Marketing, considered across the whole hold period.
Everything on our general services page applies here too, the difference is timing and accountability. Portfolio companies operate on a different clock, and marketing decisions made in the first hundred days tend to still be visible at exit. We try to plan for that from the start.
The pattern is fairly consistent across portfolios.
Marketing is usually understaffed at close, treated as a cost center through the hold, and then rushed in the final year before exit, not because anyone decided that was fine, but because nobody owned it end to end. The effects show up quietly: higher CAC, softer win rates, and an exit story that's harder to substantiate than it should be.
We don't think this is a talent problem. It's a sequencing problem, and it's fixable if it's addressed early enough.
Four phases, roughly, though every deal is a little different.
- Phase 01Days 0–100
Stabilize + Audit.
Understanding what marketing function exists, if any, and what the stack and attribution actually show. This usually ends with a hundred-day plan and a scorecard the board can read without translation.
- Phase 02Months 4–18
Build + Accelerate.
This is where most of the visible work happens, website, demand gen, GTM motion, the martech standup, and often the first hiring plan.
- Phase 03Months 18–36
Scale + Influence.
ABM at a larger scale, analyst relations, AI search visibility, and building the kind of executive presence that signals market maturity rather than just growth.
- Phase 0412–24 Mo Pre-Exit
Position for Exit.
Assembling the story, attribution documentation, analyst coverage, market positioning, that has to already exist by the time diligence starts, because it can't be built retroactively in six months.
How this shows up at the line.
We try to be honest that marketing's connection to EBITDA is indirect, but it's not vague. CAC compression, faster revenue velocity, and a documented growth story tend to move the metrics operating partners actually track, margin expansion, deal certainty, and how a buyer reads the exit narrative.
One methodology, applied across deal types.
Platform companies, add-ons, carve-outs, growth equity, and standard buyouts each need a slightly different starting point, but we run the same underlying process for all of them:
audit + align · architect · activate · check-in + iterate · scale + transfer
Often an operating partner looking for a consistent marketing partner across the portfolio, someone who reports the same way every time and doesn't need to be re-briefed at each new company.
Usually a CMO or VP Marketing operating with real board pressure and a lean team, who needs proof in ninety-day increments rather than a year-end narrative.
Weighing a target, or planning a post-close standup?
We'd rather have that conversation early than after the fact.
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