Operating partners need a badge and a gun, not another steering committee invite.

Private equity keeps hiring “value creation” people, then sends them into portfolio companies with zero mandate, zero budget, and the authority level of a polite email. And then everyone acts confused when the plan doesn’t happen.


Obvious value creation: We underwrote 300 bps of margin expansion from “procurement synergies.”

Reality: Procurement turned out to be Dave, who’s been there 22 years and won’t change suppliers because they sponsor his golf day. Dave also “knows where the bodies are buried,” which is corporate for “immune to consequences.”


Obvious value creation: We underwrote a 15% reduction in SG&A from “process improvement.”

Reality: Process turned out to be Karen, who built the workflow in 2009, hates software, and has a standing 1:1 with the CEO where she explains why any change will “break the culture.” The culture being: Karen gets what she wants.


Obvious value creation: We underwrote a revenue lift from “pricing discipline.”

Reality: Pricing turned out to be every salesperson having their own private discount policy plus a CFO who still approves rebates by email like it’s 1998. Fixing it requires comp plan changes. Comp plan changes require board will. Board will requires someone to enjoy conflict. Nobody in private equity enjoys conflict. Decks about conflict are ok.


Obvious value creation: We underwrote a working capital improvement from “inventory optimisation.”

Reality: Inventory turned out to be Steve, who orders like it’s still COVID because being out of stock once in 2021 traumatised him. Changing it means changing KPIs, planning cadence, and accountability. So instead we “monitor it closely” for six quarters.


Obvious value creation: We underwrote “digital transformation” to improve conversion.

Reality: Digital turned out to be a website maintained by a vendor nobody can name, a CRM nobody trusts, and attribution that’s basically astrology. The operating partner can diagnose it in a week. Fixing it needs money, prioritisation, and the authority to stop the pet projects. Guess who has none of those.


Operating partners aren’t ineffective. They’re just deployed like consultants and judged like owners.