Not particularly skillful or vital, but OK, 14 Sep 2008
Not a very balanced book, tending to press its own agenda instead. Written in a slightly repetitive and even, on occasion, condescending and presumptious tone. Overall a rather amateur effort that doesn't justify the price tag, though as a simple-to-read taster for the field I suppose it is acceptable.

Private Equity made easy, 21 Feb 2007
I got an advanced copy of this text through a friend in publishing as I am currently undertaking a Business Masters; she felt that it might come in useful and I am only too glad that she did. This book is geared very much towards the reader and is consequently why I found a difficult and complex subject matter explained well in an amusing style, set out clearly without the 'fudging' and 'monotany' that many academic texts are presented. The glossary alone reveals a whole new world of knowledge I never before knew exsisted. No one can deny that Private Equity is an area that is rapidy progressing in the private investment sector, business reports in the past month have focused heavily on this, so the timing of this book is spot on and very current.

I strongly believe this is the only definitive textbook in the world on this subject, I am only aware of one other casebook by Josh Lerner, but nowhere else can you find chapter and verse on each and every aspect of this rapidly growing investment sector.

A must have certainly for any business or economics student and just as relevent for all those who work in the investement sector. Fraser-Sampson's book cannot have arrived at a more prudent time.

Private Equity as an Asset Class, 18 Feb 2007
One cannot open a paper, or an online newspaper, these days without private equity being showcased.

The media, depending on its mood, swings between showcasing private equity as the hero or villain of business today. As anyone in the industry knows, private equity are two words which cover a wide range of firms, activities and individuals. It is difficult and wrong to draw generalised conclusions.

Guy in a well written and well timed release brings light to the private equity asset class and dissolves some of the myths being propagated by those who have little understanding of this industry. A must read for anyone new to the industry, and all those who seek to enter or comment on the industry.

Might I recommend that Guy ship a copy of this book to all the major papers in the UK, as it might shed some light on an industry which may in fact be on the "crest of a wave"; but will not be disappearing in the near future. Well, I hope not anyway - as its an industry that has much to offer to the world, especially the venture side.


Brilliantly written ! Makes very easy reading out of what are very complex issues., 31 Oct 2006
I have had the advantage of reading the manuscript of this book in advance, and one of the comments on the cover is my own.

Unlike other books on the subject, this one does not dive straight off into complicated areas such as return analysis, nor does it deal with such nebulous matters as the GP/LP relationship (indeed, the writer states that he considers this last topic to be something of a red herring). Instead, the book sets out to be a comprehensive account of private equity from first principles onwards, and will guide you steadily through the intricacies of the asset class until you find yourself quite happily using very complex analysis models to look at buyout and venture returns. More importantly, it focuses on explaining the principles which underlie all of this, so you will actually understand what you are doing, and why. As the writer says repeatedly "don't just look at the figures - try to think what lies behind them."

Fraser-Sampson has twenty years experience of the private equity industry, and the depth and range of his knowledge shines through every page. I was a great fan (and a reviewer) of his first book "Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy", and ideally they should be read together. The first explains why you should be allocating 25% of your portfolio to private equity, and this one explains how you should actually go about it. Just as the first one came up with a whole new way of looking at investment in general, so this one makes some very innovative points, not all of which will make happy reading in some quarters. For example, he believes that private equity performance should be judged across an investor's whole allocation (what he calls Total Return investing) rather than, as presently, on just that small part of it which may be invested at any one time.

Both books are brilliantly written and make very easy reading out of what are very complex issues.

Not particularly skillful or vital, but OK, 14 Sep 2008
Not a very balanced book, tending to press its own agenda instead. Written in a slightly repetitive and even, on occasion, condescending and presumptious tone. Overall a rather amateur effort that doesn't justify the price tag, though as a simple-to-read taster for the field I suppose it is acceptable.

Private Equity made easy, 21 Feb 2007
I got an advanced copy of this text through a friend in publishing as I am currently undertaking a Business Masters; she felt that it might come in useful and I am only too glad that she did. This book is geared very much towards the reader and is consequently why I found a difficult and complex subject matter explained well in an amusing style, set out clearly without the 'fudging' and 'monotany' that many academic texts are presented. The glossary alone reveals a whole new world of knowledge I never before knew exsisted. No one can deny that Private Equity is an area that is rapidy progressing in the private investment sector, business reports in the past month have focused heavily on this, so the timing of this book is spot on and very current.

I strongly believe this is the only definitive textbook in the world on this subject, I am only aware of one other casebook by Josh Lerner, but nowhere else can you find chapter and verse on each and every aspect of this rapidly growing investment sector.

A must have certainly for any business or economics student and just as relevent for all those who work in the investement sector. Fraser-Sampson's book cannot have arrived at a more prudent time.

Private Equity as an Asset Class, 18 Feb 2007
One cannot open a paper, or an online newspaper, these days without private equity being showcased.

The media, depending on its mood, swings between showcasing private equity as the hero or villain of business today. As anyone in the industry knows, private equity are two words which cover a wide range of firms, activities and individuals. It is difficult and wrong to draw generalised conclusions.

Guy in a well written and well timed release brings light to the private equity asset class and dissolves some of the myths being propagated by those who have little understanding of this industry. A must read for anyone new to the industry, and all those who seek to enter or comment on the industry.

Might I recommend that Guy ship a copy of this book to all the major papers in the UK, as it might shed some light on an industry which may in fact be on the "crest of a wave"; but will not be disappearing in the near future. Well, I hope not anyway - as its an industry that has much to offer to the world, especially the venture side.


Brilliantly written ! Makes very easy reading out of what are very complex issues., 31 Oct 2006
I have had the advantage of reading the manuscript of this book in advance, and one of the comments on the cover is my own.

Unlike other books on the subject, this one does not dive straight off into complicated areas such as return analysis, nor does it deal with such nebulous matters as the GP/LP relationship (indeed, the writer states that he considers this last topic to be something of a red herring). Instead, the book sets out to be a comprehensive account of private equity from first principles onwards, and will guide you steadily through the intricacies of the asset class until you find yourself quite happily using very complex analysis models to look at buyout and venture returns. More importantly, it focuses on explaining the principles which underlie all of this, so you will actually understand what you are doing, and why. As the writer says repeatedly "don't just look at the figures - try to think what lies behind them."

Fraser-Sampson has twenty years experience of the private equity industry, and the depth and range of his knowledge shines through every page. I was a great fan (and a reviewer) of his first book "Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy", and ideally they should be read together. The first explains why you should be allocating 25% of your portfolio to private equity, and this one explains how you should actually go about it. Just as the first one came up with a whole new way of looking at investment in general, so this one makes some very innovative points, not all of which will make happy reading in some quarters. For example, he believes that private equity performance should be judged across an investor's whole allocation (what he calls Total Return investing) rather than, as presently, on just that small part of it which may be invested at any one time.

Both books are brilliantly written and make very easy reading out of what are very complex issues.


Helpful look at private equity strategies, 09 Oct 2008
CEOs of large public and private companies may not think they have much in common with private equity (PE) investors. After all, CEOs are beholden to their shareholders and boards. Their organizations have multiple layers of management and a conservative mindset that can make change ponderous. Meanwhile, PE investors thrive in a more free-wheeling environment, sizing up their targets and sometimes taking considerable risks in hopes of delivering exceptional financial results. Authors Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur believe that traditional companies can apply six successful principles from the PE firms' playbook. While adopting the PE philosophy isn't always easy, as the authors are quick to point out, the benefits can be significant. If you feel your company is not living up to its potential, then getAbstract believes this book points out some options you might want to consider. However, you might find that the idea inspires you more than the advice the authors bequeath.

