What Value Creation Teams Can Do About It

This is the final article in a five-part series on international expansion as a value creation lever for PE-backed businesses. The previous articles covered the problem, why it compounds, and what it costs. This one is about what to do. You can read Article 1 here.

The Operating Partners and value creation teams that get the most out of international expansion don't wait for portfolio companies to raise the problem themselves. They identify it proactively — at the point of investment or at the first board meeting where international expansion is on the agenda.

The question to ask is simple: How is your company planning to maintain brand consistency and campaign effectiveness as it scales into new markets?

Most portfolio companies will not have a confident answer. Some will point to their creative agency. Some will point to a regional hire they're planning. Very few will have an operating model. That's the gap — and it's a gap that directly affects the pace of value creation and the quality of the exit story.

Here's what the right operating model looks like in practice.

It starts with a diagnostic. What's broken, where the brand is fragmenting, and what the operational gaps are. An honest assessment, not a flattering one.

It then establishes the infrastructure: the brand rulebooks, the governance, and the workflow that allows a company to add markets formulaically rather than chaotically. The second market entry is faster than the first. The fifth is faster than the second. The system compounds.

Then it takes accountability for execution: campaigns delivered on time, on brand, culturally relevant, and compliant in every market. Not coordinated by agencies with competing P&Ls, but owned by one accountable operating partner.

For value creation teams, the opportunity is specific. You can extend your capability — and your credibility with portfolio companies — by being the firm that has already solved international execution. When a portfolio company raises international expansion as a priority, you have a credible, proven answer. That goes into board updates. It goes into exit narratives. And it protects against the fragmentation and delay that quietly erodes value creation plans between here and exit.

There's a second argument that matters equally at exit. A portfolio company that leaves with a proven, repeatable international execution infrastructure hands the acquirer something they can extend immediately. They don't need to rebuild it. That raises the multiple, broadens the buyer pool, and increases competitive tension in the sale process. It's not just a revenue story — it's an infrastructure story that acquirers will pay for.

We've been running this operating model for 35 years across clients including Meta, Fitbit, Klarna, Monzo, and Intuit — in 100+ countries, across 75+ languages, with an average client relationship of over 10 years. We know what breaks before it breaks.

If you have portfolio companies with international expansion on the agenda, I'd be glad to talk about what a proper operating model looks like for their specific situation.

See the Freedman Approach here.