Perspectives

Finding a Niche

“A hybrid or online experience is very different than on-ground learning, and I think that’s one of the things that faculty members learned during COVID when everything had to shift rapidly to online; you can’t just throw your on-ground course on Zoom. You have to really have a purposeful learning design approach, which is what we do.”

JOANA JEBSEN,

President, O’Donnell Learn, on what it takes for a higher education company to remain relevant.

“The genesis of our health care effort was really examining the consumer and where they are today, recognizing that we had developed a large tool kit for serving, addressing, improving retention, improving visit volume and engagement with the consumer. But at the same time, recognizing that the legacy consumer products that we had invested in ... in many cases were under demand pressure or competitive pressure, and asking ourselves: Where can we take our consumer franchise and focus on the consumer in a service or product where there’s more secular demand growth? And the answer came out as health care.”

STEPHEN CELLA,

Principal, Sun Capital Partners, on the origins of his firm’s health care strategy.

“When you’re thinking about Amazon ... they have to build a lot of their businesses around the lowest common denominator. It has to apply for books, it has to apply for bicycles—and that’s everything from how they build out their fulfillment network, how they market their product, how they merchandize on their website. That has opened up avenues for specialization in an e-commerce and digital environment.

ERIC KAU,

Operating Partner, Norwest Equity Partners, on the competitive landscape in e-commerce. THERE’S STILL A TON OF LITTLE [CBD] BRANDS THAT HAVE POPPED UP IN THE LAST TWO YEARS. THERE’S MORE COMING OUT ALL THE TIME. WHAT I EXPECT TO SEE DEFINITELY IS A LOT OF M&A HAPPENING WHERE SINGLEBRAND COMPANIES END UP AS PART OF BROADER PORTFOLIO COMPANIES.

SMOKE WALLIN,

CEO, Vertical Wellness, on the M&A activity he expects to see within the CBD industry.