Episode 133
Private Equity Value Creation Through Focus, Talent, and Go-to-Market Discipline
Rob Turano, Operating Partner at Bloom Equity Partners, breaks down the playbook he uses to transform lower middle-market software companies—from sharpening product focus to elevating talent and building repeatable go-to-market engines. He shares how Bloom integrates operating partners early in diligence, accelerates transformation in the first 12–18 months, and instills a performance culture rooted in data, speed, and ownership. Rob also gets personal, from his love of cooking to the practices he uses to think more clearly as a leader. It’s a sharp, candid look at what real value creation in private equity demands today—hit play and take notes.
Episode Highlights
1:31 – Growing up in New Jersey, Villanova roots, and the consulting-to-private-equity path
5:56 – Why food matters in Rob’s life and how he became Bloom’s unofficial in-house chef
9:22 – The three traits Bloom looks for: focus, management strength, and GTM maturity
14:38 – Selling value vs. selling features—and why every salesperson must think like a CFO
20:49 – How Bloom’s deal, BD, and operating teams collaborate from diligence through execution
27:45 – The urgency of the first 6–12 months and the sequencing of transformation in PE
36:18 – Rob’s top advice to PortCos today: talent first, disciplined KPIs, and repeatable GTM engines
40:25 – The book shift that made Rob more creative—and the life hack that helps him think clearly
For more information on Bloom Equity Partners, go to https://www.bloomequitypartners.com/
For more information on Robert Turano, go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-turano
Episode Highlights
1:31 – Growing up in New Jersey, Villanova roots, and the consulting-to-private-equity path
5:56 – Why food matters in Rob’s life and how he became Bloom’s unofficial in-house chef
9:22 – The three traits Bloom looks for: focus, management strength, and GTM maturity
14:38 – Selling value vs. selling features—and why every salesperson must think like a CFO
20:49 – How Bloom’s deal, BD, and operating teams collaborate from diligence through execution
27:45 – The urgency of the first 6–12 months and the sequencing of transformation in PE
36:18 – Rob’s top advice to PortCos today: talent first, disciplined KPIs, and repeatable GTM engines
40:25 – The book shift that made Rob more creative—and the life hack that helps him think clearly
For more information on Bloom Equity Partners, go to https://www.bloomequitypartners.com/
For more information on Robert Turano, go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-turano
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Sean Mooney: Welcome to the Karma School of Business, a podcast about the private equity industry, business best practices, and real-time trends. I'm Sean Mooney, BluWave's founder and CEO. In this episode, we have an awesome conversation with Rob Turano, Operating Partner with Bloom Equity Partners. Enjoy.
[00:00:33] I'm super excited to be here with Rob Turano. Rob, how you doing?
[00:00:37] Rob Turano: Good, Sean, great to see you. How are things?
[00:00:39] Sean Mooney: Doing great. The summer is here. It's moving quickly. The sun is shining. What else could we ask for?
[00:00:46] Rob Turano: Alright, little victory. Good to reconnect with you guys.
[00:00:50] Sean Mooney: Absolutely. So I've been looking forward to this one for a long time.
[00:00:53] Rob was actually one of our like OG of clients way back when, and so it's good to kind of watch his, his career kind of take off in private equity and I'm interested to further tap into your insights here.
[00:01:05] Rob Turano: I appreciate that. I guess it was probably six-ish years ago where it probably started. As you know, for operating partners, the value of the network is key.
[00:01:14] And appreciate the support from you guys along the way in helping expand the different functional and industry skill sets as we've matured and developed over the years.
[00:01:22] Sean Mooney: Absolutely, of course. And so let's jump in, Rob, one of the things I, I always love to do is just kind of get the story of you and more of the story, if you will.
[00:01:31] So can you share a little bit about where you grew up, kind of formative experiences, first job after college, and how you ended up in this industry of private equity Ultimately?
[00:01:39] Rob Turano: Yeah, grew up in the tri-state area in northern New Jersey, so the greater New York area has always been home. Villanova undergrad, so go Cats and go Pope also right now.
[00:01:51] So that's been cool. I came outta college, double major finance and accounting, knew I wanted to get into the business world, but not quite sure where I fit in at 21 years old. So went into management consulting for the kind of first chapter of my career. Viewed it as the best way to get quick reps in different industries and functional skill sets at an early age, as well as decent exposure to senior leadership teams when done right, and it was fantastic.
[00:02:19] Awesome six years, I'd say. Learned a ton. Worked all over the world, bunch of different industries like agribusiness. That was obviously a bit foreign for me as a kid from the tri-state area. But really learned, and I think over the years, focused in on the TMT space, then within M&A, and then tech M&A.
[00:02:39] And so it was a tremendous, tremendous opportunity, but realized wasn't for me long term, wanted to do similar type of work, work with a bunch of different companies, continued to learn, continued to be challenged, have a bigger seat at the table. And also see the execution, and not just the planning and leave behind, but seeing it through from ideation to execution.
[00:03:00] So ended up going into the PE world as anyone in the seat kind of knows there is no defined path here. And I think patience is a virtue. So I was in a good position in the consultant world, took my time, took about a year, and just made sure that I was prepared, thoughtful, and just really spent time learning about funds, the different ways they approach value creation and just networking.
[00:03:28] And then a lot of waiting. But you know, an opportunity came up late 2017 and ended up in my first fun job, and it's been fantastic since about seven years in the making now. So I've been very thankful and I have learned a ton and worked with some amazing people on the way.
[00:03:47] Sean Mooney: I love the, the story there, and it shows you, once again, all these different paths into the industry that didn't exist in the early days.
[00:03:54] And now there's just so many different ways in. I also appreciate your northern New Jersey upbringing. My roommates in college were from northern New Jersey, and I think today that's the only way I ended up in finance and in private equity. 'Cause here I was as a rising senior and we're all talking about all the places we'll go and I had no clue.
[00:04:14] I grew up in Texas. "Where are you guys going?" They all went to Del Barton.
[00:04:18] Rob Turano: Yeah, I was, so, I'm a Seton Hall prep guy. Delby is a big competitor of ours, but a lot of great friends from there as well. So
[00:04:25] Sean Mooney: As a Texas kid, I could appreciate the, kind of the brashness of having flags from your high school on your wall.
[00:04:30] We more put state flags up, but, uh, I wasn't used to high school flags being shown on the wall.
[00:04:36] Speaker 3: I, I have a few prep blankets still, you know, buried somewhere in the place now. So, yeah, for forever.
[00:04:41] Sean Mooney: And I love your Villanova background, but I also don't, so I'm a Hoya and I have three siblings that are Villanova grads, and they have decidedly the better part of the rivalry for many, many, many years now.
[00:04:55] So,
[00:04:56] Rob Turano: And I've told you this before, I don't like you guys, but I respect you and for the sake of competition, I look forward to the Hoyas kind of rising up to what they were in the past. So it's onward and upwards for both of our organizations in the future.
[00:05:11] Sean Mooney: I love that. So it's a great backstory and thank you for sharing that.
[00:05:14] And let's move on to kind of the next part where just more of you, and as our listeners here know, I'd love to ask this question. We'd know you better if we knew this about you, what would be one of those things?
[00:05:26] Rob Turano: How important food is in my life, I wear many hats right now. I'm an operating partner at Bloom.
[00:05:31] I've been acting as CFO and COO of one of our PortCos the last six, seven months as well. But I'm also our in-house cook. We have a small team in New York. I do my best to feed us to the extent possible. So I am down the chicken stock rabbit hole right now and I have my whole team drinking it on a week to week, almost daily basis, and it's gotten close to good enough where I could start selling it.
[00:05:56] That's maybe a 2026 thing. I eat a lot and I make sure that I'm feeding those around me. So I think as we get to fund two and three, and we could think about chefs down the road, we at least have some in-house capacity for the time being. I love to eat. Traveling a bunch has offered me the ability to do that all over the world, which has been fun.
[00:06:15] But I am always thinking about my next meal.
[00:06:19] Sean Mooney: What's your favorite cuisine to eat and cook and they don't have to be the same?
[00:06:23] Rob Turano: Yeah, I go Japanese is definitely up there. Not as good as cooking it candidly, but that's a 2026 thing too as well. A lot of just clean American farm to table and then a sucker for Mexican food too.
[00:06:38] And then cooking, I'm a creature of habit. It's like combo of steak, chicken, salmon, veggies, grain, and then your fun meals like Chick-fil-A, Trader Joe's, dark chocolate covered pretzels, gummy bears, the the important things.
[00:06:53] Sean Mooney: All the good stuff.
[00:06:54] Rob Turano: Yeah, I, I find, try to find the balance.
[00:06:56] Sean Mooney: So tell me about the stock.
[00:06:57] I've heard about this. People will just drink the stock because there's like health benefits for it.
[00:07:01] Rob Turano: It worked for Kobe, it works for me. Cup of it every day, allegedly good collagen, protein recovery, skin, it could be placebo. Feels like it's been working. I like it. My team likes it. So I think the reception's been pretty warm and yeah, I do make a couple of gallons of it every Sunday, freeze some of it and then work it off with the team throughout the week.
[00:07:22] Sean Mooney: Do you get people randomly knocking on your door in your building and just say, Hey, can I come in and?
[00:07:26] Rob Turano: Not yet.
[00:07:27] Sean Mooney: It's probably a great aroma, kind of wafting down the hall.
[00:07:29] Rob Turano: It is nice, but I, we do get requests throughout the day from the team, so I, I use that. I'm very appreciative of that, and I think it, I can help us fuel and make us a little more efficient, then I'm all for it.
[00:07:40] Sean Mooney: All right, next time I'm in New York, I'm coming by with like a Yeti cup and
[00:07:43] Rob Turano: there'll be a quart of it frozen waiting for you, so don't worry.
