Private Equity Experience

Private Equity Unpacked: Lessons from Writing "On Ramp to Exit"

• Emily Sander • Season 1 • Episode 26

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Dive into the world of private equity with hosts Rory Liebhart, Emily Sander, and Ed Barton! In this episode of The Private Equity Experience Podcast, the trio discusses their groundbreaking book On Ramp to Exit—a no-nonsense guide to navigating PE transactions, avoiding pitfalls, and preparing for the future. Learn why they wrote the book, their personal stories from the trenches, and their predictions for AI’s impact on private equity in 2026. Whether you’re a founder, investor, or curious professional, this episode is packed with actionable insights. Don’t miss their plans for live case studies and guest interviews!


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Key Topics Covered:
The creation and purpose of On Ramp to Exit
Why private equity can be a partner, not a predator
Must-know steps for founders entering PE deals
How AI is reshaping private equity in 2026
Future podcast plans: case studies, guest experts, and Q&A

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🎙 Podcast – Strategies, PE 101 & witty banter

📚 Book – On‑Ramp to Exit, full deal life cycle

🛠 Resources – Free templates, guides, tools

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Who Are We?

Three insiders. One mic. All things private equity — explained. Hi 👋 We’re Ed, Rory, and Emily — a CEO, a CFO, and a Chief of Staff — here to demystify the world of private equity. Between us, we’ve sat in the founder’s chair, run PE‑backed companies, and worked on the deal side, so we know the wins, the pitfalls, and the jargon (and we’ll explain it).

Through the Private Equity Experience Podcast, our book On‑Ramp to Exit, and a library of free tools and templates, we share real‑world stories, practical strategies, and insider insights to help you navigate every stage of the PE journey — whether you’re leading a portfolio company, joining a deal team, considering PE, or just PE‑curious.

🔗Connect with Ed

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🔗Connect with Rory

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emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

to be honest, like people often ask me like, Hey, like, like where did you think of the book idea and like how is it like to write a book? Like what is that process like? So I think this is salient topic for people,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah. Well, and we're coming up on the one year mark of releasing the book and basically two years since we

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Crazy. That's crazy.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Time has truly flown and it's uh, just because I'm getting older,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

actually

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

It's, uh, I, but I do remember like the moment I was talking to Ed, I was right across from him and literally, I don't use this word lightly, but it was like an epiphany. It was like,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

you, me and Roy should write a book about private equity. Like, I literally just blurted out like that and Ed was like. Yeah, that's a great idea. Let's call big rigs right now and see if he's in, I'm gonna call him. So, um.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

it's so funny because every time, and I had this conversation with a, a colleague last week over lunch who recently bought the book, and, and they too are interested in writing a book and they're asking me, know, what it's like to write a book and why I did it. And I said, well, first and foremost, I have a really good couple of co-authors that basically cajoled me into it.'cause I certainly wouldn't have done it myself. And kind of put Emily up on that. Uh, top of that pyramid in that respect.'cause there's no way I would've just decided to put what is in my head onto paper proverbially. Uh, it just wouldn't have happened. You know? I just not, not in the habit of putting myself out there that way, but, yeah. Uh, power of persuasion, for

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

do this? Uh, yeah. Yeah. No, that.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Didn't take much arm twisting, I mean, with, with you, with the two of you for sure. But, uh, but definitely not something I would've initiated on my own. I don't think I, I don't think it would've been, uh. As, you know, meaningful. If it was just, just one of us doing it right, I think it all three voices come through. Um, and I think we all have unique perspectives, for sure.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, and I think that we all were aligned on. We've been through this, but when we talk about it to other people, private equity, like their, their eyes start to glaze over. They start to be like very scared of it. Like it's this big scary thing that happens to other people. And I'm kind, I am kind of interested and I would love to like be more savvy on that, but I'm just not. So we wanted to make it accessible for those types of readers and listeners for our audio book. And also we have all known multiple founders who are like. You should have read this book before you jumped in.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Head first'cause you clunked your head on the bottom there and then shattered it open in front of everyone. Um, but we each had, you know, set people, I won't name names on my end, but who needed, who needed to hear this, not just, you know, to be or quippy about it. They would have found this useful and may have made a different decision going in or just may have handled the process differently, um, throughout. So that was kind of the impetus for the, for the book.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, and it's been interesting even the book's been out and consumed by, by folks out there, you know what they take from it. Because sometimes I'm like, I'll have folks that are. You know, they've been around and they are pretty savvy business people, a lot of experience, and they're still, they still pull nuggets of insight that, you know, um, I wouldn't have personally expected. I, I would've been to, to me, with some people I'm a little bit like. Concerned. This is like remedial knowledge to them, but it, it's almost like even if it is, people like to be validated in their thinking. I had that comment last week actually in a separate meeting was like, validating, you know? And this is a person that's been been doing m and a work for 30 years, you know, so, um, it's interesting. It's been fun. I mean, I guess that's what it comes down to is we did it'cause wanted to work together on something. Um, there's kind of a, a void in the market from that perspective, but, you know, ultimately. You know, we wanted to, we weren't gonna do it unless it was

