Experienced CFOs embedded in your portfolio companies from Day 1 post-close through exit.
Schedule a PE Intro Call See the 4-Phase ModelThe pattern is familiar: a fund acquires a business with strong fundamentals but immature financial infrastructure. There is a good bookkeeper, a part-time controller, and a CPA firm for the annual audit. There is no CFO, no rolling forecast, no board-ready reporting, and no real visibility into the operational EBITDA drivers that will determine exit value. The sponsor needs a 100-day plan, a clean model, and LP reporting yesterday.
"The average PE holding period is 4 to 6 years. Every quarter without the right financial and technological infrastructure is a quarter of value creation left on the table."
Peakline was built precisely for this moment. We are not a staffing firm that places a contractor and steps away. We are a strategic CFO partnership: accountable for outcomes, calibrated for PE speed, and designed to evolve with the business through every phase of the hold.
Growth equity and buyout funds with $100M to $2B AUM looking for a trusted CFO resource to deploy across their portfolio. We provide institutional-quality financial leadership where permanent CFO hires are not yet warranted, or not yet justified by the company's scale.
CEOs of PE-backed businesses face a unique challenge: running an operating business while serving as the communication interface to the sponsor board. We bridge that gap, handling financial reporting, board communications, and EBITDA management so the CEO can focus on the business.
Operating partners need a CFO resource they can trust to hit the ground running without hand-holding. We have worked alongside operating partners across dozens of engagements, and we understand exactly what a trusted, deployable CFO resource looks like in practice.
Our engagement framework mirrors the PE holding period. We do not parachute in for discrete projects; we serve as the continuous financial leadership layer that drives value creation across the full arc of ownership.
Deliverable: Financial Health Assessment + 90-Day Roadmap
Deliverable: Fully operational CFO function
Deliverable: Measurable EBITDA improvement
Deliverable: Fully exit-ready financial package
Engagements are scoped to the portfolio company's financial, operational, and technological maturity, sponsor requirements, and phase of ownership. Most active engagements run three to six of these services concurrently.
A structured post-close baseline across books, systems, team, controls, and cash, producing a prioritized financial roadmap for the first year of ownership.
The foundation on which all subsequent CFO work is built.
Monthly financial packages delivered within 5 business days of month-end close: P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, KPI dashboard, and CFO narrative, formatted to sponsor standards.
Delivered on time, every month. No chasing, no delays, no excuses.
The annual operating plan, rolling 12-month forecast, and monthly variance analysis that keep the business tracking to its value creation plan.
Catches plan deviations early, before they become structural problems.
Systematic analysis of gross margin, SG&A efficiency, pricing, and cost structure to identify and execute EBITDA improvement opportunities with measurable P&L impact.
Pricing analysis often reveals 100 to 300bps of untapped margin.
Analysis and optimization of the cash conversion cycle across AR, AP, and inventory to release trapped cash and improve free cash flow generation.
Every dollar of improvement flows directly to enterprise value.
Financial diligence, integration planning, and post-close consolidation for bolt-on acquisitions, so every add-on is integrated quickly, cleanly, and consistently.
Synergy tracking monitors projected vs. actual savings in real time.
Rolling 13-week cash flow forecasting, credit facility management, and covenant compliance monitoring throughout the hold period.
No lender surprises, no unnecessary sponsor distraction.
ERP assessment and technology upgrade, internal controls implementation, and month-end close optimization targeting a 5 to 7 business day close.
The infrastructure institutional buyers will scrutinize at exit.
Quarterly LP updates, capital call and distribution notices, and fund-level reporting support, produced accurately, on time, and to institutional standards.
Reduces the LP inquiry burden on the investment team.
End-to-end exit readiness: EBITDA normalization, QoE preparation, data room build, and buyer diligence support, executed by CFO who have been through dozens of transactions.
QoE-ready books compress diligence and reduce the risk of retrades.
At a 7x exit multiple, every dollar of EBITDA improvement is worth $7 of enterprise value. Peakline's financial leadership directly creates enterprise value, not just cleaner books. Typical impact ranges from our portfolio engagement experience:
Mix optimization, COGS decomposition, and pricing discipline.
Headcount ROI and vendor benchmarking, without impairing growth capacity.
DSO reduction, DPO optimization, and inventory turns turned into cash.
Compressed from typical 15 to 21 day cycles. Management acts on current data, not history.
Rigorous, defensible addback documentation and normalization.
Revenue quality analysis and recurring revenue clarity that improve the exit narrative.
The math is straightforward: a portfolio company generating $5M of EBITDA that improves margins by 200bps adds $1M of incremental EBITDA, worth $7M of enterprise value at a 7x exit multiple. The CFO function is not a cost center. It is a value creation lever.
