Private Equity FunCast

In the past year, Excel AI plugins have become increasingly powerful, raising the question: Are Analysts and Associates about to become obsolete, or are we entering the age of the 10x modeler? On this episode, Devin and Caroline Phipps, a ParkerGale VP, go deep on AI and how it's changing the game. They're joined by Tarun Amasa, Founder & CEO of Endex, an OpenAI-backed startup automating modeling...

Your 401(k) is about to get access to private equity, but how, in what form, and at what price are all still TBD. Which is kind of a problem for such a big change. The pitch for putting private markets in retirement accounts is all about fairness: regular people got locked out of the hottest private companies, such as SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Stripe. But the products actually getting built a...

AI is reshaping the consulting industry faster than the internet or remote work ever did. Some say the industry's days are numbered. So why are Anthropic and OpenAI building PE-backed consulting firms of their own? And how will private equity firms and the companies they own feel the change? We get into what AI is actually doing to the consulting industry, why it's hitting faster than any tech shi...

Artificial intelligence is changing the rules of software investing, forcing private equity firms to adapt quickly and carefully. In this episode, we're joined by the team from Code & Co., one of the leading AI and tech due diligence firms serving private equity investors, to discuss how AI is transforming the way software companies are evaluated before a deal closes. Jim sits down with Code & Co....

It's hard to execute today. Growth has slowed, and costs are up. If you own, advise, or operate a PE-backed company, this episode offers a behind the scenes look at some plays you can run to execute your way through the chop. Paul Stansik and Jim Milbery cover sales training, customer support data, weekly go-to-market reporting, speed-to-lead, AI-assisted engineering, video marketing, release velo...

Everyone says they are one-shotting workflows with AI. We brought on the guy who can tell us what's actually happening in middle-market private equity companies. Kyle Roemer, Head of Data & AI at Accordion, has a unique view because his firm advises over 350+ private equity clients. He can see what's real and what's hype, and Accordion has the Ramp data to tell the difference. Kyle walks Devin thr...

How do you make the leap from the college quad to private equity? Associates Liz Xu and Niko Ivanisevic share their unexpected journey to the offices of ParkerGale. They get honest about imposter syndrome, the myth of the "perfect path," building a personal story beyond your resume, and why you should never chew gum in a job interview. Whether you're an undergrad planning your career or a junior b...

Most B2B software companies have more growth left in what they already sell. This framework shows exactly where to find it — and where to stop looking. Jim Milbery and Paul Stansik walk through the Ansoff Matrix, a simple four-quadrant tool for organizing every growth conversation a software company will ever have. New market or existing market? New product or current product? Sounds obvious, but...

Most B2B sales reps are professionally trained to make you like them in 30 minutes. But when you're recruiting salespeople, likability doesn't guarantee success. Make the wrong hire and you can lose two years and a chunk of your growth plan. In this episode, Devin and Paul walk through the five qualities ParkerGale tests for (customer focus, structure, accountability, problem-solving, drive), the...

Most private equity firms claim to use a leather-bound "value creation" bible nobody's allowed to touch. The truth? It's more of a Cheesecake Factory menu. In this episode, Paul and Jim break down what operating partners actually do once the deal closes — the three buckets that matter (revenue, cost, risk), why many software companies leave revenue on the table with their existing customers, and w...

In 1995, the typical "PE operating team" was a few old-timer ex-CEOs. Today there are 20,000 of them. Cass and Paul from ParkerGale's ops team sit down with Devin to walk through how private equity operations actually evolved — from the "I got a guy" Rolodex era, to the captive consulting model, to today's proliferation of professional operators. Plus hot takes on the AI-specialist hiring boom, wh...

Do operating teams matter? Why is sourcing broken? Are add-ons a strategy or a crutch? What firms have actually "stayed small?" In this episode, Devin and Jim get introspective, reflecting on their biggest lessons to mark the 10-year anniversary of the final close of ParkerGale's first fund. Tell us what you've seen change over the past ten years, and what has stood the test of time.

LPs. GPs. Carry. Waterfalls. Pari passu. The unlock. Quantum. De-Risk. Niko originally thought one of these was a French dish. Liz wants to ban another from all future meetings. In their PE Funcast debut, ParkerGale Associates Liz & Niko join Devin to demystify the private equity alphabet soup, breaking down everything from formal vocabulary to finance bro speak. Whether you're a first year Associ...

In February of this year, an obscure research report triggered a $1 trillion wipeout in software stocks in seven days. In this episode we decipher what actually happened — and why AI is more likely to be a gift to enterprise software than a death sentence.   Devin and Jim have invested through every major tech transition: PCs, client-server, the browser, mobile, the cloud. This time, they're break...

Selling a company isn't just about price - it's about timing, preparation and process. In this episode, Devin sits down with Ryan Milligan to break down how to sell a company - from timing the exit to running a competitive process and getting a deal across the finish line. They walk through the full private equity playbook including when to sell, whether or not to hire a banker and how deals move...

Everyone loves the chase but what happens when the ink dries on the deal and you actually own a company? In this episode, Jim sits down with Paul Stansik to pull back the curtain on how the combined deal, ops, and management teams come together in the first few weeks and months post-close. They break down what life looks like immediately after an acquisition, including setting up governance, ident...

It all starts with an acquisition, but most people don't understand how private equity firms actually find and buy companies. Devin sits down with Ryan Milligan to break down the mechanics of deal sourcing, banker-led processes and direct founder relationships.  From the early days of rotary phones ringing with deals to today's hyper-competitive sourcing environment, we discuss how firms build pip...

Raising your first private equity fund is humbling. Like Lloyd Dobler holding a boombox outside an LP's window, you need to be committed and creative. It took us over 150 meetings and almost 2 years to get to the finish line. One LP fell asleep mid-pitch. We got stranded in a monsoon in Connecticut. Kenny the Associate torpedoed us in Manhattan. Jim got locked out, and Devin had to fly solo. We su...

In this episode, Devin and Jim rewind to 2014 — and a $12 bottle of Cabernet at the Macaroni Grill — where they hatched the plan to leave their firm and build a new private equity firm from nothing. This is the insider's guide they wish they'd had.

It's our annual Predictions episode (and by annual, we mean just the years we remember to record one). Devin and Jim offer their hot takes on fundraising, liquidity, why artificial general intelligence (AGI) is still years away, and whether or not the world is officially "over-softwared." PE FunCast New Episodes Every Wednesday Follow us on social media and subscribe to our Substack! LinkedIn: htt...

Devin sits down with Funcast listener and Terem Capital CEO Scott Middleton. Terem is a software holdco in Australia, and Scott shares his strategy, investment criteria, sourcing approach, and the difference between US holdcos. 

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...

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...

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 use...

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, bu...