Our approach to investing has always been to let management run their company while we help to fill in the gaps where and when necessary.  The relationship starts after we meet a team that shares our approach to building growth companies and work out a reasonable transaction for both sides. In the market segment in which we invest — small growth companies — management teams are rarely full from top to bottom. They might be ready for a CFO, or senior executives might be wearing multiple hats so there is an acute need for more focused talent as the business scales.  We see this time and time again — rapidly growing companies with great products but missing key pieces of the team.

We constantly find ourselves in the market searching for experienced executives to join our portfolio companies. We often joke that we are actually executive recruiters disguised as private ...Read More

Our investment process starts with two basic criteria — industry and growth.

We execute an industry-driven investment approach focused on growth companies in four dynamic sectors where we have extensive investment experience – Education, Healthcare, Tech-Enabled Service and Industrial Growth. We have a long track record of partnering with management teams to build leading companies for which strategic and financial acquirers will often pay attractive multiples upon exit.

Across these sectors, we look for common characteristics to find companies that best suit our style.

• Differentiated product or service.
• Stable, highly visible, or recurring revenue.
• Low or no customer concentration.
• Dynamic market where above average growth can be sustained during and after our ownership period.
• Valuation where ...Read More

Why should a private equity fund blog? And why should you care?

While we don’t yet have the answers to these questions, we do hope that over time the audience who finds these posts will appreciate our attempt. With this blog – let’s call it a conversation – we hope to broaden our influences beyond our own walls and to share with you a little bit about how we approach the business of investing and helping companies grow.

At Chicago Growth Partners, we have built our reputation by partnering with entrepreneurs and by being steady hands in managing our limited partners’ capital. Maintaining these relationships requires transparency, trust and a healthy dose of humility. And while we don’t always get it right, we certainly try to learn from our mistakes.

So far, this feedback loop has aided us over the two decades our team has ...Read More