Map it. Cut the waste. Consolidate. Automate. Hand it back.
Returns now have to be earned inside the portfolio, and the fastest route to EBITDA is the operating model itself: how work actually gets done in each company, what it costs, and how much of it is repeated across the portfolio. OperAlpha runs one method, in this order, in every company we go into.
Map the work and its cost
We go in and capture how each process really runs, activity by activity, with the people, systems, controls and cost attached, using PinpointProof. Days, not months, and no event logs or system integration required.
Eliminate the waste
Duplicated checks, rework, hand-offs nobody needs, reports nobody reads. Typically the first evidenced cost comes out here, before anything is built.
Consolidate across the portfolio
Finance, HR, procurement, customer service, compliance: where the same function runs in several companies, we consolidate it into one shared service or one standard, with one owner.
Automate and agentify
Every remaining activity is scored for automation and AI-agent potential. We build the highest-value cases with approvals and controls designed in, so the board can rely on them.
Develop and embed
We build the changes with the company's own team, run them in live operation against the baseline, and train the people who will own them.
Hand it back, evidenced
The enhanced operating model goes back to the accountable owners with its Ledger record: baseline, approvals, delivered run-rate, evidence and the entry in the valuation bridge.
Powered by PinpointProof, the process intelligence platform that maps how work happens and scores every step for automation potential. OperAlpha is the team that goes in and makes the changes.
Four offers that carry the method from map to evidenced EBITDA.
Each offer can be bought on its own and each leads to the next. Follow one initiative through the Ledger as you scroll: the record advances as each step goes by.
Map the portfolio in three weeks
The Diagnostic goes into each company and maps the core processes, their activities and their cost with PinpointProof. It shows where the waste is, which functions repeat across the portfolio, and which activities can be automated. You get a ranked plan and a first valuation bridge.
Eliminate, consolidate and automate in 100 days
The Sprint takes one function or process, in one company or across several, and runs the method end to end: waste out, function consolidated, remaining work automated or agentified, changes built and embedded with the team. Baseline at day 10, evidence pack at day 100.
Keep the evidenced record
Every change moves through hypothesis, baseline, approval, delivery, evidence and valuation bridge in the OperAlpha Ledger, with owners, gates and an audit trail. Board packs, LP attribution and the exit evidence pack come straight from the record.
Hand it back and keep it running
The enhanced operating model goes back to its accountable owners. The Bench, a retained team of process, finance and AI specialists, runs the monthly cadence across the portfolio, keeps every Ledger current and steps back in when the next function is ready.
Buy one. Each leads to the next.
Diagnostic
Core processes mapped and costed in every company with PinpointProof. Waste, duplication and automation candidates ranked, with a first valuation bridge.
Sprint
One function or process taken through the whole method in 100 days: eliminate, consolidate, automate, embed, hand back.
Ledger
The evidenced record of every change, from baseline to valuation bridge, with approvals and an audit trail.
Bench
Retained process, finance and AI specialists who run the cadence and come back for the next function.
The industry agrees on what needs to happen. The gap is doing it, and proving it.
Annual EBITDA growth now needed for a 2.5x return, up from 5% in the last decade.
Bain Global PE Report 2026of European sponsors achieved less than half of the value targeted in recent plans.
Alvarez & Marsal, 2026of portfolio companies have AI at enterprise scale; most remain in pilots.
FTI Consulting AI Radar 2026of portfolio CFOs operate always exit-ready, while 97% of sponsors expect it.
Accordion and Wakefield, 2025Built for sponsors who want the cost out and the proof in.
Mid-market private equity and growth equity sponsors with 10 to 40 portfolio companies, and the leadership teams of those companies. VC platform teams use a lighter version of the Ledger.
Where a sponsor already runs a dedicated centre of excellence or has consortium access to a lab-backed deployment company, the Ledger on its own is usually the better fit, and we are glad to say so.
Questions, answered.
What is PinpointProof and how do you use it?+
PinpointProof is a process intelligence platform. It captures how work actually happens through structured workshops and guided input, scores every activity for automation and AI potential, and keeps a living, auditable map. We use it in every Diagnostic and Sprint to map processes and their cost in days, and the map stays with the company afterwards.
Do you run the changes or just recommend them?+
We run them. The Sprint team works inside the company, builds the changes with the company's own people, runs them in live operation against the baseline, and hands the enhanced operating model back to the accountable owners with the evidence attached.
How is this different from a consultancy engagement?+
A consultancy engagement can be exactly the right analysis. OperAlpha adds two things: the work is done inside the portfolio company on a fixed scope with a named outcome, and the result lives on in the Ledger as an evidenced record you can re-use at the board, with LPs and at exit. The relationship persists between engagements.
We already have a portfolio monitoring platform. Do we need this?+
Monitoring platforms record outcomes such as KPIs and NAV. The Ledger records initiatives, approvals and evidence, and the Sprint changes what happens inside the company. The two work well together, and the Ledger exports cleanly to the platforms sponsors already use.
How quickly can we see a result?+
The Diagnostic returns a ranked portfolio plan in three weeks. A Sprint agrees its baseline and named outcome by day 10 and delivers an evidence pack at day 100. Most sponsors have their first evidenced run-rate uplift inside a quarter.
What counts as evidence?+
A measured baseline agreed before the work starts, an approval recorded at the gate, and delivered run-rate supported by source data, with every item attached to the initiative in the Ledger. Where a result is still unproven, the Ledger says so, and the claim waits for the evidence.
Will portfolio companies adopt another sponsor tool?+
The Sprint gives the CEO and CFO hands-on help first, and the Ledger replaces spreadsheets and ad hoc data requests with one record that serves the board, the sponsor and the lender. Adoption tends to follow relief.
Who is behind OperAlpha?+
OperAlpha was founded by Gerry Murtagh, who has spent most of his career leading large-scale regulatory and digital transformation programmes in regulated financial services, and is the author of The Lean Pivot. The evidence discipline in the Ledger comes from that world, where approvals, controlled workflow and audit trails are the norm.
Operational alpha, evidenced.
Book a 30-minute call. Bring one portfolio company and one process; we will show you what its map, its cost and its Ledger record would look like, and where the first cost comes out.