Inside the Most Secretive Industry in Finance

About this episode

Private equity is the most secretive industry in finance, and Lee McCabe says that secrecy is now its biggest weakness. Kyle Matthews sits down with the founder of Claymore Partners, a former leader at eBay, Expedia, Facebook, and Alibaba, to talk about how PE firms ran for 20 years on Outlook, Excel, and cheap debt, why about 70% of private equity's value creation came from leverage, and what the firms that win next will do differently. They also cover why most businesses still aren't built on data, the three numbers every CEO must know, where AI is working today and why it still lacks judgment, the Rotten Strawberry Award and 007 work culture at Alibaba, and Lee's upcoming book, The Trick Is Not Minding That It Hurts. Follow Lee McCabe: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leemccabe/ Learn More About Claymore Partners: Website: https://claymorepartners.com Learn More About Not Very Private Equity: Website: https://notveryprivateequity.com Get Lee's Book: The Trick Is Not Minding That It Hurts (May 2027) Follow Kyle Matthews CEO: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylematthewsceo TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kylematthewsceo X: https://x.com/kylematth