The Private Equity Podcast, by Raw Selection

In this episode, Alex Rawlings is joined by Tim Schulte, Value Creation Partner at Council Capital, a Nashville-based private equity firm investing in healthcare businesses across tech-enabled services, outsourced services, and provider platforms.
Tim brings a unique blend of consulting, operational, and investing experience. He shares how Council Capital drives value creation through collaboration, leadership development, and a structured yet flexible approach to talent and operations.
🔑 Key Highlights:
00:00 – Introduction
Tim’s background: consulting → startup growth → private equity. At Council for 6+ years, focused on scaling healthcare companies.
01:15 – Common Mistake in PE
Reinventing the wheel. Tim advocates for leveraging shared knowledge and collaboration across portfolio companies instead of starting from scratch.
02:12 – Three PE Value Creation Models
Tim outlines three styles:
Collaborative but shallow
Substantive but rigid
Collaborative and substantive – Council Capital’s approach
03:37 – Collaboration in Practice
Council’s CEO Council is made up of 30+ senior leaders who are both advisors and investors. Their involvement creates mentorship and alignment without top-down pressure.
05:02 – Council’s Value Creation Team
A large internal team supports portfolio companies with tailored toolkits (not rigid playbooks) across growth, ops, and talent.
06:11 – Hiring Top Executives
Talent is central to value creation. Council uses:
Topgrading
Aptitude & personality assessments
In-depth referencing
Case studies
...to ensure fit and long-term success.
09:05 – Role of Assessments
Assessments aren’t used to screen candidates out, but to guide interview questions and identify fit. Council tracks data across hundreds of hires to correlate traits with performance.
12:27 – Broader Talent Support
Beyond the C-suite, Council helps portfolio teams:
Implement HR tech
Refine hiring processes
Improve onboarding
Structure incentive plans
14:38 – First 100 Days for CEOs
New CEOs are expected to:
Align on strategy
Build out the right team
Ensure reliable data systems to track performance
16:58 – Recommended Resources
Tim recommends:
Acquired – for business case studies
Founders – for leadership traits & human stories
17:52 – Connect with Tim Schulte
Best via LinkedIn or at Council Capital
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

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

🎧 Guest: Maxwell Nee – Chairman, Family Office Insider & Managing Partner, Black Mountain Capital
🌍 Episode Theme: 10X Deals, Market Gaps & Global Investing
In this episode, Alex Rawlings is joined by Maxwell Nee to explore how thinking bigger—10X bigger—can simplify investing and unlock outsized returns. Maxwell shares his 3-leg framework for identifying high-potential opportunities and dives into emerging trends across waste-to-value, renewables, and infrastructure.
You’ll hear about:
What 10X deals really mean and why they’re often easier to execute
The 3 key components of any game-changing opportunity
Turning waste (like avocado seeds or Guinness beer) into profits
Where Maxwell is putting capital now: mining, energy, biofuels
How family offices differ from traditional PE firms
Lessons from global dealmaking and the role of geopolitics
⏱️ Time Stamps:
00:00 – Intro to Maxwell Nee
01:00 – Founding Family Office Insider during COVID
02:30 – Common PE mistakes: overextension, distraction
04:00 – What makes a 10X deal
07:00 – The 3-leg framework: Market Gap, Team, Funding
08:30 – Real examples: bioplastics, energy, solar
11:00 – Investing globally & understanding country strengths
18:50 – PE vs. Family Office mindsets
21:00 – Book recs: How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, Time is a Tool
22:30 – Connect with Maxwell on LinkedIn
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

