New Owners & Private Equity
Make the management team a value driver, not a risk factor.
Every value creation plan depends on a management team, and often it’s a team the new owner didn’t choose. Martin Growth Leaders works with private equity firms, boards, new owners and portfolio-company CEOs to know the team they’re backing, align it around the new mandate, and bring multiple teams together as one.
What we hear from deal teams and operating partners
- “The numbers checked out. The team was the part we couldn’t really diligence.”
- “We have a 100-day plan and a management team that doesn’t agree on it.”
- “Three acquisitions in, we still have three companies, not one.”
Every investment thesis runs through the management team.
Quality of Earnings tells you whether the numbers are real. It doesn’t tell you whether the team can deliver them. After close, capable leaders often hold different assumptions about the strategy, their roles and what success requires. In a roll-up, each acquisition adds another team with its own culture and loyalties.
The leadership team is the highest-leverage and most under-invested lever in value creation. Top teams that work toward a common vision are 1.9 times more likely to deliver above-median financial performance (Keller & Meaney, McKinsey).
Where we focus:
- Before close: our Leadership Teamwork Index (LTI) gives deal teams a clear read on leadership risk and untapped potential before either shows up in the valuation.
- After close: aligning the team around the new mandate, with clear ownership of priorities and decisions.
- Roll-ups: bringing multiple management teams together as one leadership team with shared priorities.
- Portfolio talent: identifying the leaders to build around and redeploy across the portfolio.
Protect the thesis and accelerate value creation.
Owners see management risk early, while there’s still time to act on it. CEOs get a team that commits to the plan in the first 100 days instead of debating it. Integration moves faster, and the platform performs like one company.
In our clients’ words:
Craig’s impact has been both career-defining for me and transformative for the business.
“I recently stepped into a C-level role after my firm was acquired by a private equity firm. My ability to lead at this level—through multiple ownership changes, executive turnover, and other challenging moments—is due in large part to the skills and guidance that Craig has provided me along the way. Craig and his team also worked with my team to fine-tune the strategic vision and develop leadership communications for the new product rollout strategy with key new technology. This combination of strategic visioning and communications training not only helped us outpace our competition but also brought my team together and lifted the organization’s morale at a critical juncture. The successful rollout of this product family positioned the company to scale rapidly, helped to gain new customers, and attract new investors who are now helping us fully realize its potential. Craig’s impact has been both career-defining for me and transformative for the business.”
Venkat Yadavalli
VP & GM, Altera
Team members have broken out of a siloed regional mindset and are able to drive the overall US business together, building value for our global enterprise.
“The team coaching has transformed how our US leadership team operates and enabled us to generate much higher business performance just in the last year alone. Team members have broken out of a siloed regional mindset and are able to drive the overall US business together, building value for our global enterprise.”
Ted Whiton
Executive General Manager, US, GHD
Is this team ready to deliver the next phase of value creation?
Whether you’re evaluating a deal or starting a hold period, let’s talk about the team behind the plan.