Talent Attraction Headache: Why Lower Mid-Market PE Still Struggles (Even With All These Layoffs)

Two weeks ago Block announced they’re letting go of almost half the company (over 4,000 people) and the CEO basically said AI is doing the job better and cheaper now. The stock popped 20%+ the next day. Amazon, eBay, Pinterest, and a bunch of others are trimming headcount for the same reason. Suddenly there’s a ton of solid, experienced people looking for their next move.

You’d think that would make hiring at lower mid-market PE-backed companies (the sub-$100M revenue ones) a lot easier. Instead, most operators I talk to are still pulling their hair out trying to fill key roles.

Here’s why the “talent flood” isn’t solving the problem:

The people coming out of those big layoffs usually expect big-company comp packages, six-figure bonuses, generous equity refreshers, fancy benefits, sometimes remote flexibility with minimal oversight. A $70M revenue services business or software shop just can’t write that check without wrecking their model.

These companies also need people who can actually operate in resource-constrained environments. They don’t have big enablement teams, deep bench strength, or layers of support. The role usually requires someone who’s comfortable wearing five hats, implementing AI tools on their own, figuring things out without a playbook, and moving fast with limited budget. A lot of the laid-off specialists from tech giants are fantastic at one narrow thing inside a huge machine, but they’re not always wired (or interested) in the scrappier, generalist reality of lower mid-market.

On top of that, AI fluency is quickly becoming table stakes. The best hires now aren’t just “good at their function”, they need to know how to use AI to make the function cheaper, faster, or more effective. The people who are genuinely comfortable doing that in a smaller company are still pretty rare, and they usually have multiple offers.

The firms that are winning right now are getting creative with structure:

1)  Fractional or part-time execs (CFOs, RevOps leads, even embedded ops partners)
2)  Shared talent across a handful of portfolio companies
3)  Heavier emphasis on meaningful equity and real decision-making authority instead of competing on base + bonus
4)  Positioning the role as “build something from the ground up” vs. “maintain an already-polished machine”

It’s a strange moment: more talent on the street than we’ve seen in a while, yet the fit for lower mid-market PE is still surprisingly hard to find.

Anyone hiring into a sub-$100M PE-backed business lately? Did the recent big-tech layoffs actually bring you better candidates, or did most of them balk at the comp, scope, or lack of infrastructure once they saw the details? What’s working (or bombing) for you right now?

#PrivateEquity #TalentAcquisition #MidMarket