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De-Risk Leadership. Accelerate Value Creation.

Executive talent decisions are the 
highest-leverage and highest-risk moves you make in a deal

We help private equity firms assess, align, and upgrade leadership teams post-close and with critical hires - so you execute your value creation plan faster and with greater certainty.

Schedule a conversation Request a sample assessment

Where Deals Win—or Stall: Leadership Execution

You can have the right strategy, the right market, and the right capital structure — but if the leadership team can’t execute, value creation slows or breaks.

  • You inherit teams you didn’t hire
  • Early talent calls are often made with limited data
  • Mis-hires at the executive level can cost 12–24 months of momentum
  • Leadership gaps are often identified too late to avoid impact

The first 6 - 12 months of ownership are critical. Talent clarity early changes outcomes.

Ways We Support Your Portfolio

Post-Close Leadership Assessment & Talent Planning

Know the team. Align to the thesis. Act fast.

Immediately after close, we provide a clear, objective view of your leadership team’s ability to deliver on the value creation plan.

What we do:

  • Assess CEO and leadership team against the specific demands of the investment thesis
  • Identify who to retain, develop, or upgrade
  • Evaluate team dynamics and execution risk
  • Align leadership capabilities to 100-day plan priorities
  • Deliver a practical, prioritized talent roadmap

What you get:

  • Clarity in weeks - not months
  • Faster alignment to value creation priorities
  • Reduced execution risk early in the hold period
  • Actionable decisions, not theoretical insights

Executive Candidate Assessment (Pre-Hire)

Make the right hire the first time.

We provide investor-grade evaluation of executive candidates before you commit—focused on predicting performance in your context, not generic leadership traits.

What we do:

  • Assess candidates against the role, company situation, and deal thesis
  • Evaluate ability to operate in lower to mid-market environments
  • Benchmark candidates objectively
  • Identify strengths, gaps, and potential derailers
  • Provide clear hire / no-hire / conditions for success recommendations

What you get:

  • Higher confidence in critical hires (CEO, CFO, key operators)
  • Avoid costly mis-hires that delay execution
  • Leaders who can actually deliver—not just interview well

Built for Private Equity

This is not generic leadership consulting. Our work is designed for the realities of PE investing in the lower to mid-market.
We are different because we:

PE Speed

Move at PE speed—fast, decisive, and practical

Value Creation Plan

Anchor everything to the value creation plan

Clear Recommendations

Provide clear recommendations, not vague reports

Execution Capability

Focus on execution capability, not just experience

Understanding

Understand the constraints and dynamics of $2M–$50M EBITDA businesses

How It Works

A simple, repeatable approach designed for speed and clarity:
  • business-and-trade 1. Define Success

    We align on the investment thesis, role expectations, and key value drivers.

  • useadcr 2. Assess

    We evaluate leaders or candidates using structured interviews, data, and benchmarking.

  • bad 3. Decide & Act

    You receive clear recommendations and a practical path forward—immediately actionable.

When to Engage Us

We are most valuable at key inflection points:

  • Immediately post-close
  • During the 100-day planning process
  • Before hiring a CEO, CFO, or key operator
  • When leadership performance is uncertain
  • When execution is lagging the plan

Impact That Matters

In lower to mid-market investing, talent decisions have outsized impact.

  • One avoided mis-hire can pay for the engagement many times over
  • Faster leadership alignment drives earlier EBITDA impact
  • Better talent decisions reduce execution risk across the hold period
We help you get the right leaders in place - early, decisively, and with confidence.

Let's Talk

Whether you’ve just closed a deal or are evaluating a critical hire, we can help you move quickly and with clarity.

Schedule a 30-minute discussion Review a sample output Discuss an upcoming deal or hire

"The workshop was incredibly insightful and well-structured. Topgrading did a fantastic job breaking down complex concepts into clear, actionable steps, making the content both engaging and practical. I especially appreciated the real-world examples and interactive elements, which helped solidify the learning. I’m confident the tools and strategies shared will help our team make more informed hiring decisions and strengthen our overall talent development process. Thank you for such a valuable experience!"

Tiffany Villegas
Workshop Attendee

"Topgrading is the best hire you will ever make! Like most folks, I thought I was good at recruiting until I did the Topgrading program. Their proven methodology not only removes the guesswork, intuition, and unconscious biases from the hiring process but also, gives you the tools to correctly define and identify true A-Players."

Davin MacAnaney
Workshop Attendee

"The explanation of the process of hiring using Topgrading was explained thoroughly. It was nice to see how the pieces of the hiring and scorecards come together and keep a uniform way of finding the right person."

Mike Millisky
Workshop Attendee

"Very informative and insightful, with a tremendous amount of valuable information."

Chris Hollender
Workshop Attendee

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