Insights
Our point of view, by operators.
Whitepapers, press and podcasts on private equity value creation. The practical, step-by-step material sits in the guides.
Whitepapers
- The Business UnderneathData shows the business you run, rarely the one on the door: what two near-identical companies with a 4x revenue gap reveal about the systems underneath.PDF
- How to Build a Modern PE FirmSix changes that separate a firm from a fund, for sponsors who know the spreadsheet-and-leverage era is over and the next decade will be won operationally.PDF
- The Claymore WayMarketing is the last thing we fix, not the first: why most companies that ask us to fix marketing have a data and operations problem wearing its clothes.PDF
- Hostage FundsA new framework for PE governance failure: what happens when a sponsor cannot raise the next fund but still controls billions in assets nobody can move.PDF
- The Brand TaxWhy the brand cut you make in year one is the problem you inherit in year three, and how to tell disciplined cost control from borrowing against the exit.PDF
- Bridging the GapWhy marketing reports never reach the metric the deal team paid for, and how to rebuild reporting so campaign results reconcile to the investment case.PDF
- The Gathering StormWhy private equity's crisis is deeper than it looks: compressed distributions, record portfolio backlogs, and what it will take for sponsors to survive it.PDF
- Marketing as an Asset ClassThe PE operating framework that treats a portfolio company’s marketing engine (data, stack, acquisition system) as a balance-sheet asset priced at exit.PDF
- Reading Cialdini WrongThe principles work. The way the digital industry uses them does not: why persuasion tactics keep showing uplift while the underlying business stays flat.PDF
Insight
Why is the operating partner role challenged?
Most operating partners face a fundamental constraint: influence, not authority. Even when the firm owns the portfolio company, they still approach the CEO as an outsider. If the CEO doesn't see the value, they move on. No mandate, no ownership, no accountability for execution.
That constraint is why Claymore is built the way it is. We don't advise from the outside. Our teams embed, build, and run the work, accountable for the number rather than the recommendation.
Podcasts
- Built to Sell RadioWhy a New Private Equity Playbook is EmergingJohn Warrillow and Lee on why the old private equity playbook is dead, and the model replacing it.
- LeaderbookAIPrivate Equity's Operational CrisisForty years of cheap money made every firm look smart. Lee on what replaces it now that era is over.
- SourceCoWhy Private Equity Firms Struggle with Value CreationSeventy percent of portfolio company CEOs don't survive the hold. Lee on why, and what actually drives value creation.
- CPO Playbook with Felicia ShakibaPrivate Equity's Easy Era Is OverFelicia Shakiba and Lee on the end of private equity's forty-year tailwind, and the operating shift it forces.
- Private Equity FunCastWhat's Wrong in Private EquityLee joins the FunCast on what's actually wrong in private equity, and what to do about it.
- CxC by CodestrapPrivate Equity's AI Reality CheckEpisode 32, with Lee on what AI actually changes in private equity, and what it doesn't.
- Search Funded: The ETA PodcastThe End of Financial EngineeringWhy a decade of returns built on cheap money and multiple expansion is over, and why AI alone won't save anyone.
- Built to Sell RadioWhy 17.5% of Owners Are Burnt Out and Want to SellLee and Jason Swenk on why burnout, not retirement, drives owners to exit, and how buyers price founder fatigue.
- The Aerospace Executive PodcastWhat Private Equity Really Demands From LeadersClaymore's Maxwell Salazar on what leading a PE-backed company actually demands, and how to build executives who can do it.
- Leadership QuotientBeyond the Pizza PartyClaymore's Max Salazar on making leadership assessment a value lever in private equity, and why superficial evaluation fails.