For Operating Partners
Carrying TSA outcomes across multiple portfolio companies?
TSA Advisory works directly with Operating Partners on multi-TSA portfolio programs, fund level playbooks and individual deal exits.
An Operating Partner is a senior role at a private equity firm responsible for value creation across portfolio companies. In a carve-out, the Operating Partner is the buyer-side decision maker on TSA strategy and the executive accountable to the investment committee for the TSA exit.
The Operating Partner sits between the deal team and the portfolio company management team. The deal team underwrote the investment thesis. The portfolio company CFO and CIO run the operating business. The Operating Partner translates between them. When a TSA is involved, that translation matters more than usual. The deal model assumed an exit window. The portfolio company has to actually deliver inside it. The Operating Partner owns the path from model to delivery.
Operating Partners do not run the workstreams themselves. They set the value creation plan, sponsor the program management spine, sit on the steering committee, and escalate to the investment committee when the TSA is putting the thesis at risk. Buyer-side advisors report into the Operating Partner because the Operating Partner is the one carrying the outcome at the fund level. When a TSA extension fee shows up in month nine, the Operating Partner is the one who has to explain it to the investment committee.
Operating Partners typically come from one of three backgrounds. Former operators who ran a function inside a portfolio company. Former consultants who built a private equity practice. Former bankers or investors who moved closer to operations. Across all three, the common skill is sequencing operational priorities against fund timelines. TSA exit is one of the more painful examples of that sequencing, because the work is invisible from the LP narrative but corrosive if it goes wrong.
In the value creation plan, where the Operating Partner is named as the executive sponsor for Year One milestones, including the TSA exit. In steering committee charters, where the Operating Partner is a standing member. In investment committee memos, where TSA risk is escalated and managed. In portfolio operations reviews across the firm, where TSA performance is tracked alongside other operational KPIs. In Operating Partner offsites, where playbooks for managing carve-out portfolio companies get refined across deal vintages.
Value Creation Plan · Newco · Governance Committee · Transition Services Agreement · Exit Ramp
TSA Advisory works directly with Operating Partners on multi-TSA portfolio programs, fund level playbooks and individual deal exits.