Stetson Value Creation Partners
Book the 30-minute framing call

Where AI moves EBITDA

An AI advisory for lower-middle-market private equity. It starts with the Portfolio AI Baseline: a free read of your whole portfolio, for the partner who owns value creation, with or without an operating partner.

Book the 30-minute framing callHow it works
1:44
<3 hrsall the time it asks of you
100%of your portfolio, read at no fee
2 wksfrom your data request to the readout
Outcomes on the record
87% lower cost of pipeline
while revenue doubled over the same three years, facilitated by data-enabled digital transformation he drove.
As head of analytics at a publicly-traded tech company
Fundamentally changed the board’s strategy
“provided insights which enabled board level discussions that have fundamentally changed our strategy”
The head of GTM operations, on the analytics build-out he led.
Founder · as VP · ~$1.5B private-equity-owned telecom
The plan the lenders approved
Marshall drove the integration of unified analytics after a substantial acquisition, providing new and critical visibility into the shape of the customer base. Those numbers grounded the five-year plan.
Founder · as VP · ~$1.5B private-equity-owned telecom
FT, The Times
2019 AI research covered by both, and cited by the Bank of England, the European Parliament and the World Economic Forum.
Founder · as co-author · 2019 AI research
One current view of every deal
Empowered CRO to build an automated deal sheet, putting sales leadership on the same page each week.
Stetson VCP client · deep-tech manufacturer · 2026
60 hrs/mo returned to CRO
Enabled Chief Commercial Officer to offload time-consuming workflows, previously consuming 30% of his bandwidth.
Stetson VCP client · deep-tech manufacturer · 2026
Turnaround reduced by 80%
Sales team’s time to provide answers to complex technical queries from prospects was reduced from five days to same-day, while pulling fewer engineering hours into pre-sales.
Stetson VCP client · deep-tech manufacturer · 2026
Synthetic Audiences
Content operations output quality and cadence improved with implementation of proprietary synthetic audience testing against campaigns before go-live.
Stetson VCP client · RudderStack
Sharper investor reporting in a week
The finance lead picked up the method from a twenty-minute walkthrough and delivered a sharper investor update within the week, with less spreadsheet work behind it.
Stetson VCP client · deep-tech manufacturer · 2026
How we see it

Four things we believe about AI in private equity.

Each argued in full in Perspectives.

The seatThe industry invented an AI operating partner most funds this size can’t justify hiring. The seat still matters. It works as advisory: senior, individual, retained for the fraction you need.
The game is won or lost before you playMost AI initiatives die before they reach production. The ones placed well mostly pay. The difference is placement, not technology.
Verification works both waysSponsors and their companies tell different stories about the same AI results. An independent read protects both sides of the table.
One win, run againA real win at one company becomes a playbook the rest of the portfolio can run. The portfolio is what makes AI compound.
What we do

From baseline to build.

STAGE 1 · NO FEEThe Portfolio AI BaselineEvery company in your portfolio, read for where AI pays and where it isn’t ready. Under three hours of your time.
→
STAGE 2 · NO FEEYour Company AI RoadmapBuilt with each company’s leadership, owned by them. A plan their team starts running the week it lands.
→
STAGE 3 · IF YOU CONTINUEThe buildWe build what the roadmaps find. Strategy at real depth, execution we drive, and implementation we own, from a defined project to senior operating support.

We take on four baselines a month, across the fund and company levels combined. The cap is real, and it is why the work is free: the baseline is how we choose the clients we build with long-term. Every recommendation is tagged: where we’d lead, where we’d bring a partner, and where it isn’t us. How we work

For your seat
Operating partnersThe mandate landed on you; the hours didn’t. The baseline gives you sequence, first moves written for the EBITDA bridge, and a “no” you can defend. Deal partners carrying value creationAn independent read on every board you chair: where AI lifts the equity value before exit, answers for the IC and the LP’s DDQ, and nothing here for you to manage. Portfolio company CEOs & teamsIf your sponsor mentioned us: a roadmap that is yours, your team running it, and the equity story you get credit for.
Who we are
Marshall Lincoln, Founder
Marshall Lincoln
Founder
Venkat, Executive Advisor, GTM & Growth
Venkat
Executive Advisor, GTM & Growth
Mike, Executive Advisor, Marketing & GTM
Mike
Executive Advisor, Marketing & GTM
Magnus, AI Systems Architect
Magnus
AI Systems Architect
Amartya, GTM Automation Delivery Leader
Amartya
GTM Automation Delivery Leader

Founded by Marshall Lincoln. He ran analytics inside a roughly $1.5B sponsor-owned company, published influential early research on AI in financial services, and has built at the leading edge of AI: working applications, agent workflows, and a marketing methodology of his own invention. With him: marketing and revenue operators at chief-officer level, an AI systems architect who has carried adoption at global scale, and a specialist go-to-market & AI automation team. About the team

Perspectives
NO. 01 · 12 MINThe AI Operating Partner Your Fund Cannot Hire, and What to Do InsteadThe seat works as advisory: senior, individual, retained for the fraction you need. NO. 02 · 11 MINThe Two 95s: Two Ends of the Same FunnelThe difference is placement, not technology. NO. 03 · 10 MINThe Satisfaction Gap: Why Sponsors and Their Companies Disagree About the Same AI ResultsAn independent read protects both sides of the table. NO. 04 · 12 MINOne Win, Run Again: Why AI Compounds in a PortfolioThe portfolio is what makes AI compound.

Thirty minutes tells us both whether a baseline fits your fund. If it doesn’t, we’ll say so.

Book the 30-minute framing call