Notes from the field.
Short pieces on operational execution for PE — what we see in carve-outs, value creation plans, and the Benelux operating environment. Written for sponsors, operating partners, and portfolio company leadership.
AI on chaos is theatre — why most PE portco AI projects fail
Every PE portfolio company is being told they need AI. The pilots run, the demos land, then production hits and it collapses. The problem isn't the AI — it's what sits underneath it.
Read → 18 May 2026Grid congestion in the Netherlands: bypassing the queue
Across most of the country, the grid is full. For PE-backed industrial portfolio companies, a five-year wait for a connection upgrade is no longer an option. Here's what the workaround actually looks like.
Read → 14 May 2026Bidding with conviction: the diligence behind a sharper NBO
Most NBO bids are built on the IM and a financial model. The sharper sponsors run a focused two-week operational diligence at NBO stage — and bring a draft 100-day plan to the IC meeting. It changes how you bid.
Read → 12 May 2026IT/OT integration after a carve-out: what breaks in the first 90 days
Carve-outs from large industrial parents look clean on paper. Then Day 1 arrives and the portfolio company discovers the parent's stack was not a single system — it was a dense web of services and identity dependencies that nobody documented.
Read →