The Private Equity Podcast, by Raw Selection

In this episode of The Private Equity Podcast, Alex Rawlings speaks with Adam Crandall, Chief Revenue Officer at Addtronics, a private equity-backed platform of robotics and automation companies.
Adam shares how he helped quadruple revenue at a founder-led automation business before its successful exit. He explains why growth begins with putting the right people in the right seats, rather than relying solely on processes, industry experience, or technology.
The conversation explores how private equity firms and portfolio company leaders can identify attractive markets, improve pricing, align compensation with profitability, and build a repeatable go-to-market playbook across multiple operating companies.
Adam also discusses the cultural shift from pursuing revenue at any cost to prioritising profitable growth. He explains how sales leaders can communicate price increases confidently, assess commercial talent effectively, and give operating company presidents autonomy while maintaining platform-wide alignment.
Key Takeaways
Why the right talent is the foundation of scalable revenue growth
How Adam helped a founder-led company achieve 4X revenue growth
Why attitude, adaptability, and soft skills can outweigh lengthy industry experience
How market specialisation can create a dominant competitive position
When strong demand and long backlogs signal an opportunity to increase prices
How to position price increases around customer value
Why sales compensation should reward profitable growth, not revenue alone
How a standardised go-to-market playbook supports add-on integration
Tools for assessing salespeople and commercial leaders
Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction to Adam Crandall and Addtronics
00:30 – Adam’s career journey from HR to revenue leadership
01:25 – Quadrupling revenue and exiting a founder-led business
02:19 – The foundations of 4X revenue growth
02:49 – Getting the right people in the right seats
04:08 – Identifying high-growth end markets
05:01 – Hiring for attitude, adaptability, and soft skills
07:48 – Building a team capable of accelerated growth
08:17 – Value creation through market specialisation
09:40 – Pricing as a value creation lever
11:33 – Implementing price increases in founder-led businesses
12:01 – Communicating price increases to customers
14:23 – Shifting the culture toward profitable growth
15:22 – Aligning sales compensation with margin targets
16:49 – Creating a repeatable go-to-market playbook
17:44 – Balancing platform consistency with operating company autonomy
18:11 – What belongs in a scalable commercial playbook
19:36 – Assessing sales talent and commercial leadership
20:33 – Recommended resources for private equity revenue leaders
21:00 – How to connect with Adam Crandall
21:28 – Closing remarks
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection www.raw-selection.com

In this episode of The Private Equity Podcast, Alex Rawlings speaks with Zachary Darrow, Chief Executive of Darrow Everett and leader of the firm’s Private Equity and Securities Practice Group.
Zachary shares how Darrow Everett grew from a real estate and finance boutique into a full-service law firm with eight offices across the East Coast. He explains how the firm navigated the global financial crisis, the pandemic, client losses and changing interest rates by diversifying its services and pursuing strategic acquisitions and team lift-outs.
The conversation explores why integration is often the hardest part of professional-services acquisitions and how treating employees as a second group of clients can improve talent attraction, retention and performance.
Zachary also discusses Darrow Everett’s data-led approach to business development, including measuring conference ROI, producing targeted digital content and ensuring marketing activity reaches genuine decision-makers.
Alex and Zachary examine the growing intersection between private equity and legal services. They discuss the regulatory barriers to outside investment in law firms, the potential role of managed service organisations and how private equity could provide the capital and operational expertise required to modernise the sector.
Finally, Zachary explains how Darrow Everett is adopting AI. Current use cases include reviewing large volumes of litigation data, identifying potential omissions in legal documents and improving internal workflows—while maintaining human oversight and professional accountability.
Key Takeaways
• Build professional-services firms as businesses, not simply collections of practitioners.
• Successful acquisitions depend on fast, thoughtful cultural and operational integration.
• Founders should prepare their infrastructure, legal documentation and financial reporting before pursuing investment or an exit.
• Marketing activity should be assessed through measurable returns rather than tradition.
• AI can enhance legal analysis and productivity, but its output must still be checked by experienced professionals.
• Private equity could unlock significant growth within legal services if regulatory and ethical concerns are properly managed.
Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction to Zachary Darrow
01:00 – Building a business that happens to be a law firm
01:31 – Navigating the global financial crisis
02:28 – Diversification, marketing and acquisitions
03:25 – Lessons from team lift-outs and firm acquisitions
04:49 – Acquiring people-centric professional-services businesses
05:12 – Treating employees as a second client group
07:01 – Modernising legal-sector business development
07:58 – Measuring conference and sponsorship ROI
08:55 – Content-led digital marketing
11:48 – Lessons from advising founders and investors
12:01 – Why founders must prepare earlier
13:57 – “Make-ready” work before raising or selling
14:56 – Chief Outsiders
16:22 – Private equity’s opportunity in legal services
17:20 – Alternative business structures and MSOs
18:18 – Solving law firms’ capital constraints
20:17 – AI investment and transformation
21:15 – Darrow Everett’s adoption of legal AI
24:01 – AI use case: reviewing large datasets
25:29 – AI use case: strengthening legal documents
27:24 – Zachary’s recommended reading
28:22 – How to contact Zachary Darrow
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection www.raw-selection.com

