Portfolio leadership at the pace of the deal.
Funds here buy owner-run businesses with good margins and thin management. The thesis is clear. The people to deliver it are rarely in the building at completion.
Where the plan slips after completion
The deal closed. The first year is where value leaks:
Operating partners are spread thin
Several portfolio companies need senior time in the same quarter, and one person covers them all.
A hole in the management team
A CFO or COO seat is empty or filled by the previous owner's friend, and the clock is running.
Reporting is not fund-grade
The monthly figures turn up late and in the wrong format, prepared by a founder who never expected to be asked for them.
A permanent hire does not fit the hold
The cost and the exit risk of a full-time executive do not suit a business that may change hands.
A fractional executive covers the seat on terms that fit the hold. They build the reporting, run the function and hand over to the permanent hire when the plan calls for one.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- Deploying a senior operator inside a portfolio company
- Executing a 100-day plan the moment the deal closes
- Value creation through the hold, not another advisory report
- Building reporting, systems and management credibility before an exit
- Operational diligence and leadership-gap assessment before you buy
Not for
- A strategy deck or set of recommendations to hand back
- A business that wants an adviser, not an operator inside it
- Pure diligence with no operator deployed afterwards
- A mandate for oversight rather than hands-on execution
Why sponsors brief us
We fill the seat the value creation plan needs and keep governance around it until the handover.
Visible to the deal team
We check in on a set rhythm with the fund and the executive, and raise drift while there is still time in the hold to correct it.
Every holding has the collective behind it
An executive in one portfolio company can call on our collective of 800+ for a second opinion on pricing, systems or people.
The plan outlasts a departure
If an executive leaves mid-hold, we reopen the search with the brief and value creation plan already on file, and we run the handover with the fund.
Matched to the thesis
We match to the value creation plan in front of you: a carve-out, a bolt-on programme or a margin story each needs a different operator.
Across the PE investment lifecycle
From pre-deal to exit preparation.
Pre-deal: operational due diligence
Embed a Fractional COO or CFO to support your ODD. They identify gaps your model hasn't priced.
Post-acquisition: fill the leadership gaps
Start the search within days of instruction and have the right operator embedded within weeks. No recruitment pipeline, notice periods, or trial risk.
Value creation: operational improvement
Build financial infrastructure, operating cadences, commercial engines, and professional people structures.
Exit preparation: build credibility
A Fractional CFO producing clean board reporting and investor-grade financials is a meaningful credibility signal in any sale process.
The value-creation matrix
Each value-creation lever maps to the operator built to own it. Most plans pull two or three at once.
Portfolio company leadership options
Match the right fractional operator to the specific portfolio company need.
Our operating partners have worked at