Statement of the obvious, 18 Jul 2008
This small book proports to tell people about the methods of private equity. Perhaps at a very high level it does, but at such a high level it is merely stating the obvious. Anyone sophisticated enough to be thinking of buying this book is, I think, unlikely to learn anything from it.

How to make any business more valuable, 14 May 2008

This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none of them is a "memo" nor were any of them written only for CEOs. In this volume, Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur explain how to make any business more valuable while acknowledging that the lessons to be learned from the private equity (PE) industry are not rigorously and consistently applied by businesses around the world. Why? "We see two main reasons for this: first, the application of these lessons drives real change in many businesses, and, for better or worse, change brings risks, both real and imagined...Second, many leaders apply the lessons that we will discuss, but incompletely. It is easier to do "fine" than to the "best" a company can do. We call this [begin italics] satisfactory underperformance [end italics] - a pervasive disease in business that is the direct target of this memo."

Gadiesh and MacArthur are eminently well-qualified to identify and then examine the tools and techniques used by the best PE firms. She is chairman of Bain & Company, the first management consulting firm to develop a global PE practice that is now the largest of its kind. MacArthur heads it. Moreover, even a cursory review of their respective careers suggests a scope and depth of real-world business experience in all areas of operations with global companies in a variety of industries. They speak with unique authority when asserting that the smartest PE investors "have realized that the only way to reliably increase the value of their portfolios is to maximize the operating value of the underlying businesses in them. For this reason, the best PE firms have shifted many of the resources that they once poured into financial engineering to ward creating value - and they are doing it in a way that is more systematic, focused, and aggressive than the practices in most companies."

It should be noted that the lessons they discuss and the recommendations they provide with those lessons can be of substantial value to decision-makers in any organization, whatever its size and nature may be. For example, "to improve profits and stock price [or value if the company is privately owned], you need to make strategic choices with a clear picture of the full potential of your company in mind." Define that potential by answering, with rigor and accuracy, this question: "How high is up?" Next, develop as "blueprint" or "road map" for getting to that full-potential destination. That is, the "who, what, when, where, and how" while establishing and then sustaining strategy, resources, execution, and measurement in proper alignment. The next objective is to accelerate performance at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise while harnessing the talent (i.e. hiring, "growing," and retaining only those who possess the talent, skills, experience, and character needed) because "the best-laid plans go nowhere without the right people to implement them."

Gadiesh and MacArthur also urge their reader "embrace LBO economics" which in part means getting comfortable with leverage. For
example, "eliminating unproductive or underperforming capital, often by cutting pieces out of the business. It also may mean finding new ways to convert traditionally fixed assets into sources of financing." A number of excellent books have been published in recent years in which their authors offer excellent advice on how an organization can become more agile. (Two of the best are Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles Grantham, Jim Ware, and Cory Williamson.) Meanwhile, the best PE firms "work their magic" by helping C-level executives in their portfolio companies foster a results-oriented mindset that ensures results-driven performance.

By devoting a separate chapter to each of these six core principles, Gadiesh and MacArthur are able examine all of them in much greater depth. "We use the best private equity practices as the benchmark, but in reality [lessons to be learned from them] have been around for a long time. They just haven't been codified as formally by most businesses. Whatever the ownership of your company, our advice is to look at how the best PE people operate, and to use their techniques to compete against them and everyone else."

None of the lessons to be learned from private equity that Gadiesh and MacArthur have identified is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. Ultimately," winners" and "losers" will be determined by the results their people produce. However, it is at least as important (if not more important) for decision-makers to understand what not to do as it is to understand what must be done and how to do that. In 1963, Peter Drucker spoke to this point: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Frankly, I am surprised that so much valuable information and (especially) advice can be presented, and presented so well, within a narrative only 122 pages in length. Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur are to be commended on their brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Fast Strategy and Corporate Agility as well as Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, Gary Hamel's The Future of Management, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Richard Ogle's Smart World, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

Not particularly skillful or vital, but OK, 14 Sep 2008
Not a very balanced book, tending to press its own agenda instead. Written in a slightly repetitive and even, on occasion, condescending and presumptious tone. Overall a rather amateur effort that doesn't justify the price tag, though as a simple-to-read taster for the field I suppose it is acceptable.

Private Equity made easy, 21 Feb 2007
I got an advanced copy of this text through a friend in publishing as I am currently undertaking a Business Masters; she felt that it might come in useful and I am only too glad that she did. This book is geared very much towards the reader and is consequently why I found a difficult and complex subject matter explained well in an amusing style, set out clearly without the 'fudging' and 'monotany' that many academic texts are presented. The glossary alone reveals a whole new world of knowledge I never before knew exsisted. No one can deny that Private Equity is an area that is rapidy progressing in the private investment sector, business reports in the past month have focused heavily on this, so the timing of this book is spot on and very current.

I strongly believe this is the only definitive textbook in the world on this subject, I am only aware of one other casebook by Josh Lerner, but nowhere else can you find chapter and verse on each and every aspect of this rapidly growing investment sector.

A must have certainly for any business or economics student and just as relevent for all those who work in the investement sector. Fraser-Sampson's book cannot have arrived at a more prudent time.

Private Equity as an Asset Class, 18 Feb 2007
One cannot open a paper, or an online newspaper, these days without private equity being showcased.

The media, depending on its mood, swings between showcasing private equity as the hero or villain of business today. As anyone in the industry knows, private equity are two words which cover a wide range of firms, activities and individuals. It is difficult and wrong to draw generalised conclusions.

Guy in a well written and well timed release brings light to the private equity asset class and dissolves some of the myths being propagated by those who have little understanding of this industry. A must read for anyone new to the industry, and all those who seek to enter or comment on the industry.

Might I recommend that Guy ship a copy of this book to all the major papers in the UK, as it might shed some light on an industry which may in fact be on the "crest of a wave"; but will not be disappearing in the near future. Well, I hope not anyway - as its an industry that has much to offer to the world, especially the venture side.


Brilliantly written ! Makes very easy reading out of what are very complex issues., 31 Oct 2006
I have had the advantage of reading the manuscript of this book in advance, and one of the comments on the cover is my own.

Unlike other books on the subject, this one does not dive straight off into complicated areas such as return analysis, nor does it deal with such nebulous matters as the GP/LP relationship (indeed, the writer states that he considers this last topic to be something of a red herring). Instead, the book sets out to be a comprehensive account of private equity from first principles onwards, and will guide you steadily through the intricacies of the asset class until you find yourself quite happily using very complex analysis models to look at buyout and venture returns. More importantly, it focuses on explaining the principles which underlie all of this, so you will actually understand what you are doing, and why. As the writer says repeatedly "don't just look at the figures - try to think what lies behind them."

Fraser-Sampson has twenty years experience of the private equity industry, and the depth and range of his knowledge shines through every page. I was a great fan (and a reviewer) of his first book "Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy", and ideally they should be read together. The first explains why you should be allocating 25% of your portfolio to private equity, and this one explains how you should actually go about it. Just as the first one came up with a whole new way of looking at investment in general, so this one makes some very innovative points, not all of which will make happy reading in some quarters. For example, he believes that private equity performance should be judged across an investor's whole allocation (what he calls Total Return investing) rather than, as presently, on just that small part of it which may be invested at any one time.

Both books are brilliantly written and make very easy reading out of what are very complex issues.