In this episode of The Private Equity Podcast, Alex Rawlings speaks with Bill Bell, Fractional Chief Revenue Officer at Chief Outsiders, about building a repeatable sales engine that drives organic growth across private equity portfolio companies.
Bill explains why commercial due diligence is often far less rigorous than financial, legal, and operational diligence—and how this leads firms to underwrite ambitious growth plans against sales organisations that were never designed to deliver them. He shares why hiring more salespeople rarely fixes a broken system, what strong sales leadership looks like, and how documented processes, CRM governance, pipeline discipline, and structured onboarding create scalable performance.
The conversation also explores the risks of hiring competitors solely for their “black book”, the value of stage-gated sales processes in long-cycle industrial markets, and Bill’s experience growing a PE-backed North American business from $180 million to $325 million in revenue while more than doubling its EBIT margin.
Key Takeaways
• Diagnose the commercial engine before adding sales headcount.
• Assess whether sales managers are truly managing, coaching, and forecasting—not simply carrying major accounts.
• Build systems that make capable salespeople productive rather than relying on individual heroics.
• Use clear stage gates to qualify opportunities early and avoid wasting months on deals that will never close.
• Professionalising the leadership team and commercial function can unlock organic growth and support M&A integration.
Timestamps
00:00 – Introduction to Bill Bell and Chief Outsiders
00:52 – The biggest commercial mistake private equity firms make
02:17 – Why hiring more salespeople can increase cost, not revenue
02:46 – Diagnose, fix the infrastructure, then add capacity
03:17 – Four areas of commercial maturity to assess
04:46 – What makes an effective sales manager
07:03 – How manufacturing companies typically hire sales talent
08:00 – The danger of relying on a salesperson’s “black book”
08:56 – Building a sales system instead of hiring your way to growth
09:56 – Four foundations to establish before recruiting sales reps
11:24 – What a documented sales process should look like
11:53 – Using stage gates in an 18-month industrial sales cycle
13:43 – The hidden cost of pursuing customers who will not buy
15:40 – Bill’s biggest PE-backed growth success story
17:34 – Recommended books, masterclasses, and podcasts
18:58 – How to contact Bill
19:27 – Closing remarks
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection www.raw-selection.com

In this episode of The Private Equity Podcast, Alex Rawlings speaks with Bobby Ocampo and Sheldon Lewis, co-founders and managing partners of Blueprint Equity.
Following the successful close of Blueprint Equity’s $333 million third fund, Bobby and Sheldon explain how the firm identifies and supports high-growth B2B software companies. They discuss Blueprint’s early growth investment strategy, its direct sourcing infrastructure and the role its six-person operations team plays in supporting portfolio companies.
The conversation also explores the impact of artificial intelligence on software valuations, underwriting and value creation. Bobby and Sheldon explain how Blueprint has integrated multiple AI tools across sourcing, deal evaluation, portfolio operations and internal workflows.
They also share why vertical software businesses with deeply embedded customer workflows may be better positioned to withstand AI disruption than lightweight horizontal software products.

Key Topics
Blueprint Equity’s early growth investment strategy
Raising a $333 million third fund
Investing in B2B vertical software businesses
Building a large direct sourcing function
Supporting founders with recruiting, go-to-market and RevOps
Using AI to identify, prioritise and track investment opportunities
Connecting multiple AI tools through an integrated technology stack
Underwriting software businesses in an uncertain market
Assessing founders in minority growth investments
Moving quickly without creating employee burnout

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:28 Blueprint Equity and the successful Fund III raise
00:53 The firm’s early growth equity investment thesis
01:43 Building the team and operations function
02:50 Common mistakes made by investment firms
04:21 Underwriting software businesses in the AI era
06:33 How Blueprint structures its value creation team
07:41 Recruiting and institutionalising portfolio companies
08:35 RevOps, reporting and financial visibility
09:53 How Blueprint uses AI internally
10:37 AI-driven sourcing and opportunity prioritisation
11:06 Using proprietary data in underwriting
12:32 Blueprint’s AI technology stack
14:01 Building a genuine direct sourcing strategy
15:24 The resources required for proprietary origination
16:46 Less obvious investment signals
17:14 Assessing the entrepreneur behind the business
18:13 Vertical software and the threat of AI disruption
20:25 Creating a fast-moving culture without burnout
22:09 Recommended private equity news and content
23:34 How to connect with Blueprint Equity
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection www.raw-selection.com

In this episode of The Private Equity Podcast, Alex Rawlings speaks with Paul Isaac, Managing Partner of Isaac Management LLC, about investing in lower-middle-market businesses through a permanent-capital model.
Paul explains why Isaac Management operates without a traditional fund, predetermined exits or outside investor pressure. He discusses the risks of overleveraging, the importance of understanding a company’s community and culture, and why higher interest rates have created a disconnect between buyer expectations and seller valuations.
The conversation also explores Paul’s journey from banking and private credit to launching his own investment firm, how buyers can build trust with founders, and why operational improvement and talent development often create more sustainable value than financial engineering or acquisition-led growth.

Key Takeaways
Why excessive leverage and weak market understanding can undermine an acquisition.
How permanent capital supports patient ownership and long-term decision-making.
Why lower-middle-market deal activity has slowed as financing costs have increased.
How transparent communication and flexible deal structures can build seller trust.
Why operations may offer a stronger value-creation opportunity than pricing or M&A.
The importance of retaining, developing and incentivising key employees.

Timestamps
00:00 Paul’s background and the launch of Isaac Management
01:27 A permanent-capital approach without a traditional PE fund
02:24 The biggest acquisition mistake: overleveraging
04:50 Deal trends across the lower middle market
06:46 The valuation gap between buyers and sellers
08:39 Tariffs, financing costs and portfolio-company pressure
11:05 Chief Outsiders
12:32 Building an investment firm without institutional backing
15:28 From the search-fund concept to permanent capital
16:56 Why long-term ownership resonates with business founders
19:48 Lessons from seller conversations and dealmaking
21:18 Equity rollovers, seller financing and deal preparation
23:08 The most effective lower-middle-market growth lever
25:03 Talent retention and the true cost of replacing employees
26:31 Employee ownership and long-term engagement
27:00 Paul’s recommended media and publications
27:58 How to contact Paul Isaac
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection www.raw-selection.com