PE firms frequently hire from fund administrators because their employees develop a uniquely broad skillset. Unlike specialists siloed in larger firms, fund admin professionals gain experience across accounting, legal documents, tax, and operations, making them ideal hires for lean PE back offices that need versatile talent.

Lovable is moving away from the specialist, cross-functional squad model popularized by companies like Spotify, believing it creates decision-making bottlenecks. Instead, they hire "high slope" generalists with broad skills and good judgment who can own projects from start to finish, using AI to fill gaps.

As PE firms shift from generalist to specialized vertical teams, the next generation of leaders lacks cross-sector experience. This creates a risk of poor decision-making and weak trust within the future investment committee, which must opine on deals outside their expertise.

An M&A lead's primary skill isn't deep expertise in every domain, but the ability to assemble and manage a team of specialists (tax, IT, ops). They must know enough to spot issues and deploy the right expert, coordinating findings to assess valuation and integration hurdles, much like a general contractor on a build site.

An M&A lead's role isn't to be an expert in tax or IT, but to assemble specialists. Like a general contractor, they must know enough to spot issues ('wires sticking out of the wall') and deploy the right expert, synthesizing findings to assess valuation and integration hurdles.

Generalists' broad skillsets allow them to communicate effectively with sales, product, and rev-ops. This 'multi-lingual' ability is critical for gaining the buy-in necessary for complex strategies like ABM, giving them an edge over siloed specialists by getting them into more strategic conversations.

In a fast-moving environment, rigid job descriptions are a hindrance. Instead of hiring for a specific role, recruit versatile "athletes" with high general aptitude. A single great person can fluidly move between delivery, sales, and product leadership, making them far more valuable than a specialist.

Industry specialists can become trapped in an "echo chamber," making them resistant to paradigm shifts. WCM found their generalist team structure was an advantage, as a lack of "scar tissue" and a broader perspective allowed them to identify changes that entrenched specialists dismissed as temporary noise.

Bolt's philosophy of hiring entrepreneurial 'smart generalists' was key to its resilience and ability to pivot. When the company needed to shift focus from ride-hailing to food delivery overnight during COVID, its adaptable talent pool was a critical asset. An organization of specialists would have been unable to make such a drastic change so quickly.