Marketing, Product and Tech Executive Outlook: Leadership That Enables Exit Opportunities
Authored By Eric Walczykowski
Private equity firms are eager to navigate through the exit bottleneck that has been prevalent in the industry. I have been thinking a lot lately about the vital role that leaders in Marketing, Product and Technology play in driving growth, innovation, and competitive advantage, all crucial for achieving an exit.
I sat down recently to discuss this with Ryan Bonner, Partner at Bespoke and head of our Marketing and Technology practice. The full interview with Ryan in our Tailored Talent vodcast series, here: https://www.bespokepartners.com/tailored-talent-private-equity-talent-trends-interview-archives/
Bespoke Partners is the largest recruiting firm solely focused on software and SaaS companies, and we specialize in firms backed by private equity sponsors.
The stalemate in exit volume has caused private equity portfolios to surpass time proven ratios, straining private equity firm resources and creating challenges with fundraising and achieving return targets. Leadership talent is critical for positioning a portfolio company for exit.
Our Marketing and Technology practice has completed hundreds of successful placements in portfolio companies. Our placed Marketing and Technology leaders have been part of over 35 different company exits, with over $50B in enterprise value created via their work.
Here is an overview Q&A of my discussion with Ryan about the state of the Marketing, Product and Technology talent market and the increasingly pressing push for exits.
Eric: When you look at Marketing, Product and Tech and how those roles go together, what are you excited about building out the practice?
Ryan: I love working with leaders in Marketing, Product and Tech, because those functions are the ones that have immediate impact on not just the value creation and revenue, but the promise that a brand and a product has for the customer. You know, a customer’s experience is a promise and Technology is often what delivers it. And that to me matters. So I’m excited to really combine these practices, these functions together, marketing and product and supporting technology around it, because it is such a key component of value creation, revenue, driving revenue, and realizing the promise that a brand has to its customer base and end users.Eric: As we look at 2023, that was a slower year in private equity software. There weren’t a lot of exits. There weren’t a lot of new platforms built. What are you seeing in the marketing domain as we head from 2023 to 2024?
Ryan:
So far in 2024 I have seen the market become active again, but it’s quite interesting. There’s been a bit of a shift. When you think about the marketing functional spectrum, you’ve got on one end, the brand and communications. On the other end, you have the quant and growth and demand marketing with product marketing right in the middle.
What we’ve seen in the last 12 to 18 months is really a shift towards those leaders that can come in and focus on the demand and analytics side of growth marketing, because they’ve got to be close to the revenue stream.
In fact, we looked at it and over the last 12 to 15 months, 82% of our marketing searches have had growth and analytics marketing demand generation as the spike in talent that is needed for our clients.
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Eric: Maybe you can give me some thoughts on the product and tech market from 2023 to 2024?
Ryan: Yeah, again, 2024 is really becoming quite active. And the difference between product and marketing is that the product leaders with deep experience in either rationalizing portfolios and capabilities across their platforms or had transitioned from on-prem to cloud or really grown into a subscription model and having those products supported.
Those leaders, the demand for them hasn’t really wavered that much. The top tier of this talent market is in high demand, with leaders often having multiple choices in front of them.
Here is the tricky part, these leaders don’t turn over as much. The reality is that they need a little more time to bring a product roadmap to life, bring the delivery of those capabilities to life. And so, the churn of those leaders is not as frantic as it was in 21, 22, 23. I have a feeling we’re going to start to see a higher demand for those folks and the movement of those folks on the product side.
And what’s interesting to think about is I believe those roles and the turnover is highly correlated to new platform investments. Because if I’m buying a new platform as a private equity firm, I’m going in with that thesis. And those are the moves I’m going to want to make early in my hold period, not late in my whole period.
I think that pickup in 2024 shows a lot of optimism around new platforms in 2024. It’s consistent with what we’re seeing with the private equity firms we’re talking to about their pipeline of new deal flow, the robustness of that and the quality of the assets they are looking at.
Eric: Absolutely. Yes, I agree.
Product & Technology Practice
Bespoke Partners features a dedicated practice for recruiting best-in-class Product & Technology leaders who drive innovation and transform software and SaaS companies.
Learn more about our Marketing and Technology Practices Leader, Ryan Bonner, or contact him at:
ryan.bonner@bespokepartners.com
You can find out more about our Product & Technology Practice at:
Bespoke Partners Named in Top 10 of the “Top 49 Retained Executive Search” 2-Years Running by C-Suite CV Secure.
Author:
Eric Walczykowski
Chief Executive Officer
Eric is passionate about building high-performing teams that value doing their best, working together, overcoming adversity and learning.
As a proven growth executive, Eric has served as CEO, President, Board Member, Investor and Advisor for technology companies that achieved over $4.5B in successful exits.
Eric brings to Bespoke Partners significant professional services experience from Deloitte and Andersen, as well as the high-growth client executive perspective for private equity-backed technology companies.
Eric earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Business from Fresno State University.
Outside of work, Eric enjoys spending time with family, coaching baseball, travel, attending live events and sipping good wine.
Featuring:
Ryan Bonner
Partner
Ryan Bonner is a Partner leading the Marketing and Technology Leader Practices with Bespoke Partners. Based in Boston, he joined the firm in 2024. Prior to Bespoke, he spent the previous decade with Spencer Stuart focused on supporting both PE backed and public companies recruit B2B Technology Marketers, Product leaders and digital transformation teams.
Prior to search Ryan was a 20 year operator holding senior go-to-market roles with brands like Bose Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific and CVS Pharmacy.
Ryan has his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Princeton University. He ran D1 Track at Princeton as well as owning and operating his own business on campus while earning his degree.
In his spare time, you can find Ryan at the gym, a concert or comedy show or on hikes with his wife and puppy.
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