No private equity firm has really figured out how to use Operating Partners.
Plenty think they have. They’ll show you their org charts, explain how value creation is now a “core capability,” and proudly announce that every portfolio company has a VCP tracked in Asana.
But scratch the surface, and what you find is usually a muddled mix of consulting theatre, internal politics, and reactive firefighting.
Operating Partners live in the grey zone:
• Half COO, half management consultant, half firefighter.
• Expected to drop into any company, any situation, any sector and somehow move the needle.
• Given all the responsibility for growth, with none of the actual authority to make decisions.
It’s a job defined by contradictions. You’re supposed to be hands-on, but not step on toes. You’re meant to challenge management, but also “build trust.” You’re on the hook for results, but can’t touch the P&L.
In most firms, the role exists to look like there’s an operating model. But very few build an actual system around it.
Because that would require uncomfortable changes:
• Letting go of the idea that deal partners alone drive value.
• Funding real capability in pricing, digital, talent, and go-to-market.
• Giving Operating Partners true ownership over workstreams, not just advisory roles or board slots.
Instead, we’ve created a culture where the Ops team is brought in post-deal to polish the thesis, design a deck, and maybe run a 100-day plan that looks suspiciously like last year’s.
It’s not a model. It’s theatre.
Start treating value creation with the same seriousness as deal execution. Staff it. Fund it. Give it teeth. Make Operating Partners owners, not service providers.
Until then, Operating Partners will remain the most underleveraged and most quietly frustrated asset in the private equity ecosystem.