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For investorsBy deal stage · Value creation

Turn the value-creation plan into EBITDA, not slides.

Multiple expansion no longer carries returns; margins have to. We build the baseline from the company’s own data, rank the levers in dollars and check every initiative weekly, so slippage shows while it can still be fixed.

Illustrative case · one portfolio company, 10 weeks$500M-revenue portfolio company in year two of the hold+$10MEBITDA a year≈ $100M more exit value at 10×Read the case

The problemWhat goes wrong today

Plans are reviewed quarterly; margins move daily.

Value-creation plans are often a list of initiatives on slides, reviewed at board meetings. The baseline comes from management reporting, the levers are sized by benchmark, and nobody sees the slippage until the quarter is gone.

With longer holds and higher rates, every quarter of drift costs exit value.

What the benchmarks sayPublished research, with its source

What the research says.

  • 10–12%yearly EBITDA growthnow needed for 2.5× in five years, vs 5% in the 2010s1 Bain & Company, Global Private Equity Report 2026
  • 71%of buyoutsmissed their projected margins, by 330 bps on average2 Bain & Company, analysis of 65 mature buyouts against deal projections, 2019
  • +2–3 ptshigher IRR, up tofor funds that prioritize operational value creation3 McKinsey, “Bridging private equity’s value creation gap”, 2024 (analysis of 100+ funds, post-2020 vintages)

How AIx2 helpsWhat changes with the company as built

Four things change.

  1. Baseline from data

    Margin bridge built from ERP, payroll and spend data.

  2. Levers ranked by value

    Pricing, procurement and process levers sized in dollars.

  3. Owners and KPIs

    Each initiative tied to a process, a KPI and an owner.

  4. Live QA

    Progress checked weekly, slippage flagged early.

How the work runsThe Five Step Method, in this setting

From read-only access to results, step by step.

  1. Weeks 1–2

    Baseline from data

    ERP, payroll and spend connected read-only; the margin bridge rebuilt from transactions.

  2. Weeks 2–5

    Levers sized

    Pricing, procurement and process levers found in the data and sized in dollars.

  3. Weeks 5–8

    Initiatives owned

    Each initiative tied to a process, a KPI and an owner, approved by the board.

  4. Weeks 8–10 and on

    Weekly checks

    Progress checked every week against the plan; slippage flagged while it can still be fixed.

Illustrative caseA worked example, with its arithmetic

$500M-revenue portfolio company in year two of the hold

Illustrative case: a worked example, not a client result. The arithmetic is shown below it.

+$10MEBITDA a year≈ $100M more exit value at 10×

The situation

Two years into the hold, the margin was 12% and the plan was behind. Initiatives were tracked quarterly, from management reporting.

What AIx2 did

  1. Rebuilt the margin bridge from ERP, payroll and spend data, every transaction rather than samples.
  2. Ranked pricing, procurement and process levers by their value in dollars.
  3. Moved initiative tracking from quarterly to weekly, each with an owner and a KPI.

BeforeWith AIx2

EBITDA margin

12%14%

Initiative tracking

quarterlyweekly

Spend and processes analysed

samples100%

Illustrative. +2 points of margin on $500M revenue = +$10M EBITDA a year; at an assumed 10× exit multiple ≈ $100M.

What you receiveThe deliverables

What lands on your desk.

  • Margin bridge from transactions
  • Lever list sized in dollars
  • Initiative register with owners and KPIs
  • Weekly progress and slippage report

More for investorsThe other deal stages and investor types

The same evidence, for every seat at the table.