THE GREG HEAD NEWSLETTER
Operating at the Altitude of PE
The Sponsor. The Board. The Exit Clock.
The deal closed. Now you run a company someone else owns.
For PE-backed CEOs, founders, and the partners who back them.
I advise sitting PE-backed CEOs and founders on the PE operating rhythm, the sponsor, the board, and pressure of the hold clock.
I work with them on the transition to a professional PE-CEO of a Private Equity owned liquidity business.
The newsletter by Greg Head is a biweekly letter on the job that starts after the wire hits. The sponsor relationship. The board you report to instead of chair. The value creation plan you signed up to deliver. The exit clock running under all of it.
THE PE REALITY
Financial engineering can set the table. Operations create the value.
Greg Head
01
The PE investment thesis assumes an operating outcome the deal team won't be the one executing.
02
The Value Creation Plan turns that thesis into priorities that all compete for the same limited bandwidth.
03
C-suite execution is where the plan becomes real or stalls.
04
Execution complexity is consistently underestimated at the investment committee stage.
05
EBITDA is the scoreboard sponsors and boards actually read.
06
The exit outcome reflects whichever of those stages broke down first.
This newsletter is built to translate PE pressure into operator execution, and operator execution into exit value.
OPERATOR AUTHORITY
Operator perspective. Boardroom perspective. PE perspective.
Written from inside the operating seat — not from the outside looking in.
Greg Head has spent 25 years in private equity as a principal, an operator, and a board director. He founded and ran a single-family office, has sat on both sides of the table in more than 100 transactions, raised over $1B for other people's deals, and has served as an independent director on more than a dozen PE-owned portfolio company boards.
He started advising portco CEOs after watching executives he had introduced to sponsors arrive unready for the seat. Today he advises sitting PE-backed CEOs and founders on the sponsor relationship, the board, the operating value creation plan, and the exit clock. This letter is what those conversations sound like, written for the CEO who has not had one yet.
25+
Years in and around private equity
100+
M&A transactions, both sides of the table
12+
Independent director seats on PE-owned boards
$1B+
Capital raised across portfolio companies and funds
WHAT THIS IS — AND ISN'T
For PE Operators Who Create Value and Own the Exit
SURFACE-LEVEL CONTENT
Generic business advice
Market commentary
Deal news and league tables
OPERATOR-LEVEL INTELLIGENCE
Operator-level value creation
Execution under PE pressure
Boardroom perspective
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Six areas Greg writes about.
01
PE CEO & Operator Mindset
How top PE-backed executives think and operate under the hold-period clock.
02
Value Creation Plans
Turning the sponsor's model into a plan your team can execute, with a cadence that surfaces slippage before the board sees it.
03
EBITDA & Performance Levers
The levers that move EBITDA, cash, and enterprise value, in the terms your sponsor uses.
04
PortCo Operations
What changes in how you hire, decide, and spend when the company is an investment with a date on it.
05
Boardroom & Exit Strategy
What sponsors want in the board package, the difference between bad news and a surprise, and the risks that cost a turn of multiple at exit.
06
AI, Technology & Operating Leverage
Where technology and AI can create measurable operating advantage inside a PortCo.
ISSUE TOPICS
The kind of thing you'll find in your inbox.
Your Value Creation Plan Is Only as Good as the Operator Executing It
What Your Sponsor Wants 48 Hours Before the Board Meeting
Five Operating Levers That Can Change Exit Velocity
Sponsors and operating partners: forward this to the CEO you are spending the most time with.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Built for the people responsible for portfolio company performance.
PE-Backed C-Suite Executives
Accountable for creating value inside PE-owned companies.
PE Partners, Principals & Operating Partners
Responsible for portfolio performance and exit outcomes.
Founders & Owners
Leaders navigating PE ownership or preparing for a PE transaction.
GET STARTED
The hold period started at close.
Read the next issue before your board meets.
Twice monthly. Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