Helpful look at private equity strategies, 09 Oct 2008
CEOs of large public and private companies may not think they have much in common with private equity (PE) investors. After all, CEOs are beholden to their shareholders and boards. Their organizations have multiple layers of management and a conservative mindset that can make change ponderous. Meanwhile, PE investors thrive in a more free-wheeling environment, sizing up their targets and sometimes taking considerable risks in hopes of delivering exceptional financial results. Authors Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur believe that traditional companies can apply six successful principles from the PE firms' playbook. While adopting the PE philosophy isn't always easy, as the authors are quick to point out, the benefits can be significant. If you feel your company is not living up to its potential, then getAbstract believes this book points out some options you might want to consider. However, you might find that the idea inspires you more than the advice the authors bequeath.

Statement of the obvious, 18 Jul 2008
This small book proports to tell people about the methods of private equity. Perhaps at a very high level it does, but at such a high level it is merely stating the obvious. Anyone sophisticated enough to be thinking of buying this book is, I think, unlikely to learn anything from it.

How to make any business more valuable, 14 May 2008

This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none of them is a "memo" nor were any of them written only for CEOs. In this volume, Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur explain how to make any business more valuable while acknowledging that the lessons to be learned from the private equity (PE) industry are not rigorously and consistently applied by businesses around the world. Why? "We see two main reasons for this: first, the application of these lessons drives real change in many businesses, and, for better or worse, change brings risks, both real and imagined...Second, many leaders apply the lessons that we will discuss, but incompletely. It is easier to do "fine" than to the "best" a company can do. We call this [begin italics] satisfactory underperformance [end italics] - a pervasive disease in business that is the direct target of this memo."

Gadiesh and MacArthur are eminently well-qualified to identify and then examine the tools and techniques used by the best PE firms. She is chairman of Bain & Company, the first management consulting firm to develop a global PE practice that is now the largest of its kind. MacArthur heads it. Moreover, even a cursory review of their respective careers suggests a scope and depth of real-world business experience in all areas of operations with global companies in a variety of industries. They speak with unique authority when asserting that the smartest PE investors "have realized that the only way to reliably increase the value of their portfolios is to maximize the operating value of the underlying businesses in them. For this reason, the best PE firms have shifted many of the resources that they once poured into financial engineering to ward creating value - and they are doing it in a way that is more systematic, focused, and aggressive than the practices in most companies."

It should be noted that the lessons they discuss and the recommendations they provide with those lessons can be of substantial value to decision-makers in any organization, whatever its size and nature may be. For example, "to improve profits and stock price [or value if the company is privately owned], you need to make strategic choices with a clear picture of the full potential of your company in mind." Define that potential by answering, with rigor and accuracy, this question: "How high is up?" Next, develop as "blueprint" or "road map" for getting to that full-potential destination. That is, the "who, what, when, where, and how" while establishing and then sustaining strategy, resources, execution, and measurement in proper alignment. The next objective is to accelerate performance at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise while harnessing the talent (i.e. hiring, "growing," and retaining only those who possess the talent, skills, experience, and character needed) because "the best-laid plans go nowhere without the right people to implement them."

Gadiesh and MacArthur also urge their reader "embrace LBO economics" which in part means getting comfortable with leverage. For
example, "eliminating unproductive or underperforming capital, often by cutting pieces out of the business. It also may mean finding new ways to convert traditionally fixed assets into sources of financing." A number of excellent books have been published in recent years in which their authors offer excellent advice on how an organization can become more agile. (Two of the best are Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles Grantham, Jim Ware, and Cory Williamson.) Meanwhile, the best PE firms "work their magic" by helping C-level executives in their portfolio companies foster a results-oriented mindset that ensures results-driven performance.

By devoting a separate chapter to each of these six core principles, Gadiesh and MacArthur are able examine all of them in much greater depth. "We use the best private equity practices as the benchmark, but in reality [lessons to be learned from them] have been around for a long time. They just haven't been codified as formally by most businesses. Whatever the ownership of your company, our advice is to look at how the best PE people operate, and to use their techniques to compete against them and everyone else."

None of the lessons to be learned from private equity that Gadiesh and MacArthur have identified is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. Ultimately," winners" and "losers" will be determined by the results their people produce. However, it is at least as important (if not more important) for decision-makers to understand what not to do as it is to understand what must be done and how to do that. In 1963, Peter Drucker spoke to this point: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Frankly, I am surprised that so much valuable information and (especially) advice can be presented, and presented so well, within a narrative only 122 pages in length. Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur are to be commended on their brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Fast Strategy and Corporate Agility as well as Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, Gary Hamel's The Future of Management, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Richard Ogle's Smart World, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

Excellent guide to the inner workings of Private Equity Funds, 11 Aug 2006
This book provides excellent insight on the various aspects of the Private Equity market. It describes the environment and structure of the funds themselves, their interest as an asset class and a very useful toolkit for a professional investor define its Private Equity investment strategy.

From my point of view I have found three thinks most useful about the book:

1 - The balance struck between a hard quantitative approach and all the soft side that must be considered when evaluating this asset class;
2 - The many examples and templates that help bring the issues discussed to practical use;
3 - Its clear focus on European Private Equity, which is a plus if you are interested in this specific market.

All in all very helpful reading if you are considering investing in European Private Equity.

Not particularly skillful or vital, but OK, 14 Sep 2008
Not a very balanced book, tending to press its own agenda instead. Written in a slightly repetitive and even, on occasion, condescending and presumptious tone. Overall a rather amateur effort that doesn't justify the price tag, though as a simple-to-read taster for the field I suppose it is acceptable.

Private Equity made easy, 21 Feb 2007
I got an advanced copy of this text through a friend in publishing as I am currently undertaking a Business Masters; she felt that it might come in useful and I am only too glad that she did. This book is geared very much towards the reader and is consequently why I found a difficult and complex subject matter explained well in an amusing style, set out clearly without the 'fudging' and 'monotany' that many academic texts are presented. The glossary alone reveals a whole new world of knowledge I never before knew exsisted. No one can deny that Private Equity is an area that is rapidy progressing in the private investment sector, business reports in the past month have focused heavily on this, so the timing of this book is spot on and very current.

I strongly believe this is the only definitive textbook in the world on this subject, I am only aware of one other casebook by Josh Lerner, but nowhere else can you find chapter and verse on each and every aspect of this rapidly growing investment sector.

A must have certainly for any business or economics student and just as relevent for all those who work in the investement sector. Fraser-Sampson's book cannot have arrived at a more prudent time.

Private Equity as an Asset Class, 18 Feb 2007
One cannot open a paper, or an online newspaper, these days without private equity being showcased.

The media, depending on its mood, swings between showcasing private equity as the hero or villain of business today. As anyone in the industry knows, private equity are two words which cover a wide range of firms, activities and individuals. It is difficult and wrong to draw generalised conclusions.

Guy in a well written and well timed release brings light to the private equity asset class and dissolves some of the myths being propagated by those who have little understanding of this industry. A must read for anyone new to the industry, and all those who seek to enter or comment on the industry.

Might I recommend that Guy ship a copy of this book to all the major papers in the UK, as it might shed some light on an industry which may in fact be on the "crest of a wave"; but will not be disappearing in the near future. Well, I hope not anyway - as its an industry that has much to offer to the world, especially the venture side.


Brilliantly written ! Makes very easy reading out of what are very complex issues., 31 Oct 2006
I have had the advantage of reading the manuscript of this book in advance, and one of the comments on the cover is my own.

