Ep. 53 Suzanne Yoon, Founder & Managing Partner, Kinzie Capital Partners
On this episode of Investors & Operators, Jordan sits down with Suzanne Yoon, Founder & Managing Partner of Kinzie Capital Partners in Chicago. Together, they discuss:
the journey of starting a firm from scratch
the trajectory of women and POC in finance
hitting the right balance of family + career, and making it all work
...and so much more.
LINKS
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Private Equity is hard. Entrepreneurship is harder.
“You have to have conviction about the outcome, even if you’re afraid.”
SUZANNE YOON is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kinzie Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm that invests in lower middle market companies in the consumer, manufacturing and service industries. In 2017, she launched Kinzie as part of her long-standing vision to advance the use of technology, data analytics and innovation to help unlock value for companies.
Diversity cuts through competition.
For Suzanne Yoon, the competition and hustle is what drove her to private equity in the first place. Not for the faint of heart, private equity is centered around three central competitions:
competition for investor dollars
competition for dealflow, and
competition for talent
“None of those happens without the other,” says Suzanne. In order to find success as a firm, you have to maximize in each of these categories concurrently. If you can find a way to differentiate yourself in each of these three categories, then you can begin to compete in the vast world of private equity.
Paramount at Kinzie Capital is diversity--not only gender and ethnic diversity, but diversity of thought. To Suzanne, well-rounded professional development is the most important internal consideration. “What’s most important to me is that the team develops in a way that’s professional… so that we can be competitive.”
Starting your own firm? Find a way to differentiate yourself. Diversity of approach is the key to staying afloat in a competitive market.
CEO and Head Janitor.
When starting Kinzie Capital, Suzanne expected to be the Managing Partner.
She did not expect to be the Head Janitor, Office Manager, and Head of HR.
“You have to do everything yourself… [and] you have to do all of those well.” The pace at which Kinzie grew surprised Suzanne--she expected the birth of a new PE firm to be a much quicker process. However, even during the slow days, there was no time to waste in building the Kinzie that she saw in her mind’s eye… so she took all the responsibility on herself.
If you want to attract the best in class talent, you have to have the best processes in place… even if it means building them yourself.
Courage feeds off of fear.
When asked about courage in the entrepreneurial journey, Suzanne has a bit of an unexpected answer. Courage, to many, means the absence of fear or fearlessness in general. To Suzanne, that misses the point.
Courage is conviction about the destination, through the fear, “no matter how scared you are about the potential outcome.”
Sometimes, courage will look like a leader wielding a hammer. Other times, it will be about treading softly and staying calm. Despite the execution, one thing is true: there WILL be fear. Courage is what you do with that fear, and how you get the job done.
Is fear keeping you from taking the next step? Don’t wait for fear to disappear to be courageous: courage feeds off of fear--you need fear to reach the finish line.
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SUZANNE YOON is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kinzie Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm that invests in lower middle market companies in the consumer, manufacturing and service industries. In 2017, she launched Kinzie as part of her long-standing vision to advance the use of technology, data analytics and innovation to help unlock value for companies. Her creative outlook on the use of technology in the Private Equity sector leads to improved operational efficiency and new avenues for growth within Kinzie’s diverse portfolio of companies and investors. Three years after its founding, Kinzie was recognized by the Private Equity Women’s Investor Network (PEWIN) as Female Founded Firm of the Year 2020.
Suzanne has over 20 years’ experience investing in and advising middle market companies. Before founding Kinzie, she served as a Managing Director of Versa Capital Management, where she led transaction development throughout North America. Prior to that role, Suzanne was a Senior Vice President of CIT Group. She also co-founded LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO’s Corporate Restructuring Group and held positions in distressed loan portfolio management and advisory at LaSalle Bank and Ernst and Young’s Corporate Finance group, respectively.
A respected leader in both the business and civic spheres, she serves on several private company boards and civic boards such as: The National Philanthropic Trust (NPT), the largest independent Donor Advised Fund manager in the world with over $14BL under management, where she serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees; The Council of Korean Americans (CKA) where she co-chairs the Finance Committee; Chicago Public Library Foundation; and HFS Chicago Scholars, an organization that serves economically disadvantaged Chicago inner-city high school students. Additionally, Yoon serves on the Steering Committees of the Private Equity’s Women Investor Network (PEWIN) and Women’s Association of Venture & Equity (WAVE.) She is also a member of the Association of Asian American Investment Managers and the Economic Club of Chicago.
Suzanne earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Iowa and is an Executive Scholar of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Last year, Mergers & Acquisitions named her to the 2020 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A and the Wall Street Journal recognized her as a top female deal maker shaping private equity’s present & future. Suzanne lives in Chicago with her husband and three children and is an outdoor and sports enthusiast who enjoys golfing and fishing with her family.
