Who CCP is for
DACH Operating Partners and portco CEOs running PE-backed Mittelstand companies, in industries where customer economics drive the equity story.
The problem we work on
Sustainable EBITDA growth grounded in customer insight.
Revenue growth is the dominant lever in modern PE value creation and the one most VCPs underweight. Pricing waterfalls and cost programs are well-instrumented. The customer base usually is not. That is where willingness-to-pay actually forms, where retention compounds, where margin leaks before it shows up in the P&L.
That gap is where the equity delta hides. Finding it is our work.
When the work pays
Year One. The VCP is set. The operating thesis either holds or it doesn't. This is where the customer-led commercial operating model gets installed, and where the first measurable EBITDA result lands inside two to four quarters.
M-18 to M-3. The equity story has to harden into evidence a buyer will pay for. We sharpen the customer narrative, instrument the commercial KPIs that survive into the IC memo, and close the gaps that show up in CDD.
How we do it
With our customer-led commercial methodology we help you turn customer insight into measurable EBITDA growth.
How we think: a customer-first approach + behavioural-science foundation
Most commercial advisory starts with a pricing waterfall, an ROIC tree, or a margin bridge and reasons backward toward the customer.
We invert that.
We start where what drives revenue, margin, and cost is actually formed: customer insight and behaviour. Customer-side primary. Financial-side derived. The financial bridge follows from the customer evidence. Not the other way around.
This is the difference between a pricing project that holds for two quarters and a commercial operating model that compounds across the hold.
How we act: strategic clarity, methodological depth, disciplined execution
Ideas are worth nothing without execution. And ambitious commercial programs don't fail with the strategy deck. They fail in the execution layer.
Priorities shift mid-program instead of holding focus. Value gets identified but never fully captured. Teams lose the big picture in the details, or lose the details in the big picture. The result is a program that produces movement without compounding.
We fix that.
Our methodology is the strategic north star. A 16-node framework. Six value layers. Three execution loops. A parallel cost track. The architecture holds the whole engagement in one frame, so priorities don't drift and the work doesn't fragment. Everything moves towards the goal: EBITDA growth.
The execution runs in three phases. Experimentation runs underneath all of them.
Three Commercial Operations
01 · Identify
Where is the value?
01 · Identify
We map the customer base by economic contribution, willingness-to-pay, and behavioural signal.
Output
A value map. A quantified picture of where EBITDA is leaking and where it is latent.
02 · Capture
What does it take to realise it?
02 · Capture
We translate the value map into operating moves: pricing architecture, positioning, sales motion, retention.
Output
A commercial operating model the portco team can run without us.
03 · Scale
How does it compound?
03 · Scale
We harden the operating model so it holds across the customer base, across roll-up acquisitions, and across the remainder of the hold.
Output
Durable EBITDA. Value that compounds rather than decays after we leave.
Underneath
Every node carries a hypothesis, a test, and a falsification bar.
If a node fails its test, it gets killed. Programs that cannot be falsified do not run. This is what separates a commercial operating model that compounds from a pricing project that decays.
Where the methodology produces leverage
The work rests on five preconditions. When all five hold, the methodology produces compounding EBITDA. When they don't, we are not the right partner.
The five preconditions:
- Customer-level economics are measurable. Revenue, margin, and retention can be attributed to identifiable customers or segments.
- Revenue is or can become recurring or repeat-driven. Not one-shot project economics.
- Willingness-to-pay is elastic and segment-differentiated. Different customers value the offer differently, and the difference is meaningful.
- The customer exercises discretion. Buying decisions are made, not dictated by captive procurement or regulated tariffs.
- The sponsor holds the asset on a 3–7 year horizon. Long enough for compounding, short enough for VCP discipline.
How those preconditions map to your industry.
Tier 01
Strong fit
Tier 01
B2B SaaS and vertical SaaS · B2B subscription and managed services · specialty industrial B2B with 50–200 named accounts · professional services PE roll-ups · testing, inspection, certification (TIC)
Verdict
All five preconditions hold. Standard methodology, full kit, no adaptation.
Tier 02
Good fit, with named adaptation
Tier 02
Premium DTC (re-anchored on retention and contribution margin rather than NRR) · healthcare services and multi-site provider models (run as a customer-side complement to clinical operations work, not a substitute) · fintech, insurtech, regtech (with emphasis on retention and lifecycle pricing)
Verdict
The methodology applies, with specific tweaks named before engagement. Never discovered mid-project.
Tier 03
Taken with caveats stated up front
Tier 03
Commodity industries where pricing-specialist firms out-credential us on depth · regulated B2C utilities · transactional hardware · turnaround situations
Verdict
We will take this work when there is a clean reason to, and only after stating where the methodology is weaker than the alternative and what the OP gives up by choosing us over a specialist.
Tier 04
Politely declined
Tier 04
Project-based businesses · capital-intensive infrastructure · two-sided marketplaces pre-PMF · pure e-commerce
Verdict
The preconditions don't hold. Forcing the methodology onto these produces a worse answer than the OP could get elsewhere. So we don't.