Private Equity Value Creation Podcast

On this episode, Tyler Newton, Managing Partner at Catalyst, makes the case for a disciplined approach to growth investing that sits between VC and buyout—and what operators and investors can learn from it.

Learn how to underwrite deals at the growth stage without relying on leverage or the power law—and why paying a fair price in the right sector matters more than finding the perfect company. Hear how to build a five-year plan that underwrites to multiple compression rather than expansion, and what it takes to win deals in a competitive market when you don't have proprietary deal flow.

From entry to exit, get a practical view of how to sequence leadership hires as a company scales, keep founders focused on three to five priorities per year, and build toward inflection points that open up multiple exit paths—from PE recap to strategic acquisition to IPO.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Christian Chauvet, Partner at Lee Equity, shares how vertical focus creates a structural advantage in healthcare and financial services investing—and what it takes to build and scale founder-led businesses in highly regulated, service-intensive industries.

Hear how a people-process-systems playbook drives organic growth across healthcare and financial services portfolios, why boots-on-the-ground referral networks are a critical and often underutilized growth lever in community care and why many founder-led businesses have attractive CAC economics but are systematically underinvesting in growth. Learn how AI is enabling providers and advisors to spend more time on high-value work—and how to think about tech enablement as a value creation lever rather than a technology roadmap item.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Michelle Noon, Managing Partner and Founder of Clearhaven Partners, joins Shiv Narayanan to break down how investors and operators build enterprise value in software companies through true partnership, concentrated bets and operational depth. You'll learn why running fewer deals per fund changes the math on time, attention and alignment with management teams, and why intentionally entering investments with lower leverage keeps the latitude needed to operate.

You'll also hear a candid view of how AI is reshaping software investing—the case for building an internal Claude skills marketplace, the mental model of pairing incumbency advantage with an AI-first mindset and how to re-imagine functions like sales from a blank sheet without ignoring the realities of change management.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Eugene Polevoy, Founder and Managing Partner at Blue C Capital, joins the show to unpack the independent sponsor model—how the firm closes nine-figure deals without raising a committed fund and structures economics around carry instead of management fees.

Learn why the bottleneck inside a portfolio company shifts quarter to quarter, and why knowing when to exit is more art than science. Plus, learn how AI now lets a lean firm analyze working capital, benchmark cost per lead and pressure-test value creation plans in minutes.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Matt Amico, Partner and Co-head of the Investment Team at Turn/River Capital, walks through the growth engineering playbook his firm uses to drive returns across its software portfolio. Learn why software investing has moved past financial engineering and cost engineering—and what it takes to apply a more systematic approach to revenue today.

Hear how the FVCP framework—funnels, volume, conversion and pricing—breaks revenue into discrete funnels, identifies opportunities to scale lead volume, surfaces the micro-conversion gaps worth shrinking and exposes the pricing structures that quietly leak growth. Plus, learn how to sequence investment from the easiest dollar to the hardest—from renewals and expansion to inbound, channel and outbound—and how activity-based KPIs link precursor work to the pipeline targets a team needs to hit.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Bobby Ocampo, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Blueprint Equity, discusses how to identify whether a bootstrapped business has what it takes to scale, and what it takes to build the go-to-market infrastructure that gets it there.

Bobby walks through the three signals he looks for when assessing a company's growth potential, why resisting pressure to raise a larger fund can help firms stay competitive in the 'missing middle', and how an embedded operating team—funded out of management fees rather than charged to portcos—changes the nature of the investor-founder relationship.

On this episode, Arjan Hannink, Partner at Keensight Capital, explains how their growth buyout firm structures hands-on value creation support across a portfolio of B2B software and IT services companies. Learn why Keensight built an internal team of close to 40 value creation professionals—including in-house CPO, CTO, CMO and CRO functions—and how that team operates alongside management rather than above it.

Hear about an approach to prioritizing growth initiatives when there is always more to do than bandwidth allows, why an all-you-can-eat resourcing model avoids the wrong incentives and how embedding value creation expertise into the deal process leads to faster execution post-close.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Amy Kramer, Head of the Go-To-Market Operating Group at Level Equity, shares findings from their 2026 Go-To-Market Insights Report—a benchmark study covering sales efficiency, marketing spend, headcount, compensation and AI adoption across their portfolio companies.

Amy and Shiv dig into what the data shows: why SDRs are having to reach out to more prospects to book the same number of meetings, how the best-performing teams are breaking through the noise with smarter targeting and more direct outreach, and why companies are shifting more budget toward brand and top-of-funnel. They also cover the rise of AI visibility as a pipeline driver, how teams are restructuring around rev ops and product marketing, and what the shift in go-to-market rhythm means for how companies hire and retain customers.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Jim Ferry, Partner at Volition Capital, shares how AI is reshaping the growth-stage investment landscape and what it means for the companies they back.

Jim covers why employee count is no longer a reliable signal of company maturity, where real defensibility comes from when code itself is becoming a commodity, and what moats still hold up — from first-party data and proprietary integrations to network effects and systems of record. He also covers how founders can demonstrate AI fluency to investors and when to expect margin expansion from AI adoption.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.

On this episode, Joe Mancini, Co-Founder and Partner at Front Porch Venture Partners, explains how a hybrid fund-of-funds model works in practice—deploying capital both into early-stage venture funds as an LP and directly into seed and Series A companies, with a deliberate focus on the Southeast.

Learn why the most defensible moats in software today are being built around go-to-market and purpose-built vertical features rather than technology alone, and how the falling cost of code is compressing roadmap timelines from quarters to weeks. Plus, get a practical framework for deciding where to deploy human capital versus AI agents.

The information contained in this podcast is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice.