Guest host, Cici, interviews Cass Ziebel on her return to ParkerGale after two years at Chicago Booth. Cass talks about her background prior to working with ParkerGale as an Associate, what she learned before business school, how she felt about going, and what she ultimately got out of it. Cici and Cass also discuss her transition from the deal team role as an Associate into an operating role as a Principal, and why she decided to make the switch over to the light side.
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 9 min
It’s no secret that there are not very many women in private equity. According to a recent Preqin study, women account for just 19.4% of total private equity employees. In this episode, Cici and Kristina are joined by Ann Kraftson, Managing Director from the recruiting firm The Oxbridge Group. We discuss why there aren’t more women in PE, why we care about it as a private equity firm and why we think it’s a compelling industry for women to explore, especially those at the pre-MBA level. We share...
Sep 23, 2020•1 hr 8 min
Leadership, culture, and their impact on investments are growing trends across the private equity industry. In this episode, Jimmy and Devin are joined by Ted Bililies, Managing Director at AlixPartners and founder of the consultancy's Transformative Leadership Practice. We discuss the findings from AlixPartners’ 5th Annual Private Equity Leadership Survey which reveal just how critical human capital is to value creation and how culture is an often overlooked source of value by investors. We als...
Sep 09, 2020•53 min
Leaders shape culture, and in turn, culture shapes an organization. In this episode, Jimmy and Devin are joined by Katrina Calihan and Amanda Cutright, creators and facilitators of the L6 Program – the Leadership Development Program we roll-out at our portfolio companies. We discuss the six-month, transformational program that helps develop evolved, mindful, and skillful leaders at our companies and how those leaders help to create and shape cultures that last.
Aug 14, 2020•1 hr 19 min
Kevin and Jim spend an hour with Ben Harrison, Co-Founder and President, Financial Services at DealCloud about the DealCloud platform and how we use it at ParkerGale. Our collective paths have crossed over the years, so as per usual we digress into some private equity history along the way.
Aug 05, 2020•44 min
No serious athlete steps on the field without a scouting report. No serious professional should lead without one either. In this episode of the Funcast's Leadership Series, Paul and Jim discuss a simple document that can help you clarify working styles and create a high-performing team. This episode references our recently published article, which can be found at parkergale.com/scoutingreport.
Jul 20, 2020•55 min
Jim talks with Ryan Milligan about the use of debt in private equity deals and the state of the lending market in uncertain economic environments.
Jul 06, 2020•38 min
Jim talks with Kelley Powell, Alan Williamson and Jim Headley from the MacLaurin Group about tackling large-scale technology projects in a private-equity-backed company. All four of us worked together on a very complicated project some years ago. We focus our discussions on the Valley of Anguish, the deep hole between the initial enthusiasm and the finished project.
Jun 22, 2020•52 min
Jim, Jimmy and Dr. Steve Julius get together to discuss the denouement of The Last Dance. Dr. J leads the discussion around managing a superstar to become part of a broader system and why so few stars make the transition to being great coaches -- and the parallels for middle market PE portfolio companies.
May 29, 2020•50 min
Jim, Jimmy and Dr. J discuss everything from "The Last Dance" and the Warren Commission to John McCain as part of a new intro to a classic episode in which Devin and Kevin Fitzgerald talk with Steve Julius, PhD aka "Dr. J" about organizational behavior and team dynamics. Dr. Julius opines on human behavior, organizational dynamics and business development.
May 07, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Jim talks with Paul Petefish from Evolve Security about the ins-and-outs of an actual security assessment -- ours. We cover everything from penetration testing to phishing attacks.
Apr 29, 2020•44 min
The conclusion of our two-part episode (both recorded before the coronavirus pandemic) with ParkerGale advisor and former Chicago Bulls team psychologist Dr. Steve Julius discussing how elite sports franchises think about organization and team culture and what can be applied into a business context.
Apr 22, 2020•42 min
In episode 1 of a 2-part episode (both recorded before the coronavirus pandemic), Jim, Jimmy, and Paul are joined by ParkerGale advisor and former Chicago Bulls team psychologist Dr. Steve Julius to discuss how elite sports franchises think about organization and team culture and what can be applied into a business context.
Apr 15, 2020•47 min
Weeks ago, before we were all focused on the coronavirus pandemic, Jim and Jimmy recorded our (mostly) annual March Madness episode. We hit pause on posting this one for a while, but on what would have been the finals of the men’s college basketball tournament, we thought a little levity would be something listeners could use. In this episode, the months of the year face off in a battle for supremacy.
Apr 06, 2020•53 min
We talk with Paul Petefish, Founder and CEO of Evolve Security about some simple and fast suggestions to make remote working more secure.