[00:07:46] Sean Mooney: Done. Done, and done. That's it.
[00:07:50] Hey, as a quick interlude, this is Sean here. Wanted to address one quick question that we regularly get. We often get people who show up at our website, call our account executives that say, "Hey, I'm not private equity."
[00:08:01] Can I still use BluWave to get connected with resources? And the short answer is yes, even though we're mostly and largely used by hundreds of private equity firms, thousands of their portfolio company leaders, every day we get calls from everyday top proactive business leaders at public companies, independent companies, family companies.
[00:08:20] So absolutely you can use this as well. If you want to use the exact same resources that are trusted in being deployed and perfectly calibrated for your business needs, give us a call, visit our website at BluWave.net. Thanks. Back to the episode.
[00:08:39] One of the things that I always love selfishly, to ask people like you who get to not only see countless numbers of companies, but then build them every day across a wide landscape of companies, is how you think about the key elements of value in a company and the traits that you look for in terms of whether a company is already good or probably more importantly in current PE world, is can it be really good?
[00:09:04] And so what do you look for when a company comes in?
[00:09:07] Rob Turano: Our strategy, like we're not shy with complexity, right? So we are comfortable with that. We can underwrite it and we go eyes wide in on it, but I think we're kind of looking at three consistent themes. It's focus and so just, it's a lower middle market company.
[00:09:22] Budgets are smaller, teams are smaller, and sometimes you don't have as mature executives in these teams. So I think understanding where the product is going, do we have a defined roadmap, is the entire team marching to the same beat, is kind of crucial for us. And then also similarly on the ICP, our ideal customer profile side.
[00:09:43] Who are we targeting? We can't have five different use cases across five different buyers because I don't have a digital demand gen budget to properly service each of those ICPs across all the different channels that I want to use. It's the whole riches and niches, I think, and for us being able to at least hear the company's perspective, develop our own, marry the two, and then once we kind of go post-close.
[00:10:10] Solving for learn rate is key. So just like, you know, let's test the hypothesis. It's never done. The bad news is we're small. The good news is we're small, so we can pivot and change very fast. So that is the expectation. Our executives know that we develop really strong, open relationships with them so that they are eyes wide open, and we're doing this together as a partnership.
[00:10:33] That's the first key one. The second is just probably looking at the management team, which is not a surprise. Talent will bring you to the promised land, and the first is just, is this team the right team for the next phase of growth? You maybe sometimes get tremendous founders and CEOs who built an amazing product, have a product mind, but maybe are missing some of the go to market juice that they need to really take a $10 million ARR business to a $50 million ARR business.
[00:11:03] For us, underwriting that early, moving fast on talent assessments, developing the early hypothesis for that team is absolutely crucial. So that, and this is gonna be selfishly like the faster we get the right people in the seats, the easier it is for my team, the broader Bloom team, you name it. So I think getting that hiring flywheel in effect is crucial.
[00:11:26] And then the last is just go to market maturity. Do we have the right infrastructure and strategy in place for this business? Like I said before, you have people and companies that build great products. They have product market fit, but maybe lack the go-to market fit. So it's the little things. Are we selling value or features, right?
[00:11:47] Huge difference between the two. Do we have the right channels activated? Do we have the right data supported decision making? And then just getting those like little things done, right? And like your singles and doubles, like, is my CRM clean? Are you qualifying appropriately? If your CRM isn't robust, you might not get paid on deals.
[00:12:05] It's just those setting a culture of, regardless of where you are in the organization, we want everyone thinking like an executive, being owners in the business and helping us take what could have been a flat or slow growth organization to, with some professionalization, some maturity. Double digit grower even faster when you bring M&A into the mix.
[00:12:28] So it's exciting times. I think those are kind of the three key areas around focus management teams and go-to-market maturity that we're really always trying to get our arms around to ensure that we can underwrite appropriately and have the right value creation plan post-close to execute upon.
[00:12:42] Sean Mooney: I think I really like what you shared there, and I think you very elegantly almost like
[00:12:47] brought the world of Jim Collins to life in a real world situation, right? It's just this whole like Good to Great, and I've talked about it here before. If you haven't read it, listeners read that, but actually you can save your money and just listen to what Rob just said. But it's, it's this whole idea of like, be disciplined, get the right people on the bus.
[00:13:05] Use data to kind of inform what you're doing. Don't just kind of load up your big cannonballs first, like shoot the aiming rounds and then once you're on target, then hit the gas and go, right? And it's just like, be a hedgehog. Be better at fewer things. And that's essentially what brings good companies into great ones.
[00:13:21] And I think you did a great job kind of summarizing these core concepts that are really hard to get your hand on. And frankly, it probably took me 20 years to figure out, and you just did in two minutes.
[00:13:30] Rob Turano: It was, there was successes and scars along the way, right? And thankfully we have the right team. And also going back to like selfishly, like we are like builders and hands-on.
[00:13:40] So like I've been an operating executive. One of my senior guys is building AI deployment agents on the weekends, right? But I think what you'll find is that we are able, and our goal is to attract talent that we do not deserve to have access to. We may have a $10 million-ish ARR business today, right?
[00:14:00] And we're gonna try to go find guys and gals that are playing in $50, $100 million dollars businesses that are builders at their core because that is what we are solving for. And there's good, bad, and ugly that come with it, but like getting those people and attracting them into the seats, you really just change the entire culture, mantra, and growth trajectory for an organization.
[00:14:21] So a lot of focus there and a lot of success when it works well.
[00:14:25] Sean Mooney: I wanna drill into one of the things you shared that I think is an important thing that's lost on a lot of people. And so you talked about on your go to market, this whole idea of like, you need to be selling value, not features. Share more on that for our listeners.
[00:14:38] Rob Turano: Yeah, someone told me as a salesperson, you need to be the CFO for your buyer, which really, I'm a finance brain, so I'm like, oh, it's an interesting way to put it and say it, and it's spot on because one, like just what pain point are we solving? And then two, like what is the return? So trying to arm your buyer with all of the information that they need.
[00:15:00] To go back to their steering committee, purchasing committee, you name it, to make this as no brainer of an approval process as possible. Every company, in some especially pick the data space, like it's huge. It's robust, it's mature, whether you're doing ingestion, integration, governance, cleansing, analytics.
[00:15:20] There are a lot of features out there, and a lot of companies serving that market, but like how you communicate the value, how you share similar use cases that will be like, "Ah, that person is in the exact same job that I am and are facing my exact challenges and here's the benefits that they've gotten in it" is tremendously important.
[00:15:37] So continuing to sell value on every phone call too, and that's what we try to instill into our salespeople. It's not just picking up the phone and checking in on the status of a proposal. It's: let's check on the status of the proposal, but also share a new use case or a new customer testimonial or explain how a new feature is getting traction within our customer base.
[00:15:57] So I think it's just that mantra of value first and arm the buyer with as much information they need to make this decision-making process easy for them is crucial.
[00:16:08] Sean Mooney: I think you made a really important point here for people who are thinking about building their own companies or investing and doing the same, right?
[00:16:14] It's just this whole idea of. People are willing to (A) pay per value. So it has pricing implications. You can actually find pockets of ability to like, Hey, if we're gonna let you get a three to one times your value, that's often a lot higher than you would've if you just priced the features in a vacuum, right?
[00:16:30] If they're checking boxes. But the other thing I think you added that I had never really thought about, which was I think really important and smart, is this whole idea of: you also need to arm the buyer of your product to take this to the CFO and be able to communicate the use case because the CFO is thinking ROI every single time.
[00:16:49] And if you give that to 'em, it also removes friction in the process.
[00:16:52] Rob Turano: Exactly. And I think also the amount of software products in an enterprise today is the amount of individual projects is almost like laughable. So like being able to make this an easy, seamless decision for them really speeds up sales cycles, makes time to value faster and can help differentiate, but it's not easy.
[00:17:11] It takes time and like everything, you're changing the culture and the communication style of the sales talent you have. So making sure that they are aligned with this mantra, have the right script and everything that they need to be successful too is crucial. And we're lucky to have our CRO profile operating partners who have done it time and time again, and wonderful CEOs and CROs and VPs of sales in our portfolio companies that
[00:17:34] buy into that mantra and you know, are advocates for the products, the companies, and the broader boom team.
[00:17:40] Sean Mooney: And I think you make another really good point there in terms of, I think a lot of people who are unfamiliar with the PE industry, who, for whatever reason think it's like a 1980s movie with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas or whatever, and they're like the PE world's about cutting costs and breaking things apart, right?
[00:17:56] And the reality is that might have worked in the '80s. But it didn't work in the 2000s, the 2010s, the 2015s, the '20s, whatever. And the number one correlate to value in any business building today particularly is growth. Yeah. And so the things that you're talking about, the go to market is so important.
[00:18:15] And so you don't wanna be overweight as a business and have kind of excess and waste. Your money and your value is created and made by growing the business. And so I think those are such important points for anyone thinking about these topics.
[00:18:30] Rob Turano: Another quote I can't take credit for, but resonates is, you know, you can cost cut your way to a double, but the only way you get above that is through growth.
[00:18:39] So for us it's stabilize, secure, build the infrastructure, and then there's just two things to talk about growth and pipeline, and that's where the focus is.
[00:18:51] Sean Mooney: Amen.
[00:18:54] Hi, Karma School of Business listeners, Sean here. Wanted to shine another quick spotlight on one of the most important ways PE firms preserve and create value.
[00:19:02] The private equity industry is one of the most regular users of interim executives. Why? Because these select private equity grade executives can be hugely impactful for saving company value during critical times, accelerating strategic initiatives and bridging executive transitions that happen to almost any company over time.
