Brian Crandall
Managing Director, Head of Commercial & Digital

 

Brian oversees commercial and digital operations and value creation for TSG Vantage, the firm's portfolio operations and value creation group.

Brian brings over 20 years of strategy, business development, and operating experience. Prior to joining TSG, he served as Chief Client Officer for Accenture's Global Private Equity Group where he founded and built the firm's centralized private equity practice and launched the first Generative AI and managed service programs for private equity clients. Prior to working at Accenture, Brian focused on post-acquisition value creation, late-stage diligence and transition, and AI business operations in roles at Platinum Equity and McKinsey & Company.

Brian has a degree in Business from Cornell University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Q&A


 

What makes TSG different than other places you’ve worked?  

TSG has an enticing mix of expertise in consumer and business services, an ability to find incredible investment opportunities, a small and friendly team yet a distinctive presence in private equity with a reputation for performance. It is remarkably difficult to find that all in one firm, and without the ego.

There is a lot of competition in the private equity world. What has that competition taught you and how has it made you better at your job?

Move fast and fail faster. I have learned to balance empathy and analytics with targeted decision making to quickly to outpace the competition. Compared with public markets, in private equity, you often have access to imperfect data and fewer competitive insights, so you have to work off of operational experience, make assumptions where information gaps exist, and experiment quickly. 

What have you learned from working with entrepreneurs? 

Entrepreneurs have expanded and re-shaped our economy in profound ways. All entrepreneurs are unforgiving in their vision. Good entrepreneurs have the ability to be inspirational yet scrappy, and find the best in any situation. Exceptional entrepreneurs listen to those around them, evolve faster and drive asymmetric scale. I admire the latter.

If you were to start your own business, what would it be and why? 

I would run a house flipping business; I love working with my hands, and delivering lots of small changes to deliver a large and tangible outcome.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?  

Someone once told me they wanted to “kick the consultant out of me”, and if they had to scroll twice when reading an email they would ignore the message. It emphasized keeping things simple and being direct.

 

The Operating Partners, including the members of the TSG Vantage Leadership Team, listed herein are either independent contractors or employees of TSG or one or more of its affiliates.  Operating Partners provide valuable advice, services and insights to TSG and its portfolio companies for the benefit of TSG’s limited partners.  Operating Partners are compensated directly or indirectly by TSG portfolio companies, TSG funds or TSG, and in the latter case, TSG is entitled to reimbursement from TSG portfolio companies and/or TSG funds for such compensation.