Measuring the Impact of a PE Operating Partner

This is from discussions at Private Equity International 2025 – measuring the impact of a PE Operating Partner comes down to how they create tangible equity value creation across the portfolio. Their impact can be seen in three dimensions: advising portfolio management teams, enabling EBITDA growth, and directly creating EBITDA through hands-on execution.

Credit for shaping and refining this framework – Chris Ahearn who is a PE Operating Partner at the Sterling Group, a middle-market operationally focused PE firm with $9 Billion in AUM.

1. Advise (Management and Deal Teams)

Purpose: Align management, deal teams, and boards around a shared vision for value creation, grounded in operating experience and disciplined execution.

Core Contributions:

  • Provide strategic and operational guidance to CEOs, CROs, and CFOs based on real-world experience
  • Translate investment theses into actionable Value Creation Plans and 100-day post-close roadmaps
  • Diagnose root causes in go-to-market, pricing, customer retention, and operations to shape clear action plans
  • Bridge management and board priorities to balance growth with capital efficiency
  • Serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to portfolio leadership on commercial and operational strategy
  • Mentor executives to think in terms of unit economics, recurring revenue quality, payback, and EBITDA leverage
  • Support deal teams before close with diligence on commercial scalability, pricing, talent, and margin potential
  • Contribute to Investment Committee materials with commercial insights, operational risk mitigants, and value-creation levers
  • Partner with deal teams to design value-creation theses and ensure post-close accountability
  • Establish consistent governance cadence through reviews, scorecards, and dashboards that track execution
  • Ensure clear and timely communication between management, boards, and investors
  • Lead portfolio leadership programs such as CEO and CRO summits and executive roundtables to foster collaboration
  • Partner with CEOs to assess leadership teams against future needs using scorecard-based evaluations
  • Guide organizational design to align structure, incentives, and accountability with investment goals
  • Act as translator between investors and operators to maintain clarity, trust, and alignment
  • Provide coaching on change management and help leadership teams overcome resistance to new ways of working
  • Participate in thesis development during deal formation and adjust priorities as markets or technologies evolve
  • Present firmwide operating strategies and value-creation frameworks to investors and LPs to strengthen conviction
  • Encourage a culture of transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the portfolio

Key Themes:
Alignment, credibility, and disciplined governance that create clarity and trust between investors and operators.

2. Enabler of EBITDA 

Purpose: Build and institutionalize scalable systems, processes, and capabilities that create operating leverage and sustainable profitability across the portfolio.

Core Contributions:

  • Design and deploy repeatable commercial systems such as sales excellence frameworks, pricing programs, and performance dashboards
  • Institutionalize the Strong Start and Value Creation Plan process to ensure consistent post-close execution
  • Develop a centralized knowledge base of best practices, playbooks, and frameworks for portfolio use
  • Build portfolio-wide benchmarks to track key performance indicators and monitor operating health
  • Implement standardized dashboards and reporting to align execution with value-creation priorities
  • Optimize organizational structures and compensation to link performance directly to growth and profitability
  • Introduce forward-looking metrics to identify risks and opportunities early
  • Drive margin expansion through process efficiency, cost management, and disciplined capital allocation
  • Lead pricing strategy programs to systematically uncover revenue and margin opportunities
  • Build scalable revenue operations systems and analytics infrastructure to improve forecasting and accountability
  • Champion the use of automation and AI tools to improve productivity and decision quality
  • Promote agile operating models that allow for rapid testing, learning, and adjustment
  • Lead integration efforts following acquisitions to accelerate synergies and unify commercial models
  • Partner with finance leadership on forecast accuracy, ROI discipline, and KPI alignment
  • Create networks for cross-portfolio collaboration and knowledge sharing
  • Develop and manage a trusted network of third-party experts, advisors, and tools to accelerate execution
  • Partner with CEOs on talent strategy to align leadership capability with investment goals
  • Promote a culture of operating rigor and accountability across the firm
  • Lead exit-readiness planning by aligning operational metrics, performance narratives, and strategic positioning
  • Advocate for technology enablement across the portfolio to modernize operations and increase scalability
  • Support firmwide fundraising and investor relations by articulating repeatable systems for value creation

Key Themes:
Systematization, scalability, and sustainable margin leverage that turn value creation into a repeatable discipline across the portfolio.

3. Creator of EBITDA

Purpose: Execute directly to drive revenue growth, margin expansion, and EBITDA improvement through focused, hands-on collaboration with management.

Core Contributions:

  • Rebuild and optimize go-to-market engines to deliver predictable and efficient revenue growth
  • Drive structured pricing initiatives that translate directly into profitability
  • Lead pipeline creation and conversion programs that strengthen demand generation and sales effectiveness
  • Execute turnaround playbooks for underperforming companies by rebuilding teams and resetting execution focus
  • Step in as interim executive during transitions to sustain momentum and safeguard value creation
  • Balance top-line acceleration with cost efficiency to achieve strong free cash flow performance
  • Redesign sales processes and enablement to improve productivity and shorten sales cycles
  • Lead cost optimization efforts to automate workflows and improve margin performance
  • Build data-driven management systems that connect every initiative to financial outcomes
  • Lead commercial transformations that integrate go-to-market, product, and customer success functions
  • Execute customer expansion and retention strategies that lift recurring revenue and customer lifetime value
  • Establish a culture of continuous improvement through regular reviews and transparent reporting
  • Build operating tempo into portfolio culture to enable fast, fact-based decision-making
  • Deploy modern tools and technology to enhance sales productivity and time spent on value-driving activities
  • Support exit value maximization through operational readiness, data validation, and performance packaging
  • Maintain a bias for action and focus on initiatives that move financial results in measurable ways
  • Quantify each initiative through its impact on revenue growth, margin expansion, and enterprise value

Key Themes:
Execution, accountability, and measurable impact that translate operational excellence into lasting equity value.

 

 

Closing Note: Note that many of these initiatives take time to unfold and compound over the ownership period – most are not silver bullets, but the result of disciplined execution over the long term, one month and one quarter at a time.