Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast

A small, but growing cohort of investors are taking mid-sized companies private and driving substantial margin improvements.

Deals and exits are flat, and fundraising is down, but the real story is the tension beneath the numbers.For a deeper discussion, join our live webinar on July 9. Read Bain's 2024 Midyear Private Equity Report, here.

Karen Khalaf, one of Bain's leading experts in sovereign wealth funds, explains how a little knowledge can go a long way on the fundraising trail.

Jim Strang, chairman of HgCapital Trust, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of the private equity industry.If you'd like to stay up to date with my weekly series on LinkedIn, follow me here.

We explore a fresh approach to modeling and managing risk.

In part two of our series, Thoma Bravo’s leading enterprise software investor explains how they continue to find exit opportunities and source new deals.

We ask one of Thoma Bravo’s leading enterprise software investors why 2023 could be a “significantly better” year for deal making.

Private equity firms are developing measures of success that go far beyond carbon footprints.

We ask Bain’s leading macro expert about the “last mile” of rate cuts in the US, and whether Europe has miles to go.

We seem to have entered a period of eerie calm, but will it last?Read Bain & Company’s 2024 Global Private Equity Report here.View my webinar on March 19th here.

In part two of our interview, we explore the principles and strategies that enable the industry’s top-performing GP’s to deliver persistent returns.

A pioneering investor talks to us about challenging the industry’s conventions.

Tom Callahan, CEO of NASDAQ Private Market, argues that today’s liquidity crisis could mark a turning point for secondaries markets.

Nigel Dawn, senior managing director at Evercore, explains how GPs and LPs are discovering new tools and techniques to finance deals.

We asked two of Bain’s leading experts on commercial excellence to take us to the cutting edge of investor relations.

As inflation trends downward, should investors plan for a lower interest rate environment in 2024 — and even the possibility of deflation?

Today on the show, I have a lively conversation with Ashby Monk, the executive director of the Stanford Research Initiative on Long Term Investing. Ashby studies the inner workings of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations — in short all of those LPs that sit somewhere in between the public and private sectors.“That means that they are optimizing for things that are not entirely evident to just the casual observer,” Ashby says.In this episode of Dry Powder, I ask Ashby to take us inside the $140 trillion universe of long-term investing and help us understand what exactly these organizations are optimizing for.If you'd like to stay up to date with my weekly series on LinkedIn, follow me here.

In part two of our interview series, we explore Vista’s approach to AI and how it connects to the company’s founding story.

We ask Vista’s CEO how he continues to do deals at an astonishing clip, despite the challenging conditions of today’s market.If you'd like to stay up to date with my weekly series on LinkedIn, follow me here.

In part two of our fund-raising series, we’ll dig into the tools, tactics, and technologies that enable general partners to tailor their pitches to key decision makers within institutions.

As competition for capital intensifies, a one-size-fits-all approach to institutional investors will no longer suffice.

We ask the founding team at Greater Share about their intriguing new approach to philanthropic funding and how they’ve already garnered support from some of the world’s leading GPs.

In part two of our macro series, we explore the risks and rewards of public-private partnerships.

We ask Karen Harris, the managing director of Bain’s Macro Trends Group, whether the economy could emerge from this period of rate hikes unscathed.If you'd like to stay up to date with my weekly series on LinkedIn, follow me here.

In part two of our interview series, we ask Steve how he recruits and retains a team of all-star players.If you'd like to stay up to date with my weekly series of posts on LinkedIn, you can follow me here.

The longtime chairman and now senior advisor at Bain capital explains why he is “as excited” to be involved in the private equity industry today as he was 30 years ago.If you'd like to stay up to date with my weekly series of posts on LinkedIn, you can follow me here.

In the second part of our interview series with WCAS, we explore how they “co-cover” the healthcare and tech industries, together.

We ask Welsh Carson how they identify the next generation of leaders within the firm and how they extend those practices to their wider ecosystem of partners and advisors.I've also launched a weekly series of posts on LinkedIn, which you can follow here.

In such a severely capital-constrained environment, you need to give your LP’s confidence that you’ll be able to deliver real results over the next five years. Read our latest research on the fundraising slowdown and how top private equity firms are learning to sell, here.I've also started a weekly series of posts on LinkedIn, which you can follow here.

Deal activity, exits and fundraising are all sharply down, but the fear of a recession is also subsiding. So what’s holding investors back?Read Bain's Private Equity Midyear Report 2023, here.You can also find our latest research on the fundraising slowdown and how top private equity firms are learning to sell, here.I've also started a weekly series of posts on LinkedIn, which you can follow here.

