We have sat in a great many renewal conversations. The dynamic is almost always the same. The vendor delivered. Service level agreements have been met. And yet the conversation is about price. Not about value. Not about outcomes.
Insights
Outcome Engineering, in practice
Short pieces on evidencing value creation in service businesses. One idea at a time, written for operating partners and the CEOs they back.
The Number That Decides What Your Business Is Worth
There is one number in your business that determines everything else at exit.
The Gap After Ode
Last week Anthropic, Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs officially launched a company called Ode.
The £1.4 Trillion Shift That Decides What Your Business Is Worth
$1.5 trillion. That is the size of the Services-as-Software market HFS Research expects by 2035.
$5 Trillion Is Moving. Here’s the Engine That Closes the Gap
HFS and J.P. Morgan size the Services-as-Software shift at $1.5 to $5 trillion. That money is moving regardless of what any single business does about it.
30-50% EV Uplift: The Outcome-Led Premium
Markets are challenging for PE. Holding periods have moved past six years, the longest on record, the number of PE-backed businesses in Europe is now 2.3 times those on the public market, and the IPO window is almost shut, figures PitchBook reported last week.
$60 Billion All-Stock. The Value Creation This Unlocks
$60 billion. All stock. The largest acquisition of a venture-backed startup in history.
$1.5 trillion. Services-as-Software. The Shift You Cannot See. The Moat It Creates.
HFS coined the name for it. J.P. Morgan calls it AI’s third phase. Business services becoming software.
Everyone Bought AI. Almost No One Can Prove It.
$4.4 trillion. That is what AI could add to the world economy every year, according to McKinsey.
$40 billion. Gone in a week: The Buyer Is Already Doing the Maths
Reuters reported it in February 2026. India’s IT-services sector lost around $40 billion in market value in seven days. Not on a profit warning. On a fear.