If you’re like most private equity (PE) dealmakers, you want to continually up-level your skills and stay on top of trends. But you often find yourself too busy to do much research or reading on your own. By listening to podcasts, you can learn what experts in your field have to say about the market — without having to take your eyes off your computer screen or pause your workflow.
Although many PE podcasts skew toward consumer finance — especially retail investing, entrepreneurship, and funding — others provide a wide range of information high-level dealmakers. Whether it’s how to address the unique challenges and opportunities of the PE market, or how strategize for an alpha-generating year, there’s sure to be a podcast that covers the topics you’re interested in.
Here’s our list of the top 5 PE podcasts that dealmakers should listen to.
1. Private equity Deals
This brand-new PE podcast tops our list for its topical relevance, refreshing variety, quality audio, high-caliber guests, fresh concepts, and actionable advice. For PE houses entering a tricky year, this podcast excels in every area.
The show describes itself as a deep dive “into individual deals to learn about deal dynamics, companies, and ownership that make private equity a force in institutional portfolios and the global economy.” Listeners hear from current move-makers who offer a rare peek into their creative fundraising and investing processes.
Although Private equity Deals is brand new, its host, Ted Seides, is a podcast veteran: He’s hosted more than 400 episodes of the podcast Capital Allocators, which covers insider information to fund managers, their investment teams, and the intermediaries that serve them.
Just as he does on Capital Allocators, Seides brings his asset management expertise to Private equity Deals and conducts in-depth interviews with guests. You won’t want to miss out on this podcast.
2. Family Office Podcast
Host Richard C. Wilson’s prolific show Family Office Podcast sits high on our list of PE podcasts because the producers are so dedicated to consistently airing thought-provoking content.
“Our program provides investors with insights on setting up their own single-family office, virtual family office, or selection of a multifamily office to help them manage their wealth,” the show’s description reads. Listeners hear from a variety of service providers like Timothy Cunningham, a placement agent who recently shared his contrarian thoughts on general partner (GP) marketing.
Family Office Podcast offers value to listeners by thoroughly covering creative deal structures like performance-fee-only transactions and co-GP investment consortiums. Each episode is around 15 minutes long, which fits nicely into a busy investment professional’s day. The publishing schedule varies, but episodes are rarely published more than 3 or 4 days apart, so you don’t have to wait long for fresh material.
3. Dry Powder
A podcast from a trusted outside consultant is one of the best sources of information and insider perspective for PE groups. Bain’s Dry Powder is a well-organized, consistently published show that “interviews leading experts on the trends and opportunities that will redefine the private equity industry,” per its description.
Even though the podcast covers high-level content, host Hugh MacArthur’s energy and personality keep listeners engaged. Rather than focusing on the day-to-day grind of dealmaking, MacArthur examines, distills, and clearly articulates the macroeconomic influences that impact PE sponsors.
Listeners of this podcast gain real-time private capital markets reflections that only quasi-outsiders like intermediaries, consultants, and lawyers can give. Often, MacArthur pushes guests to project those observations into the future to form loose predictions or hypotheses you may not have considered.
As a bonus, Dry Powder is the most well-produced podcast in the industry. Its smooth transitions, interesting musical interludes, and thoughtful narrative cliffhangers help keep the busy dealmaker brain focused.
4. Voices of Private equity
Voices of Private equity, an Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) podcast, lands next on our list. Produced by a nonprofit trade association, it’s the only truly unbiased voice in the space.
According to the show’s description, each episode reveals “how the people who make high-stakes decisions go about sorting through the challenges, opportunities, risks, and rewards while market and political dynamics swirl around them.”
Listeners learn what matters most to their investors rather than what matters most to dealmakers or other acquisitive executives on the buy-side. Knowing how limited partners (LPs) struggle to overcome their unique hurdles and hang-ups can translate to insider knowledge on how you as a GP can assist. You and your asset managers can then incorporate these ideas and solutions into your fund strategy to address challenges head-on at the capital raising stage and outshine other PE houses on the road.
Only 14 episodes of the Voices of Private equity podcast were ever published, and there’s no indication of more content in the works. That said, the show’s aired material offers plenty of relevant insights that are certainly worth your time.
5. The Money Maze Podcast
From global dealmakers Simon Brewer and Will Campion comes The Money Maze Podcast, a lively audio experience that’s “intended to help those interested in the world of finance navigate the real-life money maze.”
The Money Maze Podcast invites proven industry leaders as guests. Brewer, the show’s host, asks thoughtful questions to draw out relatable stories, investment insights, and incisive opinions. The result is a listening experience full of nuggets you’ll want to screenshot, bookmark, highlight, and share.
Episodes focus on economic and consumer trends around the world, so you’ll have to translate that intelligence into your own strategy.
For best results, consume a regular dose of private equity podcasts
Keep your finger on the pulse of private equity by regularly listening to PE podcasts. Whether you’re on your computer, at the gym, or doing chores around the house, there are plenty of opportunities for you to multitask while listening to the valuable insights and advice that these podcasts have to offer.
Another way to get a regular dose of PE insights is to subscribe to the Intapp DealCloud newsletter, which covers how dealmakers leverage technology to be more effective in transacting deals and building the relationships that fuel those deals.
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