t'order America

t'order is an innovative technology solution designed for the restaurant industry to enhance the customer experience by enabling seamless digital menu browsing and order placement.

Chief Executive Officer

LeadershipCures

A B2B professional services/global advisory firm specializing in capital-efficient growth strategies and operational effectiveness. We work with investors, owners, and executives to unlock growth potential and rapidly improve net profit in businesses with revenues ranging from of $10 to $250 million.

Our team of F-Chief Strategy Officers, F-Chief Operating Officers, and Operating Advisors partner with executive leadership across multiple teams (Marketing, Sales, Operations, Finance, People, IT/Tech, Delivery, Account Management) to identify strategic initiatives and improve operational effectiveness/efficiency, unlocking scalable expansion.

Implement process enhancements with executive leadership and subject matter experts to optimize operational effectiveness/efficiency and improve margins.

Lead change management initiatives focusing on execution accountability through clear objective and key performance indicators (KPIs).

Align revenue growth with the internal operations necessary to support current and future growth objectives.

Catalyte

Catalyte is an AI-enabled workforce company. Its proprietary technology uses 500+ data points to discover and develop high-potential talent. As a result, Catalyte offers employers tenacious, high-performing talent that increases productivity, quality and diversity metrics while reducing the total cost of talent. By redefining hiring and elevating ability over resumes, Catalyte transforms individuals, companies and communities.

Advisor

Deputy

Shareholder

A global B2B SaaS workforce management technology used in 100+ countries and loved by 1.4 million shift workers.

Build out GTM and Operations infrastructure for rapid growth in US market. Led operational efficiency and synergy across marketing, sales, operations, delivery, implementations, finance, account management, HR, Legal and developed strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Apple and ADP. 

Hired the leaders, established our operating model, developed KPIs, reporting, processes, procedures and technologies to support scale. 

10x Growth Over $100m in Series A & B funding.

President

Force Management

A B2B professional services firm that develops elite sales teams and tomorrow’s revenue leaders by delivering cross-functional alignment, customized programs and revenue acceleration platforms to drive revenue.

Advised executive teams on development of go-to-market strategies & value selling messaging, enhancing sales and marketing effectiveness.

Directed change management initiatives, facilitating alignment among cross-functional teams for cohesive value messaging and operational execution.

Coached senior leaders on effective leadership techniques to implement transformative strategies and embed transformational vision within company culture.

Advisor to C-Suite Leadership

MarketSource Inc.

A B2B services firm that designs and operationalizes sales and customer experience solutions that are purpose-built and tech-enabled to deliver measurable improvements in business outcomes.

Led strategic planning, corporate innovation, and operations  for a $300+ million B2B Professional Services organization.

Drove business transformation and change efforts for overall high-volume Talent Acquisition (Recruiting) business function (15k hires/year)

Collaborated with executive leadership team to implement strategic initiatives that substantially contributed to organizational growth from $75 million to $300 million.

Vice President, Strategy & Operations

Senior Executive managing complex client relationships, P&L owner, responsible for strategy and operational performance of 3,000 employee sales and marketing outsourcing business, including client services (operations), recruiting, and innovation services groups. 

Grew the business from $52 to $64 million in ARR (23% increase).

Vice President, Operations

Led operations and delivery of sales and marketing services, implementing customer focused sales discipline and processes to help leading electronics manufacture sell more, faster while deliver superior client value and 20:1 ROI.

Scaled the team from 900 to 1,800+ sales and marketing professionals representing multi-billion retail sales channel with 95% - 150% quota attainment.

Grew the business from $17 million to $32 million in ARR (88% increase).

Executive Director, Client Services

Developed and launched innovative field-based sales and marketing program for world's leading telecom company across North America in top 25 US Markets with a team of 125 people. 

Developed the strategy and operating model, hired the Management Team and Field Reps, established KPIs, variable compensation plans, performance management system. 

Launched and grew the service from $0 to $10 million in less than 12 months.

Director of Client Services

Home Depot, Inc.

Directed strategic change initiatives across operational, sales, and marketing disciplines under executive sponsorship, enhancing organizational effectiveness and improving market share position by 320 BP in a $1.1 billion category.

Developed a leadership training program in conjunction with company Presidents, resulting in strengthened leadership talent pipeline.

Leadership Program

Candiate for Governor

• Personally recruited by the sitting Attorney General to lead political operations for his campaign for Governor in Virginia. 
• Hired staff, managed budgets, developed campaign strategy and executed operations. 
• Led and orchestrated activities of teams of hundred of paid political operatives and volunteers throughout the Commonwealth. 
• Record fundraising set for a Republican candidate for Governor.

