When to Involve Management in Exit Diligence
Ted Bililies and Mike Hollander outline how PE sponsors sequence management involvement during exits to protect operating performance.
The Exit Playbook: The human key to exits
With Rob Katecki, Ellen Havdala, Maurizio Mussi, Saurabh Singh, Ted Bililies, Mike Hollander, Matteo Stefanel, Fahim Ahmed, Brian Cassidy · Sunday, October 11, 2026
Private equity leaders discuss why managing human capital is the decisive factor in executing successful exits. The conversation covers continuous re-underwriting of management incentives, the disciplined expansion of the 'circle of trust,' strategies for mitigating executive deal exhaustion, retaining tier-two leaders, communicating with customers, and performing reverse diligence on prospective buyers.
Key takeaways
- Mike Hollander points out that involving management too early pulls operational leaders away from their primary responsibilities and into deal obsession. Read more →
- Deal fatigue during an exit process concentrates on the CEO and CFO, creating operating blind spots that can crater earnings. Read more →
- Senior executives have deal equity and board visibility, but divisional heads, product leads, and commercial directors carry actual operational continuity during a sale. Read more →
- Headline valuation numbers often mask operational mismatches that wreck executive incentives and damage a sponsor's reputation on future exits. Read more →
- Private equity sponsors routinely treat management incentive plans as static documents signed at acquisition, ignoring how executive risk tolerance and personal circumstances drift across a multi-year hold. Read more →
5 articles from this episode
Why Deal Exhaustion Destroys PE Exit Valuations
Ted Bililies and Matteo Stefanel explain why deal fatigue during PE exits causes 20% forecast misses and how delegation protects EBITDA.
Ted Bililies on Retaining Tier-Two Leaders Pre-Exit
Ted Bililies explains why private equity exits fail when middle management leaves, and how to lock in tier-two talent 12 months early.
Ted Bililies on Reverse Diligence and PE Exit Value
Ted Bililies and Matteo Stefanel explain why PE sellers must run reverse diligence on buyers to protect management equity, earn-outs, and GP reputation.
Why Static Management Equity Plans Break PE Exits
Ted Bililies explains why PE sponsors must re-underwrite executive incentives 12 to 18 months before exit to prevent value destruction.
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