[00:19:21] To this day, many don't know that BluWave has turned the interim exec offering on its head and completely made it the way that my friends and I in PE always wished it was. BluWave has a dedicated team that does nothing but interview, pre-vet, credentialize, and reference private equity grade groups and people so that we know who you need before you call us.
[00:19:43] In the case of interims, we have more than a thousand top interim private equity grade CEOs and CFOs that are ready to be matched for your exact need. When you need it, give us a call or visit our website at BluWave.net, and we can give you excellence and alpha with ease. Back to the show.
[00:20:02] You've gotten involved with the company, you're partnering with them.
[00:20:05] They have the elements of value or can have them, you're getting ready to put in the foundation. I think a lot of people are curious about how do PE firms then work with the teams, and particularly the symphony of motion that's occurred. So specifically as it relates to Bloom, how do you all manage this interplay between your deal team and biz dev people and the Operating Executives and the PortCo leadership team and all these people kind of like working in concert with each other?
[00:20:30] Rob Turano: For right now, for us, it's a few different reasons we're growing and building our own firm as we're doing this. And like any, as any new team grows and expands and matures, like we are all going to continue to learn and mature and work together in different ways. So I think that's been absolutely key and we're a small enough team where we can still do it, which is nice.
[00:20:49] So I think, you know, our BD folks and deal teams are tied at the hip drive top of funnel velocity intake and raise the right opportunities as quickly as possible. And then be flexible, like when we have early conversations with prospective targets for add-on M&A that are interesting, we'll pull in myself and my other operating partners because it's interesting for the targets to hear from folks who maybe are like living and breathing at the company day to day.
[00:21:15] So like when I'm working with one of the companies and assessing targets, I've been living in this business for six plus months. I can talk about the good, bad, and fun and chaos along the way. It's also like that executive may be working with me and my partners for years to come. So getting early indications into like, oh wow, (1) these folks are builders.
[00:21:36] They know what it means. They're not just board folks throwing ideas over the wall. They are living at the company day to day, hands-on partners and then also hopefully I think we're good people and are, you know, folks that they would be excited to partner, learn, and grow with over the upcoming years. So that's been helpful.
[00:21:55] And then I think finding PortCo execs that understand what PE means, it's wonderful when it works. It's, and it's like everything, some people like it, some people don't. We found, we've been lucky that the executives that we've surrounded ourselves with appreciate one, that these are lower middle market companies, so that we have smaller team sizes, limited resources.
[00:22:17] So having access to Operating Partners, like one of my colleagues who's a multi-time CRO or a multi-time CTO and founder was taking companies public. They can never get access or afford that type of talent in the past. So you have operators around the table with you that want to support, enable, but are also willing to do the work as well as advise depending on the situation at end.
[00:22:42] Sean Mooney: So PE firms do things a lot of different ways to. The whole thing I've always said is like, you've seen one PE firm, you've seen one PE firm, right? And, and that's part of the beauty of this is you have kind of common objectives, but different strategies to get there. Right? And so is it specific to your firm at Bloom?
[00:22:59] At what stage do you and your operating partner peers kind of get involved with the funnel of private equity from kind of deal assessment to deal making, value creation, exit?
[00:23:10] Rob Turano: I'd say the early to mid stages of diligence, typically. And you have to find the balance of where you are in your own maturity curve, right?
[00:23:17] Because we have dedicated teams that have wonderful skill sets in driving velocity, driving ingestion. So I think finding the balance of when it's appropriate, but being flexible. But I'd say generally where that early to mid stage of diligence where the asset's interesting, we think we're gonna be running hard.
[00:23:35] And then just being flexible amongst the team. We have myself and three colleagues, and we just have to be mindful. It doesn't make sense to have everyone on the call, so it's like, let's get the profile, find the right person for it, divide and conquer, and put trust in your colleagues and partners that we're going to show.
[00:23:50] We'll get the information we need out of the client and go. And then as we progress and really lean in, then we are supporting and driving along the way, helping craft the value creation plan. You're super hands-on in that like immediately post signing period where we're basically now thinking about operationalizing and then co-creating the plan, which is gonna be consistent with many PortCos and many other PE funds.
[00:24:15] And then post-close depends on the situation, but we will take in term CFO seats, CEO seats, COO seats, you name it. You have to balance the scalability of that, of course. Not every one of us can be interim CXO something for six months because that will not scale. But the goal, going back to the talent conversation earlier then, is just get the right people in the seats as quickly as possible so that you have full accountability and ownership over the plan, and then you have thoughtful partners that can execute with you along the way.
[00:24:49] Sean Mooney: When you're starting off in the diligence phase, what role are the operating partners playing and how does that kind of compliment what the deal teams are doing?
[00:24:57] Rob Turano: Depending on the phase, like we will lead commercial and go to market diligence. I have a partner who's extremely deep in the product and tech side of the world, so when we get to that stage, we'll bring him in.
[00:25:09] When it's a company we really like or excited about and you kind of wanna showcase the team, we'll bring folks in for those early mps, every deal is a little different, but I think we are trying to showcase the best of Bloom and also let folks know, like we said, we're going to be hands-on partners. Want folks to see the talent that we have around the table across all teams.
[00:25:30] 'Cause we're excited and proud of what we built. So we're lucky and it's been a great journey so far.
[00:25:35] Sean Mooney: And to what degree are you all informing your value creation plan before you make the deal?
[00:25:40] Rob Turano: I'd say we have a very strong and documented thesis heading into the transaction because like I said, like we're not shying away from complexity and there typically is some change that is required for these businesses.
[00:25:52] So we're pretty thoughtful in talent, go to market, tech, ops, finance, you name it. So we have a pretty robust plan that's well documented going its into in place, depending on what we're doing with the management team. Sometimes that can just be the plan of record. If it's a team that we want to invest behind, continue to scale with, then obviously co-creating that plan is crucial because I think,
[00:26:20] like anything, organ rejection is quick and fast. If you hand over a plan that a management team doesn't believe in, or they've taken accountability and ownership over, then you're gonna be talking to a wall. So kind of the situation post close will always be different and evolve. But I'd say we have a very strong underwriting thesis and preliminary kind of plan of attack going into any transaction.
[00:26:44] Sean Mooney: I think that's so important as I think about the history of the modern PE era. Generation 1.0 were the early founders, and this was kind of a dramatic inefficiency where there's just a void and a need for that kind of middle part where it's not just sell or borrow bank debt, right? There's this where it's one or zero, right?
[00:27:02] And then maybe when I came up, it was kind of 2.0 where you're kind of moving into optimization of the company, but now we're in 3.0 where it's transformation. It's Econ 101. You have to create value that didn't exist. And what you all are doing to kind of bring your operators in at the early stages to inform the value creation before you even make the investment is so important.
[00:27:25] Rob Turano: Well, and if you think about it, like in terms of timing too, we have to move fast because like I said, we're sometimes taking flat businesses to trying to do 20, 30 plus percent, and what that means is the first three to six months is probably spent attracting talent. Then you have realistically a 6 to 12 month kind of transformation.
[00:27:45] Before I feel like I have the right pipeline generation team and infrastructure in place. And then it's like, okay, well I need to show at least four to six quarters of aggressive growth before the market's gonna give me credit for it. So now you're in year three of your hold period. So the longer you wait on the front end, it just means year three pushes to year four, and you're gonna exit strategically.
[00:28:09] But you wanna at least be putting yourself in positions that at least by year two and year three, we have traction, we have proven results, and we have enough clean quarters to show upward trajectory and momentum.
[00:28:22] Sean Mooney: And I think you did a nice job there in that I think people outside the industry don't understand the pace with which you all move and you are required to move because all the things you're doing to transform a company in three to five years, it's amazing.
[00:28:36] And people can't, in some ways fathom that. But that's kind of the name of the game and why firms like yours do so well.
[00:28:43] Rob Turano: And that's why though the builder culture is crucial because like we know, we have hard perspectives on what good infrastructure looks like. So even while we're searching for a CEO, a new CFO, a new CRO, I'm gonna get HubSpot marketing automation in place, get my Salesforce deployed,
[00:28:59] like all those core technology, data, and infrastructure things and some of the ugly building. Not particularly sexy, I'm sure a CEO or any senior leader doesn't want to do it, but they'll have to. So, but at least when they come into the organization, there is enough for them to work with. So you're not starting from zero, you're starting from 0.4, 0.5, and it's a good infrastructure for them to then accelerate and build upon.
[00:29:23] And that's where having folks like myself and the team around me, it's, we are builders, we'll roll up our sleeves, we will do this. We know what good looks like and we try to put it in place as quickly as possible.
[00:29:35] Sean Mooney: That's so important as we use that as kind of a a basis for the next part of our conversation here.
[00:29:41] You're coming in. You're having to build with urgency. You're having to build in very fluid times, right? The world is this three dimensional chess game. You move one piece, and then there's all these other things that are impacting what happens next, both macro, micro, competitive, et cetera. So maybe with that in mind, what are some of the top pieces of advice that you and your colleagues are offering to your PortCos these days to kind of manage not only with safety, but also success in mind?
[00:30:07] Rob Turano: The talent is first and foremost, right? We have built a pretty amazing hiring flywheel here, where it's like not being able to attract top talent is something that just we fundamentally will not accept at our PortCos. And if it's like, well, we're priced out, then let's figure out ways to unlock budget, move people around and get the right team in, because we're trying to sell to the next buyer, a mature team that is gonna take, you know, what could be now a $30, $40 million revenue asset to $100.
[00:30:41] So I think the hiring flywheel and what we've built out internally here has been tremendous and impressive, and ensuring that the portfolio companies buy into the model, now we wanna move with speed and pace and leverage us as key. I think it's the building box of like a scalable, repeatable, go-to-market engine that drives like long-term profitable growth is one where we're always leaning in on, and it kind of goes back to what I was saying before, just doing the little things right.
