Asset-Light/Virtual Buyouts

From a MM and LMM perspective, optimizing human capital has always been a critical pillar of an investment. Having a specific theme on WFH is too limited in scope to be a thesis on which a firm builds its investment strategy. The commentary on access to talent outside of HCOL, adaptability, etc. is something that already happens on a daily basis throughout corporate America. Specifically, in human capital-centric businesses, you have always had this dynamic of contractors vs employees. Do you want to manage utilization, or do you want the flexibility of a contractor? Asset-light is honestly quite an overused term when discussing business models in finance. The dynamic nature of managing employees, executives, and teams means there is not a single approach, like WFH. PE firms will pay up for top talent, whether that is external recruiters, compensation plans, new office locations, WFH, etc. I'm also of the belief that when you are building a growing business there are only certain operations that can be WFH. Most management and executive functions aren't optimized for WFH in a MM or LMM business. I can tell you that having done multiple add-ons through COVID, you saw significant integration and alignment the moment teams started meeting together in person vs virtual meetings.