We often work with PE firms who have recently acquired a company and, as part of their plan to grow the value of that company, implement new systems to build the type of culture they’ve seen succeed in other businesses. Whether you’re just getting started or trying to spark new growth in a mature company, you’re going to be asking yourself how to develop a commitment culture.

When I hear about “referrals” I often to think about raffles, giveaways, and other monetary incentives. After speaking with Josh Haymond, partner at VACO, my ideals have changed. Referrals at the enterprise level are more about creating deep, “help me help you” relationships than they are about creating short-term financial incentives.

Investors working with private companies experience the same free and ubiquitous access to data that much of the tech industry realized in the late 2000’s but have yet to capitalize on the opportunity. If you take a random sample of fund managers and ask them how they leverage data from due-diligence, portfolio monitoring, or their own fund’s operation, the answer generally encompasses a mix of analysts, cumbersome excel files, and CRMs. The data is available but locked in an antiquated system. Herein lies the opportunity.