Growth Strategy & Commercial Execution Partners Confidential · PE & VC Advisory
From Growth Plan to Measurable Results

From the plan that held at close to the system that delivers it.

The Deal Arc — Leverage vs Cost of Intervention Five-stage PE deal lifecycle: Sourcing, Diligence, Close, Hold, Exit. A sienna leverage curve descends across the stages while a dashed dark cost curve ascends in mirror. They cross at the Close-to-Hold boundary. The Diligence through Early Hold zone is framed top and bottom as Where We Work. The mid-to-late Hold is marked Typical Advisory Window. WHERE WE WORK LEVERAGE TO CHANGE OUTCOME COST OF INTERVENTION SOURCING DILIGENCE CLOSE HOLD EXIT WHERE WE WORK TYPICAL ADVISORY WINDOW
Draft tagline · For Alicia's review

Leverage to change outcomes and cost of intervention cross at Close — we work where leverage is still high; most advisors arrive after it's gone.

The Premise

Most portfolio companies have a growth strategy. Few have a commercial system capable of executing it. We partner with PE sponsors and portfolio leadership to test strategy against how the commercial system performs — before capital is committed, and before the exit clock runs out.

— The Diagnosis

The plan held at close.

Eighteen months later, the value creation plan is behind, revenue synergies haven't materialized, and the exit timeline is starting to slip.

The commercial organization is executing. Just not against a model that can deliver the outcome.

This is where we work.

01 Two Failure Modes

Both visible earlier than most firms act.

Mode I

Wrong leadership in place.

The leader who got the business to acquisition is running the old playbook. The capability gap and the alignment gap tend to show up together — and go unaddressed longer than they should.

Mode II

The commercial engine isn't built.

The revenue plan was credible at underwriting. But what it assumed didn't exist: clear segmentation, aligned coverage, unambiguous account ownership. The business wasn't structured to deliver it.

02 What We Do That Others Don't

Board-level standing. Operational specificity. One engagement.

  • Operating partners
    Spread across portfolios.
  • Consultants
    Diagnose and step away.
  • Interim executives
    Execute, but aren't positioned to challenge the plan itself.
  • Growth Strategy & Commercial Execution Partners
    Strategy tested against how the commercial system performs before capital is committed. Execution tied to value creation outcomes before the exit clock runs out.
03 The Deal Arc

The questions that don't get asked early enough.

At every stage of the deal arc, there are questions that determine whether the growth plan holds. Most don't get asked until performance has already diverged.

Stage I Pre-Close

Before Capital Is Committed

  • Is the business winning in the segments the model depends on, or in adjacent ones that won't scale the same way?
  • Is pricing structural, or is it a reflection of relationships and legacy positioning that won't survive new ownership?
  • Can the leadership team execute what is being underwritten — and will they?
Stage II Ownership

During Hold

  • Is the business still winning in the segments the growth plan depends on, or has the mix shifted in ways that make the original model harder to execute?
  • Is ownership of growth clear across the organization, or is accountability spread thin enough that no one is responsible for whether the plan delivers?
  • What assumptions is the growth plan dependent on, and which ones are not holding in practice?
  • Where integration is part of the plan, do the businesses sell to the same buyer with the same motion — or does the cross-sell assume a relationship that doesn't exist?
Stage III Exit

Before Exit

  • Is underperformance a strategy problem or a commercial execution problem? The intervention is different.
  • What can still move within the exit window — and what needs to be stopped so it doesn't consume resources that could?
  • What does the commercial story look like to an acquirer, and can it be underwritten?
04 The Partners

Operators who have run it and built it.

Two senior advisors, working together inside a single engagement. One has run a $35B commercial organization. One has built and exited. Both have lived the gap between plan and execution.

Partner Commercial · GTM · Retention

Alicia Dietsch

Fortis Innovators

Alicia Dietsch led commercial operations at AT&T Business, a $35B B2B organization. She now advises on where growth plans break in execution — with a focus on the commercial system across marketing, sales, pricing, and customer retention.

Partner Strategy · M&A · Diligence

Mike Thompson

QuantaCyber

Mike Thompson led acquisitions on Nortel's corporate M&A team, then built and scaled a company through PE exit. He now advises PE and VC firms on where assumptions break under ownership — with a focus on acquisition strategy, diligence, and value creation in cybersecurity and technology services.

05 Engagement

When growth risk is visible — or before it is underwritten.

Introduced through deal teams, operating partners, or portfolio company leadership. Working with PE sponsors and portfolio companies across North America and Europe.
01
Defined-scope projectA discrete diagnostic or execution sprint tied to a specific deal stage.
02
Ongoing retainerBoard-adjacent advisory across the hold period.
03
Embedded supportOperational presence inside the portfolio company through value creation.