▶ The Carry Brief · Podcast
The week in private equity, in six minutes
Every Sunday, West reads the throughline across the private equity podcasts that matter, what it signals for deals and capital. The listen-on-a-walk companion to the written edition.
Episodes
Every Brief
Sunday, August 23, 2026 · 6:57
Add-ons lose their premium, the 10-year fund cracks
Plus why AI is killing rote legal diligence and a reality check on majority buyout board governance.
Sunday, August 16, 2026 · 6:19
The integration premium, HALO assets, and AI's firm taste
Why buyers are refusing cobbled-together add-ons, the flight to hard assets, and how AI codifies fund culture.
Sunday, August 9, 2026 · 6:26
Forcing AI adoption through comp, and cross-border M&A traps
Why standard buy-and-build playbooks fail in emerging markets, and how top allocators compete on mindshare rather than check size.
Sunday, August 2, 2026 · 5:51
Banker incentives, split industrial rents, and fund-size creep
Why AI is bifurcating industrial rents, the penalty for scaling fund sizes, and the exact reason 90% of M&A deals fail.
Sunday, July 26, 2026 · 6:09
The 12-Year Unicorn & The Death of Gut-Driven Sales
Plus: Why 90% of M&A fails, and how proactive founders use raw transparency to win deals.
Sunday, July 19, 2026 · 6:48
The software valuation gap, walking away post-LOI, and AI's second-order plays
Public buyers are beating private equity by manufacturing their own effective multiples.
Sunday, July 12, 2026 · 6:01
Weaponizing deal structure, the safe asset illusion, and AI models
Plus: Why the "widest moat" strategy actually stunts growth, and how venture investors limit adverse selection.