As a contributing editor, Carrick Capital Partners Co-founder Jim Madden explains the leadership traits private equity is looking for in prospective portfolio companies. “Capital seems to be chasing companies these days. More and more businesses are having checks waved in front of them at breathtaking valuations, and new deals are announced at a frantic pace. With the abundance of easy money available to growing companies, there is a danger of business leaders taking growth capital for granted and losing sight of the leadership attributes necessary to meet the challenges inherent in scaling their companies.
Having seen numerous instances where the quality of a company’s leadership is its greatest indicator of future success, our team spends about half of their time evaluating promising leadership. Here’s some advice to CEOs based on the traits we look for before committing our time and capital.”