Private Equity Blog

Value Creation with Repeatable Commercial Systems
Executive Takeaways
- Fragmented growth activity creates movement but not repeatable value.
- The risk isn't lack of effort. It's lack of system.
- At exit, buyers don't reward busy. They reward predictable.
- Before the next growth initiative, ask whether the infrastructure underneath it will make the results last.
The New PE Value Creation Playbook: Part Two
Value Creation with Repeatable Commercial Systems
In our last post, we made the case that PE firms are increasingly turning to commercial growth as the primary value creation lever during the hold period. The question now is whether the growth activity underway in portfolio companies is actually building toward something durable.
Most portfolio companies are not standing still.
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Building Portco Resiliency Right Now
Aug 5, 2020 2:55:31 PM — The COVID-19 crisis has changed the economy in extraordinary and unexpected ways. But private equity firms can help their portfolio companies take some crucial steps in weathering the storm, and recovering when the clouds lift. The world's best epidemiologists only have models to predict the full depth and breadth of the COVID-19 pandemic, but companies are already feeling the economic fallout. They're scrambling to find the best way to respond, and in many cases, survive, all the while being rightly concerned for the health of their families and communities. It's not easy, and this is no time to pretend otherwise.

How Fractional Executives Can Fill Leadership Gaps that Private Equity Firms are Facing
May 18, 2020 1:22:33 PM — I recently had the opportunity to join Katie Mulligan Editor-in-Chief from Middle Market Growth magazine to discuss why every company in the US needs to reevaluate and consider relaunching their commercial engine. This post is an edited transcript of our interview. You can see the video in its entirety clicking below:

Hey GP, Where’s Your Digital Transformation?
May 14, 2020 3:00:00 PM — “Digital transformation” is a phrase we hear and read about constantly. It’s in countless articles and thought leadership pieces targeted at marketers, CEOs, investors, and other business leaders. It’s a topic that’s brought up in almost every meeting we have with private equity firms as well as at most PE-focused events. It gets used so much that it has become one of those omnipresent buzzwords in danger of losing its meaning, like “Big Data” and “The Cloud”.
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Private Equity Portfolio Triage During COVID-19 – Are Investors Missing Something Big?
May 4, 2020 11:38:28 AM — By now, most if not all Private equity firms have done some level of triage on their portfolios as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, much of the focus has been on determining which companies are at most risk financially and operationally, and steps have been taken to shore up liquidity and protect supply chains among other things. However, scant attention has been spent on assessing the ability of holdings across the portfolio to restart commercial engines post crisis. This shortcoming jeopardizes the ability to take advantage of what may be transformative growth opportunities in my opinion. It also puts overall fund performance at risk in the long-term.