Unlike other books on the subject, this one does not dive straight off into complicated areas such as return analysis, nor does it deal with such nebulous matters as the GP/LP relationship (indeed, the writer states that he considers this last topic to be something of a red herring). Instead, the book sets out to be a comprehensive account of private equity from first principles onwards, and will guide you steadily through the intricacies of the asset class until you find yourself quite happily using very complex analysis models to look at buyout and venture returns. More importantly, it focuses on explaining the principles which underlie all of this, so you will actually understand what you are doing, and why. As the writer says repeatedly "don't just look at the figures - try to think what lies behind them."

Fraser-Sampson has twenty years experience of the private equity industry, and the depth and range of his knowledge shines through every page. I was a great fan (and a reviewer) of his first book "Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy", and ideally they should be read together. The first explains why you should be allocating 25% of your portfolio to private equity, and this one explains how you should actually go about it. Just as the first one came up with a whole new way of looking at investment in general, so this one makes some very innovative points, not all of which will make happy reading in some quarters. For example, he believes that private equity performance should be judged across an investor's whole allocation (what he calls Total Return investing) rather than, as presently, on just that small part of it which may be invested at any one time.

Both books are brilliantly written and make very easy reading out of what are very complex issues.


Helpful look at private equity strategies, 09 Oct 2008
CEOs of large public and private companies may not think they have much in common with private equity (PE) investors. After all, CEOs are beholden to their shareholders and boards. Their organizations have multiple layers of management and a conservative mindset that can make change ponderous. Meanwhile, PE investors thrive in a more free-wheeling environment, sizing up their targets and sometimes taking considerable risks in hopes of delivering exceptional financial results. Authors Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur believe that traditional companies can apply six successful principles from the PE firms' playbook. While adopting the PE philosophy isn't always easy, as the authors are quick to point out, the benefits can be significant. If you feel your company is not living up to its potential, then getAbstract believes this book points out some options you might want to consider. However, you might find that the idea inspires you more than the advice the authors bequeath.

Statement of the obvious, 18 Jul 2008
This small book proports to tell people about the methods of private equity. Perhaps at a very high level it does, but at such a high level it is merely stating the obvious. Anyone sophisticated enough to be thinking of buying this book is, I think, unlikely to learn anything from it.

How to make any business more valuable, 14 May 2008

This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none of them is a "memo" nor were any of them written only for CEOs. In this volume, Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur explain how to make any business more valuable while acknowledging that the lessons to be learned from the private equity (PE) industry are not rigorously and consistently applied by businesses around the world. Why? "We see two main reasons for this: first, the application of these lessons drives real change in many businesses, and, for better or worse, change brings risks, both real and imagined...Second, many leaders apply the lessons that we will discuss, but incompletely. It is easier to do "fine" than to the "best" a company can do. We call this [begin italics] satisfactory underperformance [end italics] - a pervasive disease in business that is the direct target of this memo."

Gadiesh and MacArthur are eminently well-qualified to identify and then examine the tools and techniques used by the best PE firms. She is chairman of Bain & Company, the first management consulting firm to develop a global PE practice that is now the largest of its kind. MacArthur heads it. Moreover, even a cursory review of their respective careers suggests a scope and depth of real-world business experience in all areas of operations with global companies in a variety of industries. They speak with unique authority when asserting that the smartest PE investors "have realized that the only way to reliably increase the value of their portfolios is to maximize the operating value of the underlying businesses in them. For this reason, the best PE firms have shifted many of the resources that they once poured into financial engineering to ward creating value - and they are doing it in a way that is more systematic, focused, and aggressive than the practices in most companies."

It should be noted that the lessons they discuss and the recommendations they provide with those lessons can be of substantial value to decision-makers in any organization, whatever its size and nature may be. For example, "to improve profits and stock price [or value if the company is privately owned], you need to make strategic choices with a clear picture of the full potential of your company in mind." Define that potential by answering, with rigor and accuracy, this question: "How high is up?" Next, develop as "blueprint" or "road map" for getting to that full-potential destination. That is, the "who, what, when, where, and how" while establishing and then sustaining strategy, resources, execution, and measurement in proper alignment. The next objective is to accelerate performance at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise while harnessing the talent (i.e. hiring, "growing," and retaining only those who possess the talent, skills, experience, and character needed) because "the best-laid plans go nowhere without the right people to implement them."

Gadiesh and MacArthur also urge their reader "embrace LBO economics" which in part means getting comfortable with leverage. For
example, "eliminating unproductive or underperforming capital, often by cutting pieces out of the business. It also may mean finding new ways to convert traditionally fixed assets into sources of financing." A number of excellent books have been published in recent years in which their authors offer excellent advice on how an organization can become more agile. (Two of the best are Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles Grantham, Jim Ware, and Cory Williamson.) Meanwhile, the best PE firms "work their magic" by helping C-level executives in their portfolio companies foster a results-oriented mindset that ensures results-driven performance.

By devoting a separate chapter to each of these six core principles, Gadiesh and MacArthur are able examine all of them in much greater depth. "We use the best private equity practices as the benchmark, but in reality [lessons to be learned from them] have been around for a long time. They just haven't been codified as formally by most businesses. Whatever the ownership of your company, our advice is to look at how the best PE people operate, and to use their techniques to compete against them and everyone else."

None of the lessons to be learned from private equity that Gadiesh and MacArthur have identified is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. Ultimately," winners" and "losers" will be determined by the results their people produce. However, it is at least as important (if not more important) for decision-makers to understand what not to do as it is to understand what must be done and how to do that. In 1963, Peter Drucker spoke to this point: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Frankly, I am surprised that so much valuable information and (especially) advice can be presented, and presented so well, within a narrative only 122 pages in length. Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur are to be commended on their brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Fast Strategy and Corporate Agility as well as Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, Gary Hamel's The Future of Management, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Richard Ogle's Smart World, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

Excellent guide to the inner workings of Private Equity Funds, 11 Aug 2006
This book provides excellent insight on the various aspects of the Private Equity market. It describes the environment and structure of the funds themselves, their interest as an asset class and a very useful toolkit for a professional investor define its Private Equity investment strategy.

From my point of view I have found three thinks most useful about the book:

1 - The balance struck between a hard quantitative approach and all the soft side that must be considered when evaluating this asset class;
2 - The many examples and templates that help bring the issues discussed to practical use;
3 - Its clear focus on European Private Equity, which is a plus if you are interested in this specific market.

All in all very helpful reading if you are considering investing in European Private Equity.


Excellent insight into the VC world., 28 Mar 2001
Through detailed statistical analysis the dynamics surrounding the VC world's objective and strategy setting decisions are uncovered and proven. Although this book is suitable for Post Grad level students of finance, Gomper and Lerner also manage to explain and set out the book so that any person with an interest in this subject can gain equally invaluable knowledge, regarding what VCs are driven by and what effects they can have on a company. Through the understanding you gain from reading The Venture Capital Cycle, you will find yourself in a stronger position when dealing with VCs.

Not particularly skillful or vital, but OK, 14 Sep 2008
Not a very balanced book, tending to press its own agenda instead. Written in a slightly repetitive and even, on occasion, condescending and presumptious tone. Overall a rather amateur effort that doesn't justify the price tag, though as a simple-to-read taster for the field I suppose it is acceptable.

Private Equity made easy, 21 Feb 2007
I got an advanced copy of this text through a friend in publishing as I am currently undertaking a Business Masters; she felt that it might come in useful and I am only too glad that she did. This book is geared very much towards the reader and is consequently why I found a difficult and complex subject matter explained well in an amusing style, set out clearly without the 'fudging' and 'monotany' that many academic texts are presented. The glossary alone reveals a whole new world of knowledge I never before knew exsisted. No one can deny that Private Equity is an area that is rapidy progressing in the private investment sector, business reports in the past month have focused heavily on this, so the timing of this book is spot on and very current.

