The Private Equity Podcast, by Raw Selection

In this episode, Giovanni Zangani joins Alex Rawlings to share insights from operating in Vietnam’s emerging private equity landscape. As Managing Partner at Maestro Equity Partners, Giovanni discusses the firm’s hands-on approach to investing in consumer and F&B businesses, the challenges of deal execution in emerging markets, and why local understanding is critical to success.
⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro to Giovanni & Maestro Equity
Vietnam-focused, growth equity firm backing brick-and-mortar and F&B businesses with tickets of $5–20M.
01:25 – Key Mistakes in Emerging Markets
Investors often misjudge deals by relying on personal experiences or Western legal frameworks without cultural alignment.
03:16 – Who Makes These Errors?
Regional and international funds rushing due diligence or avoiding deeper market engagement.
04:41 – Why Vietnam?
Giovanni's move from the US to Vietnam, spotting talent gaps, and seizing untapped opportunities.
07:30 – Mature vs. Emerging Market Investing
Faster growth, lower costs, and higher returns—but requires entrepreneurial execution.
09:23 – PE in Vietnam is a Different Game
You must own every part of the process—legal, operational, strategic—and be hands-on daily.
11:17 – Due Diligence = Partnership Building
Guide founders through compliance and process; the relationship starts before the investment closes.
14:40 – Post-Investment Involvement
Maintaining founder focus and execution requires credibility, patience, and close collaboration.
16:35 – Lean but Deep Team
A 10-person team making fewer, more impactful investments with long-term vision.
17:59 – Vietnam’s Outlook
More consolidation, founder maturity, and market sophistication ahead—making it ripe for growth and future competition.
20:19 – Giovanni’s Recommendations
🎧 All-In Podcast
📘 The Game – Alex Hormozi
📘 The 5 Types of Wealth
21:40 – Connect with Giovanni
📧 [email protected]

🔗 Giovanni Zangani on LinkedIn

Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/

🌐 Visit Raw Selection: www.raw-selection.com

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

In this episode, Sam and Taavo from CEO Advantage return to dive into the 5X CEO Assessment—a diagnostic tool developed from two years of research into top-performing private equity-backed CEOs who delivered 5x+ MOIC.
The conversation explores how the 5X model—comprised of Strategic Clarity, Scalable Talent, Relentless Focus, Disciplined Execution, and Energized Culture—is used not just as a conceptual framework, but as a practical tool to evaluate and upgrade leadership team performance.
🔑 Key Discussion Points
▶ 5X Model Overview
Built from studying CEOs with 5x+ returns
Five components: Strategic Clarity, Scalable Talent, Relentless Focus, Disciplined Execution, Energized Culture
▶ How the Assessment Works
Each component includes 10–12 statements to rate by importance and performance
Includes open-ended responses for actionable feedback
Results are color-coded (Red-Yellow-Green) for fast clarity and prioritization
Used with leadership teams and optionally with boards or PE partners
▶ Strategic Clarity
Aligning the CEO, leadership, and board on the value creation plan
Communicating strategy throughout the organization—down to the receptionist
The role of repetition in embedding strategy (11x rule)
▶ Energized Culture
Holding people accountable for behavior, not just results
Measuring employee engagement and culture with data (e.g. eNPS)
Example: CEOs who stack-rank team collaboration to highlight friction and teamwork
▶ Scalable Talent
Focus on A-players in critical value-driving roles, not just execs
Using 9-box performance vs. potential models, shared with boards
CEOs with strong HR leaders outperform—talent as a strategic function
▶ Relentless Focus
Simplifying execution to “do now, do next, don’t do”
Avoiding shiny object syndrome and internal distraction
Ensuring alignment on key initiatives and managing PE firm inputs
▶ Disciplined Execution
Tracking both leading and lagging KPIs tied to the value creation plan
Establishing a management cadence and operating system
Example: AI-driven measurement of customer conversations to boost growth
Tying metrics directly into compensation and incentive systems
▶ How PE Firms Use the Tool
As part of diligence or onboarding of new CEOs
To drive annual CEO performance reviews
To create a shared language between CEOs and sponsors on team performance
📘 Resources Mentioned
Book: The 5X CEO – Available on Amazon and Audible
The Private Equity Playbook series by Adam Coffey
Move by Sandy Ogg (Talent to Value)
Works by Patrick Lencioni on leadership and clarity
🌐 Learn more about the 5X model and CEO Advantage at www.AdvantageCEO.com

Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/

🌐 Visit Raw Selection: www.raw-selection.com

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

In this episode, Alex Rawlings is joined by Tim Schulte, Value Creation Partner at Council Capital, a Nashville-based private equity firm investing in healthcare businesses across tech-enabled services, outsourced services, and provider platforms.
Tim brings a unique blend of consulting, operational, and investing experience. He shares how Council Capital drives value creation through collaboration, leadership development, and a structured yet flexible approach to talent and operations.
🔑 Key Highlights:
00:00 – Introduction
Tim’s background: consulting → startup growth → private equity. At Council for 6+ years, focused on scaling healthcare companies.
01:15 – Common Mistake in PE
Reinventing the wheel. Tim advocates for leveraging shared knowledge and collaboration across portfolio companies instead of starting from scratch.
02:12 – Three PE Value Creation Models
Tim outlines three styles:
Collaborative but shallow
Substantive but rigid
Collaborative and substantive – Council Capital’s approach
03:37 – Collaboration in Practice
Council’s CEO Council is made up of 30+ senior leaders who are both advisors and investors. Their involvement creates mentorship and alignment without top-down pressure.
05:02 – Council’s Value Creation Team
A large internal team supports portfolio companies with tailored toolkits (not rigid playbooks) across growth, ops, and talent.
06:11 – Hiring Top Executives
Talent is central to value creation. Council uses:
Topgrading
Aptitude & personality assessments
In-depth referencing
Case studies
...to ensure fit and long-term success.
09:05 – Role of Assessments
Assessments aren’t used to screen candidates out, but to guide interview questions and identify fit. Council tracks data across hundreds of hires to correlate traits with performance.
12:27 – Broader Talent Support
Beyond the C-suite, Council helps portfolio teams:
Implement HR tech
Refine hiring processes
Improve onboarding
Structure incentive plans
14:38 – First 100 Days for CEOs
New CEOs are expected to:
Align on strategy
Build out the right team
Ensure reliable data systems to track performance
16:58 – Recommended Resources
Tim recommends:
Acquired – for business case studies
Founders – for leadership traits & human stories
17:52 – Connect with Tim Schulte
Best via LinkedIn or at Council Capital
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection: www.raw-selection.com

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

🎧 Guest: Maxwell Nee – Chairman, Family Office Insider & Managing Partner, Black Mountain Capital
🌍 Episode Theme: 10X Deals, Market Gaps & Global Investing
In this episode, Alex Rawlings is joined by Maxwell Nee to explore how thinking bigger—10X bigger—can simplify investing and unlock outsized returns. Maxwell shares his 3-leg framework for identifying high-potential opportunities and dives into emerging trends across waste-to-value, renewables, and infrastructure.
You’ll hear about:
What 10X deals really mean and why they’re often easier to execute
The 3 key components of any game-changing opportunity
Turning waste (like avocado seeds or Guinness beer) into profits
Where Maxwell is putting capital now: mining, energy, biofuels
How family offices differ from traditional PE firms
Lessons from global dealmaking and the role of geopolitics
⏱️ Time Stamps:
00:00 – Intro to Maxwell Nee
01:00 – Founding Family Office Insider during COVID
02:30 – Common PE mistakes: overextension, distraction
04:00 – What makes a 10X deal
07:00 – The 3-leg framework: Market Gap, Team, Funding
08:30 – Real examples: bioplastics, energy, solar
11:00 – Investing globally & understanding country strengths
18:50 – PE vs. Family Office mindsets
21:00 – Book recs: How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, Time is a Tool
22:30 – Connect with Maxwell on LinkedIn
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection: www.raw-selection.com

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.

In this powerful episode, Marc Adams shares his remarkable journey from a stage 4 cancer diagnosis to a full recovery—and how that experience inspired him to rethink private equity. Now leading Acquisitions for You, Marc helps business owners double their company’s value and cash out tax-free—without debt, dilution, or outside capital.
With 40+ years in leadership, IPOs, and M&A, Marc discusses his “Double and Keep It” framework, raising over $350M to support non-traditional exits, and how PE firms can create more value by going deeper into operations. He also shares how a question from his 10-year-old son sparked a mission to help business owners keep more of what they’ve built.
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro to Marc & his corporate background
01:27 – Life-changing cancer diagnosis during the pandemic
05:34 – A pivotal question from Marc’s son: “Who helps the business owners?”
07:01 – Miraculous recovery and new purpose
09:24 – Writing a bestselling book to help owners increase value
10:16 – The “Double and Keep It” framework explained
11:43 – $350M raised to support exits without debt or dilution
13:08 – How structuring right helps owners keep 70–90% post-sale
15:01 – Helping younger founders take chips off the table
18:52 – From $140M to $1B valuation: how it was done
22:09 – Case study: $0 to $950M in 18 months
23:36 – Why PE must engage with operating teams
25:26 – Reducing founder resistance and aligning incentives
27:49 – Leaving room for buyers’ value creation
30:09 – Example: $6B tech buyer building value via synergy
32:29 – When forced changes from PE go wrong
34:28 – Why personal brand and social media matter more than ever
37:21 – 19-year-old entrepreneur’s turnaround and success
40:38 – Helping overlooked businesses unlock true value
42:02 – How to connect with Marc and access his free resources
📘 Resources
Contact Marc: [email protected]
Visit: acquisitionsforyou.com
Free tools & book via Marc’s Linktree (shared in episode)
Raw Selection partners with Private Equity firms and their portfolio companies to secure exceptional executive talent. We focus on de-risking executive recruitment through meticulous search and selection processes, ensuring top-tier performance and long-term success.
🔗 Connect with Alex Rawlings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrawlings/
🌐 Visit Raw Selection: www.raw-selection.com

Looking to grow your team? Check out our Hiring Guides
for proven strategies, templates, and best practices to make smarter hires.