For private equityRevenue-side AI value creation

Your portfolio has a cost-side AI playbook. This is the revenue side.

Most AI value creation programmes deliver on cost: automation, efficiency, better reporting. On the revenue side, AI creates value only when a customer pays for it.

The mandate usually also says "new revenue streams", and that is where there is rarely a repeatable playbook. I help portfolio companies turn AI into a new business line with a buyer, a model and a channel, and hand it over running, before the exit.

Scope
One launch per company
Design
3 months · from €65k
Reporting
Signed acceptances
Ownership
Stays in the company
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The gap in the mandate

As a Chief AI Officer or operating partner, you are accountable for EBITDA growth and exit-multiple expansion across the portfolio, with outcomes the investment committee can verify.

Cost side

The toolkit is mature

Vendors, platforms, automation, governance.

Revenue side

The portfolio company has to launch something it has never sold

The usual result is a pilot that impresses in a board pack and never reaches a paying customer.

A second engine that is proven in orders changes the exit story. An idea for one does not.

What I do

One launch per portfolio company. The same four stages everywhere.

Scope

One launch per portfolio company

A new business line built on AI (a service, a subscription, a data product on top of the existing product), or the existing product into a new market.

Method

The same four stages everywhere

Design, Prove, Scale, Transfer, in a method I call Launch to Own. Each stage ends with an acceptance the portfolio company signs, with targets set at the start.

Launch to Own →
Reporting

Reporting you can take to the investment committee

The acceptances are milestones with numbers: the first market response, then repeat orders.

Ownership

Ownership stays in the company

The business plan, the conditions and the knowledge base belong to the portfolio company from day one, so the new line is part of the asset you sell, not a dependency on an adviser.

How an engagement runs

  1. 01

    Fit check

    We agree which portfolio companies have a realistic second engine: a proven core product, a buyer who would pay for the new line, and somebody who can own it.

  2. 02

    Design per company

    Three months, fixed fee from €65k, ending with the portfolio company's go or no-go.

  3. 03

    Prove and Scale

    With the portfolio company's team or an execution partner. I lead, report to management and to you, and keep the stakeholders aligned.

  4. 04

    Transfer

    To a named owner inside the company, before the exit window.

For two or more launches across a portfolio, a framework agreement can pre-approve Design per company, so each launch starts without a new procurement round. Terms are set in the proposal letter.

Before you sign

Design can also start before a deal closes, during due diligence. Is a second engine realistic for this target, and what would it take?

The answer feeds the investment thesis and the 100-day plan. I have built M&A business cases for the ABB Executive Committee and worked through due diligence on both sides of a deal, so I know which questions this answer has to survive.

What stays with you

Stays with you
  • Cost-side AI
  • AI governance
  • Vendor selection
  • Infrastructure

With you and the partners you already use.

What I deliver
  • The revenue side of the mandate
  • One launch per company

I do not replace the Chief AI Officer role and I do not compete for it.

Proof

  1. Robovision, industrial vision AIThree segments and a new business model; a first new deal within nine months, then 25 meetings in six weeks without new internal headcount.Prove · acceptance 1
  2. Electrical equipment OEM in GermanyA new segment: sales now runs the full discovery before product management steps in. The commercial team's confidence rose from 2.5 to 4 (of 4).Design
All cases

FAQ

Are you a fractional Chief AI Officer?

No. I lead a launch, from Design to a business line the portfolio company runs without me. The Chief AI Officer role, with its governance, vendors and cost-side programme, stays where it is.

What do you report to the investment committee?

The targets set in Design and the acceptances against them: the plan and the go or no-go after three months, then the first market response and repeat orders in Prove. Each is a signed milestone with a number, not a status update.

Which portfolio companies fit?

Industrial companies or business units of roughly €20–200M revenue in DACH and Benelux, with a core product that works and a decision, or a strong case, for a new market or business line. Companies still fixing the core business are not a fit yet.

Does the new business line have to be built on AI?

No. The launch has to create revenue. AI often makes the new line possible (a service on top of machine data, for example), and it always runs the knowledge base, so the line does not depend on a few people. But the measure is paying customers, not models in production.

Can you work across several portfolio companies at once?

Yes, within a small number of launches each quarter, so each one gets my time in Design. A framework agreement keeps the terms the same across companies.

What does it cost?

Design is a fixed fee from €65k per portfolio company. Prove and Scale are set in the proposal letter, and framework terms for several launches are agreed once for the portfolio.

Next step

Let's scope your next launch.

In 45 minutes I tell you where your launch is likely to stall and whether Design is the right next step.

3-month Design · From €65k, fixed fee · Work product is yours

If Design ends in a no-go, you stop after three months with a written answer and all the work product. No licence, no exit fee. I take on 3–5 launches per quarter.

Bernd FastenrathFounder, Altered Principles
bernd.fastenrath@altered-principles.com
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