Overly Ambitious Targets Set by PE Owners

Industry Context

The healthcare IT sector faces mounting pressure from regulatory changes, digital transformation demands, and margin compression. Many established players struggle with flat growth rates while private equity firms demand accelerated returns in compressed timeframes.

The Challenge

A private equity firm acquired this healthcare software provider and established aggressive targets: grow from $566 million to $600 million in revenue while achieving 40 percent EBITDA margins within two years. The company's historical performance showed flat growth rates, making these targets appear unrealistic. Leadership needed to bridge the gap between PE expectations and operational reality without destroying company culture or market position.

The Aha! Insight

The disconnect between PE owners and management stemmed from misaligned assumptions about growth levers and investment priorities. Rather than pursuing top-line growth at any cost, the solution required optimizing existing sales productivity investments and reallocating spend from underperforming areas to high-return activities.

SBI's Approach

SBI facilitated structured working sessions between company leadership and PE stakeholders to develop a unified growth strategy. The engagement focused on four core areas:

• Pricing optimization to capture immediate margin expansion
• Coverage and sales organization redesign for improved efficiency  
• Sales compensation and quota restructuring to drive desired behaviors
• Marketing strategy realignment to support sales productivity goals
  
  

Before vs. After

Results

The company achieved $600 million in organic revenue eight months ahead of the original two-year schedule. The accelerated performance enabled a profitable exit for the PE firm while preserving company value and market position.

Key Metrics

• $34 million estimated revenue uplift
• Eight-month acceleration of timeline
• 40 percent EBITDA margin target achieved
• Successful PE exit execution
  
  
  

Executive Perspective

"SBI's ability to facilitate alignment between our PE owners and management team was crucial. They helped us see that the targets weren't impossible—we just needed to optimize how we deployed our existing resources."

—Company Leadership

Risk of Inaction

Without strategic intervention, the company faced several critical risks:

• Continued misalignment leading to management turnover
• Inefficient capital deployment reducing ROI for PE owners
• Market share erosion from competitors with clearer growth strategies
• Failed exit opportunity resulting in extended hold period
  
  

Industry Implications

This case demonstrates that healthcare IT companies can achieve aggressive growth targets through strategic optimization rather than massive capital injections. The success validates the importance of stakeholder alignment and data-driven resource allocation in PE-backed growth scenarios.

Role-based Impact

• CEO: Revenue acceleration and successful PE exit validates leadership effectiveness and creates opportunities for future executive roles in PE-backed healthcare IT companies.
• CFO: Margin expansion to 40 percent EBITDA while maintaining growth demonstrates financial stewardship capabilities and enhances credibility with PE stakeholders for future fundraising activities.
  
• CRO: Sales productivity optimization and eight-month timeline acceleration showcases revenue leadership skills and ability to execute under pressure, valuable for career advancement in high-growth healthcare IT environments.
  
• CMO: Marketing strategy realignment contributing to $34 million revenue uplift proves marketing ROI impact and strengthens position for CMO roles requiring rapid growth delivery in competitive healthcare markets.
  

Call to action

Healthcare IT leaders facing similar PE pressure should evaluate their current sales productivity investments and stakeholder alignment. Contact SBI to assess whether your organization could benefit from similar strategic optimization approaches that deliver accelerated results without compromising long-term value creation.