PRIVATE EQUITY
The value-creation plan only works when the people function is built to deliver it.
Private equity firms are highly disciplined about the business plan and typically identify leadership and capability gaps early.
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The challenge is translating that plan into the day-to-day priorities of the people function. Leadership changes, organization design, incentives, management practices, capability building, and HR delivery are often managed through separate workstreams.
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Rhizome connects them, so the full people function is working from the same business priorities.
PORTFOLIO-LEVEL ADVANTAGE
One partner across the portfolio. More context, less reinvention.
Each portfolio company has its own leadership team, operating model, and priorities. But private equity firms often encounter the same people questions repeatedly: how to integrate an acquisition, strengthen management, align incentives, build HR infrastructure, or prepare the organization for scale.
When Rhizome works across several portfolio companies, we carry the firm’s context from one engagement to the next. We can identify recurring risks earlier, reuse what works, and avoid asking every management team to solve the same foundational problems from scratch.
That does not mean imposing one HR model across the portfolio. Each company gets the support its business requires, while the sponsor benefits from one accountable partner who understands the individual company and the wider portfolio context.
The shared context creates leverage without taking away company-specific judgment.
WHERE WE ARE TYPICALLY ENGAGED
At key inflection points across the investment lifecycle.
At these moments, the people function often needs to be built, reset, or extended to support what comes next.
01
Geographic and cross-border expansion
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Post-close organizational assessment
Assess leadership, structure, capability, and the people function against the investment plan, then identify the changes that matter most for the company’s next phase of growth.
Prepare the people function for expansion into Canada, the United States, or new states and provinces by putting the right local employment practices, compliance, and support in place.
02
Leadership transitions and succession
05
Bolt-on acquisition and integration
Align leadership styles, culture, decision-making, and team structures across the combined business, while addressing retention risks and helping the two organizations begin operating as one.
Plan and manage executive transitions by clarifying roles and decision rights, assessing succession options, retaining key leaders, and helping the organization maintain confidence and momentum through the change.
Performance improvement and exit readiness
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Carve-outs and company stand-up
Stand up the employment infrastructure, systems, policies, and HR operating rhythm needed to separate from the former parent and operate independently, without building more than the business needs at that stage.
Strengthen management depth, accountability, documentation, and people systems so performance is less dependent on individual leaders and the company is ready for buyer scrutiny.
HOW WE PLUG INTO A PORTFOLIO COMPANY
We can run the full people function or strengthen the team already in place.
Some portfolio companies need a complete people function. Others have capable day-to-day HR support but need senior leadership, clearer priorities, and additional execution capacity. Rhizome fits around what is already working and adds the capability the business is missing.
One embedded team, end to end
FULL HR FUNCTION
Rhizome leads and operates the people function, setting priorities, managing complex work, and ensuring day-to-day HR runs reliably.
Best for companies with no dedicated HR function or insufficient capability for the next phase.
Senior leadership alongside your existing team
FRACTIONAL CHRO
Rhizome works with the existing HR team to set priorities, connect people decisions to the investment plan, support complex situations, and ensure the work is carried through.
Best for companies with capable day-to-day HR support but no senior people leader.
IN PRACTICE
Where value is won or lost in execution.
A sound investment thesis can still underperform when the people system does not support what the business needs employees and leaders to do differently.
ILLUSTRATIVE SCENARIOSÂ
These scenarios reflect real situations we have encountered in investor-backed businesses. Details have been generalized to protect confidentiality.
EXAMPLE 1 - MISALIGNED INCENTIVES
Two sales organizations are brought together so each can sell a broader set of products into existing accounts. But the compensation plan gives salespeople little reason to learn or prioritize the new offerings, and the training does not equip them to sell confidently. The combined business generates little more than the two companies produced separately, while key salespeople leave. Instead of creating the expected 1 + 1 = 3, the integration delivers 1 + 1 = 2, with less talent left to build from.
EXAMPLE 2 - POST-ACQUISITION INTEGRATION
The value-creation plan depends on the combined company operating as one business. But differences in leadership style, culture, decision-making, and communication remain unresolved. Teams continue to work in parallel, trust declines, and the expected synergies become harder to realize.