Private Equity FunCast

Jim sits down with Sean Lucq (Partner at SPMB Executive Search) to talk about the art of hiring senior engineering and product leaders—especially now that every job description on Earth has "AI" duct-taped to it.

We get into why sticking with one great search firm beats "random recruiter roulette," why tech interviewing is tough (spoiler: engineers aren't always born interviewers), and the eternal tension between the two key roles ...

In this episode of The Private Equity Funcast, Jim Milbery sits down with Jennifer Nelson (CEO of Izzy Software), Richard Malone, Rob Swanson (co-founders of CNX Corporation), and Iwona Montgomery to talk about CNX's nearly 30-year glow-up — from green screens to the cloud. After almost three decades in the biz, CNX just joined forces with Izzy Software, and the result? Legacy systems that finally got the spa day they deserved. We ...

Jim and Leah dive headfirst into a whirlwind chat that covers everything from the fine distinctions between puppets and marionettes to the equally delicate art of building great user experiences. Leah shares her fascinating journey from a Medieval French literature course at Berkeley to leading UX research at companies like Slack, Spotify, Instagram, and Mozilla. Along the way, they tackle why users often don't honestly know what t...

Paul Stansik sits down with Shiv Narayanan—founder of How to SaaS and author of Exit-Ready Marketing—to break down what most private equity firms and portfolio companies get wrong about marketing. They explore how to make marketing a measurable, scalable lever for value creation, from diligence to exit. Shiv shares the frameworks he's used across countless engagements to tie marketing strategy, budget, and team structure to real bu...

In this episode of the Private Equity Funcast, host Ryan Milligan speaks with OpenBrand CEO Greg Munves and Chief Economist Ralph McLaughlin about their innovative approach to tracking inflation through the OpenBrand Consumer Price Index for Durable and Personal Goods (CPI-DPG). The CPI-DPG is updated weekly, providing a third independent data point for measuring inflation. Its accuracy has been validated with a mean absolute perce...

In this episode of the Private Equity Funcast, Greg Munves (CEO) and Kristopher Kubicki (CTO) join Partner Ryan Milligan to discuss the rapid growth and transformation of Open Brand, a company formed through the combination of four market intelligence companies. They share insights on leveraging AI for real-time data analytics, scaling through strategic acquisitions, and modernizing technology infrastructure. The conversation explo...

Join host Jim Milbery along with guests Alan Williamson (CTO of HiBid) and Kristopher Kubicki (CTO of OpenBrand) as we react to the recent DeepSeek AI announcement, its implications for the AI industry, private equity, and technology companies.  We discuss the shock and awe response from the VC and tech communities, debating whether it signals a true paradigm shift or an overreaction. The conversation underscores how AI, particular...

Jim and Paul kick off the 2025 podcast year. We discuss economic uncertainties, private equity challenges, and evolving market strategies. We explore AI's role in portfolio management, cybersecurity concerns, and operational improvements, emphasizing practical efficiency over drastic changes. The conversation also touches on AI adoption within organizations, avoiding vendor lock-in and training teams to leverage new tools. Wrapping...

Matt Van Itallie from SEMA Software joins Jim to discuss the value of SEMA's code analysis tools for private equity backed companies, particularly for companies managing technical debt, security, and code quality. They highlight the challenges of due diligence in software acquisitions, especially for older companies with legacy systems, and stress the importance of transparency in identifying security and licensing risks. SEMA's AI...

Jim welcomes Phillip Weinstein, founder of Atropates Capital who discusses his background, entrepreneurial journey, and the concept of starting a search fund. The conversation covers a range of topics, including Phillip's first entrepreneurial venture at Wake Forest University (a laundry service), through founding his search fund.  The discussion explores how search funds differ from other business models, such as private equity an...

Join Paul from the ParkerGale Ops team as he unpacks the concept of "product-market fit" with special guest, Rob Snyder – multiple-time startup founder and Fellow at Harvard Innovation Labs. Paul and Rob explore the origins of the PMF concept, what it means, and why it's both an essential and confusing concept for PE-backed tech companies. Learn about the importance of building a shareable case study, the pain cave you inevitably e...

Devin spends an hour with Ankur Gupta, PNC's Global Head of Technology Finance, to discuss the current state of software company lending. We cover where PNC fits in the lending landscape, what a "good fit" deal looks like, what you should expect during due diligence, what covenants you should expect, and where pricing is across different lenders these days. We also cover how lenders think about Gross Retention vs Net Retention, ARR...

In this interview, Jim and Yuval Yeret discuss the implementation and challenges of agile methodologies within the private equity space. Yuval has extensive experience in product development, and he emphasizes the importance of principle-driven agility over rigid adherence to frameworks. While agile practices originated in software development, their application is beneficial across various industries and organizational functions. ...