Private Briefing: Young PE Firms Double Down On Entrepreneurship

Tom Waldman, Shareholder in Stradling’s Corporate practice group, was quoted in an article published on May 1st by TheStreet, “Private Briefing: Young PE Firms Double Down on Entrepreneurship”. As private equity flourishes, more VPs are spinning off from their larger firms and starting their own shops. “You start out as a smaller business and the first thing you and your team do is find attractive deals,” Waldman said. “You’re doing all the legwork yourself. You’re doing business development and deal execution and management of your portfolio companies all with a small team”. Waldman stressed that with a smaller firm, business development takes on a heightened importance; “The secret sauce is in building relationships and finding deals that are off market…”. Smaller firms have the ability to hone in on specific deal sizes and work with smaller businesses where they are able to produce more change. Waldman has seen his fair share of emerging managers in Southern California and has worked with first-time funds such as Gallant Capital Partners, LLC, “As firms become much larger and grow their teams, sometimes you’re seeing people that have had some successful deals wanting to put their own capital to work and take on more risk”.