A field guide for operating partners and investment teams. Each gap costs money twice: once in slower growth now, and again in the multiple at exit.
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The Gaps in Full
Most partners mentally check their own companies against this list while reading it. That self-diagnosis is the point.
What it looks like
The homepage and the deck lead with what the company does and how long it has existed. The buyer has to work out why it matters to them.
What it costs
Longer sales cycles, lower win rates, and a growth story that does not land in the investment committee memo.
The fix
Positioning rebuilt around the buyer's problem and the commercial outcome, evidenced by real wins.
What it looks like
Dashboards full of impressions and MQLs. Nobody in the room can answer which channel produced this pipeline.
What it costs
Marketing-attributed revenue gets discounted in diligence. CAC and payback cannot be defended, so the model assumes the worst.
The fix
Pipeline tracked to closed revenue, one simple attribution model, and marketing metrics translated into board language.
What it looks like
The company is better than its website. Inconsistent identity, thin case studies, a pitch deck from two stages ago.
What it costs
Anchoring. Buyers price what they see, and looks smaller becomes is smaller in the model.
The fix
A diligence-readiness refresh: message hierarchy, proof assets, case studies, site.
What Closing Them Is Worth
Positioning that lifts win rate, attribution that makes revenue quality defensible, and a brand that matches the business are three of the few levers that move both the growth story and the diligence story.
The Standing Offer
Send us the name of one portfolio company that shows all three gaps. Within a week you will have three observations on it, specific to that business, written by Daniel. No deck, no pitch, and you can act on them whoever you hire.
The full framework also exists as a one-page PDF written for operating partners. Ask for it in the same message.
Marketing Gaps FAQ
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Positioning that describes the service instead of the buyer's problem, reporting that shows activity instead of revenue, and a brand that undersells the business at diligence. They appear in almost every B2B services and technology company we work inside, and each one costs money twice: once in slower growth now, and again in the multiple at exit.
The homepage and the sales deck lead with what the company does and how long it has existed, and the buyer is left to work out why that matters to them. It shows up commercially as longer sales cycles, lower win rates and a growth story that does not land in the investment committee memo. The fix is positioning rebuilt around the buyer's problem and the commercial outcome, evidenced by real wins.
Because revenue nobody can trace gets discounted. When the dashboards show impressions and MQLs and no one in the room can say which channel produced the pipeline, CAC and payback cannot be defended and the model assumes the worst. Pipeline tracked to closed revenue, one simple attribution model and marketing metrics in board language are what make the number defensible.
Through anchoring. Buyers price what they see, so a company that is better than its website, with an inconsistent identity, thin case studies and a pitch deck from two stages ago, is modelled as the smaller business it appears to be. A diligence-readiness refresh covers the message hierarchy, the proof assets, the case studies and the site.
Positioning, because every channel that follows compounds from it. After that it depends on where the company is in the hold period. At entry and in year one the positioning and message hierarchy cost the most, mid-hold it is the demand engine and its attribution, and 18 to 24 months before exit it is diligence readiness.
In an investor's units, half a turn on the exit multiple of a £2m EBITDA business is £1m of value. Positioning that lifts win rate, attribution that makes revenue quality defensible and a brand that matches the business are three of the few levers that move both the growth story and the diligence story.
Get in Touch
Tell us where you are, where you'd like to be, and what's stood in the way. We'll come back within a working day with thinking you can use, whether we end up working together or not.
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