𝗣𝗘 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱. 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗗𝗗 𝗸𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘂𝗽? Part 1.

From the 2026 Bain & Company hashtag#PE Report: A decade ago, 5% annual EBITDA growth was enough to generate a 2.5x MOIC. Today it's 12%. Multiple expansion is gone. Cheap debt is gone. What's left is operational and commercial performance, and most portcos aren't ready to deliver it from Day 1.

𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗗𝗗 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴

Most commercial due diligence confirms the thesis. It validates what's in the CIM. It asks customers, "Why did you choose Vendor X?" and "How do you like the product?" Supply-side questions that produce surface-level validation, neat answers, and false confidence.

What they don't produce is a growth algorithm.

Demand-side interviews ask different questions: what triggered the change, what nearly stopped you, how did you justify the spend internally. These surface the repeatable buying patterns that actually drove customer decisions. When those patterns repeat across 15-20 recent customers, you have the foundation of a Day 1 GTM playbook. Not a 90-day post-close discovery project. A funded, evidence-based commercial plan that arrives at IC approval.

𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲

The EBITDA targets your deal model now requires cannot be achieved through cost reduction alone. Revenue has to do the work.

But most portco commercial teams are running a product-push model, built around features, capabilities and awards. That narrative was designed for a world where buyers came looking. Today, buyers complete 60-70% of their journey before they engage a sales team. By the time your portco shows up, the frame is already set, and your messaging didn't set it.

Demand-side buyer research replaces assumptions with evidence. It builds a commercial motion around the 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 that actually move buyers from inertia to action. That's what closes the gap between Year 1 targets and Year 1 results.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

LPs now want value creation plans they can describe in one sentence and back with data. "We'll hire a better CMO and fix the messaging" is not a plan.

"We interviewed 8 recent customers during CDD, identified three repeatable buying triggers, and built a Day 1 outbound playbook around the highest-signal segment" is a plan.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝟭 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻.