A fund-level read on technology posture across the portfolio. Commissioned by the operating partner. Designed to be earned, not pitched.
A six-to-ten-week engagement that scores every portco on the seven technology axes a fund tracks quarterly. Output is a fund-level dashboard, a per-portco red-flag list ranked by exit-window risk, and a partner-meeting deck. Most Diagnostics begin as a Portco Health Check on one portco the GP wants a sanity read on. When the artifact lands well, the operating partner commissions the Diagnostic to scale the same scoring framework to the rest of the portfolio.
Why this exists
Most funds cannot answer the same technology question across portcos.
Each portco reports technology in its own format, on its own cadence, in its own vocabulary. The pattern that matters is the pattern across the portfolio, which is invisible until someone runs the same scoring framework against every portco at once. That is what this engagement produces.
What gets scored
Seven axes per portco.
The same seven questions a GP would run on the portfolio quarterly if the scoring framework existed in-house. Each scored red, yellow, or green per portco, with a dollar-magnitude estimate against EBITDA where the gap is sizeable.
- 1. Tech-spend trajectory. Quarterly trajectory normalized to revenue, by portco. Flags portcos where spend is rising faster than revenue without a documented value story.
- 2. Architecture documentation. Which portcos have a current-state architecture document that a buyer's diligence team could read in 20 minutes. Flags "would have to redraw from memory" cases.
- 3. Cybersecurity posture. Which portcos have 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, by portco. Identifies the easy-EBITDA portfolios.
- 5. AI exposure. Which portcos are deploying AI features with documented governance and which without. Names the emerging risk surface.
- 6. AI data foundation readiness. Which portcos could ship an AI use case to production today and which need 12 or more months of data work first. Calibrates the AI value-capture timeline at the portfolio level.
- 7. IT leadership continuity. CIO or IT-leader gaps and turnover risk by portco. Execution risk on every technology decision the portfolio is making.
The deliverables
What you walk away with.
01
Per-portco snapshot
A one-page summary per portco: scored across the seven axes, named issues, dollar-magnitude estimate against EBITDA where the gap is sizeable. The CFO and CIO at each portco can read theirs in 10 minutes.
02
Fund-level dashboard
Every portco on every axis in one view. Red, yellow, green. Sortable by exit-window proximity, by axis, by sector. The single picture a partner meeting can act on.
03
Priority-portco list
Top three portcos requiring immediate attention. Named issues. Dollar magnitude. Exit-window risk if unaddressed. Recommended Initiative per portco for the next quarter.
04
Partner-meeting deck
Board-ready presentation: fund-level posture, cross-portfolio patterns, priority-portco list, recommended next-quarter actions. Designed for the IC, the LP review, or the annual fund-strategy session.
05
Quarterly refresh option
Same scoring framework, lighter touch, refreshed dashboard, change-since-last-quarter view. Three to four weeks per quarter. The cadence that turns the Diagnostic into a standing engagement instead of a one-time project.
How the engagement runs
Three phases, six to ten weeks.
Weeks 1 to 2
Setup and per-portco discovery
Fund-level intake call with the GP or operating partner. Portco list, sector, hold position, named IT or operations lead per portco. Introductions to each portco's primary IT contact. Read-only access where access is granted; otherwise, structured interviews.
Weeks 2 to 8
Per-portco scoring
One to two weeks per portco, parallelized across the engagement window. Each portco gets its seven-axis snapshot. Issues are documented with dollar magnitude where the data supports it. The portco's IT contact receives the snapshot in draft for accuracy review before it lands in the fund-level rollup.
Weeks 8 to 10
Fund rollup and partner deck
Cross-portfolio pattern analysis. Dashboard production. Priority-portco list and recommended Initiatives. Partner-meeting deck. Walkthrough call with the GP or operating partner. Handover.
Honest framing
What this engagement is not.
This is a scoring and prioritization engagement at fund altitude. It is not a per-portco IT due diligence (that is the Six-week IT Due Diligence Initiative). It is not a remediation engagement (each priority portco will need its own Initiative or Program tier to actually close the gaps it surfaces). It does not produce certified, audit-grade evidence (that comes from named Initiatives where required). The Diagnostic is the read; the Initiatives and the Program tiers are the work.
What it costs
Priced per portco, plus a fund-level rollup fee.
Below typical Big 4 portfolio-diligence quotes at the same depth; above generalist boutiques that do not offer the portfolio-wide format. Final pricing depends on portco count, depth of access granted, and quarterly refresh commitment.
Per portco diagnostic
from $30K
One to two weeks per portco. Includes the per-portco snapshot.
Fund-level rollup
from $50K
Dashboard, priority list, partner deck, walkthrough.
Quarterly refresh
from $10K/portco/quarter
Optional after initial engagement.
Worked example for a six-portco fund: roughly $230K initial, then $60K per quarter for the refresh if continued. Twelve-portco fund: roughly $410K initial, $120K per quarter for refresh.
For your role
Where this engagement fits.
For PE Operating Partners →
If you carry value-creation accountability across multiple portcos and need the same picture for every one. The Diagnostic is your standing read.
For PE General Partners →
If technology risk and value capture have to land in LP and partner-meeting language. The Diagnostic produces the artifact that lives in those conversations.
Run the Diagnostic once. Decide on the cadence after.
Six to ten weeks. The artifact lands. If it does not change how the next partner meeting goes, you are under no further commitment.