Value Creation Partners for Private Equity Portfolio Companies

Value Creation Partner is the best fit for a sponsor who wants one team to diagnose where a portfolio company is losing EBITDA and then deliver the fix, with each paid engagement credited toward the next one. Accordion suits sponsors whose priorities sit with the CFO, from finance functions to data and AI. Performance Improvement Partners suits sponsors who need M&A and technology advice on cloud migration, ERP and cybersecurity.

Value Creation Partner offers three engagement levels: a $5,000 diagnostic, a $20,000 audit and a fractional retainer from $15,000 a month. The diagnostic fee is credited in full, and $10,000 of the audit fee is credited, when the sponsor moves to the next level.
Value Creation Partner separates advice from delivery across two entities (Growth Shuttle for advisory, DevriX for implementation), and a sponsor can hire either one alone or both together.
Accordion is finance-led, and its work starts from the office of the CFO with a data and AI practice alongside.
Performance Improvement Partners works as M&A and technology advisors built for private equity, covering cloud migration, ERP and cybersecurity for portfolio companies.

Firm	Best for	What they do	How they engage
Value Creation Partner	Sponsors who want diagnosis and delivery under one accountability	Diagnoses where EBITDA is trapped in a portfolio company and builds the fix across technology, data, revenue engine and team	$5,000 diagnostic over 10 business days, $20,000 audit over three weeks, fractional retainer from $15,000 a month with a three-month minimum
Accordion	Sponsors whose value creation agenda runs through the CFO	Finance functions, data, technology and AI, and operational improvements	Finance-led, starting from the office of the CFO, with a data and AI practice alongside
Performance Improvement Partners	Sponsors who need M&A and technology advice	Cloud migration, ERP and cybersecurity for portfolio companies	M&A and technology advisory built for private equity

1. Value Creation Partner: diagnosis and delivery under one accountability

Value Creation Partner is the private equity practice of DevriX: it diagnoses where EBITDA is trapped in a portfolio company and delivers the fix with a forty-person in-house team, led by Mario Peshev. The firm describes itself as a fractional technical value creation partner for private equity, and the people doing the work are engineers, data specialists, marketers and revenue operators who sit inside DevriX (operating since 2010, with $1.45B in GMV under management).

Mario Peshev has founded six companies, exited two and advised more than 500. Value Creation Partner's position is that sponsors usually miss their value creation targets in execution rather than in strategy, because the portfolio company does not have the people to carry out the 100-day plan once the deal team has written it. The firm's structure follows from that view: Growth Shuttle is the advisory practice, DevriX is the implementation firm, and a sponsor can engage either one alone or both together, so the people who scoped the work can also be the people who build it.

Value Creation Partner sells three engagement levels, and each one is credited into the next so that a sponsor does not pay twice for the same discovery work:

Value Creation Diagnostic, $5,000 over 10 business days. The sponsor receives a lever map, a scored risk register and a sequenced 100-day plan for one portfolio company, and the full $5,000 is credited if the sponsor proceeds.
Portfolio Company Audit, $20,000 over three weeks. Value Creation Partner assesses technology, data, revenue engine and team, and costs the findings into a build plan a board can approve, with $10,000 credited if the build follows.
Fractional Retainer, from $15,000 a month with a three-month minimum. Mario Peshev takes the operating seat with the DevriX delivery team behind him, owns a workstream and reports to the board monthly.

The published case study shows how the diagnostic and the delivery connect. A PE-backed SaaS company was running 20% below plan, and within nine days of the diagnostic Value Creation Partner established that three systems were producing three different revenue numbers. After the team rebuilt the revenue data layer and redefined the pipeline stages, forecast accuracy moved from 60% to 82% within a quarter (the client is unnamed, as published on the Value Creation Partner homepage).

For a sponsor, the practical result is that the board gets a forecast it can plan around, and the operating partner gets one person accountable for both the finding and the fix. Value Creation Partner suits sponsors who already suspect the portfolio company's team is too thin to carry out the plan, and who want to test the relationship for $5,000 before committing to an audit or a retainer.

