
Ask HN: Spending time on VCs other bets - canterburry
Our company was bought some time ago by a private equity firm which also has many other holdings than us.<p>Our company holds many excellent people in key roles. We are increasingly spending our time on helping the equity company run and increase the value of their other holdings and find ourselves with less and less time running our own business.<p>For example, our VP of marketing is being asked to &quot;help out&quot; running marketing campaigns for other ventures. Same with our VP of finance and biz dev.<p>We hold no equity in their other bets. Is this common?
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brudgers
Private equity is not venture capital. Venture capital primarily seeks returns
via increasing the value of the equity of portfolio businesses. Private equity
typically seeks returns via cash flow using the assets of the underlying
business. In your description, private equity is using human resource assets
to increase value elsewhere in its portfolio. The private equity probably has
little upside in increasing the equity value of your company owing to the
likely circumstances of its sale. Good luck.

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smt88
I don't know if it's common, but does it matter? Doesn't the PE firm that owns
your employer get to decide how you spend your work time?

