Operating partners, when the fund needs more of them.
Funds know where value hides. A short hold leaves little time to find the people who can release it.
What slows a portfolio company
Swiss mid-market portfolio companies tend to share these:
An owner who stayed on
After a sale the founder is still the centre of the business, and the new owner needs someone who can work with that.
A finance function built for a family
Reporting that suited the old owner is thin for a fund.
A management team that is good and stretched
Capable people running the business and the value plan at once.
Search time exceeds the plan
A permanent hire takes months, and the hold is shorter.
Operators from our collective can be working inside a portfolio company within weeks. Use one to own a piece of the value plan, to hold a seat while a search runs, or to test the real need first.
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
Our part during the hold
A fund needs to know the seat is filled and governed. After the match we remain engaged with the board and the executive.
Reviews against the plan
We join the board's progress reviews against the value plan and flag slippage while there is still time in the hold.
Depth for the value plan
A carve-out, a pricing reset or a systems change can be tested with colleagues in our collective of 800+ who have led one.
A managed change of operator
The engagement sits with the portfolio company. If the operator moves on, we keep the plan and the brief and lead the replacement search and handover.
Matched to owner and fund
We match on the workstream and on the founder who may have stayed on. An operator neither side trusts loses a quarter.
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
