A new private equity firm has raised $885 million with a bold proposition: instead of relying primarily on cost-cutting and financial engineering, embed AI engineers directly into portfolio companies to drive growth.

It's called Aldaron, and its founders come from Palantir and the Carlyle Group. The firm's first acquisition is Oak Point Partners, a business that specializes in finding and monetizing overlooked assets.

But is this genuinely a new model for private equity — or the same old PE playbook with a shiny new technology?

Emily Sander, Ed Barton, and Rory Liebhart dig into Aldaron's strategy and what AI could actually change about how private equity firms identify, acquire, and grow businesses. Ed and Rory are skeptical of the reinvention narrative, but see enormous potential in using AI to make existing businesses faster, more efficient, and more competitive.

The conversation gets into how investors should underwrite AI-driven growth, why AI by itself may not create a lasting competitive advantage, and how businesses that were previously unattractive acquisition targets could become valuable with a different operating model. Ed shares a real-world example of an AI-assisted development project that went from months of work to an overnight result, and explores how AI could dramatically change the economics of routine tax preparation.

They also tackle the human side: the risks of blindly trusting AI, why domain expertise and judgment still matter, and whether you'd rather build a business with a world-class dealmaker or a world-class AI engineer.

The central question isn't whether AI will transform business. It's whether that transformation creates genuinely new value — or simply gives investors a better tool for doing what they've always done.

Links Mentioned:

The Wall Street Journal — A New Private-Equity Firm Specializes in Giving Companies AI Glow-Ups
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/a-new-private-equity-firm-specializes-in-giving-companies-ai-glow-ups-86fcb48e

PE Hub — Aldaron Launches With Majority Stake in Remnant Asset Buyer Oak Point Partners
https://www.pehub.com/aldaron-launches-with-majority-stake-in-remnant-asset-buyer-oak-point-partners/

Oak Point Partners
https://www.oakpointpartners.com/home

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🎙 Podcast – Strategies, PE 101 & witty banter

📚 Book – On‑Ramp to Exit, full deal life cycle

🛠 Resources – Free templates, guides, tools

🔗 LinkedIn – Follow us for fresh PE insights

================================

Who Are We?

Three insiders. One mic. All things private equity — explained. Hi 👋 We’re Ed, Rory, and Emily — a CEO, a CFO, and a Chief of Staff — here to demystify the world of private equity. Between us, we’ve sat in the founder’s chair, run PE‑backed companies, and worked on the deal side, so we know the wins, the pitfalls, and the jargon (and we’ll explain it).

Through the Private Equity Experience Podcast, our book On‑Ramp to Exit, and a library of free tools and templates, we share real‑world stories, practical strategies, and insider insights to help you navigate every stage of the PE journey — whether you’re leading a portfolio company, joining a deal team, considering PE, or just PE‑curious.

🔗Connect with Ed

🔗Connect with Emily

🔗Connect with Rory

Two companies we previously dissected on Private Equity Experience have now filed Chapter 11: LIV Golf and Leslie’s Poolmart.

Same bankruptcy chapter. Very different businesses — and very different reasons for ending up there.

In this episode, Emily Sander, Ed Barton, and Rory Liebhart revisit both cases to explain what Chapter 11 actually means in practical business terms. They unpack why bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily mean a company has failed or is shutting down, how a prepackaged bankruptcy works, what debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing does, and why creditors may agree to swap debt for equity rather than simply try to collect what they’re owed.

LIV Golf burned through billions trying to build a challenger to the PGA Tour, only to discover that buying star players didn’t automatically create enough consumer demand or media revenue. Leslie’s, meanwhile, had a proven business that expanded during the pandemic boom, took on significant debt and fixed costs, and then found itself unable to support that structure when demand normalized.

The contrast gets at one of the most important ideas in restructuring: a bad capital structure and a bad business are not necessarily the same thing. Chapter 11 can provide a mechanism to renegotiate obligations, reduce debt, shed contracts and leases, and give a viable underlying business another shot.

The hosts also break down who actually makes decisions in bankruptcy, what happens to existing shareholders, why creditors sometimes become the new owners, and why Leslie’s may emerge as a solid business while LIV Golf still has a much bigger question to answer: is there a viable business there at all?

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🎙 Podcast – Strategies, PE 101 & witty banter

📚 Book – On‑Ramp to Exit, full deal life cycle

🛠 Resources – Free templates, guides, tools

🔗 LinkedIn – Follow us for fresh PE insights

================================

Who Are We?

Three insiders. One mic. All things private equity — explained. Hi 👋 We’re Ed, Rory, and Emily — a CEO, a CFO, and a Chief of Staff — here to demystify the world of private equity. Between us, we’ve sat in the founder’s chair, run PE‑backed companies, and worked on the deal side, so we know the wins, the pitfalls, and the jargon (and we’ll explain it).

Through the Private Equity Experience Podcast, our book On‑Ramp to Exit, and a library of free tools and templates, we share real‑world stories, practical strategies, and insider insights to help you navigate every stage of the PE journey — whether you’re leading a portfolio company, joining a deal team, considering PE, or just PE‑curious.

🔗Connect with Ed

🔗Connect with Emily

🔗Connect with Rory

Grab your popcorn! In this special inaugural watch-along episode of the Private Equity Experience Podcast, hosts Emily Sander, Ed Barton, and Rory Liebhart watch and react in real-time to the 1993 financial classic, Barbarians at the Gate. Based on the legendary 1988 leveraged buyout (LBO) of RJR Nabisco, this movie details the greed, corporate excess, high-stakes boardroom warfare, and private equity maneuvering between CEO F. Ross Johnson and KKR's Henry Kravis.Ed, Rory, and Emily provide running commentary on the financial mechanics, corporate governance dynamics, bidding war psychology, and how dealmaking has evolved from the wild 1980s junk-bond era to today's PE universe.

The Deal That Defined Private Equity: The $25+ billion takeover of RJR Nabisco by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) remains the benchmark mega-deal that transformed modern corporate finance and institutional buyouts.

MBO vs. External PE Sponsors: How Ross Johnson's attempt to take RJR Nabisco private via a Management Buyout triggered an open auction that ultimately cost him control of the company.

Corporate Governance Lessons: The critical role of independent board committees, conflict-of-interest disclosures, and shareholder value maximization when management participates in a buyout bid.

The Evolution of Debt & Leverage: Contrasting the high-yield "junk bond" frenzy of the 1980s with modern PE capital structures, covenant packages, and debt underwriting standards.

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🎙 Podcast – Strategies, PE 101 & witty banter

📚 Book – On‑Ramp to Exit, full deal life cycle

🛠 Resources – Free templates, guides, tools

🔗 LinkedIn – Follow us for fresh PE insights

================================

Who Are We?

Three insiders. One mic. All things private equity — explained. Hi 👋 We’re Ed, Rory, and Emily — a CEO, a CFO, and a Chief of Staff — here to demystify the world of private equity. Between us, we’ve sat in the founder’s chair, run PE‑backed companies, and worked on the deal side, so we know the wins, the pitfalls, and the jargon (and we’ll explain it).

Through the Private Equity Experience Podcast, our book On‑Ramp to Exit, and a library of free tools and templates, we share real‑world stories, practical strategies, and insider insights to help you navigate every stage of the PE journey — whether you’re leading a portfolio company, joining a deal team, considering PE, or just PE‑curious.

🔗Connect with Ed

🔗Connect with Emily

🔗Connect with Rory