[00:31:07] Documenting weekly pipeline reviews, one-on-ones clean CRMs, the right sales qualification, not being afraid to kill deals when there are no critical events coming. It's finding the balance of wanting to grow fast and say yes, but also being smart and saying no, and not convincing yourself of an opportunity, right?
[00:31:29] Like I don't want metrics for the sake of metrics. I want a pipeline that's gonna convert. And it's tough for folks on the ground too, because you hear one mantra of like, "Grow, grow, grow, pipeline, pipeline, pipeline." And then it's like, "No, but be thoughtful and get the right deals in." So not losing sight of the human element there is key.
[00:31:47] And then I just think the mature financial operational controls and reporting: it's unsexy, but crucial. And it's like, do we have the right leading and lagging indicators to just make sure that we are managing performance accordingly? And setting the expectation with our CEOs, like there's no world where they should be getting on their weekly calls, that they don't have metrics that the team is reviewing together.
[00:32:10] Right? And they buy into that mantra. The team around them buys in, and then at least you're making fully educated decisions, which is great, that have real data behind them. So those have been, I think, absolutely key. And then, like I said kind of a little earlier, just that product focus, learning, picking our niche and staying in our lane is crucial.
[00:32:33] I can't afford to have a 50 person R&D team of SF developers, right? It's just not gonna work for this stage right now. So how do we stay competitive in the market, but then enable us to drive product innovation and an offering that will resonate with our customers?
[00:32:49] Sean Mooney: I like what you share there for a number of reasons.
[00:32:51] And, and I think it's so easy to get into the hype cycle of AI today. Everyone's just AI, AI, AI, the robots are gonna take us over. And what's interesting about here at BluWave is we get to see kind of like the flow of what the top business builders in the world are doing day to day. And while we're getting a lot more calls for AI, we still get multiple times more for people.
[00:33:13] At the end of the day, you're still in a people business, right? We need recruiters, we need interims, we need organizational effectiveness groups. And that still dwarfs anything else that we get called for. And so I think part of this like fear culture that's emerging, like the robots will rule, I think it's gonna be us some time just by reflection of what you all are doing, right?
[00:33:30] It's, it's at the end of the day, you need the people.
[00:33:32] Rob Turano: They're gonna make us a hell of a lot more productive, right? And one of the themes is that everyone in our organizations should be leveraging AI in some way. One of our senior guys is doing teach-ins for the Bloom team and our portfolio companies. In two weeks, we're doing a lunch and learn to talk about the AI impact on Google search and digital demand gen.
[00:33:52] 'Cause it's like it's here, it's real. It's terrifying or exciting, depending on how you look at it. So those are where and where folks like yourself and your network are tremendously helpful. Where it's like, "Hey Sean, I have a weird request for what I think is a unicorn." And you guys typically are able to say like, "Ah, we got the perfect person for that."
[00:34:09] Sean Mooney: Yeah, "Here's a purple one, and here's a yellow one."
[00:34:11] Rob Turano: Yeah, so it's a little plug for y'all.
[00:34:13] Sean Mooney: No, thank you.
[00:34:14] Rob Turano: And I think the PortCos appreciate it too, like getting access to some of our guys that are willing to teach, hold these sessions and get folks the right exposure that they may not normally get in their day to day is appreciated.
[00:34:25] And I think they show that we have, culturally, it means that we're putting our money where our mouth is and that we're holding folks at our companies to the same level of accountability that we are at Bloom.
[00:34:34] Sean Mooney: And I like that. And I like what you shared there as well on the AI. It's a tremendous productivity tool for us humans, right?
[00:34:42] It's not a replacer. But the other thing you share that I think is really important that people should not sleep on is the data, right? And the KPIs and the measurements. And so often we'll get calls and they'll say, we want to talk about neural networks. I'll start with saying, well, let's get your data organized.
[00:34:57] Let's get it visualized, annualized, and then you can do the neural networks, but you're gonna get a huge ROI just from putting the KPIs in front of people.
[00:35:04] Rob Turano: Exactly right. And at
[00:35:05] least it gives you something to look at and debate, that's fact. And it's death by data, death by reporting. So you have to find the balance of like, hey, as an executive leadership team, like are we in agreement that these are the key kind of drivers for our business?
[00:35:20] And like what we've done at at our companies is like. We'll go in and build out, like every functional leader or business unit leader probably has 5 to 10 KPIs that they must manage on a monthly basis. And whether it's weekly, monthly, depends on whether you're in demand gen or product. But like it's just an expectation that everyone is talking data, everyone is talking hard numbers and KPIs, and it's, we're all having the same level of accountability and responsibility that we should.
[00:35:49] Sean Mooney: Yeah, once again, so spot on. And so Rob, let's bring our conversation kind of full circle back to the personal human stuff. And so I'm curious, one of the things I love to do is kind of tap people's brains in terms of like any life hacks or resources or books that you're thinking about or kind of ingesting or applying in your own life to make things a little easier or better and more effective.
[00:36:16] And so what might be one of those things?
[00:36:18] Rob Turano: Yeah, I'll give you a book and a life hack. So I've driven more like fictional books in my day to day, 'cause I think numbers brain by trade and there's amazing business biographies and books. But I think for years I found myself kind of getting sucked into only them.
[00:36:38] And I woke up and I was like, not particularly artsy, I don't think I'm overly creative and it's probably impacting me in some way professionally, even though if I don't realize it, so started to introduce more fiction. So like Shantaram, Seveneves, some like kind of weird all over the place books that I really enjoyed that I think they're helpful.
[00:36:58] Could also be that I'm just more creative now, so I'm convincing myself of the fact, but I think it's been a, a net positive for my day to day. So yeah, that's been fantastic. I think just getting my brain more exposure to some different things, and also helping me stop watching my iPad before I go to bed.
[00:37:14] So I fall asleep a little quicker, which is nice. And then life hack, one of our senior operating partners is, we call 'em Zen Master for very good reason, but taking walks was his guidance for me, and it was: during the week, unplug for an hour or two. Doesn't matter if it's during the day or at night. Just block time on your calendar and go walk.
[00:37:40] No headphones, no phone, no distractions, and pick something in like the day to day that's giving me a challenge of frustration. Step back, reflect like what's working, what isn't. Let's think about the personal dynamics and people around the table and understand what that situation looks like from their perspective.
[00:38:04] And then just like challenge where I'm spending time and focus to see maybe if there's better ways to approach the situation, because I think it's very easy to get wrapped up in, you set the strategy and then you get wrapped up in doing and there's so much to do or could feel like there is so much to do at times that you just get caught in that cycle.
[00:38:26] So this has been a way to take kind of more of a high energy person like myself and like step back a little bit, slow down, don't distract myself, and just think, which is wonderful feedback and definitely appreciate it.
[00:38:41] Sean Mooney: I think that's a great thought and and kind of concept that I think we've all lost in this digital age is like be alone with yourself.
[00:38:48] And when I do that and I go on walks and like, like you, I try to keep the earphones out and those type of things. And then it's interesting like after you start settling and you start listening to nature, and then just these ideas start flowing. I don't know if you have that same experience.
[00:39:03] Rob Turano: Yeah. It's just like, or you're like, what the hell was I thinking,
[00:39:05] you know?
[00:39:06] Sean Mooney: And the problem is I forget 'em all by the
[00:39:07] time I get back.
[00:39:08] Rob Turano: Yeah, exactly.
[00:39:10] Sean Mooney: But there's, there's some really genius thoughts. I recall vaguely on these walks.
[00:39:14] Rob Turano: Not often, but when they hit, they hit. No, but it's like even now, 'cause at first thought I was like, "Oh, I'll put music on." And it's like, that's a distraction.
[00:39:20] It's like, you're right. You know? So I think that. Slowing down a little bit has been extremely helpful, personally and professionally for me. And I just think kind of been, uh, helping me just challenge what I'm doing where I'm focused. My thinking about the perspective from the different folks at the table and just 'cause we have a strategy set doesn't mean it's right forever.
[00:39:40] So just let the best idea win is another one of the like mantras and themes that you're gonna hear in our organization and like we hold ourselves to that. So people are expected to think, put ideas on the table and be willing to either accept yes and move fast or accept no and move on to the next thing.
[00:39:58] Sean Mooney: Great advice there. One, I think for all of us, we feel this like we feel like we need to be reading every business book and, and, and that's what we all do all day anyways, right? We're you're reading droves and droves and droves of business, business, business, and then you feel like you gotta read biographies of some business person and you're always, at least for me, I'm always like, I'm behind,
[00:40:14] behind. I'm fine. But if you don't introduce something different than that, like you're stunting your brain, first of all, you're only using one part of it. And then the second point is if you are like, you don't find these moments of quiet, kind of this meditative moments to go out, you're similarly, you're doing more harm than good.
[00:40:31] And so just, I love the idea of just like, take a break, do an hour a week where you're just gonna let it go and just be with yourself, which for me can be a scary prospect, you know, alone with my thoughts.
[00:40:40] Rob Turano: Yeah,
[00:40:41] i, I, I don't do well alone, but when I do it, it's been beneficial. It's not by choice, but thankful to have folks that can challenge me and say, "Hey, go for a walk."
[00:40:53] Those moments happen and they're needed, so.
[00:40:55] Sean Mooney: Well Rob, this has been a really fun, insightful, kind of delightful conversation and I really appreciate you taking the time, 'cause I know your schedule is crazy. I've learned all sorts of things that I wish I knew before and that's really a tremendous gift. So I appreciate you taking the time and sharing the insights with all of us.