2. Accordion: finance-led value creation from the office of the CFO

Accordion describes itself as the value creation partner for private equity, with work spanning the CFO's agenda: finance functions, data, technology and AI, and operational improvements. Accordion's engagements start from the office of the CFO, and the firm runs a data and AI practice alongside its finance work.

Accordion suits a sponsor whose value creation plan is organised around the finance function, for example a portfolio company where the CFO is the main counterpart and where reporting, data and operational improvements are expected to sit under that office.

3. Performance Improvement Partners: M&A and technology advisory for private equity

Performance Improvement Partners describes itself as M&A and technology advisors built for private equity. Its work for portfolio companies covers cloud migration, ERP and cybersecurity.

Performance Improvement Partners suits a sponsor whose priorities are deal-related technology questions and infrastructure programmes, such as moving systems to the cloud, selecting or implementing an ERP, or strengthening a portfolio company's cybersecurity.

How to choose a value creation partner for private equity

The three firms start from different places, so the first question for a sponsor is where the problem in the portfolio company sits and who on the management team owns it. The criteria below can each be checked in a first call or in the engagement letter.

Starting point of the work. Accordion's finance-led model fits a portfolio company where the CFO is the natural owner of the value creation agenda. Performance Improvement Partners is built around M&A technology, cloud, ERP and cybersecurity questions. Where the sponsor does not yet know where EBITDA is being lost across technology, data, revenue engine and team, Value Creation Partner's diagnostic is designed to answer that question for one company in 10 business days.
Who carries out the plan. Ask each firm who will do the build once the recommendations are approved, and whether those people are employees. Value Creation Partner delivers through DevriX's forty-person in-house team, and the sponsor can see on day one who would carry the work.
Size of the first commitment. Compare the cost of the smallest engagement each firm will accept and what the sponsor receives for it. At Value Creation Partner, the smallest step is $5,000 for a lever map, a scored risk register and a sequenced 100-day plan.
Credit between stages. Ask whether discovery fees are credited if the sponsor proceeds. Value Creation Partner credits the full diagnostic fee and $10,000 of the audit fee toward the next stage.
Board reporting. Ask how often the board hears from the partner and who reports. On Value Creation Partner's Fractional Retainer, Mario Peshev reports to the board monthly on the workstream he owns.
Separation of advice and delivery. Some sponsors want an adviser who has no stake in the build. Value Creation Partner allows that by letting the sponsor hire Growth Shuttle for advisory without DevriX, or DevriX for implementation without Growth Shuttle.

A sponsor holding several portfolio companies may reasonably use more than one of these firms, matching each company's main problem to the firm whose work starts from that problem.

Frequently asked questions

What does a value creation partner do in private equity?

A value creation partner helps a sponsor find and capture improvements in a portfolio company's earnings during the hold period. The three firms here approach it from different starting points: Accordion from the office of the CFO, Performance Improvement Partners from M&A and technology, and Value Creation Partner from a diagnosis of where EBITDA is trapped followed by delivery of the fix with its own team.

What is fractional value creation in private equity?

Fractional value creation means a sponsor puts an experienced operator into a portfolio company part-time instead of making a full-time hire. Value Creation Partner's Fractional Retainer starts at $15,000 a month with a three-month minimum, and places Mario Peshev in the operating seat with the DevriX delivery team behind him, owning a workstream and reporting to the board monthly.

How should a sponsor scope a first engagement with a value creation partner?

A sponsor should start with a fixed-fee assessment of one portfolio company before committing to a longer build or retainer. Value Creation Partner's Value Creation Diagnostic costs $5,000 over 10 business days and is credited in full if the sponsor proceeds, while the $20,000 Portfolio Company Audit goes further and produces a costed build plan for board approval, with $10,000 credited if the build follows.

Can a sponsor hire a value creation partner for advice only, or for delivery only?

With Value Creation Partner, a sponsor can do either one. Growth Shuttle is the advisory practice and DevriX is the implementation firm, so a sponsor can engage one of them alone or both together, depending on whether the portfolio company needs a plan, the people to carry it out, or both.