📖 Weekend Time = Reading Time 📖

Breaking down the Bloom team's favorite reads

Happy Friday, founders and friends!

The summer weather is getting hot and so are the private markets 🔥. So far in 2021, private equity firms have struck 13 deals in the US worth $5 billion or more, surpassing last year's total of 11. Additionally, cheap debt has allowed firms to put more leverage into deals, a potential cause for concern.

Ryan K @r7_khan

Anyone else worried about leverage heading back to ‘07 levels?

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Top Reads 📚

In this week's newsletter, we are breaking down the Bloom team’s top 5 private markets investing-related reads from recent years. (No specific order)

1. The Gambler, By William C. Rempel.

   • One of Jay Vas’s top 3 reads from 2020

2. The Private Equity Playbook, By Adam Coffey.

   • A great read for operators as this is written from the perspective of PE-backed management

3. King of Capital, By David Carey & John E. Morris

   • One of the best books on finance history

4. Barbarians at the Gate, By Bryan Burrough and John Helyar

   • An oldie but a classic and entertaining read

5. The New Tycoons, By Jason Kelly

   • A behind the scenes look into some of the globe’s largest PE shops

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   What are your favorite reads from recent years? Let us know!

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What We’re Reading and Listening To…

📚 SaaS Metrics That Matter

🎧 How to Build Trust Between Private Equity Firms and Portfolio Companies

📚 Calculating Working Capital

🎧 Private Equity Masters: Paul Salem- Providence Equity Partners

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Favorites from the Ecosystem

Investors👇…..

Pink Polo Shorts @PinkPoloShorts

This may be a hot take, but the very aggressive PE firms like Sycamore have a Buffett (two t's!)-like strategy. They race to get a 1x return (via aggressive levered divi recap) then have a free call option on the future of the business. Mechanism is different but idea is the same

Founders👇……

Ryan Kaufman📈 @growth_student

Culture can make or break a startup... simple as that Here are 5 Culture Keys to Exponential Growth Driven by the Whole Team A thread👇

Operators👇…..

Hrishikesh Pardeshi @hrishiptweets

My startup will make $2 million in revenue this year with $0 spend on paid marketing. Our strategy to grow organically: - SEO - Launch on free platforms - Build audience on social media - Side projects as marketing departments Paid channels isn't the only way to grow & scale!

Dickie Bush 🚢 @dickiebush

Business writing is a superpower. But schools and employers do a horrible job teaching people to write. In 1981, two advertising executives wrote a timeless guide for how to write in the business world. And here are 12 of their tips you should staple to your desktop:

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News from the Industry: deals, deals, and more deals 💰

Valsoft Acquires Telematel

Cloudera to go private as KKR & CD&R grab it for $5.3B

Blackstone acquires tech publisher IDG for $1.3B

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End Note

As always, if you're enjoying The Weekly Bloom, we'd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. We try to make it one of the best emails you get each week, and we hope you're enjoying it.

And should you come across anything interesting this week, send it our way! We love finding new things to read through members of this newsletter.