Episode 01 | Solo
Brand as a Lever
With Phillip McMillan, Founder and Managing Director, CS Brand Group · Hosted by Phillip McMillan · 11:47
A sponsor buys a business because they believe something about it the market hasn’t figured out yet. If that thesis lives only in the deal memo and the board deck, the company goes to exit looking a lot like the business they bought.
In this solo episode, Phillip McMillan lays out the frame for Buy. Build. Brand. He defines brand the way a deal team can use it: what the market believes about your business before anyone from that business is in the room. That belief is pricing in your favor or against you, and it rarely shows up as a line on the P&L, which is why nobody budgets for it.
In this episode
- A working definition of brand for sponsors, operating partners, and portfolio company CEOs
- The 3 ways the gap between the investment thesis and the market’s story shows up: the story falls behind the thesis, the company outgrows its brand, and the company needs a brand from day one
- A real example: a business whose high-margin testing and maintenance services were invisible to a market that still saw it as a parts and break-fix provider
- Where AI fits, in Phillip’s words: “AI makes the expert faster, but the expert makes the answer right.”
- 3 questions to ask about any portfolio company, and when each one is cheapest to answer: in the first 100 days, before close, and 12 to 24 months before exit
Pull up your homepage, give it 30 seconds with no banker in the room, and ask whether it tells the story you’re selling.
About the host
Phillip McMillan
Founder and Managing Director, CS Brand Group
Phillip works with private equity funds and their portfolio companies on brand strategy through platform development, acquisitions, integrations, and exits.
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Episode 02 | Guest conversation
Travis Dziubla
Managing Director, Pacific Avenue Capital Partners
Travis Dziubla discusses when identity work should begin, who needs a voice, and what a business risks when it postpones those decisions.
Episode 03 | Guest conversation
John Pickerill
Chair, Advertising, Marketing & Trademark Law Group, Fredrikson & Byron
What should a buyer know about the name a business operates under? John Pickerill discusses registration uncertainty, pending marks, and the brand protection questions that belong in M&A diligence.
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