode, Ellen Havdala, Managing Director at Equity Group Investments, explains how a flexible capital base and an operator-led mindset shape a different approach to private equity. Hear how to evaluate barriers to entry, structure liquidity to withstand black swan events and assess true alignment with founders before a deal ever closes.

Tune in to learn how patient capital changes decision-making—from holding periods to exi...

Scott Neuberger, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Karmel Capital, shares how later-stage secondaries can provide access to high-quality technology companies. Learn how to assess capital efficiency, management quality and growth durability using data and market signals, and get a repeatable lens for evaluating technology businesses.

The conversation also sharpens how to think about AI investing over a realistic time horizon. Hear h...

Allen Mask, Partner at Westcap and Head of CōLab, shares how the firm leverages an "operating equity" model to go beyond capital to drive real value creation in marketplace businesses.Learn how to structure an operating team that founders want to work with and how pairing operators with investors during diligence surfaces risks that financials alone won't reveal.

Plus, hear how to approach the first 100 days, when to ...

Sean Dempsey, Co-Founder and Partner at Sheridan Capital Partners, shares how deep sector specialization in healthcare shapes sharper investment theses and more disciplined value creation in regulated markets—grounded in a practical understanding of the patient, provider, payer and product ecosystem.

Learn how to professionalize founder-led businesses, including structuring ops support, recruiting and assessing CEOs, and building in...

On this episode, Bill Dupee, Partner, Transaction Advisory Services at Aprio, breaks down how buyers and sellers can use diligence to clarify the true economic engine of a business, identify risk early and build a narrative that stands up in a competitive process.

Learn how disciplined metrics, higher-quality information and a repeatable diligence process shape deal outcomes, from avoiding late-stage surprises to accelerating post-c...

In this episode, Gustavo Cardenas, Managing Director and Co-Head of Strategic Partnerships at Wafra, explains how GP stakes investors evaluate and partner with private equity firms—what “edge” looks like, how managers fit within LP portfolios and what signals readiness to scale.

The conversation explores GP stakes as a firm-building lever: how early, catalytic capital can accelerate a manager’s trajectory, why LP conversations happe...

On this episode, Anastasia Kovaleva, Partner at Pollen Street Capital shares how sector focus informs value creation across financial services and how her team approaches scaling mid-market businesses across Europe.

Hear how specialist playbooks differ across software, services and regulated models, how investors can partner with management to professionalize go-to-market and M&A capabilities, and how to apply automation and AI...

On this episode, Matthew Wiener, Co-Head of Aon Transaction Solutions, shares how private equity firms can use insurance to manage the risks that diligence can’t fully eliminate. You’ll learn where post-close issues most often arise, how insured structures change buyer–seller negotiations and why even infrequent losses can have an outsized impact on fund-level returns.

Hear how transaction risk insurance can be used in continuation ...