Minds Capital Podcast “Partner Equity, Not Private Equity”
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Dec 3, 2025 Craig Duper, founding partner of Elan Growth Partners, discusses his innovative 'partner equity' approach, which aims to align incentives through high seller rollover. He explains how a 40%-49% rollover is key to minimizing risks in deals. Delving into the challenges faced when sellers can’t or won’t roll equity, Craig offers insights into filtering potential partners. He also emphasizes the importance of building robust fund-grade infrastructure, and shares a compelling case study of a successful battery-pack manufacturer exit that achieved a 3.21x net MOIC.
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Private Equity Shouldn’t Destroy Value
- Craig Duper defines private equity as buying cash-flowing businesses and accelerating value rather than taking venture-style bets.
- He argues true private equity deals shouldn't degrade enterprise value to zero and doing so is a failure of underwriting.
High Seller Rollover Aligns Incentives
- Elon Growth Partners pursues "partner equity" by seeking significant seller rollover to align incentives long-term.
- Their historical average seller rollover is about 40%, which they view as de-risking and alignment.
Fund Cycles Create Extraneous Exit Pressure
- Fund cycles can force exits that are suboptimal for individual portfolio companies due to liquidity and successor fund pressures.
- Independent sponsors avoid those extraneous timing pressures, allowing decisions focused on the business's best outcome.