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

In this powerful episode, Marc Adams shares his remarkable journey from a stage 4 cancer diagnosis to a full recovery—and how that experience inspired him to rethink private equity. Now leading Acquisitions for You, Marc helps business owners double their company’s value and cash out tax-free—without debt, dilution, or outside capital.
With 40+ years in leadership, IPOs, and M&A, Marc discusses his “Double and Keep It” framework, raising over $350M to support non-traditional exits, and how PE firms can create more value by going deeper into operations. He also shares how a question from his 10-year-old son sparked a mission to help business owners keep more of what they’ve built.
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro to Marc & his corporate background
01:27 – Life-changing cancer diagnosis during the pandemic
05:34 – A pivotal question from Marc’s son: “Who helps the business owners?”
07:01 – Miraculous recovery and new purpose
09:24 – Writing a bestselling book to help owners increase value
10:16 – The “Double and Keep It” framework explained
11:43 – $350M raised to support exits without debt or dilution
13:08 – How structuring right helps owners keep 70–90% post-sale
15:01 – Helping younger founders take chips off the table
18:52 – From $140M to $1B valuation: how it was done
22:09 – Case study: $0 to $950M in 18 months
23:36 – Why PE must engage with operating teams
25:26 – Reducing founder resistance and aligning incentives
27:49 – Leaving room for buyers’ value creation
30:09 – Example: $6B tech buyer building value via synergy
32:29 – When forced changes from PE go wrong
34:28 – Why personal brand and social media matter more than ever
37:21 – 19-year-old entrepreneur’s turnaround and success
40:38 – Helping overlooked businesses unlock true value
42:02 – How to connect with Marc and access his free resources
📘 Resources
Contact Marc: [email protected]
Visit: acquisitionsforyou.com
Free tools & book via Marc’s Linktree (shared in episode)
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

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

Overview:
In this high-energy episode, Alex Rawlings is joined by Brad Pilcher, Partner and Co-Founder at Bonaccord Capital Partners, a leading mid-market GP Stakes investor. Brad shares his fascinating journey from aspiring concert pianist to private equity investor, and dives deep into how the private equity world is evolving — particularly around culture, capital, talent, and growth.
They explore how mid-market firms can scale successfully, the five principles guiding Bonaccord’s strategy, and why “professionalization” is now essential across PE — from investor relations and origination to team structuring and multi-product growth.
🔑 Key Topics:
[00:00] Brad’s background & founding Bonaccord Capital Partners
[01:54] Lessons from Bridgewater: culture, ambition, client-focus
[06:34] Brad’s 5 core principles for investing and business success
[13:05] Why Bonaccord targets the mid-market: stability + growth
[17:38] Institutional capital shift towards mid-market PE
[20:29] Mistakes PE firms make: lack of evolution, strategy, or value creation
[24:17] Fundraising playbook: off-cycle marketing, transparency, and LP engagement
[31:18] The professionalization of private equity – talent, IR, and origination
[36:07] State of the GP Stakes market & why liquidity concerns are overblown
[42:04] Surge in control acquisitions & how it impacts GP Stakes
[44:50] What Brad reads: quarterly reports, Bridgewater research, biographies & astrophysics
📌 Notable Quotes:
“In business as in life, the only constant is change.”
“Great firms know who they are, and evolve with purpose.”
“People, not spreadsheets, drive performance.”
“The best GP Stake firms bring capital and value creation.”📚 Resources & Mentions:
Bonaccord Capital Partners – bonaccordcapital.com
Brad Pilcher on LinkedIn – Connect Here
Edgar SEC Filings, Bridgewater macro research, A.V. Loeb’s astrophysics work
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

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

In this episode, host Alex Rawlings speaks with Eric Wiklendt, Managing Director at SpeySide Equity, a private equity firm focused on lower middle-market manufacturing businesses.
Eric shares his “fix and build” value creation strategy, the key elements of successful human capital alignment, and why cost accounting is the hidden killer in many portfolio companies. With deep operational experience, Eric offers a grounded perspective on how to avoid overcomplicating PE value creation.
🔍 Key Highlights:
Fix & Build Framework: Phase 1 focuses on EBITDA improvement; Phase 2 drives growth.
Top Phase 1 Levers:Aligning and incentivizing management
Rationalizing the revenue portfolio
Optimizing the operational footprint

Biggest Friction Point: Getting the people side right—human capital alignment and talent quality.
Always an Issue: Poor cost accounting systems that impact pricing and margins.
Hiring Better Leaders: SpeySide’s edge comes from having “been there, done that” as former operators.
Walk-Away Red Flag: Dishonesty or lack of transparency in due diligence.
Industry Mistake: Relying on too many value levers—hope is not a strategy.
📚 Eric Recommends:
Books on economics, behavioral psychology, and sociology to better understand how people think and make decisions.
💼 Connect with Eric:
LinkedIn: Eric Wiklendt

Website: www.speysideequity.com

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

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.