For Private Equity
Your Portfolio Companies Have a Strategy.
Do They Have the Leadership to Execute It?
Evolution Partners embeds execution-focused leadership coaching inside your portfolio companies; building the accountability systems, strategic clarity, and team performance that convert your value creation plan into EBITDA.
1250 +
Business plans created with mid-market leadership teams
20+
Years of mid- market leadership coaching experience
2.2 x
Return for PE firms with structured value creation teams vs. 1.7 x without
100s
Australian leadership teams coached through growth
The Problem We Solve
The Execution Gap Is Where Returns Are Lost
With traditional financial engineering delivering diminishing returns, the decisive frontier in private equity is human capital.
The companies that miss their value creation plans almost always have the same root cause: leadership teams that lack alignment, accountability, and execution discipline.
» 01
Strategy Without Execution
A sound value creation plan fails without a leadership team that can translate it into weekly, monthly, and quarterly action.
Strategy documents alone don’t move EBITDA – disciplined execution does.
» 02
Leadership Misalignment
When your portfolio company’s senior team is not aligned on priorities, accountability breaks down.
Resources are pulled in competing directions.
The board sees this in the numbers – long before management admits it.
» 03
Key Person Dependency
A business that depends on its CEO for every major decision is a business with a suppressed exit multiple.
PE-ready companies have capable leadership teams that function – and grow – independently of any single person.
What We Do We Build the Operating System Inside Your Portfolio
Evolution Partners works directly with the leadership teams of your portfolio companies.
We embed a structured business operating system that creates the cadence, accountability, and strategic focus that PE-backed businesses need to perform.
Think of us as the human capital infrastructure layer beneath your value creation plan – ensuring the people responsible for delivering your returns are aligned, capable, and relentlessly focused on the right priorities.
The Financial Case Leadership is a Return Driver - Not a Cost Centre
The evidence is unambiguous. Firms that treat leadership development as a strategic investment consistently outperform those that do not.
788%
ROI from executive coaching, primarily through productivity gains and retention improvements
7 x
Average return organisations see on their initial coaching investment (ICF)
2.2 x
ROI for PE firms with structured value creation teams vs 1.7× for those relying on traditional methods (McKinsey)
Sources: Metrix Global, International Coaching Federation, McKinsey & Company
How We Engage Structured Across Every Phase of Your Ownership
Our engagement model is purpose-built for PE timelines. We can enter at any point in the ownership cycle and deliver meaningful impact – from pre-
acquisition assessment through to exit-ready leadership.
PHASE 01
Due Diligence & Leadership Assessment
Before you close, we assess the leadership team’s capability, alignment, and execution readiness. We identify the gaps that will determine how fast you can execute your value creation plan.
PRE-ACQUISITION
PHASE 02
First 100 Days: Alignment & Cadence
We work intensively with the leadership team to establish alignment around your priorities, install a business operating system, and create the strategic cadence that drives early momentum.
DAYS 1–100
PHASE 03
Hold Period: Execution & Growth
Ongoing quarterly strategic planning, CEO coaching, and team development to ensure consistent execution against your value creation milestones and EBITDA targets throughout the hold period.
ONGOING HOLD
PHASE 04
Exit Preparation: Multiple Expansion
In the 12–18 months before exit, we focus on reducing key person dependency, strengthening the leadership bench, and building the operational independence that attracts premium valuations.
PRE-EXIT
What We Build The Five Disciplines That Determine How Your Portfolio Companies Perform
Vision
A goal architecture that cascades from long-term destination to quarterly priorities at every level. The business holds its course without the leader in the room and builds toward exit value deliberately rather than accidentally.
Strategy
A clearly defined market position and the specific choices required to build it, held consistently from the leadership team through to every customer conversation. Margins improve, revenue quality strengthens, and the competitive position becomes harder to replicate over time.
Leadership
Depth at every level of the portfolio company. The business performs independently of any single individual, through an ownership transition and beyond, removing the key person dependency that suppresses exit multiples and that acquirers price into their offers
Execution
An execution infrastructure built around clear ownership, measurement, quarterly priorities and a meeting rhythm that keeps them accountable. Priorities are set and delivered, functions are owned and measured, and performance across revenue, profit and cash becomes consistent rather than intermittent.
Economic Engine
Clarity on exactly what drives profitability in the portfolio company, and the discipline to allocate capital accordingly. Profit outperforms the industry average because the financial model is understood, the drivers are managed, and that margin gap compounds in value throughout the hold period.
The Evolution Partners Compounding Growth Scorecard measures the performance of your business across the five disciplines that determine whether growth strengthens over time, or drains the business.
It takes just 5 minutes. 25 questions. Free. Instant results.
Plus an in-depth report on where your business growth is compounding and where it is drifting, a question-by-question breakdown, and a free debrief with an Evolution Partners coach.
Why Evolution Partners We Speak the Language of Performance and Return
Most business coaches work in the abstract. We work in the specific – structured methodologies, clear accountability frameworks, and measurable outcomes that translate directly into business performance.
Founded by Brad Giles, a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of building and growing companies, Evolution Partners combines real-world operator experience with best-in-class coaching disciplines.
“Brad has been working with our leadership team developing our strategic plan. He has been facilitating strategic workshops and working with us in-between our formal strategy sessions. I would recommend Brad to any business looking to align the team behind a strategy and to develop excellent accountability systems.”
Evolution Partners Client
CEO Australian Mid-Market Company
The Business Case What Strong Leadership is Worth to Your Return
Leadership coaching is not a soft investment. It is a high-conviction, high-return allocation against the human capital that determines whether your value creation plan is realised or missed.
Consider what a single percentage point of EBITDA improvement is worth at exit. For a $30M revenue business at a 6× multiple, a $300K improvement in EBITDA – entirely achievable through better execution discipline – generates $1.8M in exit value.
Against an annual coaching investment, the mathematics are compelling. This is why leading PE firms are systematically including leadership coaching in their value creation playbook – not as a discretionary add-on, but as a core lever of return.
The question is no longer whether to invest in leadership. It is whether you can afford not to.
ILLUSTRATIVE VALUE CREATION SCENARIO
| Portfolio company revenue | $30M |
| Current EBITDA margin | 12% |
| Exit multiple | 6× |
| Annual coaching investment | ~$80K |
| EBITDA improvement (conservative 1%) | +$300K p.a. |
| Exit value created (at 6× multiple) | +$1.8M |
RETURN ON COACHING INVESTMENT
22×+
Let's Work Together Start With a No-Cost Conversation About Your Portfolio
Before every engagement, we meet with you – at no cost – to understand your portfolio, your value creation priorities, and whether we are the right fit.