The Winning PE Value Creation Formula – GTM (Revenue Growth) Improvements + Operational Improvements

PE Winning Formula is both: a) GTM Excellence + b) Operational Discipline To succeed, PE firms must now differentiate through genuine value creation, as they face intense competition, longer holding periods, and high-interest rates that limit leverage. Firms must focus on both GTM improvements and operational improvements within portfolio companies…  Read More >

What Top PE Firms Focus On

What Top PE Firms Focus On I think PE investors who consistently deliver strong returns are disciplined, data-driven, and adaptable. Understanding what top investors prioritize can provide a competitive edge. Here are ten key insights that define their approach: 1. Firm Culture, Leadership Alignment, and Decision-Making Cultural fit and leadership…  Read More >

PE – Ideas for 2025

A few ideas for 2025 – to become the best in the industry, PE firms & teams have to the following approaches and insights from the sources: Focus on specific expertise and market segments Specialize: Hone in on specific areas like tech & be good at profitable revenue growth (aka…  Read More >

10 Strategies for Maximizing Value Creation in PE

10 Strategies for Maximizing Value Creation in Private Equity The private equity industry has increasingly shifted from traditional financial engineering toward operational value creation as a primary driver of returns. Firms that consistently outperform do so by applying structured, repeatable playbooks that improve EBITDA, drive revenue expansion, and enhance operational…  Read More >

Navigating Key Issues in PE – What Has Changed in 3 Decades

Private equity has expanded significantly over the past three decades, with fund counts and AUM reaching record levels. As competition increases and financing costs rise, PE firms must rely more on GTM Improvements (Profitable Revenue Growth Acceleration) combined with Operational Improvements to generate returns. Number of PE Funds up 5x…  Read More >

PE – Insights for Strategic Pricing Optimization

Pricing Assessment for Private Equity Portfolio Companies: A Framework for Value Creation Pricing optimization is a key driver of revenue growth, margin expansion, and overall enterprise value for private equity-backed companies. A well-structured pricing strategy enhances customer acquisition efficiency, strengthens retention, and increases expansion revenue. This framework prioritizes the most…  Read More >

My Book Recommendations (Random)

I’ve been asked for book recommendations so I decided to jot down a list of books I’ve enjoyed over the years. It serves as a personal record and something I can share with anyone who’s interested. [Note: I’ll try to update this list from time to time with more recent…  Read More >

Category: Ideas

Creating an Engineered, Systematized Approach to PE Value Creation

Creating value in PE requires more than just GTM Improvements or Operational Improvements. It demands a systematic and scalable value creation process that can be applied across the portfolio. This approach is not about ad hoc interventions or one-off solutions but about designing a structured framework that enables consistent, repeatable,…  Read More >

PE ROI – Revenue Growth is a Key Value Creation Driver (Revenue > EBITDA > Successful Exit)

This is how Top-Line Growth or Revenue Growth is the primary Value Creation driver for Tech PE portfolio companies. In PE, focusing on increasing revenue and profitable revenue growth initiates a cascade of beneficial downstream effects: – Increasing Revenue and Profitable Revenue Growth (Capital-Efficiently) Initiating with a strategic emphasis on…  Read More >

PE Investment Lifecycle and How Value Creation Teams Make an Impact

By actively engaging across each phase of the private equity investment lifecycle, Value Creation Teams (Operating Partners) ensure a tangible outcome, enhancing both portfolio equity value creation (EVC) and investor returns.   Sourcing & Deal Origination – Identifying potential investment opportunities through proprietary networks, investment banks, and industry relationships. Operating…  Read More >

Achieving Great Exits for PE-backed Companies

To achieve favorable exit outcomes, PE portfolio companies typically employ a variety of strategies: Disproportionate Organic Revenue Growth (based on PE Fund’s GTM Expertise & Capital-Efficient Focus): Focusing on driving disproportionate and capital growth via market expansion, new customer acquisition, expansion sales into existing customer base, and product development, to…  Read More >

PE – Early Indicators and Success Factors to Gauge Before Buying a Company

PE – Assessing Success Factors Before Acquiring a Company When evaluating a potential investment, I focus on businesses with strong fundamentals, clear value-creation levers, and predictable, sustainable growth. These are the key criteria that make an acquisition attractive: Strong Leadership or Replaceable Gaps Evaluating whether the management team is strong…  Read More >

Working in PE: Great Privilege & Great Responsibility

Reflecting on the last several years in PE , I’ve been contemplating what I genuinely like about the job. This is primarily for my personal reflections and to articulate my thoughts more clearly but it genuinely starts with a true privilege and a tremendous responsibility to be in PE. Similarity…  Read More >

Strategic Pricing Optimization in PE – Drive Growth & Expand EBITDA Margins

How PE Can Unlock Equity Value Through Strategic Pricing Optimization Pricing is one of the most powerful levers for value creation. Monetization improvements for PE-backed companies, a disciplined, data-driven approach to pricing can unlock significant equity value by improving unit economics, accelerating growth, and expanding EBITDA margins. Pricing as a Direct…  Read More >

