Podcast
Private Equity FunCast
Hosted by Jim Milbery and Devin Mathews · EN
Your favorite GP's favorite podcast. Occasionally insightful, always entertaining. Deep dives into how private equity works, what happens after the deal closes, how money gets raised, and how companies get bought and sold. And everything in between with healthy doses of pop culture and humor. Straight from the team at ParkerGale Capital.
For educational and entertainment purposes only. Not investment advice. Additional disclosures at www.parkergale.com.
29episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
What's Working NOW At Private Equity Owned Companies
1w ago00:24:18Tap to summarizeIt's hard to execute today. Growth has slowed, and costs are up. If you own, advise, or operate a PE-backed company, this episode offers a behind the scenes look at some plays you can run to execute your way through the chop. Paul Stansik and Jim Milbery cover sales training, customer support data, weekly go-to-market reporting, speed-to-lead, AI-assisted engineering, video marketing, release velocity, and other practical moves that are improving execution. These are all moves you can make that we've seen make a difference. Try some out yourself and let us know how it goes. Private Equity FunCast New Episodes Every Wednesday 📫 Subscribe to our Substack 📫 https://substack.com/@pefuncast 💻📱Follow us on our socials📱💻 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parkergale-capital Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/pefuncast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pefuncast X: https://x.com/PEFunCast Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/PE-FunCast ✉️CONTACT US ✉️ Email: pefuncast@parkergale.com Website: parkergale.com 📋ABOUT US📋 We're your friends at ParkerGale Capital, a team that's invested a billion dollars buying and building founder-owned B2B software companies. We're a mix of investors and operators who work shoulder-to-shoulder with our management teams. We like to say we do private equity with you, not to you. We started the FunCast 12 years ago, with 300+ episodes and 2 million downloads, to share what we've learned along the way. It's the field guide we wish had existed when we were starting out. So we made our own. We hope you like it. Additional disclosures: https://www.parkergale.com/terms-of-use
Transcribe →Inside Private Equity's AI-led Transformation (w/ Kyle Roemer of Accordion)
2w ago01:17:47Tap to summarizeEveryone says they are one-shotting workflows with AI. We brought on the guy who can tell us what's actually happening in middle-market private equity companies. Kyle Roemer, Head of Data & AI at Accordion, has a unique view because his firm advises over 350+ private equity clients. He can see what's real and what's hype, and Accordion has the Ramp data to tell the difference. Kyle walks Devin through the rapid changes over the past year, function by function, so you can decide if you're ahead or behind. One prediction: the Office of the CFO will go through the biggest revolution over the next year, which they believe will "Make Finance Fun Again!" Kyle Roemer is the host of Accordion's podcast "AI & PE: The Future of Value Creation" For more about Accordion visit accordion.com and reach out to Kyle and his team at ai@accordion.com. Also check out Accordion's latest AI white paper: "AI in PE: Ahead of the market, behind the curve" in partnership with Ramp to see where AI adoption stands
Transcribe →How We Broke Into Private Equity
3w ago00:40:50Tap to summarizeHow do you make the leap from the college quad to private equity? Associates Liz Xu and Niko Ivanisevic share their unexpected journey to the offices of ParkerGale. They get honest about imposter syndrome, the myth of the "perfect path," building a personal story beyond your resume, and why you should never chew gum in a job interview. Whether you're an undergrad planning your career or a junior banker wondering what's next, this episode is full of practical advice for how to break into the industry.
Transcribe →The Secret Formula to Drive Your Company's Growth
4w ago00:58:35Tap to summarizeMost B2B software companies have more growth left in what they already sell. This framework shows exactly where to find it — and where to stop looking. Jim Milbery and Paul Stansik walk through the Ansoff Matrix, a simple four-quadrant tool for organizing every growth conversation a software company will ever have. New market or existing market? New product or current product? Sounds obvious, but it's an argument that can derail board meetings, kill roadmaps, and send sales teams down blind alleys. What if chasing new markets and new products is actually the thing slowing you down? Jim and Paul make the case for staying in the green box.
Transcribe →The Right Way to Hire Salespeople
May 1301:00:24Tap to summarizeMost B2B sales reps are professionally trained to make you like them in 30 minutes. But when you're recruiting salespeople, likability doesn't guarantee success. Make the wrong hire and you can lose two years and a chunk of your growth plan. In this episode, Devin and Paul walk through the five qualities ParkerGale tests for (customer focus, structure, accountability, problem-solving, drive), the specific questions we ask in a panel interview, and the trick question that breaks through every rapport-building defense salespeople can muster.
Transcribe →How Operating Partners Create Value in Private Equity
May 600:46:00Tap to summarizeMost private equity firms claim to use a leather-bound "value creation" bible nobody's allowed to touch. The truth? It's more of a Cheesecake Factory menu. In this episode, Paul and Jim break down what operating partners actually do once the deal closes — the three buckets that matter (revenue, cost, risk), why many software companies leave revenue on the table with their existing customers, and what "don't buy a company you can't sell" looks like in practice.
Transcribe →The Evolution of PE Ops
Apr 2901:00:25Tap to summarizeIn 1995, the typical "PE operating team" was a few old-timer ex-CEOs. Today there are 20,000 of them. Cass and Paul from ParkerGale's ops team sit down with Devin to walk through how private equity operations actually evolved — from the "I got a guy" Rolodex era, to the captive consulting model, to today's proliferation of professional operators. Plus hot takes on the AI-specialist hiring boom, why a lot of operating teams will get skinnier, and how to know if you're helping or propping up a company.
Transcribe →10 Lessons From 10 Years Running Our Own Private Equity Firm
Apr 2201:02:15Tap to summarizeDo operating teams matter? Why is sourcing broken? Are add-ons a strategy or a crutch? What firms have actually "stayed small?" In this episode, Devin and Jim get introspective, reflecting on their biggest lessons to mark the 10-year anniversary of the final close of ParkerGale's first fund. Tell us what you've seen change over the past ten years, and what has stood the test of time.
Transcribe →The Private Equity Glossary - 50(ish) Terms You Should Know
Apr 1501:12:49Tap to summarizeLPs. GPs. Carry. Waterfalls. Pari passu. The unlock. Quantum. De-Risk. Niko originally thought one of these was a French dish. Liz wants to ban another from all future meetings. In their PE Funcast debut, ParkerGale Associates Liz & Niko join Devin to demystify the private equity alphabet soup, breaking down everything from formal vocabulary to finance bro speak. Whether you're a first year Associate or a founder looking to sell, this is the lingo you should know.
Transcribe →The Ghost of Software Future
Apr 801:30:49Tap to summarizeIn February of this year, an obscure research report triggered a $1 trillion wipeout in software stocks in seven days. In this episode we decipher what actually happened — and why AI is more likely to be a gift to enterprise software than a death sentence. Devin and Jim have invested through every major tech transition: PCs, client-server, the browser, mobile, the cloud. This time, they're breaking down the four bear cases for enterprise software (private credit, seat licensing, vibe coding, the AI bubble) and sharing what's actually happening inside their portfolio. The ghost shows up every decade. Here's how not to get spooked. READ: "The Ghost of Software Future" on Substack
Transcribe →