Info

Private Equity Funcast

The PE Funcast is a weekly show featuring Devin Mathews and Jim Milbery -- partners at ParkerGale Capital. We discuss all things related to privately-owned middle market technology companies -- the kind of great businesses that are outside the sphere of venture capital.
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
Private Equity Funcast
2024
March
February
January


2023
December
November
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
January


2018
December
November
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2015
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2014
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2013
December
November
October
September


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: 2020
Dec 7, 2020

Private equity deal teams need to work together seamlessly to close a buyout successfully. However, each member of the deal team does have different responsibilities and perspectives - all of which are important. ParkerGale Associate, Nori Welles-Gertz, makes her PE Funcast debut, discussing with Principal Kevin Fitzgerald and Partner Ryan Milligan the myriad of details, thoughts, and worries she has throughout a live deal. Kevin and Ryan contribute their perspectives and provide a true top-to-bottom view of what each role focuses on and cares about.

Nov 20, 2020

Private equity firms get tons of inbound emails from executives looking for their next opportunity.  Paul and Jim discuss the best ways to get private equity teams to pay attention to these emails -- and how to avoid getting on the blocked list.

Oct 30, 2020

Devin and Jim reunite for our sometimes annual Halloween episode.  Today's discussion revolves around what is currently scaring us the most in private equity.  

Oct 14, 2020

Guest host, Cici, interviews Cass Ziebel on her return to ParkerGale after two years at Chicago Booth. Cass talks about her background prior to working with ParkerGale as an Associate, what she learned before business school, how she felt about going, and what she ultimately got out of it. Cici and Cass also discuss her transition from the deal team role as an Associate into an operating role as a Principal, and why she decided to make the switch over to the light side.

Sep 23, 2020

It’s no secret that there are not very many women in private equity. According to a recent Preqin study, women account for just 19.4% of total private equity employees. In this episode, Cici and Kristina are joined by Ann Kraftson, Managing Director from the recruiting firm The Oxbridge Group. We discuss why there aren’t more women in PE, why we care about it as a private equity firm and why we think it’s a compelling industry for women to explore, especially those at the pre-MBA level. We share some of the myths vs. realities about the scary reputation of PE and shed some light on the general PE recruiting process (including the differences between on-cycle and off-cycle recruiting).

Sep 9, 2020

Leadership, culture, and their impact on investments are growing trends across the private equity industry. In this episode, Jimmy and Devin are joined by Ted Bililies, Managing Director at AlixPartners and founder of the consultancy's Transformative Leadership Practice. We discuss the findings from AlixPartners’ 5th Annual Private Equity Leadership Survey which reveal just how critical human capital is to value creation and how culture is an often overlooked source of value by investors. We also discuss why these topics are so important today given the volatility and uncertainty we are all experiencing in 2020.

Aug 14, 2020

Leaders shape culture, and in turn, culture shapes an organization. In this episode, Jimmy and Devin are joined by Katrina Calihan and Amanda Cutright, creators and facilitators of the L6 Program – the Leadership Development Program we roll-out at our portfolio companies. We discuss the six-month, transformational program that helps develop evolved, mindful, and skillful leaders at our companies and how those leaders help to create and shape cultures that last.

Aug 5, 2020

Kevin and Jim spend an hour with Ben Harrison, Co-Founder and President, Financial Services at DealCloud about the DealCloud platform and how we use it at ParkerGale. Our collective paths have crossed over the years, so as per usual we digress into some private equity history along the way.

Jul 20, 2020

No serious athlete steps on the field without a scouting report. No serious professional should lead without one either. In this episode of the Funcast's Leadership Series, Paul and Jim discuss a simple document that can help you clarify working styles and create a high-performing team. This episode references our recently published article, which can be found at parkergale.com/scoutingreport.

Jul 6, 2020

Jim talks with Ryan Milligan about the use of debt in private equity deals and the state of the lending market in uncertain economic environments.

Jun 22, 2020

Jim talks with Kelley Powell, Alan Williamson and Jim Headley from the MacLaurin Group about tackling large-scale technology projects in a private-equity-backed company.   All four of us worked together on a very complicated project some years ago. We focus our discussions on the Valley of Anguish, the deep hole between the initial enthusiasm and the finished project.

May 29, 2020

Jim, Jimmy and Dr. Steve Julius get together to discuss the denouement of The Last Dance. Dr. J leads the discussion around managing a superstar to become part of a broader system and why so few stars make the transition to being great coaches -- and the parallels for middle market PE portfolio companies.

