Dave Welsh, a member and head of TMT growth equity for KKR’s private equity platform, shares his strategies for how growth-stage companies can thrive during an economic downturn.

While early stage companies have enjoyed a very favorable funding environment recently, Sand Hill East’s Josh Burwick argues that those without a solid business plan may face a wake up call in 2016.

There are many steps involved in starting a business and lots of potential for making mistakes, writes Jeremy Sutter in a post for PitchBook. Many of these mistakes could be very expensive in the long run.

As venture capital investment dollars become more guarded and less deals are happening, avoiding the most common mistakes and pitfalls becomes even more important. One of those pitfalls is the illusive pursuit of the big logo.

Cybersecurity is quickly emerging as one of the most important threats to businesses in 2015 and beyond. Here are three major forms of attacks that startups may face and why they are so dangerous.

Private equity and venture capital firms investing in B2C verticals have for some time embraced branding as a key to creating growth and value —but those focused on B2B have been slow to leverage brand as a growth engine.

While many of today’s private equity investors hold plenty of capital, frequently they find too few companies for sale in which to invest. To identify value that competitors miss, one area PE investors can focus on is workforce management.

In a post for PitchBook, Jenner & Block partners Neil Cummings, G. Thomas Stromberg and Richard Levin explain what you need to know about agreements among lenders in unitranche financings. The post covers topics such as voting provisions, buyout rights, right of first offer or refusal, bankruptcy-related issues and much more.

As merger and acquisition activity heats up, IT leaders need to be prepared to take a more active role in ensuring that value is properly assessed before the transaction is completed, and then delivered during the integration process that follows.

No doubt you have a variety of experts and resources that help you stay ahead of the curve. But do you ever wonder who influences your influencers? One answer is research firms.

Early stage VCs have been coming back to fundraise faster and this trend may persist if financing dynamics continue at their current pace. In a post using PitchBook Data, Sapphire Ventures’ Winter Mead explores the topic.

While the major disrupters of the previous decade are well known, new startups that promise to reshape even more legacy industries are forming every day. Here’s a snapshot of four with the biggest potential to change the way we do business.

By providing analytical leverage, thought partnership and process roadmap support during the strategic planning process, PE professionals can sharply increase the likelihood that a portfolio company’s strategy is robust, pragmatic and executable, writes Blue Ridge Partners managing director Tory Ramaker.

Your business pulled the trigger on a merger or acquisition. Congratulations! You just entered a world of new capabilities, efficiencies and opportunities. You’ve also invited a million questions about your new organization, starting with this one: Who are you now?

In a post for the PitchBook Blog, The Keystone Group’s Jeff Alvis writes on how inattentive/poor culture integration is “one of the main reasons industry leaders cite when they describe outcomes that, in retrospect, were unnecessarily or unknowingly ‘set up for failure.’”

If investors don’t aggressively push for in depth disclosure from private companies, then they are at risk of investing at artificially high valuations, writes Josh Burwick, managing partner at Sand Hill East Ventures.

When a merger or an acquisition is on the table, hard facts and complex financials are under the microscope. While these are critical parts of an acquisition, they’re not the only things to consider. Once the dust settles, it’s often the nonfinancial aspects that will determine whether the deal will make it in the long run.

The VC frenzy has created a reality distortion, and the result has been sky high burn rates, unrealistic expectations, and crazy valuations, writes Josh Burwick, managing partner at Sand Hill East Ventures, in a guest contribution.