Scaling Strategies:
Traditional vs. Data-Driven Approaches
Why you should take a scientific approach to scale portcos
In the high-stakes world of private equity, speed and precision are everything. Investors aren’t just looking for growth, they’re looking for smart, strategic scale that drives value creation, enhances EBITDA and maximizes return on a fund within compressed timelines.
Traditionally, scaling portfolio companies has relied heavily on gut instinct, reporting and anecdotal decision-making. But a new wave of data-driven AI tools (like Inquisio) is flipping that model on its head.
Inquisio is a data-driven, AI-powered tool that performs marketing due diligence for private equity investors to help inform investment committee decisions, maximize value creation plans and underwrite better deals.
Today, leading firms are embracing data-driven intelligence to surface growth opportunities, optimize team performance and gain a sharper edge in competitive markets. Below, we’ll explore how traditional methods stack up against modern, data-led strategies, plus how tools like Inquisio can empower smarter decisions in both new acquisitions and underperforming portfolio companies.
Without a data-driven approach, private equity firms risk making critical investment decisions based on outdated benchmarks, incomplete visibility or overly optimistic assumptions. The result? Misaligned value creation plans, missed revenue targets and lost credibility with boards and LPs.
In this article:
The First 100 Days: Data as a Catalyst for Smart Scaling
Efficiency: Find Early Wins
In the early days post-acquisition, time is money. Instead of giving the marketing leader a budget cut and hoping their pipeline contribution doesn’t suffer, firms using Inquisio can audit the company’s marketing channels in a few minutes. By identifying the highest-performing segments that others in their industry have found success with, investors are able to spot underused opportunities and help firms reallocate budget swiftly to see results within weeks, not quarters.
Example:
A PE firm acquiring a SaaS platform reviews Inquisio’s report on the company. The Program Spend Distribution section, showing a channel-level breakdown of data, identifies paid media as a strong driver of revenue for the industry compared to SEO, while the Competitors data in the report also reveals this trend. As a result, more marketing budget is moved from SEO to paid media sources.
Accuracy: Use Data As Evidence
Traditional value creation plans often start with leadership interviews and are based on past successes. Today’s best firms are layering on data. That means integrating CRM, web and advertising performance into a single dashboard to inform where to invest and what to prioritize.
Example:
After acquiring a healthtech company, a PE firm and board reviews Inquisio’s benchmarks to guide budget allocation. Inquisio's benchmarks encourage doubling down on paid media due to the industry's success with this channel. The Paid Media Allocation and Source-Based Pipeline and Revenue Impact sections identify paid social as a top-performing channel in the industry, driving significantly more revenue than paid search and listings. The team immediately reallocates spend toward paid social, resulting in a positive ROI within weeks.
Competitive Advantage: See What Works For Competitors
Your competitors aren’t standing still. Relying on anecdotal feedback from sales teams and external research misses the bigger picture. Inquisio equips PE teams with detailed insights into competitor ad spend and SEO performance—critical intelligence for carving out differentiated positioning.
Example:
An accounting software company in a saturated market looks to Inquisio to show how much traffic competitors are obtaining from organic sources, like SEO. Based on this report and Inquisio’s projected ROI from organic traffic, the team decides to double down on organic search focusing on underserved keywords.
Fixing Underperformance: Clarity for Fast Action and Results
Context-Aware Forecasting: Model Growth Based on Data
When a portfolio company underperforms, the problem often isn't a lack of effort, it’s a misalignment between expectations and market context. Traditional marketing tools typically benchmark growth against historical data or external averages.
Example:
A PE firm evaluating a portco growing at just 1% YoY, compared to others averaging 10%, uses Inquisio to uncover critical insights. The company’s smaller TAM and lower ACV, compared to others in the portfolio, conflict with current MQL KPIs focused on volume over quality. By adjusting the model inputs in Inquisio to reflect the portco’s true context, the firm generates a more accurate growth forecast and aligns expectations around revised, achievable targets.
Efficiency: Stop Wasting Budget on Underperforming Channels
Instead of hiring an expensive marketing agency to “fix the brand” and get no measurable return on the spend, investors can use channel-level attribution data to reallocate budget towards what’s really impacting enterprise value and revenue.
Example:
A PE firm reviewing an Inquisio report on an eCommerce portco discovers the company is overspending on paid social channels, while industry peers are allocating more budget to paid search than expected. Based on these insights, the firm redistributes spend toward high-performing paid search channels, resulting in a 30% revenue increase within 60 days.
Budget Accuracy: Set Smarter Expectations with Funnel-Based Media Allocation
Rather than relying on what “should work,” Inquisio lets firms visualize how spend should flow through the funnel based on the portco’s unique circumstances, such as deal size, TAM, etc. The Paid Media Allocation data in the report helps PE firms and marketing leaders allocate budget across awareness, consideration and conversion stages based on company size, industry benchmarks and historical conversion efficiency, making it far easier to set accurate goals.
Example:
A B2B portco was pushing its marketing team to double pipeline without increasing spend. Inquisio’s Paid Media Allocation model reveals that achieving those targets would require doubling mid-funnel investment. The firm realigns its expectations and adjusts budget allocation, leading to a significant pipeline increase within the quarter.
Why Inquisio Matters for PE
Private equity firms face increasing pressure to scale portfolio companies quickly while reducing risk and maintaining board confidence. Built with the realities of PE in mind, Inquisio helps investors and operating partners tackle common marketing pain points head-on:
Lack of visibility in new deals: Inquisio delivers marketing due diligence insights within seconds, helping firms validate growth assumptions before close.
Inconsistent performance across the portfolio: Firms can input key marketing metrics across holdings and spot underperformance early.
Limited context for growth expectations: Benchmarking tools and contextual modeling help investors set realistic targets based on industry norms, company size and funnel dynamics.
Unclear allocation of marketing spend: Inquisio offers budget recommendations by channel, source and funnel stage, helping align investment with revenue impact.
Misalignment between board and operators: Data-backed insights make it easier to justify growth plans and budget allocations, reducing friction and increasing confidence at all levels..
The goal isn’t just more data—it’s better decisions, made faster, with context that fits the specific realities of each business.
The New Standard for Scaling Portcos
Private equity’s next competitive advantage won’t come from cutting costs, it will come from intelligent, data-backed growth strategies. While the traditional playbook has its place, it's no longer enough to meet today’s market velocity.
In today’s competitive landscape where holding periods are shorter and expectations higher, scaling without precise marketing intelligence doesn’t just slow growth, it jeopardizes returns. Data isn’t a luxury; it’s a margin-protector under-leveraged by PE.
With tools like Inquisio, investors can move faster, reduce risk and unlock growth opportunities that traditional approaches often overlook. Whether you’re scaling a new acquisition or turning around an underperformer, data is the lever, and Inquisio is the support.
Optimize your value creation plans, drive revenue growth and maximize exit potential. Get data-driven reports on your portcos’ marketing function that uncover challenges, opportunities and how it compares to competitors. Start your free trial of Inquisio now.
