If you run portfolio operations and chair operating reviews, you want For PE operating partners.
Technology risk is often priced implicitly in mid-market acquisitions.
We size it before you sign, track it during the hold, and document it for exit. The Portfolio Technology Diagnostic scores every portco on the same seven technology axes over six to ten weeks. A Portco Technology Review reads one portco in one to two weeks. Output is structured for IC presentation, board reporting, and LP communication, not for the CIO.
The deal cycle
Three stages where technology affects value.
Technology risk shows up at every stage of the deal cycle. Many funds price it implicitly, through management judgment or sector assumptions. Pricing it explicitly gives a fund something to negotiate with at entry, act on in the hold, and show at exit.
Price the risk before you sign
Technology due diligence in mid-market M&A can surface gaps such as architectural debt that inflates integration cost, compliance exposure that creates regulatory liability post-close, and operational fragility that delays EBITDA realization. Pricing these before signing gives the acquirer more to negotiate with.
Drive EBITDA improvement
Technology drag can take familiar forms: vendor contracts never rationalized, infrastructure scaled for historical volume, technology spend distributed across business units with no central owner. Across a portfolio, the aggregate can be material next to other value creation levers. Our design target is to identify savings of 15 to 25 percent of in-scope technology spend within twelve months. The figure for a given company is sized from its contracts, utilization, and renewal calendar.
Prove the technology story
Technology gaps can affect an exit in two ways. Buyers may discount valuation for risks they cannot get comfortable with, and management time spent defending technology in diligence is time not spent on the business case. A story prepared in advance is easier to defend than one assembled under buyer pressure.
What a GP commissions directly
Two engagement shapes you can scope yourself.
Portfolio-wide work is usually commissioned by the operating partner. A GP can commission two engagements alone: IT Due Diligence on a deal, and a Portco Technology Review on one company. Both produce IC-readable reports without a portfolio-wide commitment.
Six-week IT Due Diligence Initiative
When a deal is under review. Pre-acquisition diligence on a target, run over six weeks.
Output: a diligence memo written for the investment committee. A red flag register with directional mitigation cost ranges for your deal model. Post-close 100-day technology plan if you proceed.
See the Initiative →
Portco Technology Review
When a board question about one portco has no closed answer, a company drifts mid-hold, or a worry appears before exit. If you scope the Portfolio Diagnostic within three months, the Review’s work carries over.
Output: a one-page seven-axis scorecard plus backup deck. Same scoring framework Preside runs at fund level, applied to one portco. Recommended next Initiative on the priority axis.
See the Technology Review →
For everything else
Per-portco Initiatives across the portfolio and the Portfolio Technology Diagnostic are commissioned by the operating partner, not the GP. If the work is needed but your operating partner has not engaged Preside yet, the right step is an introduction. One way to start that introduction is the Technology Review above.
What we look for
Four gaps worth checking in any fund.
Technology risk is priced into acquisitions implicitly, so it appears after close at full price instead of in the negotiation.
Vendor and licensing spend never rationalized after acquisition: SaaS sprawl, contract overlap, and infrastructure sized for the pre-acquisition company.
No portfolio-wide visibility. Every other operational metric is visible and comparable across portcos. Technology can be a black box per company, so technology risk may be carried at every company without being managed at the fund level.
Operating partner capability. The partners running the portfolio are strong on commercial and operational work. Technology depth varies, and the same gap can appear in several portcos at once.
A sample report
Example: what lands on the IC's desk.
An excerpt of a memo format for a two-portco read built from Portco Technology Reviews. It is sized for IC use: two pages of substance, a portco-level scorecard, and a backup deck, with little technical narrative.
Investment Committee Memo
Example: two-portco technology summary for an investment committee
Aggregate EBITDA upside identified
$600K to $1,050K
Example figure, low to high, with $825K likely: the sum of the two annual savings in the findings below, with combined EBITDA assumed near $45M and an 18-month realization horizon.
Cross-portfolio vendor savings
$120K to $250K
Example figure, low to high, with $185K likely. Eight shared vendors on one renewal calendar.
Cost to close the technology gap
$340K to $550K
Example figure, low to high, with $420K likely. One-time, sequenced across both portcos over six months
Key findings, fund-level
- Company A: Three overlapping point solutions sit alongside the existing ERP, adding up to 38% of total tech spend. Consolidating them into the ERP reduces spend by an estimated $480K to $800K annually ($640K likely).
- Company B: Compliance remediation is estimated at 5 months of work, inside the six-month sequence. Closing the gap pre-exit removes a likely point of buyer negotiation.
- Cross-portfolio: Eight vendors appear on both companies' contracts at different price points and uncoordinated renewal dates. A unified renewal calendar with fund-level buying power reduces combined vendor spend by an estimated $120K to $250K annually ($185K likely) with no service change to either portco.
- Operating partner load: Combined technology-related operating partner hours estimated at 320 per quarter. Structured advisory absorbs an estimated 60% of that load.
What GPs ask first
The four questions before the call.
We already use a tech DD provider on live deals. How is this different?
Many diligence providers focus on entry. We work at entry, during the hold, and at exit. If you already use a diligence provider on a live deal, we can work next to them.
Why start with one portco instead of portfolio-wide?
A GP can approve a Portco Technology Review on one portco alone. Portfolio-wide work is usually commissioned by the operating partner. Starting with one keeps the commitment small and produces an IC-readable report you can act on alone. If the output is useful, the Diagnostic scales the same scoring framework to the rest of the portfolio through your operating partner. If you scope the Diagnostic within three months, the Review's work carries over.
What's the operating-team time commitment for a Technology Review?
The Technology Review uses structured questions prepared in advance, so portco CFO and CIO time goes to scheduled interviews. The operating partner is informed and does not have to drive. We arrive with structured questions and do not need a separate discovery phase.
How are the dollar estimates built?
Each dollar line traces to a specific vendor contract, license utilization data point, or infrastructure-sizing analysis at the portco, with the assumptions and confidence range stated. The numbers go into the IC packet, so they have to be checkable like any other operating model line.
90-second GP scoping
Three questions give you a preview of your portfolio’s technology exposure.
Pick the deal stage you are working through, the pattern you see most across the portfolio, and the urgency. You get a fund-level preview on screen and a link emailed for the record. A partner conversation comes after, on request.
Question 1 of 3
Where in the deal cycle is this most pressing?
Pick the stages where mispricing technology hurts the fund most right now.
Choose all that apply
Question 2 of 3
Which technology problems do you see across the portfolio?
Choose all that apply
Question 3 of 3
What is the urgency?
Preparing your scoping preview.
About 10 seconds. We are not asking for your email yet.
Your scoping preview
Portfolio scoping preview
Want the full preview link emailed to you for the record?
A styled page with the full preview, bookmarkable, that you can share with a partner or attach to a deal file. Lands in your inbox within a couple of minutes.
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