Accounting has been around for five thousand years. The modern profession has been around for one hundred. And for most of that century, almost nothing about it has actually changed.

Then in five years, it all moved at once. Over $200 billion of private equity capital across roughly 150 deals. Eleven of the top thirty US firms now PE-backed. AI absorbing workflows that hadn't been touched in a generation. The industry that quietly underwrites every business decision in the economy, being rebuilt in real time.

In this episode of Why We Like It, Sam Tidswell-Norrish sits down with two people on opposite ends of the same grid.

Frank Longobardi spent forty-five years inside the profession, the last of them as CEO of CohnReznick. He explains what private equity actually saw that the partners didn't - the capital problem, the governance trap, and the moment a generation of partners realized their equity was worth multiples of what they'd been told.

Ariel Harmoko is the co-founder and CEO of Artifact, the agentic AI platform now cleared by HMRC to file tax returns directly with the regulator. A former Formula 3 driver and Cambridge machine learning researcher, he delivers one of the sharpest unscripted answers we've had on the show - on where the $900 billion value-creation story actually lives, and who really wins the next decade.

Two generations. Two vantage points. One profession being re-engineered in real time.

Conference realignment. The transfer portal. A $20.5M-per-school revenue-sharing mandate that didn't exist two years ago.

Streaming platforms spending north of $14B on rights. Sports is being rebuilt from the ground up and on this episode, Sam talks to two people whose careers have shaped many of the defining moments along the way. Chris Bevilacqua built the proof of concept that became every conference media network you know today.
Chris Marinak spent nearly two decades inside MLB, helping deliver innovations like the pitch clock and the ABS challenge system.

Now both at Playfly Sports, they discuss media rights, college sports, hyper-personalization, and what fans should expect over the next five years.

Every year, the private equity industry gets more competitive. More capital chasing a similar supply of deals. Valuations staying firm. The arbitrages of buying low and selling high evaporating. For over a decade, outcomes were supported by multiple expansion and leverage. That era is over. Performance now depends on operational improvement and revenue growth, and the firms that can deliver real value creation are pulling away from those that cannot.

In this episode of Why We Like It, Sam Tidswell-Norrish sits down with Sean Mooney, founder and CEO of BluWave. Sean is a 20-year private equity veteran who went from PE partner and investment committee member to building BluWave, a platform now trusted by hundreds of top PE firms and thousands of portfolio companies to connect investors with pre-vetted operators, consultants, and interim executives across due diligence, value creation, and exit preparation.
They go deep on where firms consistently get it wrong, why people remain the single biggest lever in value creation, how revenue growth has overtaken cost cutting as the primary driver of exit valuation, and why AI is rapidly shifting from buzzword to tactical deployment. Sean shares what he calls the three board meeting problem, a pattern he sees play out across the industry, and a decision-making framework from US military doctrine that changed how he operates in uncertain environments.

The conversation closes with four factors Sean believes every founder should evaluate before taking PE capital for the first time. Together, they explore why operational value creation is no longer a marketing narrative but the primary source of returns, and why the firms that run the business of private equity like a business are the ones building durable, long-term performance.

The car wash industry is far larger, more sophisticated, and more structurally attractive than most people realize.

In North America alone, it generates over $15 billion in annual revenue across more than 60,000 locations. What was once a transactional, cash-based business has quietly evolved into a recurring-revenue, asset-intensive consumer infrastructure platform powered by subscriptions, density economics, and operational discipline.

In this episode of Why We Like It, Sam Tidswell-Norrish sits down with John Standley, CEO of Spotless Brands, and Matthew Schroeder, CFO of Spotless Brands, to unpack what it really takes to scale a car wash business from a handful of sites into a national platform. They go deep on unit economics, market density, infrastructure investment, team building, and why execution, not just growth, is what separates the winners from the rest.

The conversation then broadens with Eric Wulf, CEO of the International Car Wash Association, who brings a macro lens to where the industry is heading. From subscriptions and predictive maintenance to AI, automation, robotics, and the long-term shift toward B2B and fleet washing, Eric lays out how technology and data are reshaping both the operating model and the opportunity set.

Together, they explore why this sector continues to attract institutional capital, how durable returns are really built at scale, and why car wash should be viewed not as a commodity service but as a high-utilization consumer infrastructure business with long-term growth potential.