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Well, that's the other thing.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

turned out to be

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, we all were like, this is gonna be fun. Like this is just gonna be a fun project.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

we def definitely didn't go into it with commercial endeavors, like as the

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

No,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

priority'cause it certainly hasn't hit New York Times best seller

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

not yet. Not yet.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

But um, no, it was just, it was a super fun project. And had you asked me five years ago, Emily, you're like, would you be big into podcast? I be like, I'm not podcast. You want me to get in front of a camera and talking to a microphone? No, no, no, no. Now I host two, which is crazy. And I get to see you guys, you know, every time we record, which is awesome. And, um, yeah, we just, we were like, let's do the podcast because, um, maybe we should let folks in on our little tradition. But, um, we have a tradition where. So this tradition started, so we go to the keg, which is a restaurant like a steakhouse in, uh, the Seattle, like Pacific Northwest area. And this tradition started because after our quarterly board meetings, the entire executive team would go to the keg and some of us would get smashed. Some of us myself, like speaking for myself, would just eat a crap ton of nachos and the really good bread they had.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I think I did

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

At the state, I was like, I'm having carbs today. Like, and I don't care.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

nachos.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

other people get totally sloshed. Um, but we would do that every quarter. And then us three just continued that. Every once in a while we just like, let's just go to the keg after we left G two. Um, and we just have kept that tradition up. So, uh, we were like, let's go to the keg, talk this through. And like a podcast came out of it.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, I was, I was really, um, pleasantly surprised at how I, to use this term, organically. It kind of came to life, meaning. We all have different voices, but know, they sort of melded together in the message we're trying to create. And, you know, the way I talk about it with people that can't even discern what it's about, I'm like, look, this is a primer book, you know, and this is, this is a, this is a sort of an unvarnished, furnished, um, end-to-end look at what it's like to be involved with private equity from various perspectives and, and you know, people. First ask the question. So are you just, just tearing private equity apart or, you know, is this is just like a indictment on the, you know, sharks out there that are private equity? Not at all. It's really, you know, we just tell it for what it is at the end of the day and some, some of those things, you know, um. Founders might find interesting to know on the other side, private equity folks that work in that space specifically, you know, they might also find, hey, these are, this is a, this is folks that have been on executive management teams. This is how they think. Maybe, maybe I need to, I can learn a little bit from that. And so, you know, it's just, it's a balanced approach I guess, really. But it's not, there's no agenda there. I guess that's the main point is we don't have like a message we're trying to drive home about, you know. One position or other in, in the market. It's just like, this is, this is what it is. This is what to expect, this is what to watch out for. This is what to where the rewards are and how people make money in this world.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I was gonna say the. Message that we're trying to drive home is kind of know your partner and be prepared for the change.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah,

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

that's, and I've made a career out of, out of founders who did not do that. And so there was, I mean, that's really what precipitated, I think the first call is, I was commiserating with Emily about kinda one of the situations I was in, and I was like, you know, they just. They're basically, they've, they've lost control of their business. They don't understand what they need to do

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

and this is gonna end poorly, which it did. And you know, you just can see the train wreck coming a mile away. And I think that's been the, been the, the element here that I think makes me feel really good about it is, you know, if, if we help two or three folks.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

That's it. Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

know who, who are like, okay, now I'm going into this eyes wide open.'cause the private equity folks, again, they do this every day and they do it dozens of times a year. Um, generally on transactions. They know what they're doing

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Mm-hmm.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

and they also know how to make, how to make that investment really sing. And they generally do well on their investments, or at least they tend not to lose on investments at the private equity level. So. There's a lot to be learned. Um, but there's a, it's a massive change. And