I strongly believe this is the only definitive textbook in the world on this subject, I am only aware of one other casebook by Josh Lerner, but nowhere else can you find chapter and verse on each and every aspect of this rapidly growing investment sector.

A must have certainly for any business or economics student and just as relevent for all those who work in the investement sector. Fraser-Sampson's book cannot have arrived at a more prudent time.

Private Equity as an Asset Class, 18 Feb 2007
One cannot open a paper, or an online newspaper, these days without private equity being showcased.

The media, depending on its mood, swings between showcasing private equity as the hero or villain of business today. As anyone in the industry knows, private equity are two words which cover a wide range of firms, activities and individuals. It is difficult and wrong to draw generalised conclusions.

Guy in a well written and well timed release brings light to the private equity asset class and dissolves some of the myths being propagated by those who have little understanding of this industry. A must read for anyone new to the industry, and all those who seek to enter or comment on the industry.

Might I recommend that Guy ship a copy of this book to all the major papers in the UK, as it might shed some light on an industry which may in fact be on the "crest of a wave"; but will not be disappearing in the near future. Well, I hope not anyway - as its an industry that has much to offer to the world, especially the venture side.


Brilliantly written ! Makes very easy reading out of what are very complex issues., 31 Oct 2006
I have had the advantage of reading the manuscript of this book in advance, and one of the comments on the cover is my own.

Unlike other books on the subject, this one does not dive straight off into complicated areas such as return analysis, nor does it deal with such nebulous matters as the GP/LP relationship (indeed, the writer states that he considers this last topic to be something of a red herring). Instead, the book sets out to be a comprehensive account of private equity from first principles onwards, and will guide you steadily through the intricacies of the asset class until you find yourself quite happily using very complex analysis models to look at buyout and venture returns. More importantly, it focuses on explaining the principles which underlie all of this, so you will actually understand what you are doing, and why. As the writer says repeatedly "don't just look at the figures - try to think what lies behind them."

Fraser-Sampson has twenty years experience of the private equity industry, and the depth and range of his knowledge shines through every page. I was a great fan (and a reviewer) of his first book "Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy", and ideally they should be read together. The first explains why you should be allocating 25% of your portfolio to private equity, and this one explains how you should actually go about it. Just as the first one came up with a whole new way of looking at investment in general, so this one makes some very innovative points, not all of which will make happy reading in some quarters. For example, he believes that private equity performance should be judged across an investor's whole allocation (what he calls Total Return investing) rather than, as presently, on just that small part of it which may be invested at any one time.

Both books are brilliantly written and make very easy reading out of what are very complex issues.


Helpful look at private equity strategies, 09 Oct 2008
CEOs of large public and private companies may not think they have much in common with private equity (PE) investors. After all, CEOs are beholden to their shareholders and boards. Their organizations have multiple layers of management and a conservative mindset that can make change ponderous. Meanwhile, PE investors thrive in a more free-wheeling environment, sizing up their targets and sometimes taking considerable risks in hopes of delivering exceptional financial results. Authors Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur believe that traditional companies can apply six successful principles from the PE firms' playbook. While adopting the PE philosophy isn't always easy, as the authors are quick to point out, the benefits can be significant. If you feel your company is not living up to its potential, then getAbstract believes this book points out some options you might want to consider. However, you might find that the idea inspires you more than the advice the authors bequeath.

Statement of the obvious, 18 Jul 2008
This small book proports to tell people about the methods of private equity. Perhaps at a very high level it does, but at such a high level it is merely stating the obvious. Anyone sophisticated enough to be thinking of buying this book is, I think, unlikely to learn anything from it.

How to make any business more valuable, 14 May 2008

This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none of them is a "memo" nor were any of them written only for CEOs. In this volume, Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur explain how to make any business more valuable while acknowledging that the lessons to be learned from the private equity (PE) industry are not rigorously and consistently applied by businesses around the world. Why? "We see two main reasons for this: first, the application of these lessons drives real change in many businesses, and, for better or worse, change brings risks, both real and imagined...Second, many leaders apply the lessons that we will discuss, but incompletely. It is easier to do "fine" than to the "best" a company can do. We call this [begin italics] satisfactory underperformance [end italics] - a pervasive disease in business that is the direct target of this memo."

Gadiesh and MacArthur are eminently well-qualified to identify and then examine the tools and techniques used by the best PE firms. She is chairman of Bain & Company, the first management consulting firm to develop a global PE practice that is now the largest of its kind. MacArthur heads it. Moreover, even a cursory review of their respective careers suggests a scope and depth of real-world business experience in all areas of operations with global companies in a variety of industries. They speak with unique authority when asserting that the smartest PE investors "have realized that the only way to reliably increase the value of their portfolios is to maximize the operating value of the underlying businesses in them. For this reason, the best PE firms have shifted many of the resources that they once poured into financial engineering to ward creating value - and they are doing it in a way that is more systematic, focused, and aggressive than the practices in most companies."

It should be noted that the lessons they discuss and the recommendations they provide with those lessons can be of substantial value to decision-makers in any organization, whatever its size and nature may be. For example, "to improve profits and stock price [or value if the company is privately owned], you need to make strategic choices with a clear picture of the full potential of your company in mind." Define that potential by answering, with rigor and accuracy, this question: "How high is up?" Next, develop as "blueprint" or "road map" for getting to that full-potential destination. That is, the "who, what, when, where, and how" while establishing and then sustaining strategy, resources, execution, and measurement in proper alignment. The next objective is to accelerate performance at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise while harnessing the talent (i.e. hiring, "growing," and retaining only those who possess the talent, skills, experience, and character needed) because "the best-laid plans go nowhere without the right people to implement them."

Gadiesh and MacArthur also urge their reader "embrace LBO economics" which in part means getting comfortable with leverage. For
example, "eliminating unproductive or underperforming capital, often by cutting pieces out of the business. It also may mean finding new ways to convert traditionally fixed assets into sources of financing." A number of excellent books have been published in recent years in which their authors offer excellent advice on how an organization can become more agile. (Two of the best are Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles Grantham, Jim Ware, and Cory Williamson.) Meanwhile, the best PE firms "work their magic" by helping C-level executives in their portfolio companies foster a results-oriented mindset that ensures results-driven performance.

By devoting a separate chapter to each of these six core principles, Gadiesh and MacArthur are able examine all of them in much greater depth. "We use the best private equity practices as the benchmark, but in reality [lessons to be learned from them] have been around for a long time. They just haven't been codified as formally by most businesses. Whatever the ownership of your company, our advice is to look at how the best PE people operate, and to use their techniques to compete against them and everyone else."

None of the lessons to be learned from private equity that Gadiesh and MacArthur have identified is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. Ultimately," winners" and "losers" will be determined by the results their people produce. However, it is at least as important (if not more important) for decision-makers to understand what not to do as it is to understand what must be done and how to do that. In 1963, Peter Drucker spoke to this point: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Frankly, I am surprised that so much valuable information and (especially) advice can be presented, and presented so well, within a narrative only 122 pages in length. Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur are to be commended on their brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Fast Strategy and Corporate Agility as well as Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, Gary Hamel's The Future of Management, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Richard Ogle's Smart World, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

Excellent guide to the inner workings of Private Equity Funds, 11 Aug 2006
This book provides excellent insight on the various aspects of the Private Equity market. It describes the environment and structure of the funds themselves, their interest as an asset class and a very useful toolkit for a professional investor define its Private Equity investment strategy.

