Last week, we had the privilege of speaking at the 2025 Private Equity International Operating Partners Forum in New York alongside Mujteba Haidri from Blue Point Capital. Between our session and dozens of conversations with operating partners across the industry, one truth became undeniable:
Speed is the new moat.
Not capital. Not financial engineering. What separates winners from the rest is the ability to execute and deliver results faster than anyone else.
As someone who’s spent decades in operational roles—from the factory floor to leading transformations in manufacturing—I’ve seen market dynamics shift. But the consensus at this forum was clear: the traditional playbook isn’t enough anymore. To create sustainable value in today’s environment, we need to move with unprecedented velocity while maintaining discipline and focus.
Yet here’s the reality that needs addressing: most middle market portfolio companies are trying to execute at this velocity with far fewer functional resources than their larger peers. They’re operating without dedicated expertise in areas such as consolidation, capacity planning, OEE optimization, or supervisor coaching. Even with talented teams, they’re stretched thin. Speed becomes a challenge not because of strategy, but because of bandwidth.
Let us share the five takeaways that are reshaping value creation in private equity—and the resource reality making these urgently important for middle market companies.
1. Speed is the New Moat: Execute Faster Than Everyone Else
At this forum, we heard speed articulated a new way: speed is not the acceleration of work—it’s the acceleration of outcomes.
In our polling session, 64% of operating partners identified revenue growth as their dominant value lever. Yet their biggest challenges were execution-related: leadership retention, visibility into performance, and the ability to move quickly on priorities.
Here’s what we’re seeing: firms that can rapidly diagnose issues, align stakeholders, and execute on focused initiatives are creating distance from competitors. The fast movers deliver measurable results while slower organizations are still analyzing.
But here’s where middle market companies struggle: they can identify $2M+ opportunities in consolidation or OEE improvement for example, yet lack the in-house expertise to execute them. With internal teams already at 110% capacity, execution bogs down.
One memorable quote stuck out: A leader at Apollo Global Management described operating partners (OPs) as “stewards of the asset”—leaders accountable for outcomes, not just advisors. But for many overseeing middle market portfolios, the constraint isn’t clarity of the goal—it’s bandwidth and functional expertise to execute at the portfolio company level.
This is where external partners such as TBM, become essential. We can bring specialized expertise in critical areas across operations and supply chain to improve capacity, productivity, lead consolidation projects, and optimize integration. We step in as additional bandwidth for your team, strengthening execution speed and supporting long-term sustainment.
2. AI is Real—When Tied to Outcomes
We went into this conference skeptical about AI discussions. Too often they devolve into theoretical exercises. But what we heard was different. Leaders from Warburg Pincus and a former Chief AI Officer from Vodafone shared concrete examples: faster deal cycles, reduced customer churn, and automated call centers delivering real cost reductions.
The firms winning with AI aren’t stuck in pilot purgatory which often happens when teams try to automate processes that aren’t consistent to begin with. Stabilize and standardize the process, then introduce AI to eliminate bottlenecks and create real value.
In the middle market, AI isn’t optional anymore—it’s a competitive requirement. Now is the time to tighten operations and identify the critical areas where AI adds true value. Don’t wait for others to develop capabilities for you. Leverage what’s available and apply it to your specific needs.
3. Pragmatic Data, Not Perfection
One liberating conversation centered on data—that waiting for perfect data is a losing strategy.
A former Chief AI Officer from Vodafone put it bluntly: “You’ve got data going back decades. Data is in abundance. You’re never going to get perfect data, but you have enough to make intelligent decisions and move forward.
In portfolio companies Ranjith has advised, he has seen organizations delay critical initiatives for months trying to clean data systems. Meanwhile, competitors make decisions with “just right” data—data clean enough to drive immediate business impact. We have seen this with our clients at TBM and have helped them develop a more pragmatic approach: identify your highest-priority value drivers and ensure that data is workable. Map the value streams, spot inefficiencies, identify automation opportunities, and move. Focus on what matters for immediate impact. Clean only what you need to make the next critical decision.
4. Talent and Change Management are Critical
Technology means nothing without people who can implement it—a reality that dominated discussions throughout the forum. Human capital emerged not as a peripheral concern but as a fundamental lever for value creation, with leadership retention and culture challenges ranking second only to revenue growth in session polling.
TBM has long championed cultural improvement as essential to operational success. Our client engagements emphasize that cultural change isn’t a single initiative but a collection of small, consistent behavior changes. Real transformation happens not through broad top-down directives but by working with frontline teams to establish new habits that, when repeated and scaled, become the engine of continuous improvement.
Our portfolio company engagements consistently validate this principle: sustainable change requires both executive commitment and operational reinforcement. Without leadership alignment, floor-level initiatives falter; without operational discipline and accountability, leadership vision remains unrealized. Both must work in concert.
The most effective operating partners understand that high performance stems from the interplay between strong systems and capable people. As technology advances, the skill gap between seasoned and newer talent often widens. Closing this gap through intentional upskilling is as critical as any digital investment. Well-designed technology can support learning, accelerate adoption, and help people grow into the difference-maker roles that drive outsized value creation.
5. Focus Beats Breadth: Prioritize and Go Deep
The final takeaway is simple but hard to execute: the best results come from prioritizing a few high-impact initiatives and going deep.
Successful operating partners emphasized alignment on a small number of high-impact priorities. Pick the select few initiatives and stick to them. Executing as early as possible matters more than being perfect.
TBM’s diagnostic approach is central to this—and especially eye-opening for middle market companies. Every engagement starts with a comprehensive assessment that lays out improvement opportunities and delivers an execution plan. Everyone understands the goals and actions needed to achieve them. This isn’t a delay—it’s what enables real speed. Skip this step and you get pilot purgatory: initiatives that never scale and outcomes that fall short.
The most effective 100-day plans we’ve seen have four or five priority initiatives. The team understands the plan and their role. Resources are concentrated. Execution is disciplined. Measurable results follow.
What This Means for Operating Partners
The role of the Operating Partner is evolving. They’re no longer just advisors or project managers—they’re stewards of outcomes, accountable for navigating the relationship triangle between deal teams, management, and boards.
The partnership model is clear: OPs are the value multipliers—aligning stakeholders, orchestrating resources, and driving accountability. Consulting partners are the force multipliers—injecting speed, expertise, and operational discipline. For middle market portfolios specifically, this matters more. They have talented teams but need bandwidth. They need functional expertise—consolidation specialists, process engineers, data analysts—without permanent headcount. They need partners who understand that speed requires resourced execution.
In a market where speed truly is the new moat, this combination—OP stewardship plus third-party execution support—creates sustainable competitive advantage. The firms that move fastest—diagnosing quickly, aligning stakeholders, executing with discipline—are building lasting outperformance.
The question isn’t whether speed matters. It’s whether you have the resources—and the right partners—to execute at the pace required to win.
