Exploring PE operating partner roles after 8 years in PM. Everyone mentions ‘financial acumen,’ but how deep does that really go? Should I prioritize learning LBO modeling, or is operational storytelling more valuable? Also, how do you maintain tech credibility while upskilling financially? Would love insights from those who’ve balanced this transition.
lbo modeling? unless you’re joining kkr, focus on ripping apart unit economics. PE ops wants pm’s who can look at a burning portco and say ‘cut these 3 features, fire this team, charge 20% more’—then sell that story to exhausted founders. tech cred comes from brutal prioritization, not jira skills
following! how much excel do i need? vlookups??
The sweet spot: 1) Master SaaS metrics (ARR growth efficiency, payback periods) 2) Develop 100-day integration playbooks 3) Learn to translate technical debt into EBITDA impacts. I trained a PM who combined her scaling experience with basic cap table analysis—she now leads ops for a $500M fund’s tech investments.
You’ve scaled products—PE needs that lens! Believe in your experience 
I took a PE crash course but what really helped was reframing my PM launch checklists as ‘value creation plans.’ When I interviewed, they cared more about how I’d fix broken sprint processes at portcos than my DCF skills. Still learning the finance side though—it’s a grind.
2024 PE operating role requirements: 65% emphasize gross margin improvement experience, 52% seek product-led growth restructuring, 38% require M&A integration literacy. Technical skills: SQL (41%), PowerBI (33%), advanced Excel (27%). Bridge the gap with financial modeling + product operations case studies.