My first PE backers sent someone in to help. That's how it was framed, and that's how I took it.
An operating partner, two days a month, brought in to support the business through a scale-up phase. He was focused on operational efficiency, driving improvements. I saw it as useful. Extra capacity. Someone experienced, in the building, adding value. I thought great, leave him to it.
Two days a month became a day a week. The day a week became someone sitting in on decisions that used to be entirely mine. None of it felt like an escalation at the time. Each step looked like reasonable support for a growing business.
What I didn't see
If a PE firm perceives a gap in authority, however small, they will move to fill it. Not out of mistrust. Because that is precisely their job, and leaving a gap unfilled is not something a sponsor is built to do.
And I'd left a gap. Not in capability. In perceived authority.
The shift didn't happen in a single moment. It happened gradually. More involvement. More direct input. More influence over decisions that should have sat with me. By the time I recognised what had actually happened, it was not a conversation anymore. It was the new operating reality, and I was the last person in the business to notice it had changed.
The question worth asking
I don't think the backers did anything wrong. I think I mistook supervision for support, in real time, while it was happening to me.
If someone is being introduced into your business right now to help, the question worth asking isn't whether they're capable. It's what gap you've left them to fill, and whether you left it on purpose.
First published on LinkedIn, 2 September 2026. Adapted for this site.