FOR PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS
Management Is the Multiple.
Oxygen is management diligence and development for private equity. We measure how well your portfolio company's management team leads, then build the skills they need to execute the value creation plan, from the first 100 days to exit.
Built by operators who have supported private equity firms and their portfolio companies for decades.
Every value creation plan is a bet on the management team executing it.
Most portfolio companies are founder-led or thinly managed at close. Losing or misfiring a key manager mid-hold can set the plan back six to twelve months.
Oxygen de-risks that bet: we baseline the management team objectively, build the skills they need to deliver it, and give sponsors documented evidence of a stronger bench by exit. You diligence the model, the market, and the numbers. Management is the one input you inherit unmeasured, and the one most likely to compound or erode EBITDA across the hold.
98%
of company leaders report measurable improvement in team performance
90%
of managers report increased confidence in leading others
100%
of companies would recommend Oxygen
Why private equity firms work with Oxygen
A management partner that thinks like a sponsor
Built for your world
We know how sponsors operate
Oxygen was built by operators who have supported private equity firms for decades. We pair the rigor of a diligence provider with the practicality of people who have actually run teams, and scope every engagement to the value creation plan.
A real baseline
An assessment with no equivalent
The Management Effectiveness Assessment measures the behaviors that drive team performance, leader by leader. You get an objective read on the team you inherited at close: a real score against a defined model, not instinct, not a personality profile.
A system, not a seminar
Assess, develop, sustain
One system carries a portfolio company from a post-close baseline through cohort training, executive coaching, and re-assessment before exit. It is built to compound capability over the hold, not deliver a one-off workshop that fades.
Four Decisions We Help You Make
One partner across the hold, answering the questions a sponsor actually asks.
First 100 Day
”Can this team execute the plan?”
Scope the engagement during exclusivity so the assessment and development plan launch on day one of ownership.
Development
“Where do we invest, and in whom?”
The assessment flags who to develop, who needs a coach, who to hold off on until conditions improve, and where key-person risk sits.
Mid-Hold
“Is management actually improving?”
Re-assess to see movement in numbers, not impressions, and redirect spend to what is working.
Exit
”Is the bench ready for exit?”
A documented leadership story, and a management layer the next buyer can underwrite.
Assess. Develop. Sustain.
A management development system for the teams carrying your value creation plan.
The Oxygen System
Assess
Management Effectiveness Assessment
Know exactly what you have
Multi-rater 360 of the behaviors that drive team performance
Individual debrief with every leader
2 to 3 development priorities per leader
Team themes report and capability roadmap
Develop
Training &
Coaching
Build the skills the team needs
Management Essentials cohorts, private or cross-fund
Monthly live module plus practice lab
Parallel confidential 1:1 executive coaching
Individual Leadership Development Plans
Sustain
Momentum through the hold
Make it stick to exit
Ongoing coaching and growth peer groups
Re-assessment to quantify progress
Reporting to sponsors and operating partners
Continuing education for rising leaders
Same language. Same standard. Same playbook.
Assess
Management Effectiveness Assessment
Baseline the team in the first 100 days
You can measure EBITDA, pipeline, retention, and cash. You cannot see whether the team you inherited can actually manage. The Management Effectiveness Assessment scores how well each manager manages and shows where to grow them.
First 100 days
Baseline at close
Objective capability baseline, 2 to 3 priorities per leader, and a development roadmap that strengthens the team behind the plan. Scope it during exclusivity so it launches day one.
Mid-hold and pre-exit
Re-assess to prove progress
Run it again mid-hold or ahead of exit. A documented leadership story for the next buyer.
Two Reports from One Assessment
Individual report (for managers)
A per-manager view: overall score, top strengths, development priorities, how self-perception compares to how others experience them, and a recommended path for what to focus on next.
Practical tools, frameworks, and strategies you can apply immediately — not just theory. Plus, Oxygen’s Learning Labs allow you to practice with real-time feedback and coaching.
Company-wide report (for leadership)
The management layer at a glance: company score and distribution, organizational strengths and gaps, perception and alignment patterns, and strategic recommendations on where to focus first.
Develop
Management Essentials program
Manager training built for portfolio companies
A six-month, cohort-based program developed with a former Stanford professor and trainers from globally renowned companies. Two ways to deploy it across your fund:
Private cohort
One portfolio company, tailored to its culture
A dedicated cohort for a single portfolio company’s management layer, with examples and language drawn from that company’s industry, culture, and stage of the hold.
The entire management team learns the same playbook at once
Cases and labs from the company’s real situations
Ideal post-close, post-integration, or pre-scale
Sponsor visibility through pre and post assessments
Cross-fund cohort
Managers from across your portfolio
One cohort drawing rising managers from multiple portfolio companies, building a shared management language across your fund.
An efficient option for smaller management teams
A cross-portfolio peer network
A consistent management standard across every portco
A repeatable talent program you can offer every new deal
All Cohorts Include:
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90-minute interactive class plus a 90-minute experiential lab with real-time feedback, every month for six months.
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Every participant is benchmarked at kickoff and re-assessed at completion: documented improvement for the sponsor.
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A 24/7 course companion trained on the curriculum. Managers bring their assessment results into Toby and rehearse hard conversations before they happen.
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Formal certification on completion: a retention lever and a visible investment in portco talent.
Sustain
Custom coaching
Coaching built around the assessment
Training builds the foundation. Coaching builds the muscle. Confidential, personalized development for portfolio company executives and high-potential leaders, anchored to the same assessment data.
Anchor to assessment data. Starts from the leader’s results and 2 to 3 development priorities, not generic topics.
Confidential monthly 1:1 sessions. Dedicated coach, two hours per month, working real hold-period challenges.
Individual Leadership Development Plans. Goals aligned with the supervisor and the value creation priorities.
Tracked, reported, accountable. Progress reporting to CEOs and sponsors
Great for: CEOs and CFOs stepping up post-transaction, founders transitioning to professional management, and first-time portfolio company executives.
Questions PE firms ask us
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Yes. Oxygen was built by operators who have supported private equity firms and their portfolio companies for decades. We scope to the deal calendar, report in the language sponsors and operating partners use, and design every engagement around what your management team needs to deliver, rather than a generic training curriculum.
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Ideally day one. The surveys take about 15 business days to run, debriefs and the leadership readout follow, and the development roadmap is delivered in week 7, so it is in hand well inside the first 100 days. Firms that scope the engagement during exclusivity launch fastest.
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The Management Effectiveness Assessment is a multi-rater instrument. It draws on input from each leader's reports, peers, and supervisor, and that depth is what makes it valuable. It is only practical once you own the company. Pre-close, we work with deal teams on planning and scoping so the assessment launches the day the deal closes.
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Every engagement includes pre and post-program assessment, supervisor check-ins, and structured reporting. We also survey participants' leaders four months after program completion to verify the improvement held.Can one engagement cover multiple portfolio companies?
Strengthen the Team That Delivers the Multiple.
Stop guessing how strong your management teams are. Talk to us about a baseline for a company you just closed, or a development system for the portfolio you already own.
Schedule a Discovery CallGet a Sample Report
Oxygen · Lead With Oxygen Now, LLC
800 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022 -
Yes. A cross-fund cohort pools rising managers from several portfolio companies into one Management Essentials cohort, with fund-level terms. Many firms establish a standing cohort that every new platform investment feeds into.
Invest in a system that drives results
Your management team is the bridge between the value creation plan and the exit. Building that capability isn't a nice-to-have, it's how the return gets made.
Schedule a consultation to see where your management team stands, and where to build next.