Each model delivers CFO-level financial, operational, and technological leadership in a structure that matches where the portfolio company is in its ownership arc and what the sponsor's operating model requires.
A Peakline CFO embedded directly in a single portfolio company as its primary CFO function, 20 to 40 hours per month calibrated to complexity, phase, and active workstreams.
Peakline serves as the preferred CFO resource across 2 to 5 portfolio companies within a single fund, managed holistically by a dedicated Peakline PE practice partner.
A bridge CFO during a search, post-close transition, or pre-exit sprint. Defined start and end criteria, with expedited onboarding within 5 business days of confirmation.
Platform pricing is designed around aggregate scope, not per-company retail rates.
Discuss the Right Model for Your FundWe do not place a contractor and walk away. We own the outcome, from Day 1 post-close through exit. Five things separate Peakline from a CFO staffing placement:
Our CFOs have worked in PE-backed environments and know what a sponsor needs to see at every phase. We walk in already calibrated for PE expectations.
A CFO embedded and producing financial work within 5 business days of confirmation. No 90-day onboarding ramp, no learning curve at the portfolio company's expense.
We build it, produce it, and deliver it on time every month. Your board package arrives within 5 business days of close, without chasing anyone for numbers.
One relationship from stabilization through exit readiness. No handoffs, no knowledge loss, no re-onboarding a new CFO resource at every phase.
Our team has served as CFOs inside PE-backed companies and as advisors to sponsors. We understand the competing demands because we have lived them.
Representative of the results Peakline has helped PE-backed businesses achieve. Specific results vary by company, industry, engagement scope, and market conditions.
B2B Technology Services | $18M Revenue | Months 1–3
A fund acquired a founder-led business with a part-time bookkeeper, no CFO, and a 6-week close. Peakline embedded Day 5 post-close, redesigned the chart of accounts, rebuilt the close process, and produced the first board-ready package by Day 45.
Close compressed from 6 weeks to 8 business days by Month 3. LP reporting on time.
Healthcare Services | $32M Revenue | Year 2 of Ownership
EBITDA was running $200K to $400K below deal model with no service-line visibility. Peakline built the missing service-line P&L, exposed three lines at negative contribution margins, and implemented a targeted SG&A reduction roadmap.
$620K of annualized EBITDA improvement. Gross margin from 38% to 42%.
Professional Services | $45M Platform + $12M Add-On
A third add-on closed with books unconsolidated and the finance team at capacity. Peakline managed the full financial integration, standardized the chart of accounts, and consolidated ERP data for the combined entity.
Integrated financials in 48 days. Combined board package on the 5-day cadence from Month 1.
E-Commerce & Consumer | $28M Revenue | 12 Months to Close
A first institutional sale with three years of unnormalized add-backs and an empty data room. Peakline led a 9-month exit readiness engagement: normalized EBITDA, documented $1.8M of addbacks, and built the full financial data room.
QoE in 4 weeks with no material adjustments. Sold at 8.5x EBITDA, 1.5x above deal model.
Our Private Equity Diagnostic produces an objective, 100-point PE Readiness Score across five weighted dimensions. We use it in engagement discovery and as a pre-LOI readiness screen to calibrate positioning, timeline, and preparation priorities.
Strategic Readiness
Financial Maturity
Operational Scalability
Value-Creation Levers
PE Fit Indicators
Results are reviewed collaboratively with your Peakline engagement partner.
We can have a CFO embedded and producing initial financial work within 5 business days of engagement confirmation. Our onboarding is purpose-built for PE speed. Day 5, we are working.
Yes, and this is central to our model. We integrate with and direct the existing bookkeeper, controller, and CPA firm rather than replacing them, increasing output quality without adding headcount cost to the P&L.
For platform partnerships we implement standardized reporting templates, chart of accounts structures, and KPI frameworks across all companies in scope, making portfolio-level benchmarking and aggregate reporting significantly easier.
Absolutely. Our interim model is designed to bridge a CFO gap while a permanent search is underway. We coordinate with your search firm, maintain continuity, and manage a structured knowledge transfer to the permanent hire.
Our CFOs have supported dozens of QoE processes on both sides. We know what buyer accounting firms look for, how to document addbacks that hold up under scrutiny, and how to organize a data room that accelerates diligence.
Exit readiness is a disciplined process that begins 12 to 18 months before the transaction, not a sprint in the final 60 days. EBITDA normalization, data room prep, and QoE readiness start well in advance. We do not create surprises at exit; we eliminate them.
Whether you're pre-close evaluating financial infrastructure, 100 days in building the foundation, executing the value creation plan in Year 2, or 12 months from exit, Peakline has an engagement model designed precisely for where you are right now.
Schedule a PE Intro CallA 30-minute conversation with our PE practice lead. No commitment, no pressure.