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

that's the part that I'm like, look, if we can help a couple founders not end up having me show up at their doorstep and go, hi, I'm the, I'm the, I'm from the fund that I'm here to help. Um, that would be, you know, that would be a, a godsend for, for them, not for, not for me or my pocketbook, but for them it would be a good

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I think just, I think just getting good information out to people. That was, I mean, here's our stories, which I think covers a lot of ground, but take it for whatever it's worth to you. But there's not a, like, there was not a lot of. Good information. I felt like there's a lot of like razzle dazzle, hey, here's PE and dah, dah, dah, and there's like, oh my gosh, like vulture capital and all this stuff. But there's a lot of in between and, and it is, here's some, here's some accurate information from our experience that again, you can take it and use it how you want. Private equity isn't, like, isn't bad unless you get yourself in a bad situation with private equity. Um, it is what it is, and you can, you can use it to your advantage. You can partner with in a certain way. You can know what you're getting into. And just like for the next, you know, few years, here's what's it is gonna be. But I think if people's expectation is way over here and then it's like torquing them this way, it's like, Hey, I'm gonna. Take a vacation in Hawaii and lounge by the pool, and you end up in like Anchorage, Alaska on a hike. Not a bad,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

a bad scenario, but if you weren't expecting that, it could be jarring. So I think we're just getting people information.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, and it's a whole journey too. That's why we titled the book On Ramp to Exit your complete guide to the Private Equity Experience. And the reason for that is if you're a founder, you're selling your business for the first time. know, you, you, you, you can't think about it o as only that one transaction where you're selling, you know, uh, most of your share in your company. It's, it's, know, you go through the phases of multiple, um. Iterations of growth, of, of, of profitability and things like that, to then eventually sell the business again, that is the end goal and always will be under the private equity model. So that's why, know, we wanted to provide something that was just less about the anatomy of a single deal. Where you're selling your company. No. It's like what happens on the other side of when you sell your company for the first time and then you become integrated as part of a management team to grow the business and make it more profitable to then sell again in the future to, you know, another private equity group is strategic, you know, you name it. And so it is really meant to be, and this is encapsulated just a hundred pages too. So it's a really easy read. It's a plain read. You know, it's a good, plain read for folks is, you know. Everything you need to know from a baseline perspective that you can save thousands of dollars on by talking to an attorney that might speak down to you, because you're gonna ask what you think are dumb questions when they're really not. And so it just gets that stuff out of the way and maybe saves you a little bit of time and effort upfront to what you're getting into. Um, you know, from a, from a, you know, a high level perspective, but tangible, you know, there's tangible, um, case studies in there that, you know, we've, we've gone through, we've, we've got the battle scars to prove it, you

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah. And that's something else we set out to do. We, I remember our conversation around, we want someone to be able to pick this up on a plane ride and, you know, read it and then get something really valuable out of it, but they're not sitting down for like an 800 page dissertation on private equity funds and methodologies and things like that. We didn't want it to be academic. Um,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

and uh, I think, I think it does that, and it's kind of like you mentioned primer and it's kind of like. When you're building a house and there's the wooden beams and then the, you know, contractors who come in and fill out the walls and things like that. So you have like the structure, the framework, and so, you know, okay, when people talk about this kind of stuff, it's kind of in the living room. They're talking about the living room. And then when they're talking about that kind of stuff, that's towards the end of the, of the, of the first phase, kind of like in the kitchen type of thing. So you have reference points and you can see the whole thing. And then we were like, okay, but there's far more. Information to fill out, but you kind of have to talk that through with someone and we're like, oh, the podcast. We can talk through the particulars and the details and the different scenarios that we've been through and are still going through right now, and like news stories that pop up and we can do that real time. And so that's kind of the,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

that was

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

of the podcast

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Ha.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

together.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

you all had anybody in your life that you felt like was the most unlikely person to have picked up the book and read it and then said, boy, I learned a lot. I, I have a couple of those in my life that I think, you know, obviously and, and friends are like, oh, I'm interested in what, what, what, what, what they've been working on. So it's like folks that are completely even out of the business world are like, I'm interested in this and pick it up. And then they're like, yeah, I learned something here. I've, uh, I've been hearing all about this concept forever, and now I understand what you're talking about and like what you do for a living.'cause even having a conversation with my wife sometimes I'm just, she, she sometimes has no idea what I actually do, but, um, but yeah, like it's, it's funny to sort of, uh, give people a glimpse into that world, you

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I remember you, you sent on Instagram, like your cousin sent a picture of like, I guess your little cousin, your little second cousin who was like, what, like five or six and like

