John Caple

John Caple is a Partner at Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, a Boca Raton-based private equity firm founded in 2016. Hidden Harbor describes itself as an operationally focused private equity firm specializing in control investments in lower middle-market companies. Caple is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and is responsible for sourcing, transaction execution, portfolio company oversight, investor relations, and setting the firm’s strategic direction.

Before co-founding Hidden Harbor, Caple was a Partner at Comvest Partners. Biographical sources note that he was a leader in Comvest’s equity fund, served on the firm’s Executive Committee, and oversaw investments including U.S. Pipe, Sunteck Transportation Group, Innovative Hearth Products, and Haggen. Earlier in his career, he worked as an investment professional at H.I.G. Capital, as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, and as an investment banking analyst at Alex. Brown & Sons.

Caple earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics from Stanford University. Hidden Harbor launched after Caple and David Block, who had met at Bain & Company, decided to build a firm focused on the lower middle market with an operating-heavy model.

• Hidden Harbor’s stated philosophy is “Building Teams, Focused on Execution,” with a belief that great companies are built on strong people and succeed when they focus intensely on a small number of clearly defined objectives.
• The firm targets lower middle-market companies headquartered in North America, generally with up to $500 million in revenue and EBITDA up to $30 million, and says it is willing to review unprofitable businesses.
• Hidden Harbor focuses on companies with strong strategic positions and market leadership potential, especially founder-owned and family-owned businesses and corporate carve-outs.
• Sector themes include facilities services, residential services, industrial services, infrastructure, automotive, professional services, environmental services, utilities products and services, chemicals, energy/power, distribution, asset-light trucking, aviation MRO, and specialty packaging.
• The firm emphasizes operational execution after acquisition, including mission/values definition, weekly communications, role clarity, scorecards, employee incentives, quarterly employee and customer feedback, and monthly performance reviews.
• In a 2016 PitchBook interview, Caple said the firm was built around the idea that “what really makes firms work is the people there,” and that Hidden Harbor wanted to focus on “winning as a team” and being willing to admit mistakes.