Infrastructure is often discussed through megaprojects and headline spending. In this episode of Why We Like It, we look beneath the surface at one of the most essential, and most underestimated, parts of the U.S. economy: asphalt.

Sam is joined by Shawn Godwin, CEO, and Craig Berkey, President of Palmetto, one of the most respected paving operators in the United States. Drawing on decades of operating experience, they unpack why asphalt sits at the core of economic activity, how rising traffic volumes and heavier vehicles are accelerating wear, and why maintenance-driven demand makes this category structurally resilient.

The episode also features Amy Miller, President of the Asphalt Contractors Association of Florida, who brings a policy and industry-wide perspective. Amy shares how workforce constraints, funding mechanisms, and technology adoption are shaping the future of asphalt, as well as why collaboration between operators, associations, and state agencies is critical to maintaining and improving U.S. infrastructure.

Together, the conversations explore why asphalt is such a compelling lower middle market category: high fragmentation, non-discretionary demand, execution-driven margins, and long-term durability. This is an episode about the physical systems that keep the real economy moving, quietly, reliably, and at scale.

Aviation doesn’t run on headlines or hype, it runs on maintenance, execution, and the people who keep complex systems moving every day.

In this episode of Why We Like It, we go inside the engine room of the aviation industry with three leaders who have spent their careers operating at its most demanding edges: Greg Smith (G2 Equity Partners), Leanne Caret (former CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security), and Ed Clark (former Boeing executive and longtime operator).

Together, they unpack what’s really shaping the future of aviation today from aging fleets and global supply constraints to workforce pressure, digitization, and the growing role of private capital in sustaining critical infrastructure.

This is a grounded conversation about what it actually takes to run, scale, and modernize aviation services. We talk about why MRO has become one of the most strategically important parts of the ecosystem, how predictive maintenance and data are changing execution on the ground, and where real value is being created (and lost) as the industry evolves.

You’ll hear hard-earned perspective on leadership under pressure, operational discipline, and what separates organizations that merely survive from those that compound advantage over time.

If you’re interested in how complex, asset-heavy industries really work and where the next decade of aviation value will be built, this episode is for you.

College sports, the NFL, and the broader sports economy are entering the most disruptive decade in their history.
Media rights are being rewritten. NIL is reshaping athlete value. Conferences are realigning. Teams are becoming tech companies. And fans behave more like digital consumers than ever before.

In this episode of Why We Like It, we sit down with three leaders operating at the center of this transformation:

• Tyrell Kirkham: Chief Brand & Business Officer, Big 12
Overseeing one of the most commercially dynamic conferences in the country, sitting at the intersection of media rights, school strategy, and the evolution of collegiate athletics.
• Moon Javaid: Chief Growth & Innovation Officer, Baltimore Ravens
Designing how an NFL franchise uses analytics, technology, and fan intelligence to compete on and off the field.
• Michael Schreiber: Founder and Executive Chairman, Playfly Sports
Building one of the fastest-growing companies in sports media, data, and athlete marketing, redefining the commercial engine behind college athletics.

Together, they break down the forces reshaping the sports industry:
• How the Big 12 rebuilt its brand and strengthened its position amid realignment
• Why the NFL is now a technology and analytics business
• The new economics of media rights, distribution, and fan engagement
• NIL’s long-term impact on schools, athletes, and revenue models
• The growing role of private capital in sports
• How data, AI, and digital infrastructure will define the next decade
• What teams, conferences, and operators must do to stay competitive

If you want to understand where the sports economy is heading and what will separate the winners from the pack, this is the episode.

Private equity’s future won’t be defined by capital; it will be defined by capability.

In the debut episode of Why We Like It, the Access Holdings podcast exploring the ideas, industries, and inflection points shaping the lower middle market, host Sam Tidswell-Norrish sits down with two of the most respected voices in artificial intelligence: Marc Porat (technology pioneer and former co-founder of General Magic) and Matt Fitzpatrick (CEO of Invisible Technologies, former Global Leader, McKinsey QuantumBlack).

Together, they unpack what AI really means for essential industries and value creation in the lower middle market.

They cover:
- Why AI is accelerating faster than most industries are prepared for
- How superintelligence may reshape private markets and value creation
- Why essential service industries are uniquely positioned to benefit
- Practical, near-term applications operators should care about now
- How Access Holdings is embedding AI into its operating model: The Access Edge

For founders, operators, and investors, the message is clear:
The firms that combine data, systems, and learning velocity will win.