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

yeah, yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

back

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

That's the prime example. Yep.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

that was awesome. That's

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

That that made my week. Yeah, definitely.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I, what I would, what I would say, Rory, is I have not had anyone come up to me and go, Hey, you know, that I was just shocked by that. Said, Hey, I've, you know, I've read your book

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

what I've, what I had are folks who I wasn't shocked by the book and go, I wish I read the book before.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

wow. That's, that's awesome.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I've

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I've had two folks go, I wish I had read this book before. And one was a founder and the other one was on a management team in a

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Nice.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

And this is their second time around. So they had kind of gotten, uh, immersed in it the first time and it was not a positive experience. So that second time they're like, you know, I would've done much better had I read this, and this is helping now.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

yeah. You know, I, I would say I haven't had that surprised experience or having my five-year-old second cousin read the book. I, I, or if they are, I, I'm not aware of it. But yeah, it's the, the, the piece that I think is gonna be most interesting is as we look back, you know, and continue to do the podcast and start to bring in. You know, some of the, some of the elements, you know, and I think if folks are listening, if you're having some of this experience, reach out to one of the three of

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

may wanna pull you onto the podcast to have a chat. You know, we could do, we could do this as like a counseling session even. Um, but, you know, the, the, the opportunity is gonna be interesting 20 years from now, or 15 years from now to see if we touched. Those three or four folks or more that really avoided kind of tripping and, and breaking their ankle or something on the, on the, uh, the private equity, private equity transaction because they were a little bit better armed going into it and knew what to expect.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

don't think you're gonna get a different structure on a transaction. I think you're gonna get a eyes wide open, this is what I'm going into and, and I'm, you know, kind of ready to, to take that step.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, the, the only, uh, person I remember giving feedback was actually coming at it from the different direction, which was my dad, and he was like, oh, it's a good reminder that. People know so little because he's so ingratiated in that he, he, he's like, uh, pension fund, lp. He's like part of the people who fund the PE firm. So he's like all in that ecosystem. So he's like, yeah, doesn't everyone, I'm like, no, dad. Like people don't know. He's like, oh, okay. And this is a good book for them. I'm like, yeah. So.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Well that's true. That's a good point. And that's one thing that I really sometimes lose touch with is things like this that are just kind of second nature after 20, almost 25 years in this world to me. You know, um, isn't to everyone else. So that's the whole reason to something down to, you know, something that's pretty easy to digest and in a real, um, know, plain language and illustrations and things like that so people can get it. And, you know, it doesn't,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

heck, I'm like, for example, I'm not a software developer,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

my gosh. Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

know, the thought of trying to understand Python, you know, out the gate is like daunting, but you know, it. people want to learn more. So, you know, just because it's that's, you know, uh, pretty common to me, doesn't mean that's the case for everybody. And that's the whole point. You're trying to address that need.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

And, and they say if you've truly mastered something, you can explain it simply.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

was like, Ooh, that's a good test. I mean, certainly for you two who are like very esoteric subject matter expert, this is like. Deep into your wheelhouse. I would consider myself like a translator. I can, my job here is to help translate all the wonky words you say into, into language for normal people. And I learn a lot on this podcast too, but um, I was like, yeah, that is certain people just swim in this world and they kind of forget that other, like your, your average person, just meaning kind of like your average knowledge around different topics and, and areas.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Mm-hmm.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

know some of these things and it's, it was a challenge to kind of, um, it was a good challenge to say, okay, how do we take all of our knowledge and condense it down into a book you can read on a plane in a way that is interesting and compelling and understandable for people? That's, that's a task in itself.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it took us damn near a year really, um, to kind of from start to finish, I think. Um. To, you know, get it all done. And it's like a lot of iteration and, you know, we cut a lot of stuff out and, you know, we ruminated a lot on what, you know, in such an expansive topic, what are those fundamental things that we want to cover? And so, you know, I think, um, you know, all that iteration just, it's, it's like, fulsome. It's not, it's not, there's not, there's no fluff, that's for

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

No fluff. That was.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

no fluff at all. That was kind of tangibly

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

There's none of our styles either. Like none of us are, are fluff people. We're just like, to the point, like very direct bullet points.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

no.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Um, I do like, one of my favorite parts about writing the book was. The personal stories. So we have little, like little call out boxes with stories from each of our perspectives, and we like, again, condense those down from, you know, they're not pages and pages and pages of our story, but

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

yeah. Right.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

coming up with the bank of those. And we selected a few, but just coming up with those like, oh yeah, like, oh yeah, that was my first board meeting. Or, oh yeah, that was my first time doing that piece. Or, oh, that's when the founder got.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

it's almost like we might need to come out with like a second, uh, edition or something before too long because even all of us individually have continued to go through these, you

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Seriously. Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

in our own, you know, kind of, uh, work life outside of this project. Right. So, and you know, have, people have asked me, are you gonna write another book? Who knows?