Campaign Manager

Wild River Outfitters Inc

• Start up and launch of an outdoor adventure sports company. 
• Developed new revenue streams by way of new products and services. 
• Extended the retail business into services: guide services for half day, full day, multi-day excursions and also extended the business with new revenue streams by launching instruction services to teach the sport of kayaking. 
• Developed innovative partnership with global adventure travel provider to offer international trips around the world. Profitable in year one and scaled to a team of 45 people.

Managing Director

I help CEOs unlock growth, transform companies, and scale rapidly | CEO | CSO | COO ✨ Book a Free Strategy Session ⬇️

As a growth-driven executive, I thrive on helping businesses overcome challenges, solving big problems and driving meaningful change.

Understanding what's holding you back (in life and in business) is the key to getting a big push forward and unlocking breakthrough results in growth. Using a proven process and method, I can help your business find your limit to growth, optimize for it, collaborate around it, and uplift your business performance to get to the next level of growth.

While not all change is an improvement, all improvement requires change. I thrive collaboratively working with executive leadership teams to develop and execute strategic initiatives, leading high-performing teams through change & transforming companies to get to the next level of growth - rooted in driving operational excellence, delivering outstanding client experiences and accelerating net profit.

Proven track record driving revenue growth (Full P&L Ownership):

✅ Built & launched new services group from scratch:  $0  -> $10 million (<1 year)
✅ Lead B2B Professional Services team through high growth:  $17  -> $32 million (in one year)
✅ Expanded B2B Services Division: $52 -> $64 million
✅ Scaled a B2B SaaS Tech company: 8k -> 80k customers (10x growth)
✅ Re-engineered & Implemented new Operating Model: 20% revenue improvement (in 60 days)

Specialties:  Building Operational Excellence, Strategy Development & Initiative Leadership, Business Innovation, Value Proposition, Leadership and People Development, Change Management, Project Management (PMO), Rapid Growth/Scaling Strategy and Execution, SaaS growth, Client/Customer Success, B2B Services, Problem Solving, Analysis, Theory of Constraints (TOC) Practitioner

Jason Walker

Accelera Partners

Helping PE investors unlock people-powered value creation in their portfolio companies. We do this through leadership due diligence, assessment, alignment, and development.

Founder

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship

Winning Moves  |  Accelerate Value Creation

Book + online platform + advisory. Helping PE-backed companies to make value creation happen more consistently, predictably, and reliably.

Author & Creator

Various Growth-Stage Companies

Board of Directors

Alpine Investors

Principal & Operating Exec within top-decile mid-market PE firm. Within the firm, focused on portfolio management: eg. board leadership; growth & acquisition strategy; portfolio leadership & talent. Within the portfolio, took on several leadership assignments within portfolio companies in "moments of transition" — turnaround, carve-out, management rebuild.

Principal

Riverside Insights

Partnered with an amazing, purposeful team to lead the PE-backed carve-out of educational & clinical assessment business from a publically-traded publishing company. Achieved carve-out under-budget and ahead-of-schedule.

COO / GM

Beneco

CEO / Board of Directors

Citi

Consultant (Private Wealth Management Group)

Retirement Capital Advisors

Investment Research and Portfolio Management

Privately Held Business

Operations Management

Nearly two decades in private equity have taught me one thing: the game is changing. Fast. 

Gone are the days when investors could bank on financial engineering and multiple arbitrage to generate outsized returns. 

Welcome to the Value Creation Era of PE. The winners in this era? They'll be the firms that are surgical and systematic about driving value creation—and the ones that recognize you need the right leadership and talent in place to make it happen.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: many PE firms and portfolio companies aren't built to win in this new era.

→ Shoddy hiring and talent practices
→ Skipping org due diligence pre-deal 
→ No systematic approach to value creation planning
→ Failing to get the right team in place to drive that plan 

We see these same mistakes over and over. And early on in my own PE career, I learned the hard way that these things can be supremely costly. 

🚫 Lose precious time
🚫 Put value creation at risk
🚫 Leave returns on the table

Luckily, over years in the trenches at a top-decile PE firm—as an investor, operator, and board member—I figured out a thing or two about:

→ How to size up a target’s value creation readiness before investing.
→ How to get newly-acquired companies off to a strong start in the First 100.
→ How to ensure you have the right leaders in the most critical port-co roles.
→ How to develop leaders capable of meeting PE’s sky-high demands. 

