3 Questions Every Operating Partner Must Be Able to Answer in Private Equity Interviews 

Having worked with private equity firms across Europe and North America to secure the very best operating partners, these are the three questions you should be able to answer.

1. How do you identify key constraints within each portfolio company?

The very best executives in any private equity-backed portfolio company can pinpoint the key constraints holding the business back. If resolved and focused on consistently, these constraints would deliver the highest return on investment, driving revenue, EBITDA, and overall growth.

As an operating partner, your ability to answer this question is critical. Not every portfolio company has top-tier executives who can identify these constraints themselves. That’s where your playbook comes in—how you support those executives in recognising and tackling these roadblocks is key.

The crucial caveat? This must be data-led. If you don’t have the data, that is the place to start.

2. How do you build strong relationships with your portfolio companies?

One of the biggest challenges operating partners face is the breakdown of relationships with portfolio company leadership. CEOs, CFOs, and COOs often see the operating partner as the “snitch” for the private equity firm—there to catch them out rather than support them.

The best operating partners build strong relationships with portfolio companies and bridge the gap between investor and operator. They help private equity firms foster better engagement with their portfolio businesses and, in turn, strengthen the company’s leadership team.

Your ability to communicate how you bridge this gap, build trust, and back executives is vital. Of course, this must be balanced—if the wrong executive is in place, you need to gain buy-in from the portfolio company to make the necessary leadership changes and drive the business to a successful liquidity event.

3. How do you document and deploy your playbooks?

A major focus in private equity is value creation, and the best value creation strategies are executed through well-documented playbooks. These playbooks stem from an operating partner’s experience—tried and tested during their operating or consulting career and further refined in private equity.

When an operating partner doesn’t have documented playbooks and keeps everything in their head, it raises concerns for private equity firms. Not only does this make it harder to articulate strategies clearly, but it also limits the ability to scale and deploy those strategies effectively across portfolio companies.

Another key challenge? Ensuring operating partners don’t do the work for the executive team. While not every private equity-backed business has a top-tier leadership team, and some may be in transition, the best operating partners empower teams to execute initiatives themselves. They tailor playbooks to each business, build consensus with the leadership team, and support execution with structured interventions at key phases to ensure the right course of action.

If you’re an operating partner exploring your next career step in private equity, please reach out to us. We’d love to play our small part in helping you navigate your next move.