[00:41:12] Rob Turano: Likewise. No, it's, we've been very fortunate to learn from others along the way and being able to share the successes and failures along the way for others is crucial. And it's always a pleasure to see you and the team, Sean, and appreciate you taking the time to speak with me.
[00:41:25] Sean Mooney: Yeah, likewise. Next time through New York, I'm gonna come with mug in hand and we're gonna have some chicken broth.
[00:41:31] Rob Turano: We're right by Grand Central. I'll be disappointed if you didn't.
[00:41:34] Sean Mooney: Wonderful. All right. Thanks, Rob.
[00:41:35] Rob Turano: Cheers.
[00:41:48] Sean Mooney: That's all we have for today. Special thanks to Rob for joining. If you'd like to learn more about Rob Turano and Bloom Equity Partners, please see the episode notes for links. Please continue to look for the Karma School of Business Podcast anywhere you find your favorite podcast. We truly appreciate your support.
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[00:42:34] or visit our website at BluWave.net. That's B-L-U-W-A-V-E and we'll support your success. Onward. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the individuals presenting, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any other persons or entities, including those referenced herein.
[00:42:53] No representations, warranties, financial, legal, tax, or other advice are made herein. Consult your advisors regarding any topics discussed during this episode.
[00:00:33] I'm super excited to be here with Rob Turano. Rob, how you doing?
[00:00:37] Rob Turano: Good, Sean, great to see you. How are things?
[00:00:39] Sean Mooney: Doing great. The summer is here. It's moving quickly. The sun is shining. What else could we ask for?
[00:00:46] Rob Turano: Alright, little victory. Good to reconnect with you guys.
[00:00:50] Sean Mooney: Absolutely. So I've been looking forward to this one for a long time.
[00:00:53] Rob was actually one of our like OG of clients way back when, and so it's good to kind of watch his, his career kind of take off in private equity and I'm interested to further tap into your insights here.
[00:01:05] Rob Turano: I appreciate that. I guess it was probably six-ish years ago where it probably started. As you know, for operating partners, the value of the network is key.
[00:01:14] And appreciate the support from you guys along the way in helping expand the different functional and industry skill sets as we've matured and developed over the years.
[00:01:22] Sean Mooney: Absolutely, of course. And so let's jump in, Rob, one of the things I, I always love to do is just kind of get the story of you and more of the story, if you will.
[00:01:31] So can you share a little bit about where you grew up, kind of formative experiences, first job after college, and how you ended up in this industry of private equity Ultimately?
[00:01:39] Rob Turano: Yeah, grew up in the tri-state area in northern New Jersey, so the greater New York area has always been home. Villanova undergrad, so go Cats and go Pope also right now.
[00:01:51] So that's been cool. I came outta college, double major finance and accounting, knew I wanted to get into the business world, but not quite sure where I fit in at 21 years old. So went into management consulting for the kind of first chapter of my career. Viewed it as the best way to get quick reps in different industries and functional skill sets at an early age, as well as decent exposure to senior leadership teams when done right, and it was fantastic.
[00:02:19] Awesome six years, I'd say. Learned a ton. Worked all over the world, bunch of different industries like agribusiness. That was obviously a bit foreign for me as a kid from the tri-state area. But really learned, and I think over the years, focused in on the TMT space, then within M&A, and then tech M&A.
[00:02:39] And so it was a tremendous, tremendous opportunity, but realized wasn't for me long term, wanted to do similar type of work, work with a bunch of different companies, continued to learn, continued to be challenged, have a bigger seat at the table. And also see the execution, and not just the planning and leave behind, but seeing it through from ideation to execution.
[00:03:00] So ended up going into the PE world as anyone in the seat kind of knows there is no defined path here. And I think patience is a virtue. So I was in a good position in the consultant world, took my time, took about a year, and just made sure that I was prepared, thoughtful, and just really spent time learning about funds, the different ways they approach value creation and just networking.
[00:03:28] And then a lot of waiting. But you know, an opportunity came up late 2017 and ended up in my first fun job, and it's been fantastic since about seven years in the making now. So I've been very thankful and I have learned a ton and worked with some amazing people on the way.
[00:03:47] Sean Mooney: I love the, the story there, and it shows you, once again, all these different paths into the industry that didn't exist in the early days.
[00:03:54] And now there's just so many different ways in. I also appreciate your northern New Jersey upbringing. My roommates in college were from northern New Jersey, and I think today that's the only way I ended up in finance and in private equity. 'Cause here I was as a rising senior and we're all talking about all the places we'll go and I had no clue.
[00:04:14] I grew up in Texas. "Where are you guys going?" They all went to Del Barton.
[00:04:18] Rob Turano: Yeah, I was, so, I'm a Seton Hall prep guy. Delby is a big competitor of ours, but a lot of great friends from there as well. So
[00:04:25] Sean Mooney: As a Texas kid, I could appreciate the, kind of the brashness of having flags from your high school on your wall.
[00:04:30] We more put state flags up, but, uh, I wasn't used to high school flags being shown on the wall.
[00:04:36] Speaker 3: I, I have a few prep blankets still, you know, buried somewhere in the place now. So, yeah, for forever.
[00:04:41] Sean Mooney: And I love your Villanova background, but I also don't, so I'm a Hoya and I have three siblings that are Villanova grads, and they have decidedly the better part of the rivalry for many, many, many years now.
[00:04:55] So,
[00:04:56] Rob Turano: And I've told you this before, I don't like you guys, but I respect you and for the sake of competition, I look forward to the Hoyas kind of rising up to what they were in the past. So it's onward and upwards for both of our organizations in the future.
[00:05:11] Sean Mooney: I love that. So it's a great backstory and thank you for sharing that.
[00:05:14] And let's move on to kind of the next part where just more of you, and as our listeners here know, I'd love to ask this question. We'd know you better if we knew this about you, what would be one of those things?
[00:05:26] Rob Turano: How important food is in my life, I wear many hats right now. I'm an operating partner at Bloom.
[00:05:31] I've been acting as CFO and COO of one of our PortCos the last six, seven months as well. But I'm also our in-house cook. We have a small team in New York. I do my best to feed us to the extent possible. So I am down the chicken stock rabbit hole right now and I have my whole team drinking it on a week to week, almost daily basis, and it's gotten close to good enough where I could start selling it.
[00:05:56] That's maybe a 2026 thing. I eat a lot and I make sure that I'm feeding those around me. So I think as we get to fund two and three, and we could think about chefs down the road, we at least have some in-house capacity for the time being. I love to eat. Traveling a bunch has offered me the ability to do that all over the world, which has been fun.
[00:06:15] But I am always thinking about my next meal.
[00:06:19] Sean Mooney: What's your favorite cuisine to eat and cook and they don't have to be the same?
[00:06:23] Rob Turano: Yeah, I go Japanese is definitely up there. Not as good as cooking it candidly, but that's a 2026 thing too as well. A lot of just clean American farm to table and then a sucker for Mexican food too.
[00:06:38] And then cooking, I'm a creature of habit. It's like combo of steak, chicken, salmon, veggies, grain, and then your fun meals like Chick-fil-A, Trader Joe's, dark chocolate covered pretzels, gummy bears, the the important things.
[00:06:53] Sean Mooney: All the good stuff.
[00:06:54] Rob Turano: Yeah, I, I find, try to find the balance.
[00:06:56] Sean Mooney: So tell me about the stock.
[00:06:57] I've heard about this. People will just drink the stock because there's like health benefits for it.
[00:07:01] Rob Turano: It worked for Kobe, it works for me. Cup of it every day, allegedly good collagen, protein recovery, skin, it could be placebo. Feels like it's been working. I like it. My team likes it. So I think the reception's been pretty warm and yeah, I do make a couple of gallons of it every Sunday, freeze some of it and then work it off with the team throughout the week.
[00:07:22] Sean Mooney: Do you get people randomly knocking on your door in your building and just say, Hey, can I come in and?
[00:07:26] Rob Turano: Not yet.
[00:07:27] Sean Mooney: It's probably a great aroma, kind of wafting down the hall.
[00:07:29] Rob Turano: It is nice, but I, we do get requests throughout the day from the team, so I, I use that. I'm very appreciative of that, and I think it, I can help us fuel and make us a little more efficient, then I'm all for it.
[00:07:40] Sean Mooney: All right, next time I'm in New York, I'm coming by with like a Yeti cup and
[00:07:43] Rob Turano: there'll be a quart of it frozen waiting for you, so don't worry.
[00:07:46] Sean Mooney: Done. Done, and done. That's it.
[00:07:50] Hey, as a quick interlude, this is Sean here. Wanted to address one quick question that we regularly get. We often get people who show up at our website, call our account executives that say, "Hey, I'm not private equity."
[00:08:01] Can I still use BluWave to get connected with resources? And the short answer is yes, even though we're mostly and largely used by hundreds of private equity firms, thousands of their portfolio company leaders, every day we get calls from everyday top proactive business leaders at public companies, independent companies, family companies.
[00:08:20] So absolutely you can use this as well. If you want to use the exact same resources that are trusted in being deployed and perfectly calibrated for your business needs, give us a call, visit our website at BluWave.net. Thanks. Back to the episode.
[00:08:39] One of the things that I always love selfishly, to ask people like you who get to not only see countless numbers of companies, but then build them every day across a wide landscape of companies, is how you think about the key elements of value in a company and the traits that you look for in terms of whether a company is already good or probably more importantly in current PE world, is can it be really good?
[00:09:04] And so what do you look for when a company comes in?
[00:09:07] Rob Turano: Our strategy, like we're not shy with complexity, right? So we are comfortable with that. We can underwrite it and we go eyes wide in on it, but I think we're kind of looking at three consistent themes. It's focus and so just, it's a lower middle market company.
