Leadership for the portfolio, without the long search.
Funds here back manufacturers, distributors and service businesses with real earnings and an owner near the end of the road. The plan is sound. The management team is often not ready for it.
Where the plan meets the business
The investment case is clear. Delivery depends on people who are not in place:
An owner who stays and a team that stalls
The former owner remains and the layer beneath has never worked to a fund's timetable.
Plant, stock and cost data nobody trusts
The numbers behind the thesis are built from spreadsheets, and the first board pack shows the gaps.
Operating partners cover too much
The same few people parachute into every problem across the portfolio.
A permanent hire is a bet on the exit
A full-time executive hired today may not suit the buyer tomorrow.
A fractional executive takes the seat and builds what the plan calls for: reporting a fund can read, a cost base that is understood and a team that works without the previous owner. When the business needs a permanent leader, they help choose 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
How we work with sponsors
We fill the seat the plan depends on and keep governance around it until a permanent leader is ready to take over.
Drift reported, not discovered
We review each engagement with the fund on a set rhythm, so slippage in a holding is raised while there is still time to act.
Operating depth on tap
An executive in one holding can call on our collective of 800+ when costing, plant or pricing questions need another experienced view.
The value plan stays on file
If an executive leaves before exit, we reopen the search from the brief and plan we hold, and take charge of the handover.
Matched to the owner who stays
Many holdings keep the founder involved. We match operators who can work beside a former owner without a contest.
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
