Proven Fractional CMO and CSO Leadership for Private Equity Portfolio Companies

Our battle-tested operators have helped 300+ private equity firms accelerate portfolio company value creation, build repeatable growth engines, and improve investment returns.

Schedule a Growth Strategy Conversation
with Our PE team

How Chief Outsiders Can Help

Accelerating revenue and EBITDA growth is key to delivering differentiated returns to your investors.

But today’s buyers are scrutinizing not just revenue growth, but the system behind it.

Many portfolio companies do not have the strategy, operating discipline, or execution resources in place to deliver repeatable, scalable growth.

Interim and Fractional Executives:

Our battle-tested sales and marketing leaders are strategic operators that have worked with more than 300 PE firms and 500+ portfolio companies to create value across all four key stages of an investment:

Due Diligence

Completing an Assessment and Gap Analysis

Early Post- Acquisition

Starting the Growth Engine

Mid-Investment

Building Scale, Sustainability, and Accountability

Pre-Exit

Creating the Ongoing Positioning and Growth Narrative

Team Outsiders:

On-demand execution resources – added to your team in days - to activate your strategy and get in-market faster, without the delay or long-term commitment of full-time hires

What PE Firms Are Up Against Right Now

private equity portco

The commercial mandate for private equity has shifted. Buyers evaluating portfolio companies at exit want evidence that growth is repeatable, scalable, and not dependent on a few people, a few customers, or a temporary market condition.

At the same time, AI is creating both opportunity and risk. Companies that embed AI into disciplined commercial workflows are pulling ahead. Companies running disconnected AI initiatives are creating noise, not value.

Chief Outsiders helps PE firms build connected growth systems that align strategy, execution, and commercial visibility to accelerate performance during the hold period and strengthen the exit story.

PE Firms We've Worked With

Our Methodology

Our Growth Gears® framework is a proven methodology – validated by research and thousands of client engagements - to grow mid-market businesses.

Our proprietary, AI-powered operating system, GrowthGears® OS, brings this methodology to life, harnessing the learnings and best practices from hundreds of CMOs and CSOs and thousands of engagements to accelerate impact and reduce risk.

INSIGHT STRATEGY EXECUTION
Market Company Offering Marketing Sales
Market Assessment & Opportunity Analysis Market Alignment Strategy Product / Service Branding Organization Audit, Planning & Development Sales Audit & Process
SWOT & Gap Analysis Brand Assessment Product / Service Planning Marketing Mix Optimization Funnel Conversion Analysis, Metrics & Reporting
Customer Experience Value Proposition Product / Service Positioning Digital Marketing & Social Media Partner & Channel Strategy
Profitability Analysis Positioning & Messaging Packaging & Delivery Technology Systems & Process Demand/Lead Generation
Sales & Marketing Alignment Market Segmentation Pricing Key Account Strategies Sales Ops & Compensation
Competitive Analysis Go-To-Market Strategy Launch Planning Communications & PR Sales Enablement
Company Perspective   Innovation Process Marketing Metrics, Reporting & ROI Marketing Sales Alignment

 

Success Spotlight

Grow with the nation’s leading fractional go-to-market team

The Chief Outsiders Difference

Making big things happen for your portfolio companies

  • A track record serving 300+ PE firms and 500+ portfolio companies (and more than 2000 total companies)
  • Expertise in all 4 deal stages

  • Immediate access to insourced strategic and execution resources, matched to your portfolio companies’ growth challenges, operating priorities, and investment objectives

  • Proven GrowthGears® methodology, operationalized with the GrowthGears® OS platform
  • A fresh perspective – backed by the collective expertise of 120+ business executives who understand the needs of both portfolio executives and investors to drive outsized performance for all stakeholders

Fractional Chief Marketing Officers for Private Equity Firms

A Fractional and Interim Chief Marketing Officer from Chief Outsiders brings experienced growth leadership to portfolio companies that need strategic marketing direction, improved go-to-market execution, or accelerated demand generation. Our CMOs work alongside operating partners and executive teams to build scalable growth strategies, strengthen market positioning, and implement marketing systems that drive measurable revenue and EBITDA growth.

Fractional CMOs are typically deployed during key phases of the investment lifecycle, including post-acquisition growth planning, marketing transformation initiatives, and pre-exit positioning. By providing experienced leadership without the cost or delay of a full-time hire, private equity firms gain immediate access to proven marketing leaders who can build and execute a growth roadmap.

CMOs Supporting PE-Backed Growth

Fractional Chief Sales Officers for Private Equity Portfolio Companies

A Fractional and Interim Chief Sales Officer from Chief Outsiders provides experienced revenue leadership to portfolio companies that need to improve sales performance, strengthen pipeline development, or build scalable sales organizations. Our CSOs work alongside operating partners and executive teams to diagnose sales challenges, implement proven revenue frameworks, and drive measurable growth.

Chief Outsiders’ battle-tested sales leaders help portfolio companies align sales strategy, process, and commercial visibility to improve conversion rates, increase pipeline velocity, and build more repeatable revenue growth.