[00:09:22] Budgets are smaller, teams are smaller, and sometimes you don't have as mature executives in these teams. So I think understanding where the product is going, do we have a defined roadmap, is the entire team marching to the same beat, is kind of crucial for us. And then also similarly on the ICP, our ideal customer profile side.
[00:09:43] Who are we targeting? We can't have five different use cases across five different buyers because I don't have a digital demand gen budget to properly service each of those ICPs across all the different channels that I want to use. It's the whole riches and niches, I think, and for us being able to at least hear the company's perspective, develop our own, marry the two, and then once we kind of go post-close.
[00:10:10] Solving for learn rate is key. So just like, you know, let's test the hypothesis. It's never done. The bad news is we're small. The good news is we're small, so we can pivot and change very fast. So that is the expectation. Our executives know that we develop really strong, open relationships with them so that they are eyes wide open, and we're doing this together as a partnership.
[00:10:33] That's the first key one. The second is just probably looking at the management team, which is not a surprise. Talent will bring you to the promised land, and the first is just, is this team the right team for the next phase of growth? You maybe sometimes get tremendous founders and CEOs who built an amazing product, have a product mind, but maybe are missing some of the go to market juice that they need to really take a $10 million ARR business to a $50 million ARR business.
[00:11:03] For us, underwriting that early, moving fast on talent assessments, developing the early hypothesis for that team is absolutely crucial. So that, and this is gonna be selfishly like the faster we get the right people in the seats, the easier it is for my team, the broader Bloom team, you name it. So I think getting that hiring flywheel in effect is crucial.
[00:11:26] And then the last is just go to market maturity. Do we have the right infrastructure and strategy in place for this business? Like I said before, you have people and companies that build great products. They have product market fit, but maybe lack the go-to market fit. So it's the little things. Are we selling value or features, right?
[00:11:47] Huge difference between the two. Do we have the right channels activated? Do we have the right data supported decision making? And then just getting those like little things done, right? And like your singles and doubles, like, is my CRM clean? Are you qualifying appropriately? If your CRM isn't robust, you might not get paid on deals.
[00:12:05] It's just those setting a culture of, regardless of where you are in the organization, we want everyone thinking like an executive, being owners in the business and helping us take what could have been a flat or slow growth organization to, with some professionalization, some maturity. Double digit grower even faster when you bring M&A into the mix.
[00:12:28] So it's exciting times. I think those are kind of the three key areas around focus management teams and go-to-market maturity that we're really always trying to get our arms around to ensure that we can underwrite appropriately and have the right value creation plan post-close to execute upon.
[00:12:42] Sean Mooney: I think I really like what you shared there, and I think you very elegantly almost like
[00:12:47] brought the world of Jim Collins to life in a real world situation, right? It's just this whole like Good to Great, and I've talked about it here before. If you haven't read it, listeners read that, but actually you can save your money and just listen to what Rob just said. But it's, it's this whole idea of like, be disciplined, get the right people on the bus.
[00:13:05] Use data to kind of inform what you're doing. Don't just kind of load up your big cannonballs first, like shoot the aiming rounds and then once you're on target, then hit the gas and go, right? And it's just like, be a hedgehog. Be better at fewer things. And that's essentially what brings good companies into great ones.
[00:13:21] And I think you did a great job kind of summarizing these core concepts that are really hard to get your hand on. And frankly, it probably took me 20 years to figure out, and you just did in two minutes.
[00:13:30] Rob Turano: It was, there was successes and scars along the way, right? And thankfully we have the right team. And also going back to like selfishly, like we are like builders and hands-on.
[00:13:40] So like I've been an operating executive. One of my senior guys is building AI deployment agents on the weekends, right? But I think what you'll find is that we are able, and our goal is to attract talent that we do not deserve to have access to. We may have a $10 million-ish ARR business today, right?
[00:14:00] And we're gonna try to go find guys and gals that are playing in $50, $100 million dollars businesses that are builders at their core because that is what we are solving for. And there's good, bad, and ugly that come with it, but like getting those people and attracting them into the seats, you really just change the entire culture, mantra, and growth trajectory for an organization.
[00:14:21] So a lot of focus there and a lot of success when it works well.
[00:14:25] Sean Mooney: I wanna drill into one of the things you shared that I think is an important thing that's lost on a lot of people. And so you talked about on your go to market, this whole idea of like, you need to be selling value, not features. Share more on that for our listeners.
[00:14:38] Rob Turano: Yeah, someone told me as a salesperson, you need to be the CFO for your buyer, which really, I'm a finance brain, so I'm like, oh, it's an interesting way to put it and say it, and it's spot on because one, like just what pain point are we solving? And then two, like what is the return? So trying to arm your buyer with all of the information that they need.
[00:15:00] To go back to their steering committee, purchasing committee, you name it, to make this as no brainer of an approval process as possible. Every company, in some especially pick the data space, like it's huge. It's robust, it's mature, whether you're doing ingestion, integration, governance, cleansing, analytics.
[00:15:20] There are a lot of features out there, and a lot of companies serving that market, but like how you communicate the value, how you share similar use cases that will be like, "Ah, that person is in the exact same job that I am and are facing my exact challenges and here's the benefits that they've gotten in it" is tremendously important.
[00:15:37] So continuing to sell value on every phone call too, and that's what we try to instill into our salespeople. It's not just picking up the phone and checking in on the status of a proposal. It's: let's check on the status of the proposal, but also share a new use case or a new customer testimonial or explain how a new feature is getting traction within our customer base.
[00:15:57] So I think it's just that mantra of value first and arm the buyer with as much information they need to make this decision-making process easy for them is crucial.
[00:16:08] Sean Mooney: I think you made a really important point here for people who are thinking about building their own companies or investing and doing the same, right?
[00:16:14] It's just this whole idea of. People are willing to (A) pay per value. So it has pricing implications. You can actually find pockets of ability to like, Hey, if we're gonna let you get a three to one times your value, that's often a lot higher than you would've if you just priced the features in a vacuum, right?
[00:16:30] If they're checking boxes. But the other thing I think you added that I had never really thought about, which was I think really important and smart, is this whole idea of: you also need to arm the buyer of your product to take this to the CFO and be able to communicate the use case because the CFO is thinking ROI every single time.
[00:16:49] And if you give that to 'em, it also removes friction in the process.
[00:16:52] Rob Turano: Exactly. And I think also the amount of software products in an enterprise today is the amount of individual projects is almost like laughable. So like being able to make this an easy, seamless decision for them really speeds up sales cycles, makes time to value faster and can help differentiate, but it's not easy.
[00:17:11] It takes time and like everything, you're changing the culture and the communication style of the sales talent you have. So making sure that they are aligned with this mantra, have the right script and everything that they need to be successful too is crucial. And we're lucky to have our CRO profile operating partners who have done it time and time again, and wonderful CEOs and CROs and VPs of sales in our portfolio companies that
[00:17:34] buy into that mantra and you know, are advocates for the products, the companies, and the broader boom team.
[00:17:40] Sean Mooney: And I think you make another really good point there in terms of, I think a lot of people who are unfamiliar with the PE industry, who, for whatever reason think it's like a 1980s movie with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas or whatever, and they're like the PE world's about cutting costs and breaking things apart, right?
[00:17:56] And the reality is that might have worked in the '80s. But it didn't work in the 2000s, the 2010s, the 2015s, the '20s, whatever. And the number one correlate to value in any business building today particularly is growth. Yeah. And so the things that you're talking about, the go to market is so important.
[00:18:15] And so you don't wanna be overweight as a business and have kind of excess and waste. Your money and your value is created and made by growing the business. And so I think those are such important points for anyone thinking about these topics.
[00:18:30] Rob Turano: Another quote I can't take credit for, but resonates is, you know, you can cost cut your way to a double, but the only way you get above that is through growth.
[00:18:39] So for us it's stabilize, secure, build the infrastructure, and then there's just two things to talk about growth and pipeline, and that's where the focus is.
[00:18:51] Sean Mooney: Amen.
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[00:20:02] You've gotten involved with the company, you're partnering with them.
[00:20:05] They have the elements of value or can have them, you're getting ready to put in the foundation. I think a lot of people are curious about how do PE firms then work with the teams, and particularly the symphony of motion that's occurred. So specifically as it relates to Bloom, how do you all manage this interplay between your deal team and biz dev people and the Operating Executives and the PortCo leadership team and all these people kind of like working in concert with each other?
[00:20:30] Rob Turano: For right now, for us, it's a few different reasons we're growing and building our own firm as we're doing this. And like any, as any new team grows and expands and matures, like we are all going to continue to learn and mature and work together in different ways. So I think that's been absolutely key and we're a small enough team where we can still do it, which is nice.
[00:20:49] So I think, you know, our BD folks and deal teams are tied at the hip drive top of funnel velocity intake and raise the right opportunities as quickly as possible. And then be flexible, like when we have early conversations with prospective targets for add-on M&A that are interesting, we'll pull in myself and my other operating partners because it's interesting for the targets to hear from folks who maybe are like living and breathing at the company day to day.
[00:21:15] So like when I'm working with one of the companies and assessing targets, I've been living in this business for six plus months. I can talk about the good, bad, and fun and chaos along the way. It's also like that executive may be working with me and my partners for years to come. So getting early indications into like, oh wow, (1) these folks are builders.
[00:21:36] They know what it means. They're not just board folks throwing ideas over the wall. They are living at the company day to day, hands-on partners and then also hopefully I think we're good people and are, you know, folks that they would be excited to partner, learn, and grow with over the upcoming years. So that's been helpful.
[00:21:55] And then I think finding PortCo execs that understand what PE means, it's wonderful when it works. It's, and it's like everything, some people like it, some people don't. We found, we've been lucky that the executives that we've surrounded ourselves with appreciate one, that these are lower middle market companies, so that we have smaller team sizes, limited resources.
