The Private Equity Podcast, by Raw Selection Learnings from a $1BN+ exit and 300 investments in Private Equity
8 snips
Feb 24, 2026 Richard Fitzgerald, co-founder and managing partner of CapitalSpring, built a sector-focused PE firm that scaled from $3M to 300 investments and a $1B+ exit. He discusses why multi-location consumer and foodservice businesses win, how specialization beats generalist approaches, the value of labor-light models, and a hybrid debt/equity playbook that helped fundraising in a tough market.
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Specialization Wins In Crowded Private Equity
- Sector specialization yields competitive advantage by being 'inch wide, mile deep' and attracting deals without needing to be the highest bidder.
- Richard started CapitalSpring in 2005 after mapping the market and seeing specialist firms consistently win competitive processes.
Main Street Franchisees Are A Large Underinvested Market
- Main Street multi-location and franchised consumer businesses are undercapitalized by specialists despite being massive and resilient.
- Richard observed familiar brands everywhere and concluded there's a short line for specialized PE in this segment.
Humble $3M Start Scaled To $4B Over Two Decades
- CapitalSpring launched with a $3 million test fund in 2005 and scaled to ~300 investments across 100 brands and $4 billion deployed over 20 years.
- The firm learned repeatable playbooks by doing similar multi-location consumer deals repeatedly, turning bruises into best practices.
