Private equity · Turnaround and special situations
Before AI scales the chaos, find out what the data can carry.
A business under strain runs on workarounds and systems that stopped agreeing years ago. Point AI at it and the workarounds scale too. We tell you what the data supports today, and what to fix first, within 5 working days of complete exports.
Starts with a 30-minute call. Commits you to nothing.
Illustrative example, not a client.
Real sample
See the memo a portfolio company would receive. A full Truth Score Read on 72,837 records in 7 exports from CRM, finance and HR. It scored 59 out of 100, Band C, significant work needed: 823 finance customers with no CRM account, and only 13% of deals reconcile to invoices.
Read the sample memoReal engine output on generated test data, not a client.
The challenge
AI amplifies whatever is already there.
A distressed business runs on workarounds, broken reporting and systems that drifted apart as people left. That is exactly the data an AI initiative would inherit, and amplify.
In a turnaround, time and trust are short. You can’t afford to find that out after the money is spent. You need to know first what the data can carry, and what has to be fixed before it can.
AI doesn’t clean up a distressed business. It scales whatever it finds.
How to read the card above: a Truth Score™ is a score out of 100 for how far the data can be trusted. Beside it is a Leverability read (which AI plays the data can run now, after fixes, or not at all; nothing to do with debt). Each play sits next to the target in the plan that leans on it.
Where we fit
Fast, sequenced, re-read as things improve.
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01Now
What’s usable today
A Truth Score Read: an honest picture of what the data supports before any AI spend is committed.
Truth Score ReadMore
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02Next
Fix in the right order
A short fix list, each item with an owner, effort and a test for done, so nothing is built on records that don’t agree.
Truth Score ReadMore
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03Later
Is the data holding up?
A quarterly re-read, bought by the company’s leadership, shows whether the fixes are holding.
AI Value TrackingMore
Questions
Asked plainly.
What investors in this strategy ask before a portfolio company sends a single export.
Book the callHow fast can you turn it round?
Within 5 working days of complete exports. Getting the exports together is the part that takes the time; we send the exact field list on the first call so nobody guesses.
Who sees the memo?
Whoever commissions it decides. The memo is written for management and the board, and it says exactly what was checked and what wasn’t.
Will you help fix the data?
No. We never fix what we find. The fix list is written to hand to the company’s own team or any firm it chooses.
What does it cost?
A fixed fee, agreed before we start, that never moves with the verdict. It is a small fraction of the proposal it tests; if it wouldn’t be, we’ll tell you on the call. Our first clients get a founding rate in exchange for a private reference call once they’re happy with the work, only with their consent. We never name a client, fund or target publicly without written consent.
Other strategies
The same method, pointed elsewhere.
- Buyout and controlTest the value creation plan in the first 100 days, against the data you inherited.Read more
- Growth equityTest the AI upside in the thesis before you price it, and again before you sell.Read more
- Large-capAn honest, narrower fit: single companies, bolt-ons and carve-outs.Read more
- Lower and mid-marketOur home ground: the independent read a larger fund keeps on staff, when you need it.Read more
- Sector and thesis-drivenEach company read against the specific AI plays your thesis depends on.Read more
Know what the data can carry before you bet on it.
Exports from two systems in. What the data supports, and what to fix first, within 5 working days of complete exports.
Starts with a 30-minute call. Commits you to nothing.