Bryce McDonald

🧵 The classic private equity playbook—financial engineering &amp; cost-cutting—is hitting limits. Higher interest rates &amp; fierce competition are squeezing returns. Meanwhile, the US industrial sector is under-optimized, ripe for transformation. Enter the “venture buyout” model

Venture buyouts target under-digitized businesses, using AI to drive 3–5x returns. Firms like Saxe Capital, Aldaron, Euclid Capital, General Catalyst, Bessemer are leading the charge, transforming businesses with AI / applications from their portfolio companies
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Most firms are focused on sectors with limited physical component (e.g., finance, professional, admin services). Volis has built capability in applying data/AI to physical-world businesses. We work with operators to build processes for collecting & surfacing ground-level physical data
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The opportunity? Middle &amp; lower-middle market industrial sectors—manufacturing, O&amp;G, construction, mining. These businesses often lack real-time visibility into physical operations. Critical data is scattered or missing, hampering efficiency and growth
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By aggregating and structuring data into a single source of truth, high-agency exec teams can drive operational improvements. Real-time insights enable smarter cost-cutting and fuel growth, transforming underperforming industrial businesses
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A well-executed data/AI transformation can deliver 2–5x EBITDA growth in ~5 years. This model taps into a critical yet overlooked segment of the American economy, where potential upside is massive
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