Mar 30, 2020•45 min
A fan favorite episode -- The FunCast spends an hour with Kirkland & Ellis partner Ryan Harris (formerly of McDermott Will & Emery LLP) talking about the legal traps founders fall into when setting up their companies and when they sell them. What's the best company structure -- C Corp, S Corp, LLC? How do you handle employee equity? Hear about the infamous "Cubs side letter." What are the common issues Ryan sees when founders go to sell their business and how can you avoid them? Listenin...
Mar 17, 2020•52 min
Jim and Jimmy are joined by Marla Caceres and Nelson Velazquez, improvisors at Chicago’s famous Second City Theatre. They discuss how ParkerGale has leveraged the Second City Works to provide professional development for senior executives in addition to the concepts that underpin the Second City philosophy and why they are so important to fostering growth, teamwork, and innovation. Oh – and don’t miss the end when the crew improvises a song entitled “The Ugly Burning House.”
Mar 10, 2020•1 hr 13 min
On this episode, Jay Nathan (Founder of Customer Imperative) joins Paul Stansik to share how companies can be more intentional in building intimacy and delivering value to their customers. We talk about how his consulting firm builds customer success teams, how business leaders get this wrong, and the baby-steps that anyone can take to "make the renewal a no-brainer."
Mar 03, 2020•42 min
Jimmy sits down with Dean Brown, CEO of Ipro Tech. Dean discusses his upbringing in a military family, his education in Industrial Psychology, the serendipity of a career, his love of products and product strategy, his experience founding, scaling, and ultimately selling his startup, why culture is so important to him in business, and much more.
Feb 24, 2020•1 hr 2 min
In part 3 of a 3 part series on Product Strategy, Jim and Cici continue the discussion of how product strategy ties into value creation, and how specifically as a PE firm, we monitor our portfolio companies’ product strategy through taking a detailed look at their product roadmaps. We discuss how we conduct Product Strategy Reviews – the objectives, who’s in the room, and what we actually cover. We talk about why we’re focused on outcome-driven product roadmaps, how we work with our portfolio co...
Feb 14, 2020•42 min
In part 2 of a 3 part series on Product Strategy, Jim is joined by Cici to discuss the private equity investor's perspective on how and why products get built. Living in a world of limited resources, we discuss the framework that we use to help shape the discussions with our portfolio companies about prioritizing their products and features. We talk about market segments versus markets, the Ansoff matrix and Geoffrey Moore's famous "Bowling Alley" strategy.
Feb 05, 2020•41 min
In part 1 of a 3 part series on Product Strategy, Jim is joined by Cici to discuss the three levers of value creation - risk mitigation, revenue growth, and cost reduction, and how we think about the three in the portfolio. Jimmy joins as well to add the People dimension.
Jan 27, 2020•31 min
On this episode, Keith Hadley from the Table Group joins Paul Stansik to chat about how we build aligned C-suite teams and healthy portfolio companies. We cover what healthy organizations do differently, why most team offsites are not time well spent, and how to tell if you're on (or leading) a dysfunctional team.
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Devin and Jim kick off the new year with our annual predictions episode. Come have a listen as we opine on what 2020 has in store for Private Equity.
Jan 07, 2020•46 min
Jimmy Holloran talks with Stacey Kacek, OnePlus Systems CEO. They discuss her early career as an engineer at Motorola, her transition into leadership, and her perspective on being a CEO. Along the way, they cover key influences in her life, lessons learned, and as well as advice for aspiring CEOs.
Dec 13, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Jim recently got massively over-billed by Hertz, prompting a discussion about what happens to customers when process automation goes off the rails. Ryan Milligan jumps in with a Zappos story that will warm your heart.
Dec 03, 2019•43 min
As part of our continuing People Operations series, ParkerGale Principals Jimmy and Paul dive into the 9box, a talent management framework commonly used to assess an organization’s breadth and depth of talent. Jimmy and Paul cover why this matters, how to effectively review an organization’s entire talent base, and why it pays for investors to be involved in the process.
Nov 22, 2019•45 min
Devin sits down with Cici to discuss some easy but very important things you should be doing to extract deeper customer and market insight into your software products.
Nov 15, 2019•53 min
Partner Ryan Milligan talks with Mike Trasatti, CEO of DealerBuilt and Bill Lamm of Presidio Technology Partners about how a deal really gets done. Covering everything from the banker signing up to represent DealerBuilt to ParkerGale courting and successfully completing the deal with management.
Nov 06, 2019•49 min
Come have a listen as Stephen Tallamy CTO of EditShare talks about strategies for making technology transitions for complicated software platforms.
Oct 30, 2019•57 min
