What's Wrong in Private Equity (w/ Lee McCabe)
Devin Mathews and Paul interview Lee McCabe, founder of Claymore Partners, about the structural shift required in private equity as multiple expansion and cheap debt disappear. They explore how operating partners can build genuine trust with CEOs, why rigorous data foundations and lead generation matter more than vanity marketing, and how PE firms can build modern media brands to differentiate deal sourcing.
- Static 100-day plans and 100-page value creation decks collapse quickly because underwriting assumptions rarely survive the first 90 days of operational reality. Read →
- Middle-market portco leadership teams often cannot connect commercial spend to revenue: McCabe points to target CEOs spending $500,000 monthly on marketing who cannot show what that budget generated. Read →
- Ninety-nine percent of private equity websites operate strictly as investor pitch decks for LPs, completely ignoring the founders and executives who drive deal flow. Read →
- Private equity faces a distribution freeze with roughly $1.5 trillion in capital trapped inside portfolio companies as exit paths stall. Read →
- Private equity buyers often misdiagnose marketing needs during year one, hiring high-profile enterprise CMOs who refuse to fix broken data pipes. Read →