Private equity is not a villain and it is not a mystery. It's a structure, and the structure explains almost everything a fund does after it buys you. This page lays out the mechanics honestly, then shows where permanent capital differs and where it doesn't.
A private equity fund raises capital with a life, typically ten years, and promises its investors a return inside it. Everything that follows is downstream of that single fact, and none of it requires anyone to behave badly.
The fund buys your company, often with debt alongside its own capital. The debt is serviced by the company, not by the fund.
A value creation plan with targets and dates. Pricing, sales hiring, cost reduction, sometimes bolt-on acquisitions. Real operating work, on a schedule.
The company starts being managed to look attractive to the next buyer. This is where founders most often notice the incentive diverging from theirs.
Sold to another fund, a strategic, or the public markets. Your customers and team get a new owner, and you usually have no say in who.
Filter by what you care about. Rows where private equity is the better answer stay in the table, because leaving them out would make this page worthless to you.
Often higher, especially with leverage available. A fund can justify paying more because debt lifts its return on the same purchase price.
A fair price in cash. We can't outbid a leveraged buyer on a growing asset and we don't pretend otherwise.
Frequently includes rollover equity, an earnout, or both. Part of your price depends on what happens after you no longer control the company.
No earnouts. No ghost equity or complicated structures, just cash for your business.
Subject to financing, an investment committee and often a lender. Deals do get re-traded late.
Backed by operator LPs with cash on our balance sheet, so there's no financing risk.
Four to eight months, longer with debt in the structure.
We close within 60 days and pay cash.
Three to five years, then a resale to the next owner. That's the model working as designed, not a failure.
Indefinite. Each acquisition we make is in the frame of decades.
Set against a value creation plan with a date on it. Debt service, where present, has first call on cash.
Set by what the business needs. No leverage means no covenant negotiating with the roadmap.
Reviewed for cost early, because margin improvement is the most reliable lever inside a three-year hold.
Kept. We're buying an operating company, and the people who know how it works are the reason it's worth buying.
Substantial. Real functional expertise, a bench of operators, and money for acquisitions if the plan calls for them.
Smaller. Five companies, a lean team, deep software operating experience and no in-house function for everything.
Usually required for a defined period, often tied to rolled equity or an earnout you need to be present to collect.
Founders decide whether to stay with the business or hand it off. No golden handcuffs.
The company is prepared for sale again. You may be working for whoever buys it next.
We're still operating it. There is no next owner in the plan.
There are real situations where a fund is the better owner for your company and the better outcome for you. Here they are, written as plainly as we can manage given who's writing.
Over $10M in ARR, a lower middle market fund can pay more and bring more. We'd rather point you there on the first call than spend your quarter finding out.
If your plan is a roll-up, a fund with acquisition capital and a deal team behind it will get you there faster than we will. That's a genuine capability gap on our side.
Some founders have a number they need, for reasons that are nobody else's business. If that's the situation, run a process and take the highest credible bid.
Rolled equity in a well-run fund deal can be worth more than the cash you left on the table. It's a real strategy, it carries real risk, and we don't offer it.
We were specifically looking for a team with the operating experience to take the business to the next level. This is where the "Builders, not bankers" mantra of Curious was a perfect fit.
Not only did we find the right home for the Convox team, but we also knew that the business would continue to thrive and our customers would be in the experienced hands of operators who would invest in and improve the business and its products.
Working with Curious was an incredibly smooth and straightforward process.
From the beginning, they demonstrated quick decision making and a level of transparency that made the entire experience seamless. Unlike many firms that acquire businesses to run out cash, Curious is passionate about the brands they take on. Their dedication to the business was clear, and I'm confident it's in great hands. I couldn't recommend them more highly.
It executes a value creation plan on a three to five year timetable, then sells the company to the next owner. In practice that means pricing changes, sales investment, cost discipline and sometimes acquisitions. None of it is malicious. All of it is shaped by needing a return by a date.
Curious is a long-term holding company that buys and grows software companies with empathy.
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