The KPI No One Tracks: TTFW

Lee McCabe

12 Oct 2025 — 1 min read

Time to First Win

In private equity, we live and die by IRR, MOIC, and LTV:CAC. But there’s one metric that rarely makes the dashboard, and yet can make or break a value creation plan: Time to First Win. It’s the speed at which a new investment delivers its first tangible operational victory. Not a strategic memo or a future plan, an actual, measurable result that builds belief.

In one deal, we inherited a consumer services company with an expensive marketing budget but no lead intelligence. Within 45 days post-close, we implemented call tracking, rebuilt lead routing logic, and cleaned the CRM. The result? A 22% increase in close rates from the exact same lead volume. That one move didn’t change the world, but it changed the internal dynamic. Management bought in, the team got excited, and suddenly there was permission to move faster on the bigger plays.

Early wins aren’t just about optics, they’re about momentum. They reduce friction, build trust, and accelerate the entire value creation arc. The best operators I know treat Time to First Win as a core KPI, and work backwards from it the moment the deal closes. Because belief is a force multiplier, and it starts with one undeniable win.

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Private equity has quietly entered a new sport: competitive talent hoarding.

AI isn’t coming for middle management. It’s already rearranging the job description.