What PE Actually Wants in the First 90 Days

When private equity acquires a company, many leaders assume the expectation is immediate transformation.

New strategy.
New markets.
New growth initiatives.

In my experience, the first priority is something simpler:

Removing mystery from the business.

When Dynata was acquired by Court Square, I worked closely with the operating partner for several years. One of the things that struck me was how focused they were on identifying which parts of the business were clear… and which parts were “mystery boxes.”

Their goal wasn’t to dictate decisions.

Instead, they pushed us to understand:

• where costs were hiding

• where processes were inefficient

• where resources were being wasted

• and which parts of the business no one could easily explain

Often they would suggest consultants they had worked with before who were very good at turning those mystery boxes into something legible.

What impressed me most was that they rarely told leadership what to do.

They asked questions, made suggestions, and helped keep the organization focused on solving the right problems.

At one point I asked the operating partner why he didn’t simply tell us the answers he already seemed to know.

He smiled and said:

"Because the leadership team is part of the product we’ll eventually sell."

By coaching the team through the problems, he was strengthening the asset.

And that’s something many people misunderstand about private equity.

In the first 90 days, they’re not trying to impose a blueprint.

They’re trying to make the business understandable.

Because once the mystery is gone, improvement becomes much easier.