In this episode, our speakers explore how Professor Danny Warshay’s ‘See, Solve, Scale’ entrepreneurial process can help PE investors screen potential investments.
Partnering with a private equity (PE) firm has become especially attractive for founders of lower and middle market companies that aim for transformational, sustainable growth. As active and engaged investors, PE brings not only capital, but specialized industry expertise and experience, and generally a large network of professionals and operating resources. But to which entrepreneurs and founders is private capital flowing and what factors are influencing those investment decisions?
Danny Warshay is the Executive Director of the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and author of ‘See, Solve, Scale: How Anyone Can Turn an Unsolved Problem into a Breakthrough Success.’ Danny asserts that much of the same ‘See, Solve, Scale’ process that has empowered so many entrepreneurs can also be helpful to investors as a screen for potential investments. The episode also explores how the legacy culture, bias and ways of doing business in PE can shape investment decisions and cause investors to overlook promising opportunities and entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs should keep three things in mind when seeking to raise private capital:
- Seek to fix problems that actually exist rather than be ‘a solution in search of a problem.’
- Having abundant resources can burden the entrepreneurial process, while scarce resources can actually be beneficial.
- Aspire for diversity among founders, management teams and investment teams because diverse teams are better positioned for success.
For your convenience, full text transcript of this podcast is also available. Read the transcript.
Presenters
Winna Brown
EY Americas ESG Private Equity Leader; Partner, Private Equity Client Service, Ernst & Young LLPPodcast
Episode 45
Duration 23m 00s
In this series
series overviewHow PE can use the ‘See, Solve, Scale’ process to screen investments
Episode 45
Presenters
EY Americas ESG Private Equity Leader; Partner, Private Equity Client Service, Ernst & Young LLP
Why mentoring matters for women in PE
Episode 44
Presenters
CEO of Level20
EY Americas ESG Private Equity Leader; Partner, Private Equity Client Service, Ernst & Young LLP
How PE firms can win tech deals
Episode 43
Presenters
EY Americas ESG Private Equity Leader; Partner, Private Equity Client Service, Ernst & Young LLP
PE Pulse: Five takeaways from 4Q 2021
Episode 42
Presenters
What AI has done for Hg
Episode 41
Presenters
EY Americas ESG Private Equity Leader; Partner, Private Equity Client Service, Ernst & Young LLP
What PE sees in professional sports
Episode 39
Presenters
EY Americas ESG Private Equity Leader; Partner, Private Equity Client Service, Ernst & Young LLP
Why family offices are playing in PE’s sandbox
Episode 38
Presenters
EY Americas ESG Private Equity Leader; Partner, Private Equity Client Service, Ernst & Young LLP
PE Pulse: Five takeaways from 3Q 2021
Episode 37