What Makes a Good Private Equity Portfolio Company CEO? | Joel Trammell, XpertLoop
Running a PE-backed company is a different game, and the CEO who wins it is the one who knows what the owners are actually playing for.
Amazon Music 
PocketCasts 
Podcast Addict 
Castro What makes a good CEO for a private equity portfolio company? Joel Trammell, CEO at XpertLoop, explains why PE-backed CEOs must understand the sponsor's goal and balance value for customers, employees and shareholders.
About Joel Trammell: Joel Trammell is CEO of XpertLoop and the architect of ChatCEO. He spent more than 30 years as a CEO of private and public companies and developed the CEO Operating System (CEO-S), a structured framework now used by hundreds of enterprise CEOs.
Connect with Joel Trammell:
Website: https://xpertloop.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeltrammell/
Connect with host Joshua Wilson:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/
Follow The PE Podcast:
Website: https://www.thepepodcast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-pe-podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thepepodcast
More private equity questions answered: https://www.thepepodcast.com/questions/
A One Iron Network production: Executive Producer Joshua Wilson
The PE Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing discussed is investment, legal, tax, or financial advice, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security or fund interest.
Topics: portfolio company CEO, sponsor goals, first law of business, customer value, employee value, shareholder value, valuation
Disclaimer: Joshua Wilson is a licensed Florida real estate broker (BK3038350) and holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 licensure. The PE Podcast is produced by One Iron Network LLC for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, legal or tax advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or to pursue or avoid any transaction. All views and opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of One Iron Network LLC, Smooth Stone Capital, any regulatory agency, or any employer. Any performance figures, valuations, or transaction terms discussed are historical, specific to the circumstances described, and are not indicative of future results. Listeners should consult their own legal, financial, and tax professionals before making any business, financial, or transaction decision.
Let's Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabrucewilson/
Follow The PE Podcast:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-pe-podcast/
Powered by One Iron Network:
https://www.oneironnetwork.com/
Joshua Wilson:
Joel, you've trained leaders in private equity for private equity groups and portfolios for over thirty years, right? You've been doing it for a long time. What does a good leader look like for a private equity group or portfolio company?
Joel Trammell:
Yeah, so they have to understand the game. And private equity firms have a unique mission, and that is to make an investment, improve the valuation of that investment, and then sell that investment and return it to their shareholders, right? And so the CEO has to understand what game they're playing when they take over at private equity. And then we have what I call the first law of business, which is to build any successful thriving entity, you have to consistently provide value to customers, consistently provide value to employees and consistently provide value to shareholders. And that's what makes the job so difficult is you got to balance those three interests. And if you get unbalanced, if you focus too much on one side of the equation or the other, your business can fail. And so that's what we try to explain to CEOs. And that's the real art of business is figuring out how to uniquely know your customers so well that you figure out what they uniquely value. That isn't just money. Obviously, they'd love a lower price, but if I give them a lower price, that's money that could have gone to employees or shareholders. And so what I've got to do as CEO is figure out unique ways to provide value to the customers that doesn't cost as much as they're willing to pay for it, uniquely provide value to the employees that doesn't cost as much as the benefit they feel like they're receiving, and really understand what my private equity owners value for as shareholders of the business. And usually that's a higher valuation. So I really have to understand what in my industry is going to get the highest valuation for my business.
CEO, XpertLoop | Creator of the CEO Operating System
Joel Trammell is CEO of XpertLoop and the architect of ChatCEO. He spent more than 30 years as a CEO of private and public companies, including multiple nine-figure exits. He is the author of two books on the CEO role and the developer of the CEO Operating System (CEO-S), a structured framework now used by hundreds of enterprise CEOs. His writing has appeared in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Fast Company.