In 2021, I made the leap: left a cushy role in PE to help more firms win in this new era. Through Accelera Partners, I help PE firms accelerate what I call "people-powered value creation" in four ways:

• Org due diligence - https://bit.ly/orgduedili
• Executive assessment - https://bit.ly/execassmnt
• Executive development - https://bit.ly/leadershipalpha
• Value creation planning - https://bit.ly/fst100

The bigger vision beyond advisory work? I’m building a constellation of businesses, projects and partnerships to help PE leaders accelerate people-powered value creation in their companies. Recent projects: 

→ Wrote the bestseller Winning Moves (the “defacto playbook” for PE value creation)
→ Created Ascend, a group-based leadership accelerator for PE-backed executives
→ Dropping a new book/product in 2025 on turbo-boosting value creation with AI
→ Teaching the next gen of value creators at Chicago Booth

Want to learn more?
→ My bestselling book on PE value creation >> https://amzn.to/3WsV0XP
→ Leadership accelerator for PE-backed execs >> https://bit.ly/ascendla
→ Loads of resources for PE professionals and execs >> https://bit.ly/dcremons

Dan Cremons

"Value creation" has lost its punch. 

Not because it's unimportant, but because it's overused to the point of exhaustion. 

Every IC deck mentions it. 
Every consultant sells it. 
Every board preaches it. 

This has diluted & confused the meaning. So let's simplify: 

Value creation = anything that creates equity value. 

And in a PE-backed company, there are only 5 ways to do that:

① Grow your revenue
② Expand your margins
③ Complete strategic acquisitions
④ Pay down debt
⑤ Expand your exit multiple

The rest is just details.

Driving equity value isn’t easy, but got to start with stripping away the fluff and focusing on the fundamentals. 

* * * * * 

If this post resonated with you...
♻️ Please repost to share with others
🔔 Follow Dan Cremons for more like it.

Former PE Investor & CEO // Current PE Advisor // Author // 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘗𝘌-𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

I’ve done the 8am CVG → LGA flight probably a half dozen times for work this year. But flying with a little travel buddy hit differently.

Been thinking a lot about work/life integration. And I'm considering making this a more regular thing next year.

Anyone cracked the code on how to do business travel with a kid in tow?

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #talent, #leadership, #humancapital, #privateequity, and #valuecreation

I relearned an important lesson this year: 

I was talking to a PE-backed CEO in Q1, and came across my notes today. 

As a first-time CEO, he's grown his company from $3m ARR at time of original acquisition to $30m ARR today. 2 recaps, and has grown equity value something like 20x. 

He mentioned something that stuck, along the lines of: 

"Many of the things that have driven our success I hadn't done before. (...) There were a lot of new challenges for me."

I was looking at my chicken scratch notes from our call this morning, and I got to thinking: 

I'll take...

→ learning aptitude
→ growth mindset
→ persistence 

...over a been-there-done-that exec who scores lower in those areas any day of the week.

When I wrote Winning Moves 3 years ago, a few firms declined to be interviewed. Why? "Our value creation playbook is proprietary." 

That's fine. But don't kid yourself: A value creation playbook is hardly like the recipe for Coca Cola. In most cases, that secret sauce isn't all that secret. 

Lot's of PE firms are running the same plays. 

Yet some still operate from scarcity mindset: "We can't share our playbook! It's our competitive advantage!"

A working theory of mine: 

The firms who proactively share what they're learning will win bigger long-term.

Why? Because sharing creates a flywheel. A virtuous cycle. 

Putting your thoughts & learnings into the ether will help: 

→ Attract talent
→ Attract investors
→ Attract target companies

It's like what happened in B2B with inbound a decade ago. The companies that taught the most also grew the most.

Cool to see that PE is catching on. Love seeing more investment in thought leadership marketing. 

Scarcity thinking = hoard knowledge 
Abundance thinking = share knowledge

Sometimes, a PE port-co mgmt teams just want to hear their board say:

"We've got your back."
"We believe in you."
"We trust your call."
"Go for it." 

They don't always need strategic input.
Sometimes, they just need confidence.

PE Career Lesson #74: Results don't just magically happen. 

What some PE folks think happens:

→ Write the check
→ Share some best practices
→ Watch numbers go up
→ Collect returns

What actually happens:

→ People challenges
→ Execution roadblocks
→ Founder disagreements
→ Daily operational battles
→ Unexpected market shifts
→ Constant problem-solving
→ Unexpected customer issues

The gap is massive. And distance can create delusion. 

