Most of my work revolves around LMM/port cos or roll ups/synergies on digital estates generating revenue through subscriptions, eCommerce, lead generation, or ads (i.e. traffic flowing to the web portal being critically important to the bottom line).
One specific portfolio company audited a few weeks ago faced severe consequences due to poor infrastructure (cheap host) and a low-cost build.
Under load, it took 8 seconds to render on mobile, failed Core Web Vitals, and lost 40% of inbound traffic before the contact form loaded.
The thesis priced in 15% organic growth, but the infrastructure could not convert it.
One technical audit during diligence would have flagged the performance ceiling and repriced the multiple. But most DD never opens DevTools – as tech audits seem to be either too complex to execute or not critical enough when flagged as necessary infrastructure for the company to operate.
I have plenty of war stories over the years around load times – including closing Boeing or WTC contracts days after fixing load times for event management businesses, or booking jumps for travel and sports companies, and moving from “barely profitable” to “consistently scaling 15% MoM” on incremental UI and load time improvements for professional service and publishing businesses.
Hundreds of pockets contribute to value creation and operational alpha. As almost all companies are digitized, the technology infrastructure plays a much bigger role than many PE partners consider in the process.
