The Practitioner's Guide to Private Equity

Download the Bellwether IC Memo walk-through

The fully populated IC memo from Project Bellwether — a hypothetical $48M EV services-business buyout — walked through section by section the way a real partner would present it to IC. Read what the guide actually delivers, free, before you decide on the full reference.

14 pages · PDF. No email required.

↓ Download the free PDF

Who this guide is for

The thesis behind this guide is that PE methodology becomes the operating discipline for any growing company that crosses into M&A as a recurring strategy — whether the wrapper is a fund, a publicly-listed roll-up, a family-office direct-investing platform, or a corporate-development team. The persona-routing table below tells you where to start.

You are…	Start with these chapters
Founding GP raising your first fund	Ch 4 Fund Structure · Ch 9 LP Capital Raising & Roadshow · Apx H LP Directory · Ch 11 Fund Admin · Ch 13 LP Cadence Agendas
Senior partner at an established firm	Ch 7 Portfolio Construction · Ch 12 Insurance Float (Berkshire model) · Ch 18 Valuation Governance (ASC 820) · Ch 23 Operating Cadence with Portcos · Ch 31 Exit Strategy & Process
Operating partner / portfolio CFO	Ch 23 Operating Cadence · Ch 24 Value-Creation Plans · Ch 27 Portco KPI Dashboards · CFO Companion Guide cross-references
Public-company CFO or Controller running a tuck-in / roll-up program (written by one — Armor Holdings, NYSE, 2000s)	Ch 14 Sourcing · Ch 17 LOI & Negotiation · Ch 18 Valuation Governance · Ch 19 Quality of Earnings · Ch 21 Working Capital Peg · Ch 22 Purchase Accounting · Ch 23 Operating Cadence · Ch 26 Portco Tax (§382 NOL) · Ch 31 Exit Process
Corporate-development VP / Head of M&A at a strategic acquirer	Ch 14 Sourcing · Ch 15 Pipeline Discipline · Ch 17 LOI · Ch 18 Valuation · Ch 19 QofE · Ch 20 Confirmatory DD · Ch 21 Working Capital Peg · Ch 22 Purchase Accounting · Ch 23 Operating Cadence · CFO Companion Guide cross-references
Family-office direct-investing team	Ch 7 Portfolio Construction · Ch 14 Sourcing · Ch 17 LOI · Ch 18 Valuation · Ch 23 Operating Cadence · Ch 31 Exit Process · Family Office Reference Guide cross-references
Search-fund operator running a serial acquisition strategy	Ch 1-3 Foundations · Ch 14 Sourcing · Ch 17 LOI · Ch 18-21 Deal Execution · Business Buyer's Guide cross-references
LP underwriting a fund	Ch 4 Fund Structure · Ch 7 Portfolio Construction · Ch 18 Valuation Governance · Ch 32 Track Record Analysis · Apx C DD Service-Provider Directory
First-year PE associate	Read front-to-back. Ch 1-3 set context, Ch 14-22 are the deal-execution backbone you'll touch every week.
M&A advisor / banker working with PE buyers	Ch 14 Sourcing & Origination · Ch 17 LOI & Negotiation · Ch 19 Quality of Earnings · Ch 21 Working Capital Peg · Ch 31 Exit Process
CPA / law firm serving PE-backed portcos	Ch 11 Fund Admin & K-1 Timing · Ch 18 Valuation Governance · Ch 26 Portco Tax · Apx C DD Service-Provider Directory

38 chapters across 5 parts, plus 8 appendices including the LP Directory, DD Service-Provider Directory, AI Tool Prompts, Glossary, and Index. Page counts are approximate.