[00:22:17] So having access to Operating Partners, like one of my colleagues who's a multi-time CRO or a multi-time CTO and founder was taking companies public. They can never get access or afford that type of talent in the past. So you have operators around the table with you that want to support, enable, but are also willing to do the work as well as advise depending on the situation at end.
[00:22:42] Sean Mooney: So PE firms do things a lot of different ways to. The whole thing I've always said is like, you've seen one PE firm, you've seen one PE firm, right? And, and that's part of the beauty of this is you have kind of common objectives, but different strategies to get there. Right? And so is it specific to your firm at Bloom?
[00:22:59] At what stage do you and your operating partner peers kind of get involved with the funnel of private equity from kind of deal assessment to deal making, value creation, exit?
[00:23:10] Rob Turano: I'd say the early to mid stages of diligence, typically. And you have to find the balance of where you are in your own maturity curve, right?
[00:23:17] Because we have dedicated teams that have wonderful skill sets in driving velocity, driving ingestion. So I think finding the balance of when it's appropriate, but being flexible. But I'd say generally where that early to mid stage of diligence where the asset's interesting, we think we're gonna be running hard.
[00:23:35] And then just being flexible amongst the team. We have myself and three colleagues, and we just have to be mindful. It doesn't make sense to have everyone on the call, so it's like, let's get the profile, find the right person for it, divide and conquer, and put trust in your colleagues and partners that we're going to show.
[00:23:50] We'll get the information we need out of the client and go. And then as we progress and really lean in, then we are supporting and driving along the way, helping craft the value creation plan. You're super hands-on in that like immediately post signing period where we're basically now thinking about operationalizing and then co-creating the plan, which is gonna be consistent with many PortCos and many other PE funds.
[00:24:15] And then post-close depends on the situation, but we will take in term CFO seats, CEO seats, COO seats, you name it. You have to balance the scalability of that, of course. Not every one of us can be interim CXO something for six months because that will not scale. But the goal, going back to the talent conversation earlier then, is just get the right people in the seats as quickly as possible so that you have full accountability and ownership over the plan, and then you have thoughtful partners that can execute with you along the way.
[00:24:49] Sean Mooney: When you're starting off in the diligence phase, what role are the operating partners playing and how does that kind of compliment what the deal teams are doing?
[00:24:57] Rob Turano: Depending on the phase, like we will lead commercial and go to market diligence. I have a partner who's extremely deep in the product and tech side of the world, so when we get to that stage, we'll bring him in.
[00:25:09] When it's a company we really like or excited about and you kind of wanna showcase the team, we'll bring folks in for those early mps, every deal is a little different, but I think we are trying to showcase the best of Bloom and also let folks know, like we said, we're going to be hands-on partners. Want folks to see the talent that we have around the table across all teams.
[00:25:30] 'Cause we're excited and proud of what we built. So we're lucky and it's been a great journey so far.
[00:25:35] Sean Mooney: And to what degree are you all informing your value creation plan before you make the deal?
[00:25:40] Rob Turano: I'd say we have a very strong and documented thesis heading into the transaction because like I said, like we're not shying away from complexity and there typically is some change that is required for these businesses.
[00:25:52] So we're pretty thoughtful in talent, go to market, tech, ops, finance, you name it. So we have a pretty robust plan that's well documented going its into in place, depending on what we're doing with the management team. Sometimes that can just be the plan of record. If it's a team that we want to invest behind, continue to scale with, then obviously co-creating that plan is crucial because I think,
[00:26:20] like anything, organ rejection is quick and fast. If you hand over a plan that a management team doesn't believe in, or they've taken accountability and ownership over, then you're gonna be talking to a wall. So kind of the situation post close will always be different and evolve. But I'd say we have a very strong underwriting thesis and preliminary kind of plan of attack going into any transaction.
[00:26:44] Sean Mooney: I think that's so important as I think about the history of the modern PE era. Generation 1.0 were the early founders, and this was kind of a dramatic inefficiency where there's just a void and a need for that kind of middle part where it's not just sell or borrow bank debt, right? There's this where it's one or zero, right?
[00:27:02] And then maybe when I came up, it was kind of 2.0 where you're kind of moving into optimization of the company, but now we're in 3.0 where it's transformation. It's Econ 101. You have to create value that didn't exist. And what you all are doing to kind of bring your operators in at the early stages to inform the value creation before you even make the investment is so important.
[00:27:25] Rob Turano: Well, and if you think about it, like in terms of timing too, we have to move fast because like I said, we're sometimes taking flat businesses to trying to do 20, 30 plus percent, and what that means is the first three to six months is probably spent attracting talent. Then you have realistically a 6 to 12 month kind of transformation.
[00:27:45] Before I feel like I have the right pipeline generation team and infrastructure in place. And then it's like, okay, well I need to show at least four to six quarters of aggressive growth before the market's gonna give me credit for it. So now you're in year three of your hold period. So the longer you wait on the front end, it just means year three pushes to year four, and you're gonna exit strategically.
[00:28:09] But you wanna at least be putting yourself in positions that at least by year two and year three, we have traction, we have proven results, and we have enough clean quarters to show upward trajectory and momentum.
[00:28:22] Sean Mooney: And I think you did a nice job there in that I think people outside the industry don't understand the pace with which you all move and you are required to move because all the things you're doing to transform a company in three to five years, it's amazing.
[00:28:36] And people can't, in some ways fathom that. But that's kind of the name of the game and why firms like yours do so well.
[00:28:43] Rob Turano: And that's why though the builder culture is crucial because like we know, we have hard perspectives on what good infrastructure looks like. So even while we're searching for a CEO, a new CFO, a new CRO, I'm gonna get HubSpot marketing automation in place, get my Salesforce deployed,
[00:28:59] like all those core technology, data, and infrastructure things and some of the ugly building. Not particularly sexy, I'm sure a CEO or any senior leader doesn't want to do it, but they'll have to. So, but at least when they come into the organization, there is enough for them to work with. So you're not starting from zero, you're starting from 0.4, 0.5, and it's a good infrastructure for them to then accelerate and build upon.
[00:29:23] And that's where having folks like myself and the team around me, it's, we are builders, we'll roll up our sleeves, we will do this. We know what good looks like and we try to put it in place as quickly as possible.
[00:29:35] Sean Mooney: That's so important as we use that as kind of a a basis for the next part of our conversation here.
[00:29:41] You're coming in. You're having to build with urgency. You're having to build in very fluid times, right? The world is this three dimensional chess game. You move one piece, and then there's all these other things that are impacting what happens next, both macro, micro, competitive, et cetera. So maybe with that in mind, what are some of the top pieces of advice that you and your colleagues are offering to your PortCos these days to kind of manage not only with safety, but also success in mind?
[00:30:07] Rob Turano: The talent is first and foremost, right? We have built a pretty amazing hiring flywheel here, where it's like not being able to attract top talent is something that just we fundamentally will not accept at our PortCos. And if it's like, well, we're priced out, then let's figure out ways to unlock budget, move people around and get the right team in, because we're trying to sell to the next buyer, a mature team that is gonna take, you know, what could be now a $30, $40 million revenue asset to $100.
[00:30:41] So I think the hiring flywheel and what we've built out internally here has been tremendous and impressive, and ensuring that the portfolio companies buy into the model, now we wanna move with speed and pace and leverage us as key. I think it's the building box of like a scalable, repeatable, go-to-market engine that drives like long-term profitable growth is one where we're always leaning in on, and it kind of goes back to what I was saying before, just doing the little things right.
[00:31:07] Documenting weekly pipeline reviews, one-on-ones clean CRMs, the right sales qualification, not being afraid to kill deals when there are no critical events coming. It's finding the balance of wanting to grow fast and say yes, but also being smart and saying no, and not convincing yourself of an opportunity, right?
[00:31:29] Like I don't want metrics for the sake of metrics. I want a pipeline that's gonna convert. And it's tough for folks on the ground too, because you hear one mantra of like, "Grow, grow, grow, pipeline, pipeline, pipeline." And then it's like, "No, but be thoughtful and get the right deals in." So not losing sight of the human element there is key.
[00:31:47] And then I just think the mature financial operational controls and reporting: it's unsexy, but crucial. And it's like, do we have the right leading and lagging indicators to just make sure that we are managing performance accordingly? And setting the expectation with our CEOs, like there's no world where they should be getting on their weekly calls, that they don't have metrics that the team is reviewing together.
[00:32:10] Right? And they buy into that mantra. The team around them buys in, and then at least you're making fully educated decisions, which is great, that have real data behind them. So those have been, I think, absolutely key. And then, like I said kind of a little earlier, just that product focus, learning, picking our niche and staying in our lane is crucial.
[00:32:33] I can't afford to have a 50 person R&D team of SF developers, right? It's just not gonna work for this stage right now. So how do we stay competitive in the market, but then enable us to drive product innovation and an offering that will resonate with our customers?
[00:32:49] Sean Mooney: I like what you share there for a number of reasons.
[00:32:51] And, and I think it's so easy to get into the hype cycle of AI today. Everyone's just AI, AI, AI, the robots are gonna take us over. And what's interesting about here at BluWave is we get to see kind of like the flow of what the top business builders in the world are doing day to day. And while we're getting a lot more calls for AI, we still get multiple times more for people.
[00:33:13] At the end of the day, you're still in a people business, right? We need recruiters, we need interims, we need organizational effectiveness groups. And that still dwarfs anything else that we get called for. And so I think part of this like fear culture that's emerging, like the robots will rule, I think it's gonna be us some time just by reflection of what you all are doing, right?
[00:33:30] It's, it's at the end of the day, you need the people.