Pricing Optimization & Unlocking Revenue Potential: A Systematic Approach

Many middle-market PE portfolio companies leave money on the table due to misaligned pricing models, value leakage, or friction in customer acquisition and retention. A structured approach to pricing optimization helps identify gaps, refine packaging, and maximize revenue potential. This framework ensures pricing captures the full value delivered while maintaining…  Read More >

Supporting Add-On M&A Process in PE

In the role as a PE Operating Partner, your primary responsibilities involve not only helping the Investment Team with diligence in the process of add-on mergers and acquisitions for our anchor portfolio companies, but also ensuring the seamless integration and enhancement of these new additions (ex: GTM  team and process…  Read More >

Principles – Driving Results in PE

Just a few thoughts on principles for successful leadership in PE – PE firm success requires a blend of strategic vision, adaptability, and leading the way for disciplined execution at portfolio companies. But the most effective leaders excel by mastering these core principles that drive value creation, operational efficiency, and…  Read More >

Key Traits of Top PE Professionals

Here is what great PE professionals have that I’ve observed in the past several years but also going all the way back to my days in Investment Banking working with some investors we represented, to the days in VC and learning from our team as well as many other investors…  Read More >

A Key GTM Metric in PE – CRC: Customer Retention Cost

Retaining customers is more cost-efficient than acquiring new ones. Once a customer is acquired, focusing on repeat business is crucial due to the higher cost of acquisition. Customer retention is more cost-effective than acquisition, which can be three to six times more expensive. Balancing acquisition and retention strategies is essential…  Read More >

PE-Backed CRO Guide to Growing New Logo Sales (Growth-Stage & Lower MM PE-Backed Companies)

Growing Your New Logo Sales The blueprint below is meant to be strategic and is focused on driving growth at PE-Backed companies beyond an average benchmarked industry organic sales growth. Assumptions: Consistent Sales Pillars across Every B2B Company (especially software/SaaS) every B2B SaaS company has many “commonalities” – i.e. Sales Pillars…  Read More >

5 Key Aspects of Successful B2B SaaS Companies (PE)

Every successful fast-growing B2B SaaS company has to have a large TAM (Total Addressable Market) and lots of greenfield upside in that TAM. But there is more to the best of Growth-stage SaaS – based on what I’ve seen of the best companies where I’ve been on the executive teams…  Read More >

Top Signs a PE CRO Must Troubleshoot the Sales Strategy

Several times a year you must do a quick checkup and get a gauge on whether you need to rethink your Execution or troubleshoot your SaaS Sales Strategy. This is primarily about the “New Business” deals/sales rather than expansion sales (i.e. not as much about AM/CS driven renewals or upsells…  Read More >

How PE-Backed CROs Should Develop a Sales Strategy – an Operating Plan for Your SaaS Sales Team

In the past, I discussed what companies should include in their “Strategic Plan” which focuses on the “Corporate Strategy“. Of course, the right sequence requires the executives to craft their Corporate Strategy first (i.e. should be planned and finalized first before any other business functions craft their strategy) – it…  Read More >

Use “Sales Systems” to Systematize & Operationalize Your Sales

If you aiming to build a “sales machine” that generates repeatable, predictable, scalable and sustainable revenue and growth, you need to first systematize your sales – i.e. you have to develop a System for yourself. Such system, just like coaches develop for their professional sports teams, in turn comprises several sub-systems and…  Read More >

The CRO Blueprint for Effective Sales Execution

John Wooden who is one of the greatest sports coaches of all time said “Don’t mistake activity and achievement“. And Lou Gerstner, a former CEO of IBM who turned IBM’s fortunes around, similarly instructed – “Don’t confuse activity with results“.  Being busy and making an effort doesn’t mean you’re actually…  Read More >

Pipeline Integrity is a Function of Pipeline Hygiene & an Effective Sales Process (Key to success for PE Investment)

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”  – W. Edwards Deming ——- These are the topics the CEO & CRO of a $20M-$100M+ in ARR PE-Backed company must consider: First Step for PE Portfolio Companies Engineer & Optimize an Effective Sales…  Read More >

Private Equity – Record Demand for Operating Partners

  According to Private Equity International, PE firms are looking to boost portfolio company valuations while operational issues are becoming increasingly more complex. Source: https://www.privateequityinternational.com/record-demand-operating-partners-gps-seek-boost-portfolio-company-value-survey/ “Operating partner roles are the fastest-growing positions in private equity…” Here is value creation in 5 charts: https://www.peievents.com/en/event/operating-partners-technology-forum/value-creation-in-5-charts/      

CRO – The Key Role in PE Operating & Portfolio Support Group

A lot of the traditional PE firms have great Portfolio Support teams. Many of the professionals are former CEOs.  Here is one example about a PE Operating group: “To enhance our own operational capabilities, we’ve developed relationships with over 100 senior industry executives, or Operating Partners, who act as independent…  Read More >