The first 90 days of a portfolio‑company turnaround

Operating partners rarely bring us a company that is failing. They bring us one that is off plan — bookings soft, gross margin drifting, EBITDA a few points below the model, a GM who left or a founder who mentally left at close.

The question is never “what is wrong?” It is “how fast can someone competent take the chair and turn the numbers?” Here is what the first ninety days should look like, and what you should demand from whoever runs them.

What does a 90-day turnaround plan look like?

Four phases with dates, dollars and owners: stabilize and see (days 1–10), name the leaks and the plan (11–30), fix what moves EBITDA fastest (31–60), prove it and hand off (61–90).

1. Days 1–10Stabilize and see

   Stop the bleeding and see clearly: the people (who is a flight risk, who is carrying the place), the key accounts (call them personally), cash, safety and the schedule. At the same time, read the trailing-twelve P&L by month, walk the warehouse, ride with sales.

   • Flash report on the operating partner’s desk by day 10
   • Key accounts called personally
   • First read on where the money is going
2. Days 11–30Name the leaks and the plan

   Most trades turnarounds come down to a short list: indirect costs not charged to jobs, contracts nobody reviews, job costing that does not match the estimate to the close-out, an uncounted warehouse, a sales team that stopped hunting, a manager who has never read a P&L. The interim leader’s job is to rank them by dollar value, assign an owner and a date to each, and write it on one page.

   • Ranked leak list with dollar values
   • People assessment
   • One-page plan agreed with the deal team
3. Days 31–60Fix what moves EBITDA fastest

   Renegotiate or cancel the contracts. Bill the equipment to the jobs. Standardize job costing and hold the estimators and PMs to one definition of margin. Count the warehouse. Start the sales sprint: written process, DISC-based selling, a Friday scoreboard, live deal coaching. Make the key hires the plan called for.

   • Weekly flash improving line by line
   • Key hires in motion
4. Days 61–90Prove it and hand off

   The branch runs a cadence: Monday plan, Friday scoreboard, monthly P&L review where managers explain their own variance. EBITDA is trending, not just promised. The permanent leader — hired or promoted — is in the chair with the interim leader stepping back to coach.

   • EBITDA trending
   • Permanent leader running the meeting
   • Numbers visible without asking

What should an operating partner demand in the first 90 days?

Five things, in writing, from whoever takes the chair.

• A flash report by day ten. One page, the same seven numbers every week, no narrative padding.
• A one-page plan by day thirty, with dollar values, owners and dates.
• Weekly access to the interim leader, and a monthly package in the format your investment committee already uses.
• A hand-off plan from day one. Interim leadership is a bridge. Anyone who does not talk about the permanent leader in the first week is planning to stay.
• Plain speech about the team. If the local leadership cannot get there, you should hear it in month one, with a hiring plan — not in month nine.

Why an operator instead of a consultant?

Because the branch does not need advice; it needs someone to run it.

The levers are the same ones I pulled as a Vice President taking over a branch corporate had left behind: a team taught to hunt, indirect costs billed, contracts renegotiated, a warehouse counted and a weekly cadence nobody could hide from. Under $11M in sales became $27M+, and minimal EBITDA became 211% of goal. Those levers still work — but only in the hands of someone who has pulled them before.

As Vice President of a national restoration firm’s Tampa branch. Full record.

Stabilize. Name the leaks. Fix what moves EBITDA. Prove it. Hand off. In that order, on one page, every week.

Questions operators ask