Education Bookcast

Experienced CFO Jon Danielson discusses shifting from investing to CFO roles, prioritizing operational tasks, emphasizing clean data, and building strong finance teams. Topics include balancing operational and strategic responsibilities in PE-backed companies, restating financials for accuracy, evaluating Quality of Earnings reports, and preparing businesses for sale with organized data and documentation.

Yuval Yeret shares insights on implementing agile methodologies in private equity, focusing on principle-driven agility over rigid frameworks. He discusses the challenges of 'agile theater,' the importance of cross-functional collaboration, and balancing customer flexibility with engineering realities. Yuval highlights the role of OKRs as strategic guides and the unique position of private equity firms in driving agile transformations.

Product positioning expert April Dunford shares insights on overcoming product pessimism, refining sales pitches, and aligning departments for effective company positioning. The podcast discusses challenges in B2B buying decisions, innovative customer service in e-commerce, crafting unique sales pitches, and combatting product pessimism in sales.

Kevin McArdle, Chris Reedy, and Jason Heath discuss Big Band Software acquisition strategy, targeting profitable B2B SaaS companies. They emphasize long-term support, evaluating add-ons in private equity, and leveraging AI for product development. The team highlights collaborative growth through synergistic acquisitions and shared best practices within a holding company structure.

Exploring value creation strategies in private equity, risk assessment in deals, unconventional problem-solving, establishing strategic operating rhythm, communication in PE, and maximizing value for exit strategies are key topics discussed in the podcast.

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 founders selling or holding on, where are valuations today compared to a few years ago, how is the fundraising market, what does competition for deals look like? We also cover the basics, such as what Christoph and Peter look for in a deal, what they will and won't do, and how that has changed over time. Here are their emails if you'd like to connect . . . pw@flex.capital and cj@flex.capital

Adam Davidson, former host of Planet Money and CEO of Master Storytelling, discusses the importance of crafting compelling narratives for effective communication in private equity. Other topics include challenges of generic messaging, being distinct and memorable, aligning actions through storytelling, avoiding errors in business storytelling, effective messaging for investors, understanding customer needs, and the role of storytelling in pitching.

Jon Kragh, founder of Proactive Logic Consulting and experienced with low-code solutions, discusses the evolution of low-code/no-code development, the use of evolving platforms for investment strategies, AI language models for code generation, favorite karaoke songs, analyzing the elements of value, and the importance of low-code development in private equity.

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 world, and we talk about everything from common misconceptions to leveraging the latest and greatest open-source solutions on the IBM Power Systems platform.

Dr. Mohammad Rasouli, an ex-McKinsey consultant, discusses the pending disruption of AI in private equity. He explores the impact of AI on the industry and the use of AI for investment, from automating fund processes to analyzing deal books. He also discusses the power of mega funds in data science, the predictive algorithm of price prediction, and the importance of sticking to the investment plan.