From Startup to Search Fund: Navigating Entrepreneurship with Phillip Weinstein

Matt Van Itallie from SEMA Software joins Jim to discuss the value of SEMA’s code analysis tools for private equity backed companies, particularly for companies managing technical debt, security, and code quality. They highlight the challenges of due diligence in software acquisitions, especially for older companies with legacy systems, and stress the importance of transparency in identifying security and licensing risks. SEMA’s AI-driven tools assess code quality and help firms measure the impact of AI-assisted development, making processes like testing more efficient. 

Jim welcomes old friend and colleague, Jeremy Burton, CEO of Observe, to the podcast. They discuss the importance of observability in modern software development, the evolution of observability, the challenges of distributed applications, and how advancements in data technology and AI are shaping modern software development and troubleshooting.  

Jim welcomes Phillip Weinstein, founder of Atropates Capital who discusses his background, entrepreneurial journey, and the concept of starting a search fund. The conversation covers a range of topics, including Phillip’s first entrepreneurial venture at Wake Forest University (a laundry service), through founding his search fund.  The discussion explores how search funds differ from other business models, such as private equity and venture capital. Phillip shares his insights about finding and evaluating deals, the challenges of operational leadership, technical debt in software, and integrating AI tools. 

Join Paul from the ParkerGale Ops team as he unpacks the concept of “product-market fit” with special guest, Rob Snyder – multiple-time startup founder and Fellow at Harvard Innovation Labs. Paul and Rob explore the origins of the PMF concept, what it means, and why it's both an essential and confusing concept for PE-backed tech companies. Learn about the importance of building a shareable case study, the pain cave you inevitably enter while trying to connect with your customers, and how to use the concepts of demand versus supply to shorten your search for product-market fit.  

Devin spends an hour with Ankur Gupta, PNC's Global Head of Technology Finance, to discuss the current state of software company lending. We cover where PNC fits in the lending landscape, what a "good fit" deal looks like, what you should expect during due diligence, what covenants you should expect, and where pricing is across different lenders these days. We also cover how lenders think about Gross Retention vs Net Retention, ARR to loan values, and growth vs. profit.

ParkerGale Principal Cass Ziebel sits down with CFO Jon Danielson to discuss the priorities of a PE-backed CFO and what he's learned from a recent sale process. In this episode, Jon talks about what surprised him most when he moved from an investor role to an operating role, what it means to "shrink the QofE," and advice to other CFOs as they enter a PE-backed business in the first few months and prepare a business for sale.

In this interview, Jim and Yuval Yeret discuss the implementation and challenges of agile methodologies within the private equity space. Yuval has extensive experience in product development, and he emphasizes the importance of principle-driven agility over rigid adherence to frameworks. While agile practices originated in software development, their application is beneficial across various industries and organizational functions. Companies often struggle with "agile theater," where companies follow agile rules without understanding the process. Effective agile adoption requires cross-functional collaboration, adaptability in strategic planning, and the ability to balance customer flexibility with engineering realities. Yuval shares examples from biotech and healthcare, illustrating how agility can extend to broader business operations. He also discusses the role of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) as strategic guides rather than rigid metrics. Finally, Yuval underscores the unique position of private equity firms and consultants in driving agile transformations through pragmatic, principle-based solutions.

Product positioning expert April Dunford joins Operating Partner Paul Stansik to talk about the curse of product pessimism (and how to fix it), why most software companies struggle to create a winning sales pitch, and how better product positioning fits into an effective growth plan for an emerging tech company.

Ryan Milligan dives deeper into our investment in Big Band Software, joined by Big Band founders Kevin McArdle (CEO), Chris Reedy (Head of Acquisitions), and Jason Heath (COO). Throughout the discussion, the team covers what companies, founders and executives they target, where they think the opportunity lies, and how they aim to scale this consolidation effort.

"Value Creation" - It's one of the most over-used terms in private equity today. What does value creation mean? What's wrong with how investors talk about their value creation approach? And how does ParkerGale think about its strategy for value creation? Operating Partners Jim and Paul get real about the PG value creation playbook - and have some fun along the way - in the latest episode of the Funcast.