Organic digital growth for private equity
We embed inside PE-backed companies to build and run organic digital growth: demand generation, funnel conversion, product monetization, RevOps, and AI automation. Reported against the underwriting case, not a marketing dashboard.
Trusted inside the portfolios of
Why now
A decade ago, 5% annual EBITDA growth cleared a 2.5× return. Cheap debt and rising multiples carried the rest. That era is over. The same return now demands 10 to 12%, and it has to come from the commercial engine. The thesis is rarely the problem. The operating muscle to deliver it is.
of PE deals miss their margin plan, roughly 330 bps below the model.
Bain & Company
the new value-creation bridge
The old bridge was financial engineering. The new one is growth: marketing, sales, product, and AI.
What we operate
Most partners optimize the top of the funnel. We build and run all four levers that compound into EBITDA. Coordinated, accountable, reported as one.
01
Channel mix, paid and organic acquisition, lifecycle, CAC, payback, creative testing.
→ lower CAC · faster payback
02
Speed-to-lead, routing, CRM hygiene, quote-to-close, win rate, sales velocity.
→ higher win rates · faster velocity
03
Activation, packaging, pricing, expansion, retention, ARPU, NRR.
→ higher ARPU · stronger NRR
04
Agents, automation, reporting, lead scoring, workflow compression, execution speed.
→ weeks, not quarters
The methodology
Every revenue problem mapped to a lever, an owner, and the AI that accelerates it. Awareness to revenue, across marketing, sales, and product.
↳ not generating enough pipeline
AI · audience modeling + creative testing
↳ leads aren't converting
AI · lead scoring + instant routing
↳ churn is too high
AI · churn prediction + automated saves
↳ weak referral loop
AI · triggered advocacy + referrals
↳ small, unprofitable deals
AI · pricing + deal scoring
Reporting
Every lever is tied to EBITDA contribution, CAC payback, NRR, pipeline quality, and variance to the underwriting case. One source of truth your operating partner drops straight into the board deck. No translation, no vanity metrics.
MONTHLY GROWTH REPORT
reconciled to the deal model
REVENUE · ACTUAL vs DEAL-MODEL PLAN
Tracking +17% ahead of the underwriting case.
EBITDA CONTRIBUTION BY LEVER
How we engage
Most growth support arrives after close, when the value-creation clock is already running. We start earlier. Bring us in during diligence to pressure-test the plan, or at close to build the engine. The sooner we embed, the more the curve compounds.
01
We pressure-test the growth case before you sign: demand, pipeline, GTM efficiency, and the AI upside. You underwrite to a plan you can actually hit.
explore →
02
We embed the moment the deal closes and stand up the marketing, sales, and product motions that move the model in the first two quarters.
explore →
03
Senior operators plus AI tooling that run alongside management through value creation to exit.
explore →
04
We install the AI layer the engine runs on: agents and automation across marketing, sales, and product, so a lean team delivers what used to take twenty. The capability stays after we rotate out.
explore →
PE-backed industrials platform
One portfolio company surpassed its entire 2025 revenue in three and a half months. Blended marketing ROI went from 0.89× to 5.0×, cost per lead fell 71%, and 90% of revenue is recurring. Not a pilot. The plan, executed.
read the case study →FAQ
Ideally pre-close, during diligence, so the growth plan is underwritten before you own the asset. But we regularly enter at close, or into an existing hold that needs its growth engine rebuilt.
We don't hand you a deck. We embed as operators and run the marketing, sales, product, and AI levers ourselves, reconciled to the deal model, not a vanity dashboard.
Middle-market to large-cap PE-backed companies, generally $100M and up in revenue, where there's real EBITDA and a digital growth lever worth pulling. The classic fit is an established, often under-digitized platform, industrials, services, or software, where demand, conversion, and monetization move the deal model.
No. We run alongside management and hand the playbook back. The goal is a self-sustaining growth engine by the time we rotate to an advisory seat.
Fixed-scope diligence sprints, 100-day execution retainers, or forward-deployed growth operators through the hold. With select non-sponsor clients, part of the fee can be taken in advisory equity.
Day One Growth Research · No. 01
quality of growth: underwriting the operating system behind the deal model.
Tell us where the deal is and where growth needs to be. We'll show you the plan to close the gap.
we take on three funds a quarter. let's talk about yours.
book a call