portfolio company value creation, on the clock
Where the VCP becomes operating work. Marketing contributes more to the EBITDA bridge than most plans record.
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portfolio value creation, seen from inside
If you run a portco, you inherited a value creation plan, a board and a deadline. You probably also inherited marketing that can’t show its contribution: several agencies, a CRM nobody trusts, and reports full of clicks.
If you’re the operating partner, you see the same pattern across the portfolio. Different companies, same leak. It usually sits between channels, where nobody owns the whole system.
marketing from close to exit
What marketing should deliver at each stage of the hold.
close
diagnose the growth system
Before anyone adds spend, test whether the system that produces and measures customer growth can deliver what the plan assumes. Is the leak isolated, or structural?
first 100 days
set the baseline and the owner
Marketing gets real targets in the VCP and one named owner.
months 3 to 6
keep the plan running through leadership change
Stanton Chase reports most leadership changes in portcos land in months 3 to 61. Customer acquisition has to keep working through them, so everything lives in accounts and documentation the company owns. Not in one person’s head or one agency’s login.
12 to 24 months out
start building the exit narrative
EY finds sponsors that prepare 12 to 24 months ahead of exit report about twice the uplift in value2. Marketing’s part is what diligence asks for: revenue by source, CAC by channel, and retention by cohort.
exit
hand over a documented engine
A documented record of revenue by source, the accounts behind it in the company’s name, and a brand that doesn’t depend on the founder.
know where you stand before the next board meeting
The free Portfolio Marketing Audit is a leak report built from what’s visible from outside (site, search, ads, reviews, response speed), with an estimated cost where the evidence supports one and what we’d validate first inside the business. No call needed.
how much is marketing adding to EBITDA?
The free audit starts the answer: where marketing is likely losing money, what each leak may cost, and what to validate first.
Free Delivered by email No call needed
what each side of the table needs
Same plan, different pressure. We report to both.
Judged on
portco CEO or CMO
Hitting this year’s plan
sponsor’s operating partner
Value across the portfolio
Needs from marketing
portco CEO or CMO
Pipeline the sales team trusts
sponsor’s operating partner
Metrics comparable across portcos
Biggest risk
portco CEO or CMO
A thin marketing team, or none
sponsor’s operating partner
Vendor sprawl and inconsistent data
What we deliver
portco CEO or CMO
A growth system in accounts the company owns
sponsor’s operating partner
One set of definitions in every portco, tied to the VCP
signs portfolio value creation is stalling
Most stalls aren’t a channel problem. The system is broken: no attribution, no owner, and nothing linking marketing to sales.
We step in as the marketing team the company doesn’t have time to build, or work alongside the one it has.
watch for these
- Paid spend keeps rising to cover flat organic search
- Nobody can state CAC payback (how fast gross profit recovers what it cost to win a customer)
- Add-ons still run their own brands and CRMs
- The marketing lead left, or there never was one
- The board pack has no pipeline number
questions, answered
Something we didn’t cover? Ask it on the audit form.
The work inside a portco to deliver the sponsor’s value creation plan: revenue growth, margin expansion and exit preparation. Management executes; the sponsor oversees.
The CEO owns execution, and the sponsor’s operating partner owns the plan. Each initiative, marketing included, should have its own named owner.
Diagnose where the growth system leaks, set the baseline, and get marketing into the VCP with an owner and targets. Budget follows the diagnosis, not the other way round.
By standardizing definitions, not just labels: pipeline, CAC, CAC payback, LTV and revenue growth. That means one CAC formula, one attribution window and one monthly report across every portco. Each company first needs working attribution.
Twelve to 24 months before the planned exit. If revenue by source has been documented across the hold, that time goes to sharpening the narrative for diligence, not reconstructing old data.
Yes. We run the full program or support the team you have. The diagnosis decides which.
keep reading
- value creation planWhat goes in a private equity value creation plan, a section-by-section template, and where marketing belongs with a baseline, owner and target. Free audit.read more
- portfolio supportPE portfolio company marketing support: diagnose the growth system, rebuild what matters, report one set of numbers the company owns. Free audit.read more
- value creation leversThe four value creation levers marketing contributes to in a PE-backed company: brand, acquisition, retention and exit readiness. Get a free audit.read more
see where marketing is losing you money.
the free audit
what you get
- (01)
Where demand leaks
Search, the website, speed to lead and paid media: the leaks visible from outside the business.
- (02)
What each one may cost
An annual cost estimate wherever the evidence supports one, with the assumptions shown.
- (03)
What to fix first
Fixes ranked by likely payback for the work involved.
- (04)
What we’d validate inside
The CRM, ad and revenue data we’d check first to turn the estimates into numbers for your value creation plan.
what lands in your inbox
how much is marketing adding to EBITDA?
The free audit starts the answer: where marketing is likely losing money, what each leak may cost, and what to validate first.
Free Delivered by email No call needed