Private Equity FunCast
Business & Finance
About
Your favorite GP's favorite podcast. Occasionally insightful, always entertaining. Deep dives into how private equity works, what happens after the deal closes, how money gets raised, and how companies get bought and sold. And everything in between with healthy doses of pop culture and humor. Straight from the team at ParkerGale Capital.For educational and entertainment purposes only. Not investment advice. Additional disclosures at www.parkergale.com.
Episodes
- The Right Way to Hire Salespeople
This episode details ParkerGale's approach to hiring B2B sales representatives, focusing on five essential qualities: customer focus, structure, accountability, problem-solving, and drive. Devin and Paul discuss specific interview question…
- How Operating Partners Create Value in Private Equity
Paul and Jim explain the role of operating partners in private equity, detailing the key areas of value creation: revenue, cost, and risk. The episode covers strategies for software companies to increase revenue from current customers and…
- The Evolution of PE Ops
Devin speaks with Cass and Paul from ParkerGale about the growth of private equity operations teams since 1995, discussing the shift from informal networks to professionalized roles and current industry trends.
- 10 Lessons From 10 Years Running Our Own Private Equity Firm
In this episode, Devin and Jim reflect on their firm's 10-year anniversary, sharing key lessons learned about operating teams, sourcing challenges, the role of add-ons, and identifying firms that maintain a small size.
- The Private Equity Glossary - 50(ish) Terms You Should Know
In their debut on PE Funcast, Liz and Niko from ParkerGale Associates join Devin to explain private equity terminology. They cover terms ranging from formal vocabulary to informal finance bro speak, intended for associates and founders.
- The Ghost of Software Future
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…
- When And How To Sell Your Company
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 gett…
- You Just Bought A Company. Now What?
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 tog…
- How Private Equity ACTUALLY Buys Companies
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…
- How to Survive Raising Your First Private Equity Fund
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 a…
- How do you start a private equity firm from scratch?
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 th…
- Private Equity Predictions 2026
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 whethe…
- Software Holdcos in Australia
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.
- AI-First (Whatever That Means): Hiring Product & Engineering Leaders with Sean Lucq from SPMB
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 w…
- Modernizing Legacy Systems: The CNX Journey from Green Screens to Great Screens
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…
- Marionettes, Metrics, and Medieval French Lit: A Conversation on UX and Life with Leah Reich
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…
- Exit-Ready Marketing: Shiv Narayanan on Making Marketing Measurable in PE-Backed Companies
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 measu…
- Continuation Vehicles 101 with Houlihan Lokey
Devin sits down with Sameer Shamsi, Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey's GP Led Secondaries group. We cover everything you want to know about continuation vehicles, but were afraid to ask (or too dumb to ask?). What is the difference between LP-led…
- Real-Time Inflation Tracking and Forecasting: A Deep Dive into Open Brand's Proprietary Consumer Price Index
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 f…
- From Hype to Impact: Deploying GenAI in Real Businesses with Chris Taylor of Fractional AI
In this episode, Chris Taylor, CEO and Co-Founder of Fractional AI , joins the show to discuss how his company helps traditional businesses adopt and implement generative AI (GenAI) to improve operations and product offerings. Fractional A…
- Open Brand's AI-Powered Market Intelligence Revolution
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…
- Shock and Nawww : DeepSeek and the Future of LLMs
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 compa…
- Predictions and Strategies for 2025
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,…
- Enhancing Technical Due Diligence with SEMA Software
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 challe…
- AI-Powered observability with Jeremy Burton
Jim welcomes old friend and colleague, Jeremy Burton, CEO of Observe, to the podcast. They discuss the importance of observability in modern software development, the evolution of observability, the challenges of distributed applications,…
- From Startup to Search Fund: Navigating Entrepreneurship with Phillip Weinstein
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 entreprene…
- Product-Market Fit with Rob Snyder
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 conc…
- ARR Lending with PNC
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…
- Exit Readiness as a PE-Backed CFO
ParkerGale Principal Cass Ziebel sits down with CFO Jon Danielson to discuss the priorities of a PE-backed CFO and what he's learned from a recent sale process. In this episode, Jon talks about what surprised him most when he moved from an…
- Understanding the Agile/Agility Ecosystem
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-d…
- How to Avoid Product Pessimism + Build a Better Sales Pitch (With Special Guest April Dunford)
