Today’s PE tech investments or “digital transformations” are mostly limited to low and mid techs such as IT, ecommerce, digital marketing or automation but far more value can be created by investing in smart technologies such as AI and the internet of things to make traditional companies (those who offer products and services that operate in the physical world) more valuable.To raise the awareness of Smart Digital Transformation as a value creation lever, I wrote the book, The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner, and developed my course, Digital Transformation Foundations, on LinkedIn Learning, which has been taken by over 65,000 students.My 30-year career has spanned mathematics, science, high technology, business and investment. Since 2015 I’ve focused all my experience on advising companies on how to use smart digital to create meaningful business value – as an independent consultant and as an operating partner for a mid-market private equity firm.I began as a mathematician and then a programmer, but I quickly found my way to business through marketing. I worked my way through product marketing and brand management to be VP of Marketing for a large Microsoft subsidiary. For the next 13 years I was the CEO of several software companies and an AI company before moving into consulting. As a consultant I used first principles to help traditional enterprises plan their smart digital transformation strategies centered on product improvement/invention and business model development.While consulting I became a digital transformation thought leader and influencer by drawing upon my engagements to produce original content to help enterprises and other consultants. This includes my book, IoT Inc, published by McGraw-Hill which continues to be the best-selling and top-rated business/tech book on smart digital transformation. I have also written for publications like Forbes and Computer World, keynoted at the world’s largest IoT conferences, certified hundreds of professionals with my ICIP program and over 150,000 more with my LinkedIn Learning courses and I continue to host a popular podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Thousands of professionals from my audience have reached out and registered their companies with me. These connections have enabled me to build an deep ecosystem of technology vendors, service providers (design houses and system integrators) and subject matter experts who I employ as needed to execute the digital transformations I’m involved in.