By Bryan Knipe, founder of TriPinnacle Advisors
Most 100-day plans after a close are a list of cuts. They take cost out, the first quarter looks better, and then growth stalls because the cuts landed on the work that was winning customers. The plan that moves the value of a business does something harder: it grows revenue on a flatter cost base.
AI makes that possible in a way it wasn't a few years ago. Much of the work that grows with revenue, in sales support, onboarding, account management and reporting, can now run on AI, so the company can take on more customers without the matching rise in headcount. The 100 days are for finding where that is true in this company, proving it, and setting up the reporting that shows it to the owners every month.
I have worked with private-equity firms as partners, evaluated buying companies from them, and run the integration plans afterwards. I have also run the finance and operations functions themselves, as a COO/CFO and general manager, and I build the AI that moves them. This is the plan I would run.
Days 1 to 20: the baseline
Before changing anything, write down how the company actually runs: each function, what it produces, how many people, what it costs, and how it grows with revenue. Agree the numbers with management and the deal team: revenue per person, cost to serve a customer, gross margin by line, cash. Every result in the next 80 days is measured against this baseline, so it has to be one everyone signs.
Days 20 to 40: find the slack and the bottlenecks
Two lists. The slack: spend, tools and work that don't move the company toward the plan in the deal model. The bottlenecks: the places where growth stalls because every new customer needs more people. Most companies have both, and the second list matters more. The slack funds the work on the bottlenecks.
Days 40 to 70: move the work that scales
Pick one or two functions from the bottleneck list, usually sales operations, onboarding or reporting, and move their volume work onto AI inside the systems the team already uses. Run it with people checking the output until the error rate is known. Cut the slack in the same window, deliberately rather than evenly, so the savings fund the change.
Days 70 to 90: prove it in the numbers
By now the functions that moved should show it: more customers handled per person, faster onboarding, reports that arrive without a scramble. Compare against the baseline, not against hopes. Where it isn't working, find out why before rolling it wider.
Days 90 to 100: the plan for the rest of the hold
Turn what worked into a plan for the remaining functions, in order, with the cost, the expected result and the date for each. Set the monthly report: the baseline numbers, what changed, and value created, in the same format every month, so the board sees the trend instead of a new story each quarter.
What owners should expect
A business that takes on more revenue without the usual rise in cost, with the evidence in the same report every month. Not every function moves in 100 days, and some shouldn't move at all. The work that depends on judgment and relationships stays with people, and the plan says so.
Where I help
I run this as an operator, not an advisor: the baseline, the build and the monthly reporting, for one portfolio company at a time, part-time alongside management or as an interim COO. Then the same plan at the next company.