On the previous episode of Dry Powder, Ian Charles, managing partner at Arctos Sports Partners, took us inside his approach to sports investing. It was a master class in sector specialization and value creation that you don’t want to miss, but Ian has always tended to go after nonobvious opportunities.“I grew up in a small town in Alaska,” he says. “One of the things that you always heard as a kid was if you go out on the frozen lake, make sure you’re not around too many of your friends. It’s actually safer to be all alone.”Today on the show, I ask Ian how he helped bring about a series of innovations in the secondaries market at Arctos, which launched a new strategy this week expanding into broader private markets. We’ll reflect on the creative transaction structures that have made secondaries more accessible and efficient.I've also started a series of weekly posts on LinkedIn, which you can follow here.

Ian Charles, the managing partner of Arctos’ Sports Partners, takes us inside the world of sports investing.

Christian Sinding, the CEO and managing partner of EQT Group, joins us for our first live recording. We explore when deal markets will finally stir to life and how EQT takes intelligent risks in a period of overwhelming of uncertainty.

We asked Bain’s leading macro expert whether the dollar’s status as a global reserve currency is really under threat.

Karen Harris, the head of Bain’s Macro Trends Group, returns to the show for a conversation on interest rates, bank runs and an unusual mix of economic indicators.

We consider whether the launch of a few tokenized funds amounts to an interesting experiment on the blockchain or the beginning of a powerful secular trend.If you'd like to learn more about the democratization of private equity, I recommend you listen to our interviews with the CEOs of Titanbay, Moonfare and Opto Investments.I've also started a series of weekly posts on LinkedIn, which you can follow here.

We asked the CEO of Opto Investments to take us inside their eye-opening series A round and why they’re pursuing Registered Investment Advisors with a laser-like focus.If you haven’t heard our interviews with the CEOs of Moonfare and Titanbay, I highly recommend you go back and listen to those episodes as well.I've also started a series of weekly posts on LinkedIn. If you're interested in receiving those updates, follow my LinkedIn profile, here.

We asked the CEO of Moonfare what it takes to get ordinary investors up to speed and investing in private equity with confidence.If you haven't heard my interview with another early mover in this space, the CEO of Titanbay, I highly recommend you go back and listen to those episodes as well. I've also started a series of weekly posts on LinkedIn. If you're interested in receiving those updates, follow my LinkedIn profile, here.

Too many business leaders lack a clear and granular understanding of profitability, but a few organizations are visualizing profits in startling detail.

As margins shrink, private equity houses are rediscovering the vital importance of operational due diligence.

Deal activity was on track for another record-setting year, until the wheels came off.Read the full 2023 Global Private Equity Report, below:https://www.bain.com/insights/topics/global-private-equity-report/

Behind the scenes at Davos, attendees were coming to terms with a fracturing world, a cascade of risks and, despite it all, a silver lining.Today on Dry Powder, Karen Harris, managing director of Bain's Macro Trends Group, shares her key insights from Davos and how private equity investors are dealing with the emergent risks and opportunities of a multipolar world.Listen to her previous appearances on Dry Powder, below:Macro Risks: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once Macro Risks: Keep It Simple

Private equity firms are racing to build out their Web3 capabilities, from deal sourcing to diligence to the bleeding edge of tokenization fund management. Further Reading: For Digital Assets, Private Markets Offer the Greatest Opportunities

Investors have been funding a massive build out of Web3 infrastructure, despite the turmoil over the past year.Further ReadingWeb3 Could Rewrite the Rules of User IdentitySnap Chart: How Much Is Web3 Disrupting Your Industry?

In part two of our interview with the CEO of Titanbay, we discuss the regulatory and behavioral hurdles that have prevented private equity from accessing roughly half of the world's sources of capital — and to what extent digital platforms can lower those barriers to entry.

We asked the CEO of Titanbay how digital platforms could open up private equity deals to a whole new class of investors.

Hg’s Matthew Brockman describes the technological trends that could reshape the workplace for decades to come.

Hg’s Matthew Brockman explains how sector specialization can deliver surprisingly stable returns.

A raft of new public policies will not only reshape portfolios, they could also transform the way private equity houses run and grow their businesses on the ground.

The debate around ESG is heating up, but it may shed light on the future of ESG investing.Further ReadingClosing the ESG Measurement Gap in Private EquityDecarbonization: How Private Equity Can Make It WorkPrivate Equity Investors Debate the Best Path Forward on ESGBusinesses Urge SEC to Consider Mergers in Climate-Disclosure Rule