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Private Equity Partnerships: Aligning Strategy, Data, and Talent
by Eric Walczykowski, Matt Sommi
In this episode of Tailored Talent, I sat down with Matt Sommi, our Senior Vice President of Private Equity Partnerships at Bespoke Partners, to explore how his team is redefining what it means to serve private equity sponsors strategically. The conversation touched on how we create alignment across funds, why uniformity matters, and how our proprietary tools like the Executive Index and Calibrator bring precision and speed to leadership decisions.
At its core, this discussion was about partnership, not just between Bespoke and our clients, but between data and judgment, science and art.
Watch the full conversation with Matt Sommi on Tailored Talent.
Building Consistency Across the PE Ecosystem
Matt’s role and his team’s mission are about creating uniformity with insight. Private equity firms often engage with multiple partners across our five practices: CEO, Product & Tech, Finance, Go-To-Market, and HR, People & Talent.
Matt explained it well:
“A specific fund could be working with five or six partners at Bespoke. My role is to ensure there’s a layer of relationship context and consistency across every search while still deploying the best partner for the need at hand.”
That consistency builds trust. In fact, our repeat business rate now hit 100% year-over-year, a testament to the value of continuity in how we engage sponsors and their portfolio companies.
Partnership Over Transaction
The conversation turned to how Bespoke operates as a consultative partner, not just a search vendor. Matt shared an example that captured the essence of our approach.
A client approached him over a weekend wanting to “spin up a CEO search.” Instead of rushing into process mode, Matt paused to ask, “Do you really want a search, or do you want to understand the market first?”
That subtle question shifted the conversation from transaction to insight. By using Calibrator, our client-facing version of the Executive Index, Matt helped the fund validate the size and shape of the addressable market before ever launching a formal search.
It’s a prime example of how our goal isn’t to sell a process; it’s to provide clarity.
Real-Time Market Insight with Calibrator
One of the most compelling parts of our discussion was how Calibrator transforms the search process. By aligning on a scorecard early, clients gain a real-time view of their total addressable market and can test different criteria to see how those variables impact candidate availability.
Matt walked through an example with an EdTech company in Southern California:
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When the geography was fixed, only five qualified candidates fit the profile.
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Once they expanded the radius to include a two-hour flight range, the pool multiplied.
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Adjusting other factors like company scale or adjacent verticals opened even more opportunity.
This level of transparency means our clients are making data-driven decisions before a search even begins.
“Calibrator allows us to calibrate the market live with the client, not after the fact. It’s collaboration, not a handoff.”
Blending Art and Science in Executive Search
Data alone isn’t enough. Matt and I agree that while AI and analytics have changed the game, human expertise determines how that data becomes insight.
As Matt put it:
“The data is only as useful as the person interpreting it. Our specialists—whether it’s Finance, GTM, or Product—bring the context that turns information into intelligence.”
That fusion of science and artistry is what gives Bespoke its edge. The Executive Index maps over 676,000 executives, but it’s our team’s functional and market expertise that turns those connections into outcomes.
I often say, “There are some great artists in this industry, but they’re not painting with the full color wheel.” At Bespoke, we’ve given our team every color (data, tools, and context) to produce results that outperform the market.
Transforming Outcomes
The results speak for themselves. Using the Executive Index, our average time to finalist identification is now under 30 days while maintaining quality and fit. More importantly, we’re giving sponsors the conviction to act with speed and precision, whether that means making a leadership change or validating that the existing executive is right for the next phase of growth.
“Calibrator isn’t just about finding new talent,” Matt noted. “It’s about confirming whether your current team can take you where you need to go.”
That’s the future of executive search: insight-driven, consultative, and aligned with the rhythm of private equity.
Private equity is about creating value fast.
That means talent decisions must be informed, not rushed. Through the work Matt and his team are leading, Bespoke Partners is ensuring every sponsor relationship is consistent, data-informed, and purposefully engineered for long-term success.
The art and science of executive search aren’t at odds, they’re stronger together.
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