From my point of view I have found three thinks most useful about the book:

1 - The balance struck between a hard quantitative approach and all the soft side that must be considered when evaluating this asset class;
2 - The many examples and templates that help bring the issues discussed to practical use;
3 - Its clear focus on European Private Equity, which is a plus if you are interested in this specific market.

All in all very helpful reading if you are considering investing in European Private Equity.


Excellent insight into the VC world., 28 Mar 2001
Through detailed statistical analysis the dynamics surrounding the VC world's objective and strategy setting decisions are uncovered and proven. Although this book is suitable for Post Grad level students of finance, Gomper and Lerner also manage to explain and set out the book so that any person with an interest in this subject can gain equally invaluable knowledge, regarding what VCs are driven by and what effects they can have on a company. Through the understanding you gain from reading The Venture Capital Cycle, you will find yourself in a stronger position when dealing with VCs.

Trying to raise VC Funding?.....Your Survival Handbook has arrived!!!, 10 Oct 2007
Okay, first up, to state my allegiances, I LOVE THIS BOOK!

I'm an aspiring entrepreneur, holed up in an incubator center, I think I know my technology, my market and my cash flows, but I've been getting the hot flushes at the prospect of entering the arcane world of VC.
Will I do something dumb and give away my company to some VC who's smarter than me, will I ever raise money, how do I get impartial advice (in the VC world where everyone seems to have a vested interest).....

What I like about this book is that it gives a structured, and methodical roadmap, it's not burdened down by jargon, and I'm actually able to follow the approach and take real actions based on the guidance Berkery gives.
I've been able to set out the stepping stones for my company, and yes, we're starting to hit them.
I went back over our business plan having read the book, and made a few "minor adjustments", particularly based on the risk dynamics discussed in the book.

Clearly, this guy has been around the block in the VC world, and he's been pretty good about sharing the insider info with us.

Will we raise funding after following the advice in the book? Dunno, but I definitely feel like I'm in control of our process now, and am better armed to face the VC dragon.
I've been boring the other guys in the incubator alongside me about this book, they've pretty much all now got a copy and have been converted into Berkery disciples

Okay, that's the good bit, what's there not to like about the book?
Not a whole lot to tell the truth.

The title is a bit geeky, don't let it put you off.
........and, that picture of the author just gives me the shivers!!
He looks just like the type of guy who'd mercilessly take you apart each and every month over not hitting your targets!!!

Not particularly skillful or vital, but OK, 14 Sep 2008
Not a very balanced book, tending to press its own agenda instead. Written in a slightly repetitive and even, on occasion, condescending and presumptious tone. Overall a rather amateur effort that doesn't justify the price tag, though as a simple-to-read taster for the field I suppose it is acceptable.

Private Equity made easy, 21 Feb 2007
I got an advanced copy of this text through a friend in publishing as I am currently undertaking a Business Masters; she felt that it might come in useful and I am only too glad that she did. This book is geared very much towards the reader and is consequently why I found a difficult and complex subject matter explained well in an amusing style, set out clearly without the 'fudging' and 'monotany' that many academic texts are presented. The glossary alone reveals a whole new world of knowledge I never before knew exsisted. No one can deny that Private Equity is an area that is rapidy progressing in the private investment sector, business reports in the past month have focused heavily on this, so the timing of this book is spot on and very current.

I strongly believe this is the only definitive textbook in the world on this subject, I am only aware of one other casebook by Josh Lerner, but nowhere else can you find chapter and verse on each and every aspect of this rapidly growing investment sector.

A must have certainly for any business or economics student and just as relevent for all those who work in the investement sector. Fraser-Sampson's book cannot have arrived at a more prudent time.

Private Equity as an Asset Class, 18 Feb 2007
One cannot open a paper, or an online newspaper, these days without private equity being showcased.

The media, depending on its mood, swings between showcasing private equity as the hero or villain of business today. As anyone in the industry knows, private equity are two words which cover a wide range of firms, activities and individuals. It is difficult and wrong to draw generalised conclusions.

Guy in a well written and well timed release brings light to the private equity asset class and dissolves some of the myths being propagated by those who have little understanding of this industry. A must read for anyone new to the industry, and all those who seek to enter or comment on the industry.

Might I recommend that Guy ship a copy of this book to all the major papers in the UK, as it might shed some light on an industry which may in fact be on the "crest of a wave"; but will not be disappearing in the near future. Well, I hope not anyway - as its an industry that has much to offer to the world, especially the venture side.


Brilliantly written ! Makes very easy reading out of what are very complex issues., 31 Oct 2006
I have had the advantage of reading the manuscript of this book in advance, and one of the comments on the cover is my own.

Unlike other books on the subject, this one does not dive straight off into complicated areas such as return analysis, nor does it deal with such nebulous matters as the GP/LP relationship (indeed, the writer states that he considers this last topic to be something of a red herring). Instead, the book sets out to be a comprehensive account of private equity from first principles onwards, and will guide you steadily through the intricacies of the asset class until you find yourself quite happily using very complex analysis models to look at buyout and venture returns. More importantly, it focuses on explaining the principles which underlie all of this, so you will actually understand what you are doing, and why. As the writer says repeatedly "don't just look at the figures - try to think what lies behind them."

Fraser-Sampson has twenty years experience of the private equity industry, and the depth and range of his knowledge shines through every page. I was a great fan (and a reviewer) of his first book "Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy", and ideally they should be read together. The first explains why you should be allocating 25% of your portfolio to private equity, and this one explains how you should actually go about it. Just as the first one came up with a whole new way of looking at investment in general, so this one makes some very innovative points, not all of which will make happy reading in some quarters. For example, he believes that private equity performance should be judged across an investor's whole allocation (what he calls Total Return investing) rather than, as presently, on just that small part of it which may be invested at any one time.

Both books are brilliantly written and make very easy reading out of what are very complex issues.


Helpful look at private equity strategies, 09 Oct 2008
CEOs of large public and private companies may not think they have much in common with private equity (PE) investors. After all, CEOs are beholden to their shareholders and boards. Their organizations have multiple layers of management and a conservative mindset that can make change ponderous. Meanwhile, PE investors thrive in a more free-wheeling environment, sizing up their targets and sometimes taking considerable risks in hopes of delivering exceptional financial results. Authors Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur believe that traditional companies can apply six successful principles from the PE firms' playbook. While adopting the PE philosophy isn't always easy, as the authors are quick to point out, the benefits can be significant. If you feel your company is not living up to its potential, then getAbstract believes this book points out some options you might want to consider. However, you might find that the idea inspires you more than the advice the authors bequeath.

Statement of the obvious, 18 Jul 2008
This small book proports to tell people about the methods of private equity. Perhaps at a very high level it does, but at such a high level it is merely stating the obvious. Anyone sophisticated enough to be thinking of buying this book is, I think, unlikely to learn anything from it.

How to make any business more valuable, 14 May 2008

This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none of them is a "memo" nor were any of them written only for CEOs. In this volume, Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur explain how to make any business more valuable while acknowledging that the lessons to be learned from the private equity (PE) industry are not rigorously and consistently applied by businesses around the world. Why? "We see two main reasons for this: first, the application of these lessons drives real change in many businesses, and, for better or worse, change brings risks, both real and imagined...Second, many leaders apply the lessons that we will discuss, but incompletely. It is easier to do "fine" than to the "best" a company can do. We call this [begin italics] satisfactory underperformance [end italics] - a pervasive disease in business that is the direct target of this memo."

