H1: Restore performance when the operating model loses its grip on the plan
Sponsors, operating partners, family offices and boards do not need another assessment of why a portfolio company is behind plan. You need the gap closed. When margin drifts and cash conversion slows, the issue is rarely strategic ambiguity. It is usually an execution deficit. The management team may be capable, but the operating model no longer supports the underwriting case. Debates over data replace decisions on action. We enter this space to stop the debate and start the correction. We do not advise from the sidelines. We take the seat.
A company is behind plan. The revenue top line may still grow, but the quality of that growth has deteriorated. Cost-to-serve has expanded faster than pricing power. Working capital traps cash that should be flowing back to the holdco or reinvested in growth. The board pack arrives late, and the numbers within it are contested before they are even read.
This is not a crisis of leadership character. It is a crisis of operational cadence. The methods that built the business have reached their limit. The founder or the incumbent management team knows the business deeply, but the daily discipline required to protect margin has slipped. Internal accountability is diffuse. Everyone sees the problem, but nobody owns the solution. In this environment, external consultants who deliver slides only add noise. You require line authority. You require someone who signs the checks, hires the staff, and answers for the EBITDA bridge.
We accept mandates where we hold line authority. We sit as the interim CEO, CFO, COO or CMO. We are accountable for the number, not for the recommendation. Our focus is narrow and deep. We target the specific levers that restore the economic logic of the business.
We own the margin structure. We dissect the cost-to-serve to identify where value leaks. We restructure pricing architecture to reflect current market reality, not historical habit. We own working capital. We tighten the cash conversion cycle by aligning procurement, inventory and receivables with commercial terms. We do not manage these metrics through monthly reviews. We manage them through weekly operational rhythms. If a number cannot be seen weekly, it cannot be managed monthly. We build the instrumentation required to make these metrics visible, accurate and indisputable. This is not about installing software. It is about installing truth.
The initial phase is defined by stabilization and clarity. We do not begin with a broad transformation strategy. We begin with cash and confidence. We establish a 13-week cash view that the bank and the board can trust. We halt initiatives that consume cash without returning value. We define the two or three key performance indicators that truly drive enterprise value for this specific asset.
We align the management team around these indicators. We remove the ambiguity that allows poor performance to hide. We make hard decisions on personnel and process quickly. We do not wait for consensus. We act on evidence. By day thirty, the reporting cadence is fixed. By day sixty, the bleeding stops. By day ninety, the trajectory is clear. The management team begins to operate with a new discipline. They see the link between their daily actions and the financial outcomes. Trust in the numbers returns.
Our reporting is designed for decision speed, not documentation volume. We report weekly to the management team against the operational plan. This is a working session, not a presentation. We address variances immediately. We report bi-weekly with the owner, sponsor or operating partner. This dialogue focuses on blockers and resource allocation.
Monthly, we deliver into the board pack in the board’s own format. We do not create parallel reporting structures. We integrate our findings into the existing governance rhythm. Quarterly, we lead the re-forecast. This is not a mechanical update. It is a strategic review. We provide an explicit stop-or-continue recommendation on our own mandate. If the work is done, we say so. If more time is needed, we justify it with data. The board always knows exactly where the business stands relative to the value creation plan.
Every mandate has a written end condition defined before we begin. We are not building a dependency. We are building capacity. Our goal is to make ourselves redundant. We recruit our own replacement. We identify, assess and hire the permanent executive who will carry the gains forward. We do not leave until this person is seated and competent.
We hand over against a signed transition plan. The result must be held by the company’s own people. The systems we instrument remain. The cadence we establish continues. The management depth we build persists. We leave only when the business runs better without us than it did with us. This is the definition of success. It is not about our tenure. It is about the enduring strength of the operating model.
If your portfolio company is behind plan and requires line authority to restore its trajectory, speak with a partner.