May 7, 2020

Jim, Jimmy and Dr. J discuss everything from "The Last Dance" and the Warren Commission to John McCain as part of a new intro to a classic episode in which Devin and Kevin Fitzgerald talk with Steve Julius, PhD aka "Dr. J" about organizational behavior and team dynamics.   Dr. Julius opines on human behavior, organizational dynamics and business development.

Apr 29, 2020

Jim talks with Paul Petefish from Evolve Security about the ins-and-outs of an actual security assessment -- ours.   We cover everything from penetration testing to phishing attacks.

Apr 22, 2020

The conclusion of our two-part episode (both recorded before the coronavirus pandemic) with ParkerGale advisor and former Chicago Bulls team psychologist Dr. Steve Julius discussing how elite sports franchises think about organization and team culture and what can be applied into a business context.

Apr 15, 2020

In episode 1 of a 2-part episode (both recorded before the coronavirus pandemic), Jim, Jimmy, and Paul are joined by ParkerGale advisor and former Chicago Bulls team psychologist Dr. Steve Julius to discuss how elite sports franchises think about organization and team culture and what can be applied into a business context.

Apr 6, 2020

Weeks ago, before we were all focused on the coronavirus pandemic, Jim and Jimmy recorded our (mostly) annual March Madness episode. We hit pause on posting this one for a while, but on what would have been the finals of the men’s college basketball tournament, we thought a little levity would be something listeners could use.  In this episode, the months of the year face off in a battle for supremacy.

Mar 30, 2020

We talk with Paul Petefish, Founder and CEO of Evolve Security about some simple and fast suggestions to make remote working more secure.

Mar 17, 2020

A fan favorite episode -- The FunCast spends an hour with Kirkland & Ellis partner Ryan Harris (formerly of McDermott Will & Emery LLP) talking about the legal traps founders fall into when setting up their companies and when they sell them. What's the best company structure -- C Corp, S Corp, LLC?  How do you handle employee equity?  Hear about the infamous "Cubs side letter."  What are the common issues Ryan sees when founders go to sell their business and how can you avoid them? Listening to this conversation won't make you stronger, but it sure will make you smarter!  Enjoy.

Mar 10, 2020

Jim and Jimmy are joined by Marla Caceres and Nelson Velazquez, improvisors at Chicago’s famous Second City Theatre. They discuss how ParkerGale has leveraged the Second City Works to provide professional development for senior executives in addition to the concepts that underpin the Second City philosophy and why they are so important to fostering growth, teamwork, and innovation. Oh – and don’t miss the end when the crew improvises a song entitled “The Ugly Burning House.”

Mar 3, 2020

On this episode, Jay Nathan (Founder of Customer Imperative) joins Paul Stansik to share how companies can be more intentional in building intimacy and delivering value to their customers. We talk about how his consulting firm builds customer success teams, how business leaders get this wrong, and the baby-steps that anyone can take to "make the renewal a no-brainer."

Feb 24, 2020

Jimmy sits down with Dean Brown, CEO of Ipro Tech. Dean discusses his upbringing in a military family, his education in Industrial Psychology, the serendipity of a career, his love of products and product strategy, his experience founding, scaling, and ultimately selling his startup, why culture is so important to him in business, and much more.

Feb 14, 2020

In part 3 of a 3 part series on Product Strategy, Jim and Cici continue the discussion of how product strategy ties into value creation, and how specifically as a PE firm, we monitor our portfolio companies’ product strategy through taking a detailed look at their product roadmaps. We discuss how we conduct Product Strategy Reviews – the objectives, who’s in the room, and what we actually cover. We talk about why we’re focused on outcome-driven product roadmaps, how we work with our portfolio companies to prioritize what actually gets built and why that’s so critical when we’re allocating scarce resources to create value.

Feb 5, 2020

In part 2 of a 3 part series on Product Strategy, Jim is joined by Cici to discuss the private equity investor's perspective on how and why products get built. Living in a world of limited resources, we discuss the framework that we use to help shape the discussions with our portfolio companies about prioritizing their products and features. We talk about market segments versus markets, the Ansoff matrix and Geoffrey Moore's famous "Bowling Alley" strategy.

Jan 27, 2020

In part 1 of a 3 part series on Product Strategy, Jim is joined by Cici to discuss the three levers of value creation - risk mitigation, revenue growth, and cost reduction, and how we think about the three in the portfolio. Jimmy joins as well to add the People dimension.

1 2 Next »