Gadiesh and MacArthur are eminently well-qualified to identify and then examine the tools and techniques used by the best PE firms. She is chairman of Bain & Company, the first management consulting firm to develop a global PE practice that is now the largest of its kind. MacArthur heads it. Moreover, even a cursory review of their respective careers suggests a scope and depth of real-world business experience in all areas of operations with global companies in a variety of industries. They speak with unique authority when asserting that the smartest PE investors "have realized that the only way to reliably increase the value of their portfolios is to maximize the operating value of the underlying businesses in them. For this reason, the best PE firms have shifted many of the resources that they once poured into financial engineering to ward creating value - and they are doing it in a way that is more systematic, focused, and aggressive than the practices in most companies."

It should be noted that the lessons they discuss and the recommendations they provide with those lessons can be of substantial value to decision-makers in any organization, whatever its size and nature may be. For example, "to improve profits and stock price [or value if the company is privately owned], you need to make strategic choices with a clear picture of the full potential of your company in mind." Define that potential by answering, with rigor and accuracy, this question: "How high is up?" Next, develop as "blueprint" or "road map" for getting to that full-potential destination. That is, the "who, what, when, where, and how" while establishing and then sustaining strategy, resources, execution, and measurement in proper alignment. The next objective is to accelerate performance at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise while harnessing the talent (i.e. hiring, "growing," and retaining only those who possess the talent, skills, experience, and character needed) because "the best-laid plans go nowhere without the right people to implement them."

Gadiesh and MacArthur also urge their reader "embrace LBO economics" which in part means getting comfortable with leverage. For
example, "eliminating unproductive or underperforming capital, often by cutting pieces out of the business. It also may mean finding new ways to convert traditionally fixed assets into sources of financing." A number of excellent books have been published in recent years in which their authors offer excellent advice on how an organization can become more agile. (Two of the best are Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles Grantham, Jim Ware, and Cory Williamson.) Meanwhile, the best PE firms "work their magic" by helping C-level executives in their portfolio companies foster a results-oriented mindset that ensures results-driven performance.

By devoting a separate chapter to each of these six core principles, Gadiesh and MacArthur are able examine all of them in much greater depth. "We use the best private equity practices as the benchmark, but in reality [lessons to be learned from them] have been around for a long time. They just haven't been codified as formally by most businesses. Whatever the ownership of your company, our advice is to look at how the best PE people operate, and to use their techniques to compete against them and everyone else."

None of the lessons to be learned from private equity that Gadiesh and MacArthur have identified is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. Ultimately," winners" and "losers" will be determined by the results their people produce. However, it is at least as important (if not more important) for decision-makers to understand what not to do as it is to understand what must be done and how to do that. In 1963, Peter Drucker spoke to this point: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Frankly, I am surprised that so much valuable information and (especially) advice can be presented, and presented so well, within a narrative only 122 pages in length. Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur are to be commended on their brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Fast Strategy and Corporate Agility as well as Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, Gary Hamel's The Future of Management, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Richard Ogle's Smart World, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

Excellent guide to the inner workings of Private Equity Funds, 11 Aug 2006
This book provides excellent insight on the various aspects of the Private Equity market. It describes the environment and structure of the funds themselves, their interest as an asset class and a very useful toolkit for a professional investor define its Private Equity investment strategy.

From my point of view I have found three thinks most useful about the book:

1 - The balance struck between a hard quantitative approach and all the soft side that must be considered when evaluating this asset class;
2 - The many examples and templates that help bring the issues discussed to practical use;
3 - Its clear focus on European Private Equity, which is a plus if you are interested in this specific market.

All in all very helpful reading if you are considering investing in European Private Equity.


Excellent insight into the VC world., 28 Mar 2001
Through detailed statistical analysis the dynamics surrounding the VC world's objective and strategy setting decisions are uncovered and proven. Although this book is suitable for Post Grad level students of finance, Gomper and Lerner also manage to explain and set out the book so that any person with an interest in this subject can gain equally invaluable knowledge, regarding what VCs are driven by and what effects they can have on a company. Through the understanding you gain from reading The Venture Capital Cycle, you will find yourself in a stronger position when dealing with VCs.

Trying to raise VC Funding?.....Your Survival Handbook has arrived!!!, 10 Oct 2007
Okay, first up, to state my allegiances, I LOVE THIS BOOK!

I'm an aspiring entrepreneur, holed up in an incubator center, I think I know my technology, my market and my cash flows, but I've been getting the hot flushes at the prospect of entering the arcane world of VC.
Will I do something dumb and give away my company to some VC who's smarter than me, will I ever raise money, how do I get impartial advice (in the VC world where everyone seems to have a vested interest).....

What I like about this book is that it gives a structured, and methodical roadmap, it's not burdened down by jargon, and I'm actually able to follow the approach and take real actions based on the guidance Berkery gives.
I've been able to set out the stepping stones for my company, and yes, we're starting to hit them.
I went back over our business plan having read the book, and made a few "minor adjustments", particularly based on the risk dynamics discussed in the book.

Clearly, this guy has been around the block in the VC world, and he's been pretty good about sharing the insider info with us.

Will we raise funding after following the advice in the book? Dunno, but I definitely feel like I'm in control of our process now, and am better armed to face the VC dragon.
I've been boring the other guys in the incubator alongside me about this book, they've pretty much all now got a copy and have been converted into Berkery disciples

Okay, that's the good bit, what's there not to like about the book?
Not a whole lot to tell the truth.

The title is a bit geeky, don't let it put you off.
........and, that picture of the author just gives me the shivers!!
He looks just like the type of guy who'd mercilessly take you apart each and every month over not hitting your targets!!!



Recommended for all MBA and Budding Entrepreneurs, 31 Jul 2007
Well structured, taking you from initial forays into Venture Capital world through to behind the scenes dis-assembly of the term sheet used to establish the contract between Entrepreneur and VC. This is a highly accessible book, written to help develop a firm understanding of the methodology followed by VC firms. It is evident that the aim is improve the quality of the interaction between Entrepreneur and VC.

I initially borrowed the book from the library, but decided to purchase the book before the end of my MBA Venture Capital class. Perhaps I should add that I had the benefit of being taught by the author at Imperial College (Tanaka) Business School!
...now to seek the autograph of the author!

Not particularly skillful or vital, but OK, 14 Sep 2008
Not a very balanced book, tending to press its own agenda instead. Written in a slightly repetitive and even, on occasion, condescending and presumptious tone. Overall a rather amateur effort that doesn't justify the price tag, though as a simple-to-read taster for the field I suppose it is acceptable.

Private Equity made easy, 21 Feb 2007
I got an advanced copy of this text through a friend in publishing as I am currently undertaking a Business Masters; she felt that it might come in useful and I am only too glad that she did. This book is geared very much towards the reader and is consequently why I found a difficult and complex subject matter explained well in an amusing style, set out clearly without the 'fudging' and 'monotany' that many academic texts are presented. The glossary alone reveals a whole new world of knowledge I never before knew exsisted. No one can deny that Private Equity is an area that is rapidy progressing in the private investment sector, business reports in the past month have focused heavily on this, so the timing of this book is spot on and very current.

I strongly believe this is the only definitive textbook in the world on this subject, I am only aware of one other casebook by Josh Lerner, but nowhere else can you find chapter and verse on each and every aspect of this rapidly growing investment sector.

A must have certainly for any business or economics student and just as relevent for all those who work in the investement sector. Fraser-Sampson's book cannot have arrived at a more prudent time.

Private Equity as an Asset Class, 18 Feb 2007
One cannot open a paper, or an online newspaper, these days without private equity being showcased.

The media, depending on its mood, swings between showcasing private equity as the hero or villain of business today. As anyone in the industry knows, private equity are two words which cover a wide range of firms, activities and individuals. It is difficult and wrong to draw generalised conclusions.

Guy in a well written and well timed release brings light to the private equity asset class and dissolves some of the myths being propagated by those who have little understanding of this industry. A must read for anyone new to the industry, and all those who seek to enter or comment on the industry.

Might I recommend that Guy ship a copy of this book to all the major papers in the UK, as it might shed some light on an industry which may in fact be on the "crest of a wave"; but will not be disappearing in the near future. Well, I hope not anyway - as its an industry that has much to offer to the world, especially the venture side.


Brilliantly written ! Makes very easy reading out of what are very complex issues., 31 Oct 2006
I have had the advantage of reading the manuscript of this book in advance, and one of the comments on the cover is my own.

Unlike other books on the subject, this one does not dive straight off into complicated areas such as return analysis, nor does it deal with such nebulous matters as the GP/LP relationship (indeed, the writer states that he considers this last topic to be something of a red herring). Instead, the book sets out to be a comprehensive account of private equity from first principles onwards, and will guide you steadily through the intricacies of the asset class until you find yourself quite happily using very complex analysis models to look at buyout and venture returns. More importantly, it focuses on explaining the principles which underlie all of this, so you will actually understand what you are doing, and why. As the writer says repeatedly "don't just look at the figures - try to think what lies behind them."

Fraser-Sampson has twenty years experience of the private equity industry, and the depth and range of his knowledge shines through every page. I was a great fan (and a reviewer) of his first book "Multi Asset Class Investment Strategy", and ideally they should be read together. The first explains why you should be allocating 25% of your portfolio to private equity, and this one explains how you should actually go about it. Just as the first one came up with a whole new way of looking at investment in general, so this one makes some very innovative points, not all of which will make happy reading in some quarters. For example, he believes that private equity performance should be judged across an investor's whole allocation (what he calls Total Return investing) rather than, as presently, on just that small part of it which may be invested at any one time.

Both books are brilliantly written and make very easy reading out of what are very complex issues.


Helpful look at private equity strategies, 09 Oct 2008
CEOs of large public and private companies may not think they have much in common with private equity (PE) investors. After all, CEOs are beholden to their shareholders and boards. Their organizations have multiple layers of management and a conservative mindset that can make change ponderous. Meanwhile, PE investors thrive in a more free-wheeling environment, sizing up their targets and sometimes taking considerable risks in hopes of delivering exceptional financial results. Authors Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur believe that traditional companies can apply six successful principles from the PE firms' playbook. While adopting the PE philosophy isn't always easy, as the authors are quick to point out, the benefits can be significant. If you feel your company is not living up to its potential, then getAbstract believes this book points out some options you might want to consider. However, you might find that the idea inspires you more than the advice the authors bequeath.

Statement of the obvious, 18 Jul 2008
This small book proports to tell people about the methods of private equity. Perhaps at a very high level it does, but at such a high level it is merely stating the obvious. Anyone sophisticated enough to be thinking of buying this book is, I think, unlikely to learn anything from it.

How to make any business more valuable, 14 May 2008

This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none of them is a "memo" nor were any of them written only for CEOs. In this volume, Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur explain how to make any business more valuable while acknowledging that the lessons to be learned from the private equity (PE) industry are not rigorously and consistently applied by businesses around the world. Why? "We see two main reasons for this: first, the application of these lessons drives real change in many businesses, and, for better or worse, change brings risks, both real and imagined...Second, many leaders apply the lessons that we will discuss, but incompletely. It is easier to do "fine" than to the "best" a company can do. We call this [begin italics] satisfactory underperformance [end italics] - a pervasive disease in business that is the direct target of this memo."

Gadiesh and MacArthur are eminently well-qualified to identify and then examine the tools and techniques used by the best PE firms. She is chairman of Bain & Company, the first management consulting firm to develop a global PE practice that is now the largest of its kind. MacArthur heads it. Moreover, even a cursory review of their respective careers suggests a scope and depth of real-world business experience in all areas of operations with global companies in a variety of industries. They speak with unique authority when asserting that the smartest PE investors "have realized that the only way to reliably increase the value of their portfolios is to maximize the operating value of the underlying businesses in them. For this reason, the best PE firms have shifted many of the resources that they once poured into financial engineering to ward creating value - and they are doing it in a way that is more systematic, focused, and aggressive than the practices in most companies."

It should be noted that the lessons they discuss and the recommendations they provide with those lessons can be of substantial value to decision-makers in any organization, whatever its size and nature may be. For example, "to improve profits and stock price [or value if the company is privately owned], you need to make strategic choices with a clear picture of the full potential of your company in mind." Define that potential by answering, with rigor and accuracy, this question: "How high is up?" Next, develop as "blueprint" or "road map" for getting to that full-potential destination. That is, the "who, what, when, where, and how" while establishing and then sustaining strategy, resources, execution, and measurement in proper alignment. The next objective is to accelerate performance at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise while harnessing the talent (i.e. hiring, "growing," and retaining only those who possess the talent, skills, experience, and character needed) because "the best-laid plans go nowhere without the right people to implement them."

Gadiesh and MacArthur also urge their reader "embrace LBO economics" which in part means getting comfortable with leverage. For
example, "eliminating unproductive or underperforming capital, often by cutting pieces out of the business. It also may mean finding new ways to convert traditionally fixed assets into sources of financing." A number of excellent books have been published in recent years in which their authors offer excellent advice on how an organization can become more agile. (Two of the best are Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game and Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary New Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles Grantham, Jim Ware, and Cory Williamson.) Meanwhile, the best PE firms "work their magic" by helping C-level executives in their portfolio companies foster a results-oriented mindset that ensures results-driven performance.

By devoting a separate chapter to each of these six core principles, Gadiesh and MacArthur are able examine all of them in much greater depth. "We use the best private equity practices as the benchmark, but in reality [lessons to be learned from them] have been around for a long time. They just haven't been codified as formally by most businesses. Whatever the ownership of your company, our advice is to look at how the best PE people operate, and to use their techniques to compete against them and everyone else."

None of the lessons to be learned from private equity that Gadiesh and MacArthur have identified is a head-snapper, nor do they make any such claim. Ultimately," winners" and "losers" will be determined by the results their people produce. However, it is at least as important (if not more important) for decision-makers to understand what not to do as it is to understand what must be done and how to do that. In 1963, Peter Drucker spoke to this point: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Frankly, I am surprised that so much valuable information and (especially) advice can be presented, and presented so well, within a narrative only 122 pages in length. Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur are to be commended on their brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Fast Strategy and Corporate Agility as well as Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, Gary Hamel's The Future of Management, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Richard Ogle's Smart World, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

Excellent guide to the inner workings of Private Equity Funds, 11 Aug 2006
This book provides excellent insight on the various aspects of the Private Equity market. It describes the environment and structure of the funds themselves, their interest as an asset class and a very useful toolkit for a professional investor define its Private Equity investment strategy.

From my point of view I have found three thinks most useful about the book:

1 - The balance struck between a hard quantitative approach and all the soft side that must be considered when evaluating this asset class;
2 - The many examples and templates that help bring the issues discussed to practical use;
3 - Its clear focus on European Private Equity, which is a plus if you are interest