Fractional CSOs are often deployed during key stages of the investment lifecycle, including post-acquisition growth planning, sales transformation initiatives, and pre-exit revenue acceleration. By providing experienced leadership without the cost or delay of a full-time hire, private equity firms gain immediate access to proven operators who can stabilize sales performance and build a scalable revenue engine.

Fractional CSOs commonly support portfolio companies by:

  • Diagnosing pipeline and revenue performance gaps

  • Building scalable sales processes and forecasting discipline

  • Aligning sales teams around clear performance metrics and accountability

  • Strengthening go-to-market execution to accelerate revenue growth

CSOs Supporting PE-Backed Growth

When Should Private Equity Firms Deploy Our Fractional CMOs and CSOs?

Post-Acquisition Growth Strategy Go-To-Market Transformation Marketing Leadership Gaps Sales Execution Challenges Pre-Exit Growth Acceleration

Establishing a clear growth roadmap, market positioning, and demand generation strategy for newly acquired portfolio companies.

Aligning marketing and sales organizations to improve pipeline generation, conversion rates, and revenue predictability; embedding AI into workflows to accelerate execution.

Providing experienced marketing leadership when portfolio companies lack a strategic CMO capable of driving growth initiatives.

Deploying fractional CSOs to improve sales process discipline, pipeline management, and revenue accountability.

Strengthening market positioning, commercial visibility, and revenue momentum in preparation for exit.

PE Marketing Consulting

Chief Outsiders also provides specialized marketing consulting services for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Our experienced PE marketing consultants help operating partners and executive teams diagnose growth challenges, refine market positioning, and develop actionable strategies to accelerate revenue and EBITDA growth.

These consulting engagements often focus on high-impact initiatives such as go-to-market strategy development, demand generation planning, marketing organization design, and customer segmentation. By combining strategic insight with operator-level experience, Chief Outsiders helps portfolio companies quickly move from strategy to repeatable commercial execution.

Learn more about our marketing consulting services

PE Sales Consulting

Chief Outsiders also provides specialized sales consulting services to help private equity portfolio companies strengthen revenue performance and build scalable sales organizations. Our experienced operators work with operating partners and executive teams to diagnose sales challenges, improve pipeline development, and implement proven revenue frameworks.

These engagements often focus on strengthening sales processes, improving forecasting discipline, aligning go-to-market strategy, and establishing performance accountability across the sales organization. By combining strategic insight with the deep experience of our CSOs, Chief Outsiders helps portfolio companies accelerate revenue growth and build more sustainable, repeatable sales performance.

Learn more about our sales consulting services

The Chief Outsiders Portfolio Company Growth Playbook

Our Portfolio Company Growth Playbook focuses on four critical growth levers:

Market Positioning

Clarifying the company’s value proposition, differentiation, and target markets to strengthen competitive positioning.

Demand Generation and Pipeline Development

Building scalable marketing programs and demand engines that consistently generate qualified pipelines.

Sales Process and Revenue Operations

Improving sales execution through stronger pipeline management, forecasting discipline, and performance accountability.

Revenue Growth Systems

Aligning marketing, sales, and leadership teams around measurable growth metrics and scalable go-to-market systems.

These levers only create durable value when they are connected. Chief Outsiders helps portfolio companies build the underlying commercial architecture that makes growth repeatable, measurable, and defensible at exit.

Content For You

Is Your Revenue Growth Engine
Exit-Ready?

Unlock the Growth Engine That
Commands a Premium at Exit

Exit Ready Cover

Featured Blogs

Complimentary Live Sessions

We offer both in-person Lunch & Learn sessions and virtual workshops on the following topics:

Landing Whales: How to Win the Accounts That Change Your Growth Trajectory​ (Best for Portfolio Companies)

A hands-on session for portfolio company CEOs and their commercial teams on how to identify, pursue, and close the high-value strategic accounts that can fundamentally change a company's growth trajectory and exit story.

AI for Growth & Value Creation​ (For PE Firms and Portfolio Companies)

Hear how you can deploy AI across commercial functions to accelerate growth, improve sales productivity, and build enterprise value during the hold period.

Building a Revenue Engine That Commands a Premium at Exit (Best for Portfolio Companies)

A session for PE-backed CEOs exploring how to build a scalable, repeatable revenue engine that withstands buyer diligence — covering the most common commercial mistakes made during the hold period, how to read your own growth engine's diagnostic signals, and what separates a premium exit from a discounted one.

8 Steps to Increase Revenue from Existing Customers​ (Best for Portfolio Companies)

A practical session for PE-backed CEOs on unlocking the highest-ROI growth opportunity most companies overlook, their existing customer base, covering eight proven strategies to increase retention, expand accounts, and drive revenue without adding to your acquisition costs.

The New Value Creation Mandate​ (Best for PE Firms)

A working session for PE operating partners exploring why portfolio company growth activity rarely creates durable value on its own — covering how to assess commercial engine readiness across the portfolio, where the most common gaps appear during the hold period, and how to build the growth system evidence that buyers will scrutinize at exit.

Talk With Our PE Team About A Complimentary One-Hour Consultation.