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

um, but I think, yeah, that's sort of where we talked about. The, the, you know, impetus for the podcast, right? Is like, how do we. We got a lot to say. People are gonna want to, people are gonna have more desire to consume elements of these topics within the book and also topical conversations. So, you know, we've said, hell, hell, let's just do it until we don't have fun doing it

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

And so here we are. It's almost been a year of doing this as well, actually. So it's like we've had this year, year cycle. We're about ready to rock into year three here,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, and it's cool because we've started to get people following us on LinkedIn and YouTube and leaving comments and asking like actual questions like, Hey,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

in 26 minutes you said this, this, this. Were you talking about that, or, or this thing over here. And we've been able to kind of.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

That's the

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

with people. Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

So, um, if you are watching this and you have a question, like drop it in the comments or you know, ping us on link LinkedIn'cause we're happy to answer, just try to be helpful,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

but Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

absolutely, uh, help tackle it from every angle, and that's really what

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

to do. Um,

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Now one of

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

we have talked about, and I think you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna maybe offer to put forward, is running a long-term case study. Um.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Mm-hmm.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

On kind of a live opportunity. And, and again, I think the two of you

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

are aware that I've started a rollup strategy on a number of professional services

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yep. Very aware.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

uh, I, I think maybe one of the teasers that I'll throw out there is there is, uh, some discussion that we've had, which we will maybe finalize at the next keg. meeting, um, to see if we might want to utilize that case study and do a quarterly check-in, as one of the podcasts to, to kind of see how that's progressing.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

strategy is, you know, open at this point, but one of the. Key players in that space right now is private equity and you've gotta get to a certain size and a certain structure. And, you know, you're in professional services, you generally have one of two choices on exit. It's either a, well, you, you've got a wind down and, and then you've got a sale to your kind of next layer of, of partners and. that are coming

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Mm-hmm.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

or you've got a sale to a competitor or private equity and, you know, I'm, I'm not getting any younger, I think you kind of that already here earlier worry. So, you

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, none of us are.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

is to, is to be able to transition over the next seven years out of that business. I it in a way that makes, you know, kind of makes both financial sense and professional sense and takes care of my employees. So I'm now the classic founder in that I've got employees I care about, I wanna make sure they're taken care of. I've got a business model that I'm almost building from scratch

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yep.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

roll up and you know, we can, know, that gives us 25

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

And you've taken on leverage, so you do have truly all of it.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Oh

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I've got leverage. Yep. Yep.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

But the risk premium is there, so yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

is there. Um, or at least I hope I've calculated it correctly and the return is

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah. Yeah. It's only efficient Frontier for sure.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

so, so again, that's something that I think is a, is a teaser for folks that, that may be coming and we can follow, kind of follow

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Well, I'm into it, so let's do

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, I think, I think you just did it. I think you just kicked it off.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I think you

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

But we, we have like the live case study with Ed and then we've also made some predictions off of our trending topic episodes. I think we can check in

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah,

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

the line to see how those shake out.'cause that'll be interesting to, to.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

yeah. It's gonna be all about ai, ai, ai. This is for the algorithm to pick us up. So, ai, ai, um, I say that halfway, but man, I, I just never see, Sue amaze me how much of our economy is propped up on that right now? And is a, it, we are in the midst of a, just a paradigm shift, you know?

