Independent Operating Partner
The operating partner model has emerged as a growing power for top Private Equity and VC funds, helping them outperform smaller investors and consistently raise their ROI.
Now, for the first time, this advantage is available as a standalone proposition, offered to businesses and investors of any size.
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Our independence allows us to bring a broader, non-biased, more comprehensive approach to the operating partner role: one that blends creative vision, commercial acceleration and financial impact.
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Our cross-functional expertise, shaped by decades of industry experience, is designed entirely around solving critical challenges and unlocking new opportunities. We align leaders, culture, and strategy, building the frameworks and accountability that turn ambition into advantage.
What is an Operating Partner?
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“If the emergence of the operating partner role is helping top Private Equity and VC funds to see their investments outperform, the addition of this function is obviously needed for all businesses.”
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PwC (2024) describes operating partners/teams as an “emerging position… designed to help counsel the portfolio company through the value creation plan from pre-diligence through exit” and emphasises them as a response to tougher markets and the need for operational value creation.
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McKinsey and Bain both argue that the game has shifted from financial engineering to operational excellence, and that firms which combine deal skills with strong operational capabilities are “best positioned” to keep delivering returns.
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Private Equity International’s “Operating Partner in PE” books reports enhanced returns through post-close operational improvement.
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For VC, the OP role is even newer and is seen as a “strategic asset” that helps startups execute and scale faster, especially on go-to-market or operations.
“Strategy is like a haircut, you might be the best hairdresser in the world, but when it comes to do your own hair you need someone else’s help.”
Why is a standalone OP proposition needed?
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Whilst the benefits of an OP are now obvious, especially in the current fast changing environment, only about 3.5% of private companies are backed by PE or VC funds - and that is the very financially driven US market. This means that the advantages of an OP are only accessible to a small fraction of the market, especially as within those funds, only a minority offer true OP support.
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When OPs sit inside a PE or VC firm, their perspective is shaped by the fund’s investment agenda. This inherent bias, driven by the asymmetry between investors and management teams, limits their ability to unlock the full creative, commercial, and ROI potential of the role.
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The independence toward the organisation is key to maintain neutrality, allow moderation and bring expertise from other industries, which is key for the management and all stakeholders, including investors.
An independent OP levies those constraints. It offers broader scope, frees investment-driven bias, and drives value creation around the company and its stakeholders’ needs.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it”
Abraham Lincoln
What does Value Squared’s IOP approach allow to fix?
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Rapid advances in AI and tech in general are permanently disrupting every industry.
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Organisations struggle to remain relevant and to be proactive toward transformation.
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The relationship between humans and technology is being reinvented, challenging traditional structures and cultures.
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Many businesses focus on survival instead of creating long-term values that constantly drive opportunities to thrive, scale and exit.