A sanity read on one portco. In IC-readable form, in two weeks.
A short engagement designed for the GP or operating partner who wants a defensible read on one specific portco and is not ready to commit to a portfolio-wide engagement. Seven-axis scoring against the same framework Preside runs at fund level. Output is a one-page snapshot plus a backup deck. Naturally scales to the Portfolio Technology Diagnostic if the artifact lands well.
Why this exists
When the question is about one specific portco.
A GP cannot commission a portfolio-wide engagement cold; the Operating Partner runs that calendar. But a GP can absolutely scope a real read on one portco where the situation warrants it: a deal under review, a pre-exit window, a recent acquisition not yet integrated, a board question the OP could not answer in IC format. The Portco Health Check is sized for that decision.
Who commissions it
Designed for the GP-direct path.
Pre-exit window
A portco is 12 to 24 months from exit. The GP wants a sanity check on what would surface in buyer diligence before going to market.
Post-acquisition review
An acquisition closed 6 to 18 months ago. Integration has stalled, or the value-creation thesis is not yet visible in technology terms.
Board question the OP could not close
The board asked about AI exposure, cyber posture, or IT spend trajectory and the OP did not have the documented answer. The GP needs the artifact before the next board read.
Operating-partner second opinion
The OP reports a portco is fine. The GP wants an independent read to confirm or to surface what the OP's view is missing.
What gets scored
Seven axes. Same framework as the Diagnostic.
The Health Check is the per-portco version of the scoring framework that runs at fund level in the Portfolio Technology Diagnostic. Cross-portfolio comparison is what scales up; per-portco scoring is what this engagement produces.
- 1. Tech-spend trajectory. Quarterly trajectory normalized to revenue. Flags spend rising faster than revenue without a documented value story.
- 2. Architecture documentation. Whether the portco could produce a current-state architecture document a buyer's diligence team could read in 20 minutes.
- 3. Cybersecurity posture. Has the portco had a formal posture assessment in the past 18 months. Cyber insurance renewal and buyer-diligence exposure scored together.
- 4. SaaS rationalization status. SaaS spend mapped against utilization. Identifies easy-EBITDA opportunity.
- 5. AI exposure. Whether the portco is deploying AI features with documented governance.
- 6. AI data foundation readiness. Whether the portco could ship an AI use case to production today or needs 12+ months of data work first.
- 7. IT leadership continuity. CIO or IT-leader gap and turnover risk. Execution risk on every technology decision.
The artifact
What you walk away with.
Page one
Seven-axis scorecard for the portco. Red, yellow, green per axis. Named issues. Dollar magnitude where the data supports it.
Backup deck
Three to five slides expanding the red and yellow axes. Recommended next Initiative on the top one or two. Cyber, compliance, and AI evidence files cited where present.
Format
IC-readable. Same format as a deal-diligence memo, scaled to one existing portco. Two pages of substance plus the deck. Designed for the partner who reads it in five minutes.
What it costs
Fixed price. Designed to scale.
| Engagement | Price | Credits toward Diagnostic |
|---|---|---|
| Portco Health Check (single) One portco, one to two weeks |
from $30,000 | Full $30K if Diagnostic scoped within 6 months |
| Three to four portco Health Check bundle Useful when the GP wants comparison across a small subset before scaling |
from $25,000 per portco | Pro-rated credit if Diagnostic scoped within 6 months |
| Portfolio Technology Diagnostic Five-plus portcos, full fund-level rollup, OP-commissioned |
from $30K/portco + $50K rollup | (no further conversion path; this is the destination) |
Pricing reflects the scope of the read, not a discount on quality. The Health Check uses the same methodology as the Diagnostic; the difference is portco count and the rollup format. Credit toward the Diagnostic exists because the per-portco work done at Health Check stage does not need to be repeated.
How it scales
From sanity check to portfolio-wide.
01
Health Check
GP commissions the read on one portco. One to two weeks. The artifact lands. If it does not surface anything actionable, both sides walk and no further obligation.
02
Decision
If the artifact surfaces a real gap, two paths are open. Run the deeper per-portco Initiative on the flagged axis (Security Posture, Cost Optimization, Architecture Review, etc.), or scale the Health Check format to the rest of the portfolio.
03
Portfolio Diagnostic
The Operating Partner commissions the Diagnostic for the remaining portcos. Same scoring framework. Fund-level rollup, partner-meeting deck, quarterly refresh option. The Health Check credit applies.
See the Diagnostic →Honest framing
What this engagement is not.
This is a scoring and prioritization engagement on a single portco. It is not a deep audit (the deeper Initiative on whichever axis scores red is the audit). It is not pre-acquisition due diligence (the Six-week IT Due Diligence Initiative is the engagement for that). It does not produce certified or attestation-grade evidence (those come from the relevant deeper Initiatives where required). The Health Check is the read; the Initiatives and the Diagnostic are the work.
Run the Health Check. Decide on scale after.
One portco. One to two weeks. If the artifact does not change how the next IC or board read goes, you are under no further commitment.