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Well, I, I, I said it a couple podcasts ago. I'll say it

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Sure did.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

reminds me a lot of the 2097 to 2000 internet boom where a lot of companies didn't make it. And a lot

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

were like, yeah. And, you know, the, the economy really cratered. The only thing that pulled us out was a bunch of stimulus checks

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

nine 11.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Right.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

what really. Is fundamental. And I see the same thing here with AI is everything will fundamentally change. It's just we don't know the winners or losers yet, and we don't know what that fundamental change is really gonna look

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yep.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

This is, know, I, I, I have often said that the 2000 years you know, the basically the, the, the rise of the Roman Empire you know, kind of 1900. That 2000 years had a significant amount of change.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

more change in the last a hundred, 130 years than we saw in 2000 years, and I would argue that we've seen more change in this century in the 21st century than we saw, you know, for the last three or 400 years in how people live and work and,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

What a time to be alive. Yeah,

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I mean,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

seriously.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I'm definitely a glass half full guy.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

on all that stuff, and I'm just like, you know,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah,

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

and it's accelerating.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

it is. Yeah.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

know, as I had just

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Can humans keep up? That is the question.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

what you young people are gonna see.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah. When you say you

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

You young people.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

pa you're looking past me because I sure as hell ain't young, but Yes. Yeah. Uh, it is wild. Uh, but you know, I think again, private equity is gonna be there, there is so much ca uh, so much capital on the sidelines, everybody, it's, it's just not even funny. Um, so when there's disruption and opportunity, that's private, equity's gonna be much more of a player in the space. AI related, uh, strategies than they are today. That's, that's fact. So, and yeah, it'll be very, very interesting to see unfold. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, so I think from our standpoint, you know, we are just gonna keep this podcast rolling. I mean, we, we we're having fun doing it. We're still continuing to grow it. People are consuming it, which is great. Um, yeah, and I think for the listeners out there, we do want to hear from you. You know, that's, I'd say like, let's make that a goal for 26 is like more engagement with our audience in that way. Um, and, you know, bring more content that's relevant to their own lives. It like, literally if somebody said, Hey, you know, I'm a founder, been approached by three private equity groups that are trying to get me to. know, um, sell my business, you know, do a podcast and give us the rundown on the things, the five things I should consider, uh, when wanting to not get screwed, for example. And we'll go into it. I love those. We like the topical stuff. I mean, we, we, know, that's good. We'll, we will continue to pull sort of intellectual topics and things like that just'cause it's relevant. But, you know, the topical stuff's really, I think where it's, where it's really, uh, interesting.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

that's a good call out. So for the listener, seriously, 2026 can be defined by you'cause we're very much engaged with, with our, with our listeners and the comments we read each one. So things like, if there's something in a previous episode where you're like, I didn't quite get that. Could you expand on that or explain it further, please let us know. We're happy to.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

a whole damn pot on

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Like Rory said, if you have a specific scenario and you're able to share what you can about it, um, the more specific, you know, context you can share the more specific answers we can give. But we'd be happy to kind of do a full episode to break down the puts and takes and pros and cons and options of your, of your scenario. We can absolutely do it anonymously if you, um, if you send it in that way or request that if you have an article, you see that you're like, Hey, like this has to do with private equity. Like what, what are the. You know, what are the, uh, private equity folks have to say? Private equity experience folks. What do the private equity experience podcast folks have to say about that? Shoot it our way on LinkedIn or drop it in the comments and we'll break that one down. And then the other thing we've been thinking about. For 2026 is potentially having some guests on. So we have some folks in our back pocket, but if you're like, Hey, I'd really like to hear you guys have a conversation with this person, or, oh my gosh, actually my colleague would be a great guest to kind of talk about this, um, please do let us know. But anything like that, if you're like, please cover this topic, uh, that you haven't covered yet, then just reach out to us and, and let us know.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, I mean, you know, be, be, give us a little bit of grace on who we might be able to bring onto the show. I don't know if we can bring on like Jerome Powell or something here, but you know, we, we'll do our best to bring

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

He would be lucky on show.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah, he might be, yeah, he might have some availability actually here pretty soon.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Yeah. But no, that would be awesome. I think we, we, we'd just love it. We, we, we have fun doing it together. We like to engage with folks on it, that's for sure.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Very cool. Alright, uh, ed Rory. So for the outright, I forgot to say at the beginning, what I think would be good is I'll say like, thanks big rigs. You say, thanks em. Thanks sweet Eddie B or whatever the frick your title is. You go, thanks M Then we cut it. Like that can be our thing'cause it gives, or I can say your names'cause it'll be recognition.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

I got a, I got a different name

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

What do you have? Hold on.

bubby_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Bubby.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

No, I'm gonna go with Sweet Eddie B so they know who I'm talking about.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Sweet.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Okay.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Love it.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

so as we roll,

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

sweaty beef.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

alright, so as we roll into 2026, here we go. But thanks Rory. Thanks big rigs.

rory-liebhart_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Thanks.

emily-sander_1_11-26-2025_130543:

Thanks. Sweet Eddie B.