Even when every 3rd and 4th person in finance dreams of starting their own private equity fund…

Only 0.01% give it a chance and far fewer succeed…Here is my conversation with John Caple of Hidden Harbor Capital Partners who just went and did all that...

$260m fund I

$465m fund II

$800m fund III (just announced fundraising)

They invest in lower middle market industrial and business services companies, paying 4-8x EBITDA per deal, making them a true value shop.

“I don’t want to pay 5 times for 5 times business. I want to pay 5 times for a business that one day can trade for 8, 10, 12 times. Well, that’s what everyone wants to do… But how we do it is by buying founder and family owned businesses. We never buy from another private equity firm.”

We had a blast. Enjoy!

Show Notes:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:37 - We just raised $800m, but the real work is just beginning

00:01:42 - Early days as an investment banker and consultant

00:05:12 - Doing it with his best friends and raising the first 260m fund

00:12:39 - Straightforward fundraising advice

00:17:45 - Why we're starting to see many private equity funds disappear

00:23:40 - Sourcing, selecting, servicing

00:25:45 - Investment preferences

00:32:00 - Lessons learned after one portfolio company ended in zero

00:38:21 - Processes they can't live without

00:44:02 - Advice for founders considering selling their business

00:52:39 - Is this life what you expected it to be?

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy⁠⁠⁠

John on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/BigJohn043

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.