2025 Go-to-Market Predictions

2024 was a year of recovery. Deal values and count were up. Sectors such as technology that were slower to return picked up steam. Growth equity in particular saw a spike in deal count.  

While there is momentum and optimism, it will not be enough to make 2025 a blockbuster year.  Markets continue to reward profitability over growth. Exit volume has yet to accelerate. PE firms are bringing their best to market and holding underperforming assets. 

2024 featured an emphasis on operational improvements. Go-to-market (GTM) efforts focused on diagnosing and addressing root causes of stalled productivity.

2025 is a “prove it” year. Management teams will feel pressure to demonstrate the payoff for time, energy and resources spent unlocking growth.

2025 is all about execution. Growth is the only path for late-stage portfolio companies. They must demonstrate the ability to show growth to live up to deal models.

In 2025, PE Deal and Operating Teams will Focus on:

Mergers & Acquisitions

Add-ons will continue to represent a large share of deal activity. Consolidation strategies are alive and well. GTM leaders will focus on integration and unlocking cost and growth (e.g., cross-selling) synergies.

Adjacencies and New Markets

Deal teams need to take a credible growth story to market. Portfolio companies must demonstrate they are able to gain traction in growth markets. Core market growth will not be adequate.

New Logos

Many companies looked to existing customers to close growth gaps in 2024. In 2025, they must demonstrate their customer acquisition muscle remains functional. Portfolio companies will feel pressure to show they can continue to add new logos in core and growth markets.

Lead Generation

Marketing ROI was a common theme in 2024. Budgets were scrutinized and rationalized. 2025 will feature added pressure to improve on 2024 baselines. This pressure will be acute as incremental investment will be limited while growth expectations increase.

Pricing

Laggards addressed pricing in 2024. 2025 will see inflation slowly subsiding. As such, price-related growth in 2025 will be about protection instead of increases. Protection initiatives will feature tighter governance and pressure on sales to emphasize value.

Artificial Intelligence

While still a hot topic, GTM organizations won’t have the funding to experiment and invest in AI as they might like. Use cases that demonstrate a near-term impact to productivity (e.g., increase sales time and enable the business to reduce headcount) will be prioritized. Speculative growth-oriented use cases (e.g., improving close rates and deal sizes) will be pushed out.

Culture

GTM teams are exhausted with the “profitable growth” drumbeat. They are thirsty for a good growth story. GTM leadership teams will invest in programming and incentives to fuel ambition and positive energy. They will ratchet up incentives for overperformance.  They will use a mix of channels ranging from annual kick-offs to internal social media to manager 1:1s to propel performance.

A Focus on GTM Performance

2024 saw a focus on late-stage, underperforming assets. Operating teams were busy turning around performance and prepping assets for market. 2025 will feature a focus shift to mid-hold companies. Extended hold-times continue to put pressure on portfolio companies to get on with growth.

2025 will feature transformational change with mid-hold companies. Ownership will be cautious with any incremental investment. Assets will need to demonstrate accelerated growth under a similar cost envelope. Unlocking cash will come as the seeds of growth sprout.

The PE GTM playbook will not change in 2025. While playbooks will continue down a path of standardization, the plays will remain foundational. The difference will be an acute focus on disciplined execution.

In 2025, PE Operating Teams will Emphasize the Following:

Focus

Operating teams will direct management to the 1-2 initiatives that will deliver the greatest near-term ROI. They will pressure management to execute and demonstrate results quickly and move on from underperforming initiatives.

Accountability

Management, operating partners, third party partners and the like will feel the pressure to deliver. There is no time to waste and little patience left for time, energy and resources spent for marginal returns. GTM initiative business cases will be heavily scrutinized and only the most attractive funded.

Governance

Even firms with more “hands off” portfolio management styles will install processes to closely monitor operational and growth value creation initiatives. Management will have less room to execute value creation initiatives independently. More time and resources will be spent measuring and managing initiatives.

GTM Diligence

The last several years shined a light on the importance of growth as part of value creation. Deal teams will build on the trend of adding a GTM work stream to diligence efforts. GTM oriented operating partners and third-party partners will be engaged to identify risks and scope 100-day plans to mobilize initiatives early in the hold.

2025 Private Equity Priorities

2025 is all about execution. Growth is the last frontier for late-stage portfolio companies. The early chapters of a credible growth story must be written. Management will feel the pressure to demonstrate returns from 2024 optimization efforts. Deal and operating teams will closely monitor and measure initiative impact. Sights will be turned to mid-hold companies to address the further prolonging of hold periods.

It’s time to prove it.