Roles in Investment Banking, Private Equity, Hedge Fund / Crossover, and as a General Partner / Independent Sponsor all have provided different but relevant skills / lessons for usage in professional investing. Private investing experience spanning traditional private equity, growth investing, and late-stage growth / pre-IPO rounds. I now manage a small investment firm in a founder capacity, having launched a private equity style independent sponsor focused on majority acquisitions in the lower middle market. We have executed and are in the process of executing additional platform investments and are constantly looking for add-ons to our existing businesses. My founder / independent sponsor angle enables me to provide some unique insight that extend beyond the typical 'breaking in' and 'due diligence' type topics and into things like capital raising, interfacing with our LPs / investors, assessment of categories, different strategies of deployment (e.g. roll-up vs. investing in organic growth), etc. This role also results in oversight of the operating companies and extends my involvement into operations and marrying the function of the sponsor with the operating company.