31st March 2025
Real Deals Tech Innovation Forum: Key Takeaways on Operational Value Creation
At last week's Real Deals Tech Innovation Forum, FPE Partner Llewellyn John joined Richard Poole of Hg and Agata Cooper of Triton Partners for a panel discussion on how private equity firms are driving operational value across their portfolios.
The conversation covered a range of practical strategies, focusing on how technology, leadership, and measurement frameworks are evolving to support growth. Here are a few of the key takeaways:
- AI - and particularly GenAI - is beginning to unlock real gains in core operational areas such as customer support and internal productivity. These tools are helping teams work more efficiently and focus on higher-value activities.
- The emphasis is on impact, not just cost. It’s less about reducing spending and more about enabling teams to achieve more with the same resources.
- KPI frameworks must evolve with the business. For earlier-stage companies, the focus is often on building out meaningful measures. For more mature businesses, it’s about tracking deeper indicators of performance, including product delivery and digital revenue contribution.
- Leadership plays a central role. Operational improvement and innovation often start with getting the right leadership team in place – aligned around a clear strategy and empowered to drive change.
- Adoption needs to be intentional. Progress with AI and automation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires the right culture, space to experiment, and support for teams to embed change.
Llewellyn John, Partner at FPE A lot of our work is about helping founder-led businesses step into their next phase of growth. That often means upgrading leadership and aligning teams behind a clearer strategy – which is essential for driving meaningful operational improvement.
As we continue to partner with founder-led software businesses, sessions like this are a valuable reminder of the importance of focus, leadership and thoughtful adoption when driving operational change.