Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Verdian: Private equity cannot fix software companies by deploying AI operating partners

Aram Verdian · Why Investors Are Rethinking Everything for the AI Era · Sep 10, 2026 · at 40:39

Aram Verdian from Accolade Partners discusses why superficial PE playbooks fail to adapt legacy software businesses to generative AI.

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“You can't just throw an operating partner at the company and say, let's put AI on it. It just doesn't work. You need to completely, and if you have, by the way, if you do have a founder mentality at the management team, like, it is possible, but the board has to be aligned, all the investors have to be aligned, and you do have to make some really hard decisions the way Intercom did.”

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