I have spent close to three decades sitting across deal tables from private equity sponsors, and for most of that time the game looked the same. Buy a good business, fix the capital structure, drive operational discipline, dress it up,
Louis Lehot
Louis Lehot is a legal professional associated with Foley & Lardner LLP, a law firm that publishes content focused on corporate governance, capital markets, and emerging legal issues. The publications often cover topics such as board evaluations, IPO readiness, SPAC transactions, venture capital trends, and the impact of artificial intelligence on legal and business landscapes. The content is aimed at CFOs, finance leaders, general counsels, private equity partners, and board members, providing insights into regulatory compliance, strategic planning, and market dynamics. The discussions emphasize practical guidance for navigating complex capital market shifts, corporate governance challenges, and technology-driven changes in the legal environment.
Website:
https://louislehot.com
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One Week Left to Sign Up for This Month’s Hard Things Event
By Louis Lehot
As a reminder, Hard Things is an ongoing, invite-only event series co-organized by Mavka Capital and Foley & Lardner LLP, dedicated to the founders, investors, and builders shaping physicalAI. We’re curating every gathering to spark the conversations that matter most…
When the Ground Moves Beneath Your Feet: Notes from a PE-Backed CFO Forum
By Louis Lehot
In 20-plus years of papering venture and private equity deals in Silicon Valley, I’ve sat across the table from a lot of CFOs. The good ones tell you what’s actually moving the business in the first ninety seconds. The great…
What We Took Home From Milken Week
By Louis Lehot
Three of us spent last week in Beverly Hills for the Milken Institute Global Conference. The official sessions ran May 3 through 6 across the Beverly Hilton and the Waldorf, under the banner “Leading in a New Era.” As always,…
Business & Legal Developments May 2026
By Louis Lehot
Friends,In last month’s newsletter, we highlighted how venture capital (VC) has stabilized heading into 2026 but is increasingly concentrated, with artificial intelligence (AI) and software as a service (SaaS) capturing outsized funding as investors prioritize scale, traction, and predictable…
From Static Compliance to Living Compliance: How Agentic AI Can Make Health Care Operations Safer
By Louis Lehot
Executive SummaryHealthcare compliance today is manual, retrospective, and brittle. Humans are expected to remember rules, document decisions, and reconstruct context months later during audits. The result is a system that doesn’t scale — one where patient safety, operational efficiency, and regulatory defensibility…
The Weekly Docket
By Louis Lehot
By Louis Lehot, Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP. Garage to global, since 1999.Friends,Big week. Here is the docket.Last Week (Apr 20–24)Apple succession — Mon 4/20. John Ternus, SVP Hardware Engineering, becomes Apple’s eighth CEO Sept 1. Cook to Executive Chair. Board approved Friday Apr 17.…
The IPO Market Has Become a Last Resort. SEC Chairman Atkins Can Make IPOs Great Again.
By Louis Lehot
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins’ “Boom Belt” speech diagnoses a generation of structural decay in America’s public markets. His three-pillar reform agenda is welcome and necessary, but fixing the IPO market will require more than he has prescribed so far. It…
The Weekly Docket: AI Ate the Calendar — and Cerebras Just Filed for Dessert
By Louis Lehot
By a veteran Silicon Valley lawyer. Standard disclosures at the bottom.Friends,If last week had a theme, it was simple: AI stopped being a product category and became the operating layer for #tech, #biotech, #capitalmarkets, and — inevitably — the #law. Nine tech stories, one #oncology…
The IPO Floodgates Open, Tariffs Tighten, and the Innovation Economy Braces for Its Biggest Test…
By Louis Lehot
The IPO Floodgates Open, Tariffs Tighten, and the Innovation Economy Braces for Its Biggest Test YetThree of the most consequential IPOs in history are queuing up at the same time. Semiconductor tariffs are redrawing supply chain maps. And the venture capital…