u/Useful-Gap-952

Recently, I came across an OP event in NYC by PEI, and I'd love to hear from you all who have attended PEI events to know if it's worth attending.

The budget friendly approach adds up to $10k to attend the event. 😆 1 deal would make it worthwhile, so of course, worth going if it leads to new relationships and new opportunities.

Few questions that come to mind:

• What was the best part of the event?
• What was the ratio of OPs to vendors?
• Were the topics actually interesting?
• What was networking like?

Professional background: I have worked in FinTech, designing for ultra high net worth people and financial retail services, with trillions in assets under management. I have redesigned how software works to support a multi billion portfolio of projects for long term value optimization inside a multi-billion company. Fortune 500 experience for 2 years. 18 years in tech.

Network context: I have about 1,000 connections on Linkedin. 80% are contacts from yesteryear from random networking events; these are dormant connections I haven't spoken to in 10 years+. Many of them feel irrelevant as they aren't typically secondary connections to people I want to meet.

Business context: My tech consulting business is 6 months old, and in urgent need to monetize to be viable. Offers sorted out. Value ladder clear. I have 2 case studies based on past work in the FinTech world. My value proposition is targeted at PE firms that want to improve operational excellence.

Career challenge: I want to pivot to selling my tech enabled consulting services to private equity firms. The consistent message I hear from those in the private equity industry is it's all based on relationships.

What I've tried so far:

• Scanning Linkedin for potential secondary operating partner / PE connections
• Using crunchbase to find PE firms in upper middle market
• Researching PE firms and PE industry online
• Connecting with PE operators (3-6 connections so far)
• Networking with CFOs, M&A, and PE focused consultants
• Considering networking groups where I could meet the right people

These approaches aren't enough at the moment. I'm learning and expanding my network, but it does not immediately put me closer to having a PE client lead or paid PE client.

What concerns me is that relationship building can take months, by some estimates. I do not know how to compress the getting to know you phase with new Linkedin connections.

Are there better ways to close the gap from "We just connected on Linkedin" to "Let's meet 1:1 virtually to get to know each other" to "Here's someone I recommend for tech due diligence"?

My true goal is to close 1 new client in Q2, but right now, I feel like I do not have certainty around how to build the right relationships (as I still feel new to networking) and I don't quite get how to build professional relationships.

- What is the ideal way to earn referrals from new connections?
- What are the best ways to show credibility to a new connection?
- What would help me land PE clients?

Then comes the income component. Right now, I do not have runway, CCs, partner to lean on. It's all on me. For bridge income, I've resorted to rideshare which is a prolific fall from my hourly rate. It's just flexible enough to let me have some space for business development.

I know my mom says starting a tech consulting business is bad timing, but the job market in the tech world isn't ideal either with 5-6 months+ for finding a new tech role. If the cards were equal, I know I'd rather be an entrepreneur than an employee. Still, reality says: wake up you need to make money. Rideshare is wildly unpredictable, extractive, with all the known bad things.

It would do a world of good to have independent, constructive, kind, perspectives on how to monetize my business sooner rather than later and how to survive financially when B2B sales cycles can span a few months to close.

I have formed my expertise inside of the tech world for the last 18 years, and now I am changing towards working with private equity industry.

I have worked in Fortune 500 environments where the projects I was working on carried significant financial responsibility; the most relevant was when I redesigned the software for a multi billion portfolio of projects that focused on long term value optimization. Then later, I worked at a financial company with trillions in assets under management.

All of this expertise that lives within me from being in those environments. I want to help private equity firms benefit from what I know about value creation from being inside a large portfolio focused on long term value creation.

Trust, reputation, track record, networking are the main ways people learn about each other, but I am new to the PE space. The challenge I am facing is that I do not have operating partners in my network.

A few questions come to mind:

• Should I create educational resources on my website to show expertise?
• Should resources be gated behind a landing page or just open access?
• What can make my past experience immediately valuable to an operating partner?
• What are the top 4 ways to connect with operating partners at PE firms?
• What is the best way to bridge the gap from an accepted Linkedin connection to actual 1:1 conversation?

Earlier today, I was using the audio feature inside of Claude, when my iPhone started switching to Audible or Spotify unprompted when I press the play icon inside of Claude.

This was very frustrating because I would literally have to stop Spotify and go back to Claude and press play again so it could read out loud the chat response.

It didn’t matter if I forced closed Spotify or Audible apl, it seems like the iOS was still defaulting to other audio sources, instead of the one I was actively seeking, using, listening to. I’m curious to find out if there is a solution for this?