Private Equity Funcast

It's the grand finale of our annual March Madness episodes -- the final four.  Cass versus Jimmy and Paul versus Cici for all the proverbial marbles for our favorite podcast!

It's our annual March Madness show.  This year our intrepid Operations Team picks their 16 favorite podcasts.   Have a listen as Cici, Paul, Cass, and Jimmy along with Commissioner for Life -- Jim work their way down to a final four.  And play along at home with our survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FMP6J8V   The final four battle it out for supremacy on next Monday's episode.

Sometimes the recipe for a good discussion is to simply pick an important topic, invite two smart people who disagree with each other, and then sit back and listen. Today Paul Stansik, Operating Partner at ParkerGale, is joined by Cory Bray (MD at ClozeLoop) and Nelson Gilliat (Author of Death of the SDR: And the Birth of Buyer Centric Revenue) to talk about how to get prospecting and growth right. In the course of a rousing hourlong debate, Paul, Cory, and Nelson cover the spectrum of opinions on “how to prospect well”, the evolving role of the BDR/SDR, and where sales and marketing teams should focus to maximize their chances for success.

Jim and Attorney Peter Halprin from Pasich, LLP discuss the ins and outs of Cybersecurity Insurance and Litigation. We cover a wide range of topics with a focus on what private equity leaders need to know about these issues, including: why private equity leaders should treat attacks as inevitabilities, how cyber insurance can provide breach response support and financial protection against cyber risks, and how companies may be able to find coverage under other policies for cyberattacks, including crime, kidnap and ransom, property, and technology errors and omissions.

In this episode, Cici Zheng talks with April Dunford, a positioning consultant, speaker, and author on how she helps growth stage companies with positioning. They discuss the difference between product messaging and product positioning, how to "fix" positioning problems, and why founders, PE firms, and portfolio companies should even care about positioning in the first place.

In this week's episode, we are talking with Pam Lang, CEO of Xcelerated Data, a company that focuses on fixing data quality problems leading to better decisions in your marketing organization.   Pam explains compiled lists, hotlists, the differences between consumer lists and business lists, and SIC codes versus NAICS codes.  

Jim, Cici and Jimmy discuss community building within our portfolio. We cover everything from organizing small teams across our companies to ParkerGale's approach to "summits".

It's our annual predictions show for 2022 with your original hosts, Devin and Jim. With the glut of other pontificators doing their usual prognostications, we've decided to shake things up a bit and focus on resolutions, or rather our anti-resolutions.

Devin walks us through three (yes 3!) new additions to the ParkerGale team. We're calling it the Platform Team and it includes a Head of Community, a Head of Origination, and a Head of Research. Listen to hear a brief description of each role and if you are interested (or know someone who is) email your resume to devin [at] parkergale [dot] com and ryan [at] parkergale [com] with "Community" "Origination" or "Research" in the email title. We will send you a detailed job description so you can learn more.

It's our annual holiday episode, with your original hosts -- Devin and Jim. While the debate over "Die Hard as a Christmas movie" is settled (it is), there are still plenty of things to discuss this holiday season, so come have a listen.  

Jimmy is joined by Tim Schumm, CEO of Lucas James Talent Partners to discuss The Great Resignation. Just about everyone has been impacted by this personally or professionally in some capacity, but mid market businesses can feel this even more acutely. They discuss the macro trends that are driving this phenomenon and then share what the most create mid-market companies are doing to win the war for talent.

We’re hiring! ParkerGale VPs Ben and Nori join Jimmy to discuss the Investment Associate role at ParkerGale. They discuss Associate responsibilities, core values, and what makes the job unique (including, but not limited to, great office snacks). Please share with interested friends or colleagues.

Jimmy is joined by Eric Green, co-founder of WPD Management, a Chicago-based real-estate and property management company, to discuss the recent transformation that Eric guided WPD Management through. They discuss Eric's founder's story and how he built the business, the realization that he needed to extract himself from the day-to-day operations, and how over a 18-month period, he deployed the ParkerGale People Ops playbook, empowered his team, and transformed his business. Jim joins in on the fun to frame the dialogue with Jimmy.

Jimmy is joined by Amanda Lannert, much lauded CEO of Chicago-based Jellyvision, to discuss how Jellyvision is transforming their culture as we emerge from the grips of the pandemic. They discuss how COVID impacted Jellyvision's business, how she has embraced the mantra "purpose, and not presence," how they are re-thinking company communication, and what her team is now doing to invest in meaningful relationships.

ParkerGale Operating Principal Paul Stansik is joined by Zorian Rotenberg, former head of Sales, CRO, and now a PE growth advisor. Zorian and Paul share their approach to diagnosing and addressing typical growth problems, how sales teams can use simple math to set better pipeline targets, and what sets great CROs apart.

Jimmy Holloran and Paul Stansik share the lessons they’ve learned inside the portfolio from the last 2+ years working on teams, talent, and culture. They cover how to get the most out of your next team offsite, what great management training has in common, how to make hiring and performance management more human, and how ParkerGale thinks about fostering cultures that last.

Ryan Milligan discusses the state of the Canadian M&A market with Pierre Chamberland, founder of NetGovern. Pierre describes his roughly 20-year journey from entrepreneur to selling to private equity, followed by a discussion on the state of investing and M&A in Canada and differences with the US market.

Inspired by their friend Dave Kellogg, Devin & Jim discuss the questions Limited Partners (and prospective Limited Partners) ask that you should always know off the top of your head. These are the questions that responding with "let me get back to you on that" will make you look bad, unprepared, or just plain out of touch.

Devin and Cici sit down to discuss how we do commercial due diligence at ParkerGale. You know, all the market sizing, customer calls, surveys, competitive analysis you do after LOI but before you close the deal. We have two eras here at PG -- the way we did commercial diligence before Cici joined us and the way we do it now. Lots of good stuff to learn before you dive into your next transaction. Learn from the best and take notes. We promise it's going to help.

ParkerGale's newly promoted Senior Associate Dean Olson sits down with Devin to talk about his path from Indiana University to working in the private equity industry. Like the interviews we've done in the past with other PG-ers, you'll learn about the career choices made early in your 20s and how Dean thought about his different choices in consulting at Bain & Company to his work at ParkerGale. He reflects on what he's learning and where he's headed next. If you are early in your career or know someone looking to get into PE after college, Dean has a lot of great advice.