The Client 

Transforming Businesses Into Market Leaders

Focused on helping exceptional businesses transform into market leaders, this private equity firm, with over $4.5B in assets under management, invests in the healthcare, life sciences, software, technology, and B2B and B2C services and products sectors. Located in the Midwest, this PE firm partners with management teams to accelerate growth, both organically and via acquisitions, and increase value

The Situation

M&A Transaction Creates Integration Imperative

After investing in an advertising technology platform company, the PE firm helped its media portco with completing a transformative acquisition. It positioned the portco as the definitive source of advertising data and insights serving the entire media industry ecosystem.

As the portco’s acquired company had a broad product line, an Integration Management Office was established. The Office began identifying staffing requirements for driving various aspects of process integration, duplication elimination, and organizational streamlining. The Office identified two key short-term gaps:

• A Program Manager experienced with overseeing a variety of data integration and other projects to ensure the required efficiency, productivity, and cost-saving goals were met.
• A Project Manager experienced with technology transformations that required working across multiple functions to facilitate successful project completion.

However, given the urgency around achieving the integration goals quickly, the PE firm suggested that the portco consider partnering with Graphite for a faster, more cost-effective approach to talent acquisition.

The Solution 

Fill Critical Gaps with Experienced, On-Demand Talent

When the media portco’s Integration Management Office contacted Graphite to learn more about its proven on-demand model, an experienced account manager was dedicated to the portco. The account manager explained Graphite’s streamlined process, which includes a two-tiered vetting process for identifying and presenting 2-4 curated independent experts, typically within 24-48 hours.

Expertise requirements identified

To start, the Graphite account manager worked with the appropriate stakeholders in the Integration Management Office to develop a list of requirements for each role. These included:

A Program Manager with 8-15 years experience leading teams and the ability to manage complex teams and projects. Experience working with a PE-backed operation and the willingness to travel to the work location was preferred.

A Project Manager capable of effectively managing targeted and pre-scoped initiatives at PE-backed companies. The expert was expected to be highly proficient with Jira, Wrike, and Smartsheet.

Curated candidates in hours

With the media portco’s requirements determined, the account manager leveraged Graphite’s AI-powered platform to access a pool of over 10,000 independent experts and obtain a shortlist of qualified candidates. The account manager further curated the list and, within 48 hours of meeting with the portco, presented the top three candidates for each position.

From there the Integration Management Office stakeholders conducted live virtual interviews with the candidates using the Graphite in-app messaging and meeting room features.

The Result:

Gain 20+ Years of Program and Project Management Expertise

To kick off the project, a Graphite customer success team member was dedicated to the media portco, with the Graphite account manager seamlessly guiding the hand-off. 

The customer success team assembled the media portco’s stakeholders, the PE firm’s representatives, and the selected independent experts to review the engagement’s objectives, the scope of work, the timeline, and other deliverables. 

Within days of the portco’s initial meeting with Graphite, the two experts began their assignments.

Rapidly adding value results in contract extension

Based on the significant value that each of the independent experts provided, their contracts were extended from the initial three months to six. The experts used their competencies to:

• Help complete integration initiatives successfully, enabling the portco to continue building next-gen, AI-powered solutions that meet customer needs while advancing its position as the industry’s advertising intelligence leader.
• Provide strategic recommendations on best practices for streamlining business processes and elevating user experiences.
• Contribute significant change management, data integration, and M&A expertise.
• Supply change management framework to improve methodologies for future integrations and technology implementations.
• Manage programs and projects with multiple work streams and across multiple functional teams, including engineering, product, and operations.
• Interact effectively with executives, senior leadership, and mid-level managers.
• Facilitate consensus among stakeholders and maintain deadline accountability.

Smooth, professional experience from beginning to end

For the PE firm and its media portco, engaging with Graphite was a smooth and professional experience from start to finish. The portco realized multiple benefits, including:

• Obtained a short list of the right talent in under 48 hours.
• Realize significant value quickly, resulting in extending contracts for each expert from the original three months to six.
• Gained 20+ years of combined program and project management expertise, enabling the successful execution of critical data integration and change management projects.
• Achieved significant cost savings with Graphite’s proven, streamlined on-demand talent acquisition model.
• Tapped into a 10,000+ pool of fully-vetted independent experts.
• Eliminated administrative overhead with Graphite’s AI-powered platform, which includes an integrated invoicing and payment interface
• Received detailed project tracking on the Graphite platform,  including deliverables, tasks completed, and work hours submitted.