Both sides of the founder-PE table

One operator's perspective on what actually works.

The writing here is what the category isn’t saying out loud. How regulated technology partnerships hold up. How founders and PE build together when it works. Twenty-plus years across managed services and cybersecurity. Performive in the cloud and infrastructure era. RedZone Technologies in the regulated platform era now.

2 Platforms
built & run
2 Companies
sold
2 CEO advisory
engagements to exit
9 Acquisitions
led
20+ Years
operating
Read by ParkerGale
Featured in ChannelE2E
Cited at IT Nation Connect
Berkshire Partners reading list
Abry Partners reading list
MSSP Alert contributor
Read by ParkerGale
Featured in ChannelE2E
Cited at IT Nation Connect
Berkshire Partners reading list
Abry Partners reading list
MSSP Alert contributor
What this is

An operator’s notebook on running regulated technology services. Cybersecurity, AI in services delivery, what it actually takes to lead a platform, and the long conversation between founders and the PE firms that back them. Written for the next generation of operators who will build this category honestly. Published when something’s worth saying.

Recent articles

Four tracks running in parallel. Insights from the field, leadership, platform operation, and the founders who stayed.

Browse by All articles Founders Who StayedIndustry expertiseLeadershipPlatform OperatorReactive & Signal

The first article publishes June 2, 2026.

The bridge-the-gap thesis

I’ve been a founder. I know what it costs to sell something you built. Now I run platforms. The work is bridging what the founder built and what the platform needs, without losing what made the company worth buying.

Gary Simat, the operating thesis
The operator · The work

I build regulated-industry services platforms, and write about what actually happens inside them.

Twenty-plus years operating in technology services. Performive in the cloud and infrastructure era, a managed cloud business taken from partner-driven growth through the SoftLayer-era credentialing and on to an exit. RedZone now, in the regulated platform era, one accountable partner for IT, security, and compliance for regulated organizations that cannot afford to get it wrong.

Few CEOs in this niche have lived both sides of this arc of the category. Fewer still have sat in both the founder's chair and the PE platform CEO's chair. That dual perspective is the most differentiated thing about this voice. The writing here is what I have learned worth sharing, for the operators, the founders considering their next move, the talent looking for a platform worth joining, and the partners thinking about how regulated-industry technology services should be built.

2025, Present
CEO, RedZone Technologies
ParkerGale-backed regulated IT, security & compliance platform
2005, 2024
CEO & Founder, Performive
Managed cloud, IT infrastructure, SoftLayer partner era
The working note

An operator's notebook. Published as it lands.

Read by the operators, founders, and PE partners shaping regulated technology services. Twenty-plus years of operator-truth, delivered as it lands.

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