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PE Value Drivers #12, Unique Perspectives from Todd Markson, Operating Partner for Bain Capital

May 24, 2022 11:34:04 AM | Posted by Slade Kobran

Welcome back to PE Value Drivers.

In this latest issue of PE Value Drivers, I talk with Todd Markson from Bain Capital. Todd is an Operating Partner in Bain’s Tech Opportunities Fund, where he leads value creation efforts across the portfolio and partners with management teams to support their key initiatives. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Todd was CSO & COO at Cengage, a multi-billion-dollar Private Equity backed, global education and technology company, where he led strategy, corporate development, channel, pricing, procurement and supply chain. Before Cengage, Todd was a management strategy consultant in London, Dubai and Boston, most recently as a Senior Principal in the Technology and Private Equity practices of BCG, with a focus on Go-To-Market. Todd’s also been a technology entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, co-founding and successfully exiting education technology and information services companies.

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Portco Growth: Marketing as reality check

Apr 18, 2019 10:00:00 AM — For many middle market companies, the vision that founded the enterprise can’t take it to the next stage of growth. So we spoke to Chief Outsiders’ Dawn Werry about how a market-based reality check can set an enterprise up to grow in new, and sustainable ways. Founding a company takes an uncommon kind of vision, talent and drive. But often guiding the company to the next stage of growth requires a different skill set than the one that built the business from scratch. Private equity firms understand this, and often show up with the capital and resources to make a great small company into an even better, and bigger enterprise. Sometimes the founder can adapt for that next stage, and other times, they struggle. After all, the founder’s approach took them this far, why can’t it take the business even farther? The answer sometimes requires a reality check about the company’s current status and what it takes to grow from there. Few people expect marketing to provide a reality check, but the marketing discipline needs to accurately assess the actual competitive landscape.

Portco Growth: When Sales Stall, Look Beyond the Sales Strategy

Feb 1, 2019 3:10:45 PM — Private equity firms tend to focus on fixing sales when the real problem may be the marketing strategy. We spoke with Clay Spitz of Chief Outsiders about how to better understand what’s behind those disappointing sales numbers. It’s only natural for GPs to fixate on sales. It’s the quantifiable discipline closest to the top line. It’s also prone to problems. A recent survey of 400 B2B salespeople admitted that only 24.3% beat their quotas in 2018. And no private equity firm raises their next fund if their current portfolio is full of companies with underwhelming sales. What’s counterintuitive is that often sales problems aren’t about sales, but marketing decisions. And poorly managed marketing insights, strategy or execution might not be evident until sales slump. Which is why GPs should tap a marketing expert to help diagnose the issue.

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PE Value Drivers #12, Unique Perspectives from Todd Markson, Operating Partner for Bain Capital

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Portco Growth: Marketing as reality check

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