Happy Thursday - let’s dive straight in.
I’ve sat through hundreds of GP first meetings. By minute 15, I usually know if we’re leaning in - or out.
The LP introduction
We always started with a short LP deck: who we are, what we look for, how we run diligence. Four minutes, tops. Most GPs sit through it; a surprising number get weary, try to talk over us, or wear the “are we done yet?” smile. If two minutes of context feels like an obstacle, diligence will feel like dental work.
We often let juniors run that opener - part training, part signal that every voice counts. In a glass-walled NYC high-rise, a first-timer was sweating, nervous and ran long. The GP noticed it, smiled, and coached him through. No eye-rolls, no chair swivels - just grace. I don’t think they were a great GP - but I remember them for how they handled that moment.
The First 15 Minutes: Can You Define Yourself?
I’m listening for clarity. If you’re a “focused manager” in business services, industrials, and consumer… that’s the economy. Either narrow the hunting ground - or show me a system that makes breadth make sense.
What I want to hear:
Real constraints: founder-owned, $5-10m EBITDA, high market fragmentation; asset-light business model.
Repeatable system: executive-first in a niche; map the space with an operator, pre-wire targets, buy the platform, add three within 18 months.
To me, it doesn't matter what your approach is. It matters that:
You have one
You can articulate it
You actually follow it - without compromise
Case Studies: Where the Truth Shows Up
This is the tell. If you just sold me a “sourcing advantage” and “buy-and-build,” but every example starts with “Harris Williams called” and ends with “we professionalized finance,” the story and your process don’t match.
The best GPs don’t need to connect dots - the pattern is obvious: