The rise of the DIY CV
We’ve been immersed in sorting out what we’ve come to call the “stuck middle” in private equity – those mid-market firms that are failing to stand out among their peers and are therefore missing out on LP capital.
Sometimes this is explained by performance, even in cases where performance is decent, but just not good enough. Many of these managers look the same – performance-wise, strategy-wise – and LPs are failing to see a reason to commit, even in cases of long-standing relationships.
Firms in this state can’t seem to raise money very easily, if at all. Indeed, we’ve heard horror stories that range the spectrum of potential woes – from firms that raise less than the prior fund, to those that miss targets, to those that simply can’t raise any capital.
If you know of some, as always, don’t hesitate to hit me up. We want to know about them and, importantly, what are they doing about it? Perhaps more than anything, we’re curious as to how firms in these types of situations navigate through the challenges (and we’ve reported on a few cases)...