Lender-backed turnaround, temperature-controlled logistics
What we did
Technology and commercial workstreams under the interim CEO: a paper-run operation moved onto Salesforce, delivery-network optimization, and a cadence through the sale.
Technology and transformation partner
Your plan assumes the systems exist.We build them.
For sponsors, lenders, and the companies they back, we build one system of record and unit economics, so every number has a source. Data engineering, analytics, data science, and software, including AI agents.
The gap
The plan has 6 levers. The systems can measure 2.
Price lives in a spreadsheet one person maintains.
Cost-to-serve lives in someone’s head.
The board pack is assembled by hand from systems that disagree.
That gap between the plan and the systems is execution risk. In a longer hold, it is where returns leak.
Our point of view
The redesign is the value creation
Factories gained little from electricity until they were rebuilt around a motor on every machine, a design called unit drive. Dell moved its direct, build-to-order model onto the web in 1996, and Blockbuster ran its website as a separate business.
AI is the third power source of this kind, now cheap enough to put on every workflow. Each time, the value went to the companies that redesigned the work around it.
By deal moment
We start where you are in the deal
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Diligence
You are in exclusivity, and the data room cannot support the plan.
What you get
A memo for your investment committee on whether the systems can carry the plan, and what the fix costs.
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Day one and first 100 days
You closed, and the 100-day plan assumes reporting the company cannot produce.
What you get
Ground truth, one system of record, and a board pack that arrives on time.
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Through the hold
The plan is behind, and nobody can say which lever is slipping.
What you get
Unit economics, commercial and operational redesign, and agents where the work is ready.
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Add-ons
You bought a second company, and now there are 2 sets of books.
What you get
Consolidated reporting and a roadmap to one set of systems.
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Exit
A buyer will ask for KPI history the company cannot produce consistently.
What you get
Consistent KPI history, documented systems, and a cadence that survives the operator.
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Lender situations
A borrower’s reporting is late or inconsistent, or EBITDA is not turning into cash.
What you get
A borrower diagnostic, stabilized operations, and reporting a lender can rely on.
The Unit Drive Playbook
Every phase ends with an artifact and a decision
It runs in 5 phases. You keep every artifact, and you decide whether to continue.
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I
Ground truth
Confidential frontline discovery, reported to the leadership team first.
Artifact
Ground truth readout
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II
System of record
One spine for commercial, operational, and financial signals.
Artifact
System of record design
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III
Unit economics
Price, cost-to-serve, and reconciliation at the unit level.
Artifact
Account and SKU profitability
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IV
Agentic layer
Agents take the research, entry, and follow-up work.
Artifact
Agents with an owner and a measure
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V
Operating cadence
The rhythm that keeps the gains after we leave. This is what the next buyer pays for.
Artifact
Cadence and handover pack
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I
Ground truth
Confidential frontline discovery, reported to the leadership team first.
Artifact
Ground truth readout
-
II
System of record
One spine for commercial, operational, and financial signals.
Artifact
System of record design
-
III
Unit economics
Price, cost-to-serve, and reconciliation at the unit level.
Artifact
Account and SKU profitability
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IV
Agentic layer
Agents take the research, entry, and follow-up work.
Artifact
Agents with an owner and a measure
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V
Operating cadence
The rhythm that keeps the gains after we leave. This is what the next buyer pays for.
Artifact
Cadence and handover pack
What we build with
4 disciplines, accountable to one plan
Discipline
What it builds
So that
Software and agents
Agents, portals, quoting, and internal tools
The work comes off people’s desks
Data science
Forecasting, optimization, and prediction
Price, stock, and routes are decided on evidence
Data analytics
Unit economics, KPI trees, and board reporting
The board pack holds up
Data engineering
Systems of record, integrations, and pipelines
The numbers reconcile
Software and agentsAgents, portals, quoting, and internal toolsThe work comes off people’s desks
Data scienceForecasting, optimization, and predictionPrice, stock, and routes are decided on evidence
Data analyticsUnit economics, KPI trees, and board reportingThe board pack holds up
Data engineeringSystems of record, integrations, and pipelinesThe numbers reconcile
Work
What we built, and our role in each
Pharmaceutical outsourcing facility
What we did
A Salesforce implementation and a quoting system, with new commercial processes, led with a developer and admin team.
Sample deliverables: a monthly board pack page, a SKU profitability waterfall, and a diligence summary.
Standards
Every initiative is held to 3 tests
No extra tools.
It replaces work or software the company already has.
Real adoption.
The people it was built for use it without being chased.
Attributable return.
What was invested, what it produced, and evidence the gain came from this work.
You own everything we build. If something is not working, you hear it from us first.
Perspectives
Point of view, dated and argued
Essays on how value gets created with data, software, and AI in the companies sponsors and lenders back.
- March 12, 2024The redesign is the value creationElectricity and the network paid off for those who rebuilt the work around them. AI is next.
- September 17, 2024Underwrite AI like any capital expenseA cost, a timeline, a return you can attribute, and a point where you stop. Anything less is a pilot.
- May 6, 2025The improvement has to survive the operatorBuyers pay for gains that keep running after the people who made them leave.
Next step
Bring us a situation
A live deal in exclusivity.
A portfolio company behind plan.
A borrower you are watching.
What happens next: a principal replies within one business day, and we sign an NDA before any data. Then we hold a call and send a written point of view.
Bring us a situation