PART I · Foundations

1What Private Equity Actually Is (and Isn't)p1

2The Five Strategies (LBO, Growth, VC, Distressed, Real Assets)p9

3Fund Lifecycle & Capital Stack Anatomyp17

4Fund Structure & Legal Architecturep27

4BLocation Decision & State Estate Tax Supplementp37

5Carry, Hurdle, Catch-up, GP Commitment Mathp45

6The Side-Letter Walk-through (with matrix template)p55

7Portfolio Constructionp67

PART II · Raising Capital

8First-Time-Fund Reality (and the case for "Fund Zero")p79

9LP Capital Raising & the Roadshowp87

10PPM, LPA, Subscription Documentsp99

11Fund Admin, K-1 Timing, Tax Cadencep111

12Insurance Float — the Berkshire Model in PEp121

13LP Cadence — Quarterly Letters, AGM, AMM, ad hoc callsp129

PART III · Sourcing & Diligence

14Sourcing & Origination — Channels, Conferences, Tradeshowsp139

15CIM Reading & First-Pass Filterp153

16IOI, LOI, Indication Negotiationp161

17Term Sheets & Exclusivityp171

18Quality of Earnings & Valuation Methodology (with ASC 820 mapping)p179

19Commercial DD, Customer Calls, Win-Loss Diligencep191

20Operational DD, IT/Cyber DD, ESG/HR DDp201

PART IV · Closing & Operating

21Working Capital Peg, Indebtedness, & Other Adjustmentsp213

22R&W Insurance, Escrow, Holdback, Indemnityp223

23Operating Cadence with Portcos (the 100-day plan + monthly rhythm)p233

24Value-Creation Plans & Operating Leversp245

25Add-on Acquisitions & Roll-up Mechanicsp257

26Portco Tax Strategy (PTET, §382 NOL, §163(j))p267

27Portco KPI Dashboards & Board Materialsp277

PART V · Exit & Fund Wind-down

28Exit Strategy Selection (Sponsor, Strategic, IPO, Recap, Continuation)p287

29Sell-side Process Managementp297

30GP-led Secondaries & Continuation Vehiclesp307

31Exit Process Mechanics (data room, mgmt presentation, bid evaluation)p315

32Track Record Construction & Auditp325

33Hiring, Comp Structure, Career Architecturep333

34Building the Operating Partner Benchp339

35AI in the PE Workflow (sourcing, DD, monitoring)p345

36The Solo M&A Boutique Pivotp351

37Common Mistakes & the Recovery Playbookp357

38Where the Industry Is Going (and Where It Isn't)p365

Appendices

AProject Bellwether — running deal walk-throughp373

B9 Deal-type Sample Models & When to Use Eachp377

CDD Service-Provider Directory (legal, QofE, IT, ins, etc.)p381

DGlossary of PE Termsp385

EMaster Reference (cross-reference between chapters)p389

FAI Tool Prompts (120+ practitioner-grade prompts)p393

GWorkbook Index (all 11 tabs)p397

HLP Directory — who to call to raise moneyp399

IIndex of terms with page referencesp403

Preview the inside pages

12 sample pages from the actual guide — cover, table of contents, persona routing, sample chapter openers, and back matter. These are the actual pages that ship; not marketing renders.

Cover

Table of contents

Persona-routing

Part I opener

Fund formation

Part II — LP raise

Sourcing & diligence

IC memo discipline

Valuation methodology

Portfolio operations

Sector specialization

Back matter / glossary

What's actually in the bundle

1. The reference guide (PDF)

38 chapters + 9 appendices. Searchable, hyperlinked TOC and index. AI prompts inline at section boundaries (50+ across the book). Single-user license for one practitioner.

2. The companion Excel workbook (XLSX)

11 tabs. Fund-level economics (carry waterfall, LP/GP splits, MOIC + IRR), portfolio construction simulator, deal-level LBO model with sensitivity tornado, working-capital peg builder, and valuation governance tracker tied to ASC 820. Every model branded, formatted in thousands, no $-signs in cells, right-justified. The same workbook a partner uses, not a textbook example.

3. Nine deal-type sample models

LBO, Roll-up, Add-on, Dividend Recap, Take-Private, Growth Equity, Distressed, Real Estate, Software/SaaS. Each is a working Excel file with Drivers tab + Tornado sensitivity, three-statement output, debt schedule, and exit scenarios. Use them as starting templates for your own deals.

4. Project Bellwether — fully populated sample deal

A complete IC memo, fully populated full model, and IC presentation deck for a hypothetical $48M EV services-business buyout. The IC memo walks through every section a real IC memo contains, the model is formula-driven and ties out across all three statements, and the deck is the actual deck the partner would present. Use as the gold-standard reference.

Plus: Free live tools derived from this guide

Six free interactive tools at tools.baratelliinstitute.com run the math from the guide on your scenario. No purchase required.

PE Fund Economics Deal Multiples DCF Sanity Check Working Capital Peg Asset vs. Stock Sale §382 NOL Limitation

Editorial provenance

This guide has gone through 8 simulated review committees and 2 compliance reviews. The committees included 20 PE-industry voices (founding GPs at Apollo / Carlyle / KKR-style firms, senior LPs from CalPERS / OTPP / GIC archetypes, fund-administration practitioners, Big-4 audit partners specializing in funds, and PE counsel from Kirkland / Simpson / Latham archetypes), plus a publishing-craft committee covering pedagogy, voice, structure, and reader-experience. The compliance review covered IRS, SEC, FASB, and state-revenue specialist perspectives.

Every issue flagged in review has been folded into the text. The guide is in final pre-launch polish.

About the author

Philip A. Baratelli, CPA, MBA — Founder, Baratelli Institute. Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

20+ years in operating finance and M&A. The guides in this library are the references he wished existed when he was doing the work.

The Practitioner's Guide to Private Equity

$349 Single-user license · PDF + Excel workbook + 9 deal-type models + Bellwether sample artifacts

11-tab companion Excel workbook
9 deal-type sample models (LBO, Roll-up, Add-on, Dividend Recap, Take-Private, Growth Equity, Distressed, Real Estate, SaaS)
Project Bellwether — populated IC memo + full model + IC deck
Free updates for 12 months after purchase

Buy on Gumroad →