Christopher Harned
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Hey Christopher — similar path (IB → PE). been thinking a lot about proprietary origination in food & beverage / consumer lately. would be good to connect.
Hey Christopher, looks like we share a similar IB → PE path, though I was in London at CS & Greenhill not on the Lehman / Nomura side like you. origination was always the same story for me — clear thesis, decent relationships, but no proprietary system of record tying anything together. every deal virtually sourced from scratch, nothing compounding over time. curious if that's still how most funds operate or if I'm behind the times? — Russ
Hey Christopher, looks like we share a similar IB → PE path, though I was in London doing growth equity deals not in NYC running global consumer M&A at Lehman like you. the pattern I keep seeing with most funds is weirdly consistent — strong thesis, solid network, but no proprietary system of record. the people, tools and ideas are never really connected, so every deal is virtually sourced from scratch. nothing compounds on itself. curious if that resonates or if you've built something different at Windhover? — Russ
hey Christopher — no worries if the timing's off. most funds I talk to have tried some version of building origination in-house — analyst pulling from Pitchbook or Grata, maybe using ChatGPT to help qualify, dumping it into a spreadsheet. each piece kind of works, but there's no system of record tying it together. the people, tools and ideas are all disconnected, so there's tonnes of wasted energy and everything ends up out of sync. been helping a few funds like Mentmore work through that. curious if you've run into the same thing at Windhover? — Russ
totally get it if origination infrastructure isn't top of mind right now — most funds have 10 things ahead of it on the priority list. the funds I've seen crack it early just tend to compound deal flow in a way that's hard to replicate later. if it ever moves up the list, I'm easy to find. — Russ
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Prospect Research
## PROSPECT INFORMATION: Name: Christopher Harned Title: Co-Founder & Managing Partner Fund: Windhover Capital Background: Name: Chris Harned Current Role: Managing Partner & Co-Founder at Windhover Capital (since November 2020). Location: New York, New York. Professional Focus: Chris focuses on Private Equity investing within the Consumer sector, specifically the Food, Beverage, and Pet sub-sectors. His strategy involves partnering with business owners to accelerate value creation through transformational financial and intellectual capital. Background: He has over 35 years of experience in investment banking and private equity. Prior to co-founding Windhover, he was a Partner at Arbor Investments where he led the acquisition and carve-out of Red Collar Pet Foods from Mars. He also served as the Head of Consumer Americas for Nomura (2014-2016), Managing Director at Robert W. Baird & Co. (2011-2014), and spent 16 years at Lehman Brothers, where he was the Head of Global Consumer M&A. Key Skills: Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Private Equity, Strategic Advisory, Consumer Products, Valuation, and Capital Markets. Education: BA in History from Williams College (1985), where he was captain of the golf team, a NESCAC champion, and recipient of the Grosvenor Memorial Award. Board Memberships: Currently serves on the boards of Titan Frozen Fruit, Lakeview Farms, Southeastern Meats, and Quad/Graphics. Former board member of FreshPet and Red Collar Pet Foods. Posts and Activities: - On December 22, 2016, Chris reshared a post by Vince Capurso regarding tax changes and added the quote: "Harned@arborpic.com" - On November 03, 2017, Chris posted the quote: "Ki" Fund details: - Description: Windhover Capital is a food, beverage, pet and consumer focused private equity firm based in Seattle, Milwaukee and New York. Our strategy is to partner with management teams and owners to build strategic value, improve profitability and accelerate growth. - Website: https://windhovercap.com - Location: Seattle, Washington, United States - Lead qualification: Research: - Query: =Windhover Capital Christopher Harned recent investments fund thesis - Answer: Windhover Capital, founded in 2021, focuses on food, beverage, pet, and consumer sectors. Christopher Harned co-founded it in late 2020. Their latest investment was in Titan Frozen Fruit in January 2023.