Product positioning expert April Dunford joins Operating Partner Paul Stansik to talk about the curse of product pessimism (and how to fix it), why most software companies struggle to create a winning sales pitch, and how better product po…
- Big Band Software
Ryan Milligan dives deeper into our investment in Big Band Software , joined by Big Band founders Kevin McArdle (CEO), Chris Reedy (Head of Acquisitions), and Jason Heath (COO). Throughout the discussion, the team covers what companies, fo…
- Getting Real About Value Creation in PE
"Value Creation" - It's one of the most over-used terms in private equity today. What does value creation mean? What's wrong with how investors talk about their value creation approach? And how does ParkerGale think about its strategy for…
- The View From Europe with Flex Capital
We welcome back our friends Christoph and Peter from FLEX Capital in Berlin, Germany. Our conversation covers everything you would expect . . . how is the tech market holding up in Europe, how is deal flow, are deals getting done, are foun…
- Mastering Business Storytelling: Strategies for Effective Communication in Private Equity
Jim welcomes the CEO of Master Storytelling and former host of Planet Money, the always-entertaining Adam Davidson . We explore the importance of crafting a compelling and memorable narrative for companies to effectively communicate with v…
- Revolutionizing Investment Strategies: Harnessing Low-Code/No-Code with Jon Kragh
Jim talks Low-Code/No-Code with Jon Kragh , founder of Proactive Logic Consulting . Jon and his team provide fractional CTO, cloud architecture, tech modernization, and process automation services. Jon has a wealth of experience with low-c…
- The Incredible i Episode
Jim talks with IBM Champion and the Incredible i Show host, Peg Tuttle . IBM's Power Systems platform running the IBM i operating system powers some of the most significant applications in the world. Peg has 20+ years working in the IBM I…
- AI for Investment: A Platform Disruption
Jim talks with Stanford's Dr. Mohammad Rasouli about AI's pending disruption in Private Equity. He is an ex-McKinsey consultant from the Bay Area and the New York offices managing AI activation projects for private equity clients. He has w…
- 10 Lurking Problems for Sellers with Bill Snow
Bill Snow, a noted authority on mergers and acquisitions, is back with the second part of our discussion on his new book, Mergers and Acquisitions for Dummies . He joins host Jim Milbery to discuss the most common problems that sellers enc…
- It's Restructuring Time!
Devin is joined by Tuck Hardie, a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey's Financial Restructuring Group. After operating through the bankruptcy at Marvel as a client of Houlihan, Tuck switched sides and joined the HL team over 20 years ago.…
- Mergers and Acquisitions with Bill Snow
Bill Snow, a noted authority on mergers and acquisitions has represented buyers and sellers in a multitude of industries. He joins host Jim Milbery to discuss his new book, Mergers and Acquisitions for Dummies . In this episode, we focus t…
- It's the 10 Year Anniversary of the PE Funcast
Two Hundred and Seventy Three Episodes and Two Million downloads later, it's the 10th anniversary of the PE Funcast. Indulge your intrepid co-hosts, Devin and Jim, as we walk down memory lane.
- Generative AI: Implications for PE Investors
This week we sat down with Clark O'Niell and Jay Barlett from BCG to discuss their most recent research report on Generative AI and its implications for PE investors and their portfolio companies. GenAI is already becoming a game changer,…
- PE Partner and the CEO
In this episode of the PE Funcast, we take a deep dive into the relationship between the portfolio company CEO and the private equity Partner. What do they talk about when they talk? How does their connection evolve from the interview, to…
- What is the role of an Operating Partner at a private equity fund?
We've been hearing more questions and interest in operating partner roles than ever before. In our latest episode of the Private Equity Funcast, Operating Partners Jim and Cici cover some of the most frequently asked questions we frequentl…
- AlixPartners 8th Annual PE Leadership Survey
Ted Bililies, Managing Director and Head of Global Transformation Leadership Practice at AlixPartners joins Devin again to review the findings of the 8th Annual PE Leadership Survey. Devin and Ted discuss where PE and Portfolio Executives…
- What's a Software Company Worth?
In this episode of the PE Funcast, Devin and our Head of Research, David, discuss our research on software valuations, "What's a Software Company Worth." They cover how software valuations have trended over the past 20 years, the challenge…
- More Working with Private Equity from the Portfolio CXO Perspective
The grand finale of our two-part conversation with Kelley Powell, a long-time ParkerGale collaborator, and ex-portfolio executive. Kelley talks about the ins and outs of working with PE from the portfolio company perspective. She's a wealt…
- Working with Private Equity from the Portfolio CXO Perspective
Part One of a two-part conversation with Kelley Powell , a long-time ParkerGale collaborator and ex-portfolio executive. Kelley talks about the ins and outs of working with PE from the portfolio company perspective. She's a wealth of knowl…
- Technical Due Diligence with Code & Co
Jim spends an hour talking about technical due diligence with Dan Bender , and Lukas Ingelheim from Code & Co . Dan and Lukas have over 250 engagements under their collective belts and have literally "seen it all." We cover a wide range of…