You didn’t buy three companies; you bought three tribes. On paper, your platform thesis is sound: acquire regional leaders, consolidate back-office functions, and cross-sell capabilities. The spreadsheet shows distinct synergy capture—typically modeled at 3–5% of combined revenue.
But six months post-close, the reality is a 'Frankenstein Platform.' One firm uses Jira, the other uses Trello, and the third manages multimillion-dollar projects via email and 'gut feel.' Your chaotic service delivery isn't just an annoyance; it is an EBITDA leak. When every project requires a unique hero to deliver it, you cannot scale.
The data is unforgiving. According to Harvard Business Review, between 70% and 90% of M&A deals fail to achieve their intended goals, often due to 'operational incompatibilities.' You aren't failing because the strategy is wrong. You are failing because you are tolerating high-variance delivery under the guise of 'preserving culture.'
Variance is the enemy of the multiple. When Firm A delivers a service at 45% gross margin and Firm B delivers the same service at 28%, you don't have a platform; you have a holding company with a governance problem. This lack of standardization creates:
As we explored in Tribal Knowledge is Bleeding Your EBITDA, implicit processes act as a hidden tax on every dollar of revenue. To unlock the exit multiple you modeled, you must move from 'Artisan' delivery to 'Industrial' delivery.
Standardization is not about turning your consultants into robots; it is about raising the floor of performance. The goal is Minimum Viable Standardization (MVS)—unifying the 20% of processes that drive 80% of the economic outcome.
Industry benchmarks validate this approach. According to the Service Leadership Index, top-quartile service firms (those with high process maturity) generate approx 19% Adjusted EBITDA, compared to the median of roughly 8–10%. That is a massive valuation gap driven entirely by operational hygiene.
Research indicates that for mid-market platforms, rigorous standardization of delivery protocols can yield an EBITDA improvement of 160 to 280 basis points within 24 months. This comes from three specific levers:
Consider the findings from Post-Merger Technology Stack Consolidation: you cannot effectively consolidate the stack until you have consolidated the workflow. Buying Salesforce for everyone solves nothing if half the portfolio refuses to input data correctly.
Stop hoping the acquired founders will 'work it out' amongst themselves. They won't. As the Operating Partner, you must install the chassis upon which the platform runs.
Don't look at the SOPs; look at the artifacts. SOPs lie; deliverables tell the truth. Audit the last 10 completed projects from each firm. Compare the Statements of Work (SOWs) against the actual hours logged. You are looking for the 'Variance Delta'—the gap between how they sold it and how they delivered it.
Select the single best way of working from your portfolio—or bring in an external standard. Do not try to blend them ('a little bit of Firm A, a little bit of Firm B'). That leads to compromise and complexity. Pick the highest-margin process and declare it the standard. This is the 'Golden Path.'
Documentation is where processes go to die. Systems are where they live. You must bake your Golden Path into the PSA or ERP. If a step isn't in the software, it doesn't exist.
Your job is not to be popular; it is to be profitable. Founders will complain that you are 'stifling creativity.' Remind them that creativity belongs in the solution design, not in the project administration. Standardized delivery is the only way to escape the expert trap and build a platform that commands a premium multiple at exit.