For this reason, my rule for any PE firm I'd one day start:

Everyone spends 6+ months in a portfolio company.

Not visiting. 
Not observing. 
Actually working.

You can't add value to what you don't understand.
And you can't understand from 30,000 feet.

IYKYK

* * * * * 
If this post resonated with you...
♻️ Please repost to share with others
🔔 Follow Dan Cremons for more like it.

Apparently Winning Moves is the #3 most gifted PE/M&A book on Amazon. Who knew?

PE folks apparently love gifting this book. 

Show some love to the PE operator in your life this Black Friday. Forget the coffee mug. Give the gift of knowledge. 👊

No alternative text description for this image

I'm inventing a new LinkedIn term: "value-jack" (v.) (val·yew·jak)

It’s when a service provider latches onto some random subpoint in your post, bends it just enough to make it about their offering, and drops a two-paragraph sales pitch disguised as a comment.

Cool to see new data from the World Economic Forum backing up what’s been our hunch since we started our Ascend executive accelerator:

The skills expected to matter most by 2030 aren’t technical. 
They’re leadership and human.

In the top-right quadrant (skills that are both core today and growing in importance):

→ Leadership & social influence
→ Resilience, flexibility & agility
→ Motivation & self-awareness
→ Empathy & active listening
→ Talent management

That list looks a lot like the focus areas we’ve been building around in Ascend.
Excited to keep helping more PE execs skate to where the puck is going.

(Info about the program is in the comments below.)

Ever seen a 100,000x MOIC deal in private equity? Found one: 

Got a message from a reader of Winning Moves. A CRO at a smaller PE-backed software biz. 

He paid $10 for the book. 

Said the book helped give him the confidence to pull the pricing lever (chapter 9): 

• Ending excessive discounting 
• Shifting to value-based pricing 
• Raising price after years of no change 

Result: $1M+ boost to Y1 ARR & EBITDA.

LOVE seeing people put these ideas into action and capture big gains. 

$10 book → $1M+ in value

Struggling to retain good people in your company? Welp, you don’t actually have a “retention” problem...

You have a: 

→ Trust problem
→ Cultural problem
→ Leadership problem
→ Recognition problem
→ Compensation problem
→ Employee experience problem
→ Employee development problem

Retention is not the problem.
That's the result of the problem.

Hot take: Human psychology should be a prereq in ANY business curriculum. It is very difficult to...

→ Hire well
→ Built trust
→ Lead others
→ Drive change
→ Sell effectively
→ Negotiate deals
→ Influence others
→ Make quality decisions

...if we don't understand how human beings (ourselves and others) work.

Wish I would have taken more courses on this stuff in my school days. But been trying to play catch-up since. 

Who's with me?

It's Q4 board meeting season in PE Land. 3 valuable ways a PE board member can contribute in a board meeting ⤵️

#1. - APPRECIATIONS
↳ Call out what's working and what's going well
↳ Acknowledge effort, progress, and wins publicly
↳ Reinforce the specific behaviors you want repeated

#2 - QUESTIONS
↳ Ask the question that unlock fresh thinking
↳ Expand management's thinking on critical decisions
↳ Challenge underlying assumptions without being combative

#3 - CONSIDERATIONS
↳ Share battle-tested experience
↳ Give management your best thinking 
↳ Offer new perspective on the thorniest issues

Most of us will overindex on #3. 

But an old mentor taught me a good rule of thumb:
Aim for a roughly balanced mix across all three.

10 powerful phrases I've heard empowering leaders use, and added to my repertoire. Add them to yours ⤵️ 

* * * * * 
If this post resonated with you...
♻️ Please repost to share with others
🔔 Follow Dan Cremons for more like it.

10 Phrases Empowering Leaders Use

Time to settle the greatest, nerdiest, most consequential debate of the modern PE era: 

"EBITDA" = 

A) EE-buh-duh 

B) EE-bit-dah 

C) EH-buh-dah 

D) EH-bit-dah 

E) EE-bit-dee-A 

F) Some questions are better left unanswered


(P.S. If you say "EH-buh-dah" we need to talk)

If you’re a PE leader, stop asking "What should our AI strategy be?" It's the wrong question. 

Here's why:

An economic theory of mine: avocado toast is a fairly reliable barometer for inflation. And my oh my... avocadoflation is hitting NYC harrrrd.

The Fed should hire a millennial and start brunching.

taplio

The Battle

Jason Walker

Dan Cremons

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreDan Cremons's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jason Walker

Dan Cremons

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Dan Cremons's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreDan Cremons's LinkedIn Performance