[00:33:32] Rob Turano: They're gonna make us a hell of a lot more productive, right? And one of the themes is that everyone in our organizations should be leveraging AI in some way. One of our senior guys is doing teach-ins for the Bloom team and our portfolio companies. In two weeks, we're doing a lunch and learn to talk about the AI impact on Google search and digital demand gen.
[00:33:52] 'Cause it's like it's here, it's real. It's terrifying or exciting, depending on how you look at it. So those are where and where folks like yourself and your network are tremendously helpful. Where it's like, "Hey Sean, I have a weird request for what I think is a unicorn." And you guys typically are able to say like, "Ah, we got the perfect person for that."
[00:34:09] Sean Mooney: Yeah, "Here's a purple one, and here's a yellow one."
[00:34:11] Rob Turano: Yeah, so it's a little plug for y'all.
[00:34:13] Sean Mooney: No, thank you.
[00:34:14] Rob Turano: And I think the PortCos appreciate it too, like getting access to some of our guys that are willing to teach, hold these sessions and get folks the right exposure that they may not normally get in their day to day is appreciated.
[00:34:25] And I think they show that we have, culturally, it means that we're putting our money where our mouth is and that we're holding folks at our companies to the same level of accountability that we are at Bloom.
[00:34:34] Sean Mooney: And I like that. And I like what you shared there as well on the AI. It's a tremendous productivity tool for us humans, right?
[00:34:42] It's not a replacer. But the other thing you share that I think is really important that people should not sleep on is the data, right? And the KPIs and the measurements. And so often we'll get calls and they'll say, we want to talk about neural networks. I'll start with saying, well, let's get your data organized.
[00:34:57] Let's get it visualized, annualized, and then you can do the neural networks, but you're gonna get a huge ROI just from putting the KPIs in front of people.
[00:35:04] Rob Turano: Exactly right. And at
[00:35:05] least it gives you something to look at and debate, that's fact. And it's death by data, death by reporting. So you have to find the balance of like, hey, as an executive leadership team, like are we in agreement that these are the key kind of drivers for our business?
[00:35:20] And like what we've done at at our companies is like. We'll go in and build out, like every functional leader or business unit leader probably has 5 to 10 KPIs that they must manage on a monthly basis. And whether it's weekly, monthly, depends on whether you're in demand gen or product. But like it's just an expectation that everyone is talking data, everyone is talking hard numbers and KPIs, and it's, we're all having the same level of accountability and responsibility that we should.
[00:35:49] Sean Mooney: Yeah, once again, so spot on. And so Rob, let's bring our conversation kind of full circle back to the personal human stuff. And so I'm curious, one of the things I love to do is kind of tap people's brains in terms of like any life hacks or resources or books that you're thinking about or kind of ingesting or applying in your own life to make things a little easier or better and more effective.
[00:36:16] And so what might be one of those things?
[00:36:18] Rob Turano: Yeah, I'll give you a book and a life hack. So I've driven more like fictional books in my day to day, 'cause I think numbers brain by trade and there's amazing business biographies and books. But I think for years I found myself kind of getting sucked into only them.
[00:36:38] And I woke up and I was like, not particularly artsy, I don't think I'm overly creative and it's probably impacting me in some way professionally, even though if I don't realize it, so started to introduce more fiction. So like Shantaram, Seveneves, some like kind of weird all over the place books that I really enjoyed that I think they're helpful.
[00:36:58] Could also be that I'm just more creative now, so I'm convincing myself of the fact, but I think it's been a, a net positive for my day to day. So yeah, that's been fantastic. I think just getting my brain more exposure to some different things, and also helping me stop watching my iPad before I go to bed.
[00:37:14] So I fall asleep a little quicker, which is nice. And then life hack, one of our senior operating partners is, we call 'em Zen Master for very good reason, but taking walks was his guidance for me, and it was: during the week, unplug for an hour or two. Doesn't matter if it's during the day or at night. Just block time on your calendar and go walk.
[00:37:40] No headphones, no phone, no distractions, and pick something in like the day to day that's giving me a challenge of frustration. Step back, reflect like what's working, what isn't. Let's think about the personal dynamics and people around the table and understand what that situation looks like from their perspective.
[00:38:04] And then just like challenge where I'm spending time and focus to see maybe if there's better ways to approach the situation, because I think it's very easy to get wrapped up in, you set the strategy and then you get wrapped up in doing and there's so much to do or could feel like there is so much to do at times that you just get caught in that cycle.
[00:38:26] So this has been a way to take kind of more of a high energy person like myself and like step back a little bit, slow down, don't distract myself, and just think, which is wonderful feedback and definitely appreciate it.
[00:38:41] Sean Mooney: I think that's a great thought and and kind of concept that I think we've all lost in this digital age is like be alone with yourself.
[00:38:48] And when I do that and I go on walks and like, like you, I try to keep the earphones out and those type of things. And then it's interesting like after you start settling and you start listening to nature, and then just these ideas start flowing. I don't know if you have that same experience.
[00:39:03] Rob Turano: Yeah. It's just like, or you're like, what the hell was I thinking,
[00:39:05] you know?
[00:39:06] Sean Mooney: And the problem is I forget 'em all by the
[00:39:07] time I get back.
[00:39:08] Rob Turano: Yeah, exactly.
[00:39:10] Sean Mooney: But there's, there's some really genius thoughts. I recall vaguely on these walks.
[00:39:14] Rob Turano: Not often, but when they hit, they hit. No, but it's like even now, 'cause at first thought I was like, "Oh, I'll put music on." And it's like, that's a distraction.
[00:39:20] It's like, you're right. You know? So I think that. Slowing down a little bit has been extremely helpful, personally and professionally for me. And I just think kind of been, uh, helping me just challenge what I'm doing where I'm focused. My thinking about the perspective from the different folks at the table and just 'cause we have a strategy set doesn't mean it's right forever.
[00:39:40] So just let the best idea win is another one of the like mantras and themes that you're gonna hear in our organization and like we hold ourselves to that. So people are expected to think, put ideas on the table and be willing to either accept yes and move fast or accept no and move on to the next thing.
[00:39:58] Sean Mooney: Great advice there. One, I think for all of us, we feel this like we feel like we need to be reading every business book and, and, and that's what we all do all day anyways, right? We're you're reading droves and droves and droves of business, business, business, and then you feel like you gotta read biographies of some business person and you're always, at least for me, I'm always like, I'm behind,
[00:40:14] behind. I'm fine. But if you don't introduce something different than that, like you're stunting your brain, first of all, you're only using one part of it. And then the second point is if you are like, you don't find these moments of quiet, kind of this meditative moments to go out, you're similarly, you're doing more harm than good.
[00:40:31] And so just, I love the idea of just like, take a break, do an hour a week where you're just gonna let it go and just be with yourself, which for me can be a scary prospect, you know, alone with my thoughts.
[00:40:40] Rob Turano: Yeah,
[00:40:41] i, I, I don't do well alone, but when I do it, it's been beneficial. It's not by choice, but thankful to have folks that can challenge me and say, "Hey, go for a walk."
[00:40:53] Those moments happen and they're needed, so.
[00:40:55] Sean Mooney: Well Rob, this has been a really fun, insightful, kind of delightful conversation and I really appreciate you taking the time, 'cause I know your schedule is crazy. I've learned all sorts of things that I wish I knew before and that's really a tremendous gift. So I appreciate you taking the time and sharing the insights with all of us.
[00:41:12] Rob Turano: Likewise. No, it's, we've been very fortunate to learn from others along the way and being able to share the successes and failures along the way for others is crucial. And it's always a pleasure to see you and the team, Sean, and appreciate you taking the time to speak with me.
[00:41:25] Sean Mooney: Yeah, likewise. Next time through New York, I'm gonna come with mug in hand and we're gonna have some chicken broth.
[00:41:31] Rob Turano: We're right by Grand Central. I'll be disappointed if you didn't.
[00:41:34] Sean Mooney: Wonderful. All right. Thanks, Rob.
[00:41:35] Rob Turano: Cheers.
[00:41:48] Sean Mooney: That's all we have for today. Special thanks to Rob for joining. If you'd like to learn more about Rob Turano and Bloom Equity Partners, please see the episode notes for links. Please continue to look for the Karma School of Business Podcast anywhere you find your favorite podcast. We truly appreciate your support.
[00:42:04] If you like what you hear, please follow five star rate, review and share. This is a free way to support the show and it really helps us when you do this, so thank you in advance. In the meantime, if you want to be connected with the world's best in class, private equity grade professional service providers, independent consultants, interim executives that are deployed and trusted by the best business builders in the world, including many hundreds of the world's top private equity firms, and thousands of portfolio companies, and you can do the same whether or not you're in the PE world, give us a call,
[00:42:34] or visit our website at BluWave.net. That's B-L-U-W-A-V-E and we'll support your success. Onward. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the individuals presenting, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any other persons or entities, including those referenced herein.
[00:42:53] No representations, warranties, financial, legal, tax, or other advice are made herein. Consult your advisors regarding any topics discussed during this episode.
THE BUSINESS BUILDER’S PODCAST
Private equity insights for and with top business builders, including investors, operators, executives and industry thought leaders. The Karma School of Business Podcast goes behind the scenes of PE, talking about business best practices and real-time industry trends. You'll learn from leading professionals and visionary business executives who will help you take action and enhance your life, whether you’re at a PE firm, a portco or a private or public company.
BluWave Founder & CEO Sean Mooney hosts the Private Equity Karma School of Business Podcast. BluWave is the business builders’ network for private equity grade due diligence and value creation needs.
BluWave Founder & CEO Sean Mooney hosts the Private Equity Karma School of Business Podcast. BluWave is the business builders’ network for private equity grade due diligence and value creation needs.
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