The first 6-18 months often define the trajectory of a PE investment.
If successful, with stability & retention, the initial period crafts a bullish narrative which will supercharge the team’s motivation, create goodwill for capex and M&A, and establish faith in the organic growth model. This will compound over the 5-year hold period, and manifest in very strong returns.
Conversely, a deal that slips out of the gate may get tattooed with a more challenging label. “What’s going on? What are you trying/doing to improve things? Should we hire a new CxO? Let’s hold off on add-on acquisitions, etc.”
There are obvisouly millions of examples where things worked out (or went awry) later, but just beware that the narrative & momentum really matter.
