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There's bifurcation in PE returns. The firms that built value operationally are surviving. The rest are not.
Apollo's deputy global head of private equity put it plainly in June: there's bifurcation in PE returns now. The firms that built value operationally are surviving. The firms that harvested it from multiple expansion and leverage are not.
The bifurcation is structural. Funds without the infrastructure to build operational alpha will struggle to raise capital or deploy it at acceptable returns. Funds that have it will accumulate capital and conviction.
This matters to you as a CxO because it changes the kind of partner you're getting. The sponsors with capital to invest in your business in five years are the ones that already know how to build value operationally. They'll wire you for discipline and hold you accountable to quarterly, measurable progress on the things you control — and they'll succeed at exit, because the business you built together demonstrates durable competitive advantage instead of financial engineering that reprices away.