| Private Equity

For the GP: How to Build a Growth Squad

Jul 12, 2019 10:27:28 AM | Posted by The Chief Outsider

Operating partners of private equity (PE) firms can do so much to create value at a portfolio company, provided they’re free to focus on what they do best. Peter Hlavin, VP of Business Development at Chief Outsiders, explains how fractional Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) can collaborate with operating partners to build growth engines and drive exponential revenue growth.

The heyday of the C-suite and PE-suite jack-of-all-trades is over (if there ever was one). The most substantial opportunities to improve portfolio companies require sector and discipline expertise now. Twenty years ago, cleaning up the balance sheet and addressing some supply chain snafus might have delivered a healthy IRR, but today’s high asset prices require more than boilerplate reforms.

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Portfolio Company Marketing Matters: First Things First

Jun 24, 2019 5:12:36 PM — Not every portfolio company needs some brilliant, off-kilter marketing scheme to spur growth. Mid-sized enterprises can see big results from getting the basics right. So we spoke with Chief Outsiders’ Stijn Hendrikse on how he brings focus and discipline to portfolio companies as fractional CMO. Many small companies can prosper for years without a formal marketing strategy. Eventually though, that organic growth slows, even if their product or service is as good as it ever was. Private equity firms make it their business to find these kind of opportunities, since their expertise and capital can re-ignite that company’s growth engine, and deliver returns to their investors. And a key element to that is the marketing strategy.

What CEOs Have To Say About Working With Private Equity

May 6, 2019 3:15:59 PM — Chief Outsiders does a lot of work with private equity, which means I’m usually talking with at least 3-4 private equity investors each week. At the same time, I often talk with an equal number of PE-backed portfolio execs each week, mostly CEOs. While these discussions have given me insights into their business needs, challenges, and strategies to create value in pursuit of outsized returns, we haven’t spent much time talking about the opportunities and challenges they face in working with each other. I recently attended an operating partner-focused conference and got to hear a lot on the topic from the private equity side. You can read about that in my blog post, “What Operating Partners Have To Say About Working With Their Portfolio Companies.” As I did not have a similar forum to get the other side of the coin - how portfolio company executives feel about working with private equity, I reached out to a group of PE-backed CEOs and asked them. While my outreach was not a scientific survey, it was instructive in highlighting portfolio executives’ thoughts on working with Private Equity.

What Operating Partners Have To Say About Working With Their Portfolio Companies

Apr 25, 2019 3:22:50 PM — Since the Operating Partners are responsible for working with portfolio companies to increase value, I was particularly interested in hearing their thoughts at a recent Capital Roundtable conference: Best Practices for Creating Value. As you might imagine, there was a lot of talk during the sessions and our networking breaks about the opportunities and challenges associated with their jobs. Here’s what I heard.

Is Socially Responsible Investing Part of Your Playbook?

Apr 22, 2019 8:00:00 AM — I’ve been reading a lot about responsible investing. While it’s not a new concept, it’s one that has seen increasing acceptance in the private equity space of late. PwC goes so far as to say ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) issues have “moved from niche to mainstream,” with 81% of respondents to the firm’s recent survey having adopted a responsible investment policy. In addition, the PwC survey finds that more private equity firms are not only concerned about ESG issues, they are turning that concern into action - 91% of respondents either have or are developing a responsible investment policy, according to the report. It’s becoming a business imperative.

Private Equity Blog

For the GP: How to Build a Growth Squad

Recent Posts

Portfolio Company Marketing Matters: First Things First

What CEOs Have To Say About Working With Private Equity

What Operating Partners Have To Say About Working With Their Portfolio Companies

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