Private Equity, Venture Capital & Family Office Advisory

The human capital
edge in value creation.

Value creation plans are built around strategy. They fail because of people. Brones & Company bridges the gap, connecting leadership strategy to execution capability so investors and operators know whether the right team is actually in place to deliver the plan.

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What We Do

Built for the moment when people decisions become performance decisions.

01

Talent Evaluation

Behavioral due diligence on CEO and C-suite candidates, scoped to your specific investment thesis, not a generic job description. We use the Predictive Index, structured interviews, and rigorous reference validation to assess fit between the candidate and the specific context the role demands. For venture-backed companies, this includes evaluating whether a founder is ready to transition from company starter to company leader: from the person who conjured the idea into existence to the person who can build the organization capable of scaling it.

Discuss an evaluation
02

Talent Strategy

The gap between a well-designed value creation strategy and the leadership team capable of executing it is where most deals underperform. We connect those two things: defining the organizational structure, roles, and capabilities your strategy actually requires, then building toward it.

Explore an engagement
03

Board & Advisory

Ongoing board membership and strategic advisory for investor-backed companies. An unusual combination of operator experience, investor perspective, and deep understanding of how leaders perform under pressure, including when the most important intervention is a frank conversation no one else will have.

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04

Executive Development

When the current leader is the right person but the gap between who they are and what the role demands is real, and the board, investors, or the leader themselves know it, we provide ongoing coaching and executive development to close it before it becomes a performance crisis.

Discuss a coaching engagement

The Methodology

A systematic approach
to the connection between
leadership and value creation.

Executive hiring fails not because of résumé gaps, but because of context misalignment. The best strategy fails not because it was wrong, but because the team executing it wasn't built for it. Our four-step process solves both. Every engagement starts with the investment thesis or growth strategy, not a job description.

01
Context Definition

We start with your buyout thesis and value creation plan, then define the specific behavioral and cognitive profile the role actually demands.

02
Behavioral Due Diligence

Predictive Index assessments combined with structured behavioral interviews, scored against the context profile we defined in Step 1.

03
Close the Loop

Structured reference validation, candidate alignment conversations, and documented gap planning so the hire has the best chance of succeeding.

04
Ongoing Development

For engagements where the current leader is the right person with a real gap, the process doesn't end at hire. We stay in: structured coaching sessions, access between meetings, and leadership team integration, until the gap is closed.

Shannon Jones

Founder, Brones & Company

Former PE Investor, Halstatt Legacy Partners

Board Member & Strategic Advisor

Lecturer, CU Leeds School of Business

MBA, Kellogg School of Management

B.A., Northwestern University

About Shannon

Built this firm because I made the mistakes first.

I founded Brones & Company after learning a hard lesson as a PE investor at Halstatt Legacy Partners: the right résumé is not the same as the right leader. Those decisions didn't just underperform financially; they caused real disruption for employees, customers, and the businesses we were trying to grow.

"I hired CEOs with impressive pedigrees who were wrong for the specific context of our portfolio companies. I own that mistake. No one else does."

That experience set me on a years-long path to understand what actually predicts CEO success in a specific deal context. Today I bring that framework, grounded in behavioral science and operator experience, to PE investors and family offices who want to get the human capital decision right the first time.

I founded and direct the Entrepreneurship through Acquisition program within the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business MBA program, where I teach business acquisitions, leadership psychology, and the challenges of scaling entrepreneurial enterprises. I also serve as a guest lecturer within the Zell Fellows program at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and the ETA program at the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business. I live in Boulder, Colorado with my wife and three children.

Writing & Ideas

Thinking out loud on human capital in private markets.

TranscendenCEO is Shannon's Substack publication, a space for original thinking on leadership, private equity talent strategy, CEO performance, and the intersection of human psychology with value creation.

Written for investors, operators, and anyone building something serious.

Substack

TranscendenCEO

Original essays on leadership, executive assessment, and the human dynamics that determine whether a deal creates or destroys value.

Read the Publication

Get in Touch

Most of our best work starts with a conversation.

Whether you're evaluating a C-suite candidate, thinking through your talent strategy, or just want to explore whether there's a fit, reach out. We work with a small number of firms and operators at once. If there's a fit, we'll find it quickly.

Our team monitors this inbox and will be in touch to schedule time.

Send a Message inquiries@bronesllc.com