At Kayo, we are always inspired by women who are shaping the private equity ecosystem in new and meaningful ways. As part of our series spotlighting leaders across Texas ahead of our Private Equity Forum, we are excited to feature Summer Craig.
Summer brings a differentiated perspective as Founder and Managing Partner of Craig Group, a lower-middle-market firm helping private equity-backed businesses grow through tailored go-to-market strategies and hands-on execution. A commercial leader and LMM growth expert, she has led growth initiatives across Fortune 500 and high-growth companies, including supporting the IPO of HomeAway (later VRBO), roles at Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe, and leading marketing and operations for a major Toyota distributorship. She founded Craig Group in 2019 to help portfolio companies navigate critical moments of scaled growth through data-driven sales, marketing, and customer success.
Today, Summer and her team partner with private equity firms and their portfolio companies to solve one of the industry’s most persistent challenges: how actually to deliver on growth. We sat down with Summer to talk about what she does, how marketing has evolved, and what private equity firms are still getting wrong when it comes to scaling companies.
How would you describe your role to someone outside the industry?
At its core, her work is about understanding behavior and driving growth, what she describes is behavioral economics in practice.
“How do you get people to choose to buy your product over a competitor’s? That’s what we do,” Summer tells us.
Summer’s path into private equity did not follow the traditional finance route. Instead, she built her career in marketing and now operates at the intersection of private equity, growth, and operations.
“My role is unique in what I do in the private equity and M&A space. I came up through marketing,” she explains. “What has happened in the industry is that the expertise needed to grow and scale companies outside of financial engineering is newer to private equity.”
Today, she and her team step in where many firms lack internal resources. “In the lower middle market, there’s often not the in-house capability or time to scale a functional team that can increase revenue through sales and marketing. That’s where we come in.”
What kind of person would love this job?
This is a role for someone who enjoys complexity and problem-solving at a very human level.
Summer describes it as work for people who love being “in the gritty problems”—digging into challenges alongside management teams and solving them in a hands-on, highly collaborative way.
What has changed most in marketing?
Few functions have evolved as quickly as marketing, and Summer has had a front-row seat to that transformation.
“I don’t know if there’s an industry more changed by technology,” she says. “The pace of change right now, especially with AI, is happening every week.”
Over the past decade, and especially in the last five years, marketing has become deeply intertwined with technology. What was once considered separate disciplines, like data engineering and coding, are now core to how marketing operates.
The acceleration of AI is only amplifying that shift, transforming everything from customer research to pricing strategy to go-to-market execution. While the pace can be challenging, it has also unlocked a level of speed and precision that was not previously possible.
Where do portfolio companies get growth wrong?
This is the question Summer thinks about most, and where she sees the biggest gap between expectation and reality.
“There’s always a growth number in the model,” she says. “But there’s rarely a true understanding of how difficult it is to grow a company.”
Too often, growth is treated as a line item in a model rather than a capability that needs to be built. While projections assume expansion, there is not always a clear understanding of how difficult it is to actually achieve it.
One common misstep is over-reliance on a single senior hire, such as a Chief Revenue Officer, to “solve” growth. “They think, we’ll just hire a CRO, and they’ll figure it out,” she explains. “Don’t hire a leader unless they have people to lead. You need doers first before you need leaders.”
Without the underlying systems and teams in place, even strong leadership will struggle to deliver results. And in private equity, the cost of getting it wrong is time, something that cannot be recovered.
What is your top advice for business development?
Summer’s advice begins with a mindset shift: everyone is in sales.
“Never think of yourself as not in sales. Ever,” she says.
Rather than viewing business development as a separate function, she emphasizes consistently thinking about how to create value for others—internally and externally. The goal is simple: be someone people want to work with.
“How can I help these people? How can I be useful? If you’re helping others get where they want to go, that will come back to you.”
That mindset, paired with accessibility, responsiveness, and a genuine willingness to help, compounds over time, creating stronger relationships and more opportunities.
How has your approach to networking evolved?
Summer draws a clear distinction between visibility and connection.
“Big events are great for branding,” she says.
For networking, she prioritizes smaller, curated settings, dinners, and peer networks where deeper conversations can take place. These environments allow for real dialogue, problem-solving, and meaningful connection. Over time, those relationships evolve beyond networking into trusted partnerships.
Why Texas, and especially Houston, continues to grow
From Summer’s perspective, the Texas ecosystem is defined by opportunity and accessibility.
“Houston is a place where no matter where you come from, if you have enough grit and hustle, you can do whatever you want,” she says. “There are 20- or 30-year-old companies that are still family-owned, cash-flow positive, and highly successful.”
That environment has led to a deep bench of founder-owned companies that have grown into successful middle-market businesses. For investors, it creates a strong pipeline of opportunities across sectors, including industrials, healthcare, and energy.
How the family and the outdoors refuel her
Outside of work, Summer’s life is centered around family, movement, and time outdoors.
She plays on a women’s tennis team, a routine that combines exercise, community, and consistency in a way that fits into a busy schedule. With three children, much of her time is spent together as a family, whether that is sports, time outside, or simply reconnecting at home. “That’s my peace time,” she says.
When she has the opportunity to step away, she gravitates toward alpine environments, where
climbing and time in the mountains offer a different kind of reset.
What habits have contributed to your success?
One of the most consistent themes in Summer’s career is her discipline around relationships.
“I’m fairly disciplined around relationships,” she says. “If someone has mattered to me, I make sure I stay in touch.”
Small gestures, sending a quick message, sharing an article, or simply reaching out, compound over time and have played a meaningful role in both her personal and professional growth.
What are you reading?
Summer recently revisited Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown, a book that explores authenticity and belonging. At this stage of her life and career, the message resonated in a new way—particularly the idea of fully showing up as yourself, even when that can feel isolating.
Final Thought
As part of our Texas Series leading up to the Texas Private Equity Forum, Summer represents a new generation of leaders expanding the definition of value creation. Her perspective is a reminder that growth is not automatic, and far more complex than it appears in a model. It is built through intention, operational discipline, and a deep understanding of people. And increasingly, the future of private equity will belong to those who know how to scale not just balance sheets, but businesses.
Written by Channing Cason Shifflett
Channing is the Director of Business Development at Kayo Conference Series