About this episode
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today’s episode provides a fascinating window into the world of private equity value creation and how AI can help transform both portfolio company and investment firm processes and operations to create value.We sat down in New York with Hg Partner and Head of Value Creation Chris Kindt to dive into how he spearheaded the growth of the firm’s in-house value creation efforts and has built a high-performing team to meet the evolving needs of portfolio companies.Chris brings 15 years of experience in architecting and driving value creation to bear, with 11 years of experience at Hg and another 8 years as a consultant at BCG and Parthenon.Chris and his team are responsible for driving value across a portfolio of 55 companies that represents over $180B in enterprise value and would represent the second largest software company in Europe after SAP if it were a conglomerate.Chris and I had a thought-provoking discussion about value creation and the impact of AI on investing and operating companies. We discussed:How to build a high-performing value creation team.Where value creation has the biggest impact.How AI is transforming investment processes.How Hg has become an “AI-first” investment firm.Where AI will have the most impact in a company today and why agentic AI is transforming certain roles and processes within companies.How professionals can generate the most leverage from utilizing AI – without having cognitive decline.Why prompting and prompt engineering is so critical in the age of AI (and how you can use your weekends to perfect prompt engineering).How a management team can buy into AI and why the current time period represents an interesting opportunity for incumbents, particularly for those building mission-critical enterprise software.Thanks Chris for sharing your expertise and wisdom on company building and AI. We hope you enjoy.Note: this episode was filmed in August 2025.A word from AGM podcast sponsor, Ultimus Fund SolutionsThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus Fund Solutions, a leading full-service fund administrator for asset managers in private and public markets. As private markets continue to move into the mainstream, the industry requires infrastructure solutions that help funds and investors keep pace. In an increasingly sophisticated financial marketplace, investment managers must navigate a growing array of challenges: elaborate fund structures, specialized strategies, evolving compliance requirements, a growing need for sophisticated reporting, and intensifying demands for transparency.To assist with these challenging opportunities, more and mo
