Value creationfrom thevendor base.
Diligence, the first 100 days, long holds and exit readiness: where third-party spend turns into EBITDA a buyer will accept.
Why it matters now.
Holds are longer and exits are slower. Third-party spend is one of the few levers that moves inside a quarter and survives buyer diligence. These pieces cover what to check at each stage of the hold.
Services: Hold-period margin sprint Portfolio Vendor Desk Sell-side readiness Private equity
Long PE holds: where the margin is in years five to seven
Holds now run about seven years. Late in a hold, vendor, agency, software and AI spend is the fastest EBITDA lever, and buyers will diligence it.
Oct 31, 2026
PE's next EBITDA lever is the vendor stack, not headcount
Agencies, software, cloud and IT services rarely have one owner. In most portfolio companies that is where EBITDA can be recovered without cutting jobs.
Oct 23, 2026
The 100-day plan for PE-backed companies, built on contracts
Most 100-day plans are written to win the investment committee. Here is one built to run the company, starting with the contracts that hold the savings.
Mar 11, 2025
Portfolio-wide vendor programs: what works and what stalls
A shared renewal calendar and cross-company benchmarks pay off almost every time. Mandates, master agreements and loose data sharing are where programs stall.
Mar 12, 2025
Sell-side readiness: the vendor and cost story buyers will test
Twelve to 18 months before exit, start proving the cost story buyers will pressure-test in diligence. What to fix while it can still show in the numbers.
Oct 26, 2026
What operational due diligence covers, and what it should produce
Financial diligence tests the numbers and commercial diligence tests the market. Operational diligence tests whether the business can deliver the plan.
Sep 18, 2025
EBITDA improvement without cutting people: start with vendors
When investors push for margin, headcount is the first lever most teams reach for. Vendor contracts usually hold faster upside that does not touch revenue capacity.
Jul 23, 2026
Carve-outs and TSAs: the IT and vendor costs new owners miss
The TSA covers the first months. The bill arrives at exit: standalone licensing, lost volume discounts and contracts that never transferred.
May 19, 2026
Vendor diligence on a dental or vet platform: an 11-item checklist
What deal teams should request on the vendor base of a dental or veterinary platform, and how each item changes the model.
Aug 4, 2026
Home services roll-ups: the vendor cost each add-on brings
Lead sources, call answering, fuel cards, telematics, insurance and duplicate software grow with every add-on. Where to look and what to fix first.
Oct 15, 2026
Dealer group software after acquisitions: DMS terms and data fees
Asbury's Tekion switch shows what a DMS change costs. What every acquired rooftop brings in DMS, CRM, lead and call tracking contracts, and what to fix at close.
Nov 2, 2026
Straight answers.
Where is the fastest EBITDA in a long hold?
Usually third-party spend: vendor contracts, agency fees, software and AI tools. It can be renegotiated within a quarter or two and documented for buyers.
Do buyers credit vendor savings?
When the savings are tied to signed contracts and invoices, yes. Projections without evidence get discounted.
Tell us what you’re working on.
Fifteen minutes. We’ll tell you whether we can help and what the engagement looks like. No pitch deck, no sales cycle.