Growth Advisory for the AI Economy
Make AI show up in EBITDA
We redesign how your business decides and works, so AI moves the numbers your owners and buyers care about. AI is making people more productive, but it is not making most companies more profitable.
Start with one decision, please read our Veles Capital Research Report Following the Herd: Why AI Isn't Reaching the P&L.
In a Private Equity (PE) owned business, AI has to show up in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation), and inside the hold period. Most CEOs are seeing plenty of AI activity and very little business value. We can have a conversation about how to close that gap: what is getting in the way, how Veles Capital works, and a low-risk way to start.
For CEOs of PE-backed businesses with £50mn–£1bn turnover
AI is everywhere in the business, but the value is not reaching the P&L and the hold-period clock is running. Three facts frame the conversation:
The productivity gap: individuals get 30%+ from AI, organisations about 10%, because the organisation only moves as fast as its slowest decision.
The J-curve: value from a general-purpose technology lags the investment; AI compresses that to perhaps 5 - 7 years, longer than a ~5-year hold.
PE owners are pushing digital transformation, so AI value and AI governance will both be tested in diligence.
Sources: The Intelligent Enterprise newsletter (Eddie Short, 2026); Grant Thornton PE Pulse 2026 (PE priorities); Veles research (UK average PE hold period).
Growth Advisory for the AI Economy
Make AI show up in EBITDA
We redesign how your business decides and works, so AI moves the numbers your owners and buyers care about. AI is making people more productive, but it is not making most companies more profitable.
Start with one decision, please read our Veles Capital Research Report Following the Herd: Why AI Isn't Reaching the P&L.
In a Private Equity (PE) owned business, AI has to show up in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation), and inside the hold period. Most CEOs are seeing plenty of AI activity and very little business value. We can have a conversation about how to close that gap: what is getting in the way, how Veles Capital works, and a low-risk way to start.
For CEOs of PE-backed businesses with £50mn–£1bn turnover
AI is everywhere in the business, but the value is not reaching the P&L and the hold-period clock is running. Three facts frame the conversation:
The productivity gap: individuals get 30%+ from AI, organisations about 10%, because the organisation only moves as fast as its slowest decision.
The J-curve: value from a general-purpose technology lags the investment; AI compresses that to perhaps 5 - 7 years, longer than a ~5-year hold.
PE owners are pushing digital transformation, so AI value and AI governance will both be tested in diligence.
Sources: The Intelligent Enterprise newsletter (Eddie Short, 2026); Grant Thornton PE Pulse 2026 (PE priorities); Veles research (UK average PE hold period).
Three pressures the CEO feels and how Veles Capital can help
The hold-period clock. Value lags investment. Pilots that never scale burn time you do not have.
Stop piloting, redesign one decision. Veles Capital starts with a decision that moves EBITDA — pricing, bid/no-bid, working capital - redesign it end to end with named accountability, prove the benefit, then scale.
Rocket boosters on a horse and cart - Old organisation + new technology = expensive old organisation.
Rewire how the business decides. Our 10/20/70 model puts 70% of the effort into decision rights, roles and ways of working, and builds the leadership capability that sustains it after we leave.
AI risk is now valuation risk. Agents act at machine speed; governance built for human speed cannot keep up — and diligence will find the gap.
Value + security + compliance by design. Veles Capital treats AI, cyber, risk and compliance as one design problem: what stays human in, on or out of the loop, so your AI story survives diligence.
The common thread is that value comes from redesigning decisions and ways of working, not from buying more technology. Which of the three feels most acute for you right now?
10/20/70: the value is in how work gets done
Leaders should redesign the work: 10% AI, 20% data and technology, 70% people and decisions.
Most AI programmes spend their effort on the 10% and 20%. We put 70% of ours where the value is captured. The thesis is that technology is only a small part of the answer. The 70% - decision rights, roles, ways of working and the leadership to sustain them - is what most programmes skip and where the value is actually captured.
Three pressures the CEO feels and how Veles Capital can help
The hold-period clock. Value lags investment. Pilots that never scale burn time you do not have.
Stop piloting, redesign one decision. Veles Capital starts with a decision that moves EBITDA — pricing, bid/no-bid, working capital - redesign it end to end with named accountability, prove the benefit, then scale.
Rocket boosters on a horse and cart - Old organisation + new technology = expensive old organisation.
Rewire how the business decides. Our 10/20/70 model puts 70% of the effort into decision rights, roles and ways of working, and builds the leadership capability that sustains it after we leave.
AI risk is now valuation risk. Agents act at machine speed; governance built for human speed cannot keep up — and diligence will find the gap.
Value + security + compliance by design. Veles Capital treats AI, cyber, risk and compliance as one design problem: what stays human in, on or out of the loop, so your AI story survives diligence.
The common thread is that value comes from redesigning decisions and ways of working, not from buying more technology. Which of the three feels most acute for you right now?
10/20/70: the value is in how work gets done
Leaders should redesign the work: 10% AI, 20% data and technology, 70% people and decisions.
Most AI programmes spend their effort on the 10% and 20%. We put 70% of ours where the value is captured. The thesis is that technology is only a small part of the answer. The 70% - decision rights, roles, ways of working and the leadership to sustain them - is what most programmes skip and where the value is actually captured.
Three pressures the CEO feels and how Veles Capital can help
The hold-period clock. Value lags investment. Pilots that never scale burn time you do not have.
Stop piloting, redesign one decision. Veles Capital starts with a decision that moves EBITDA — pricing, bid/no-bid, working capital - redesign it end to end with named accountability, prove the benefit, then scale.
Rocket boosters on a horse and cart - Old organisation + new technology = expensive old organisation.
Rewire how the business decides. Our 10/20/70 model puts 70% of the effort into decision rights, roles and ways of working, and builds the leadership capability that sustains it after we leave.
AI risk is now valuation risk. Agents act at machine speed; governance built for human speed cannot keep up — and diligence will find the gap.
Value + security + compliance by design. Veles Capital treats AI, cyber, risk and compliance as one design problem: what stays human in, on or out of the loop, so your AI story survives diligence.
The common thread is that value comes from redesigning decisions and ways of working, not from buying more technology. Which of the three feels most acute for you right now?
10/20/70: the value is in how work gets done
Leaders should redesign the work: 10% AI, 20% data and technology, 70% people and decisions.
Most AI programmes spend their effort on the 10% and 20%. We put 70% of ours where the value is captured. The thesis is that technology is only a small part of the answer. The 70% - decision rights, roles, ways of working and the leadership to sustain them - is what most programmes skip and where the value is actually captured.
We have the capability to apply AI across the Value Chain.
Our framework
The Intelligent Enterprise™
AI doesn't create value. Better decisions do. We combine Data Enabled, AI Powered principles with our Designed for Change™ methodology, so AI is built into the capabilities that drive performance, not bolted on. This framework empowers organisations to proactively adapt to market shifts and customer demands using advanced data analytics and AI. As a strategic asset, it enables businesses to anticipate future trends and evolve seamlessly, ensuring they are not merely reactive but leading change.
Seven habits Veles Capital build in
Customer Obsession, Decision Velocity, External Signals, Human + AI, Workforce Continuous, Reinvention Governance by Design, and Adaptive Value Creation.
Following the Herd: why AI isn't reaching the P&L
Six major 2026 studies agree: AI is making people more productive, but not most companies more profitable. Most firms are running the same playbook as their competitors, and what everyone can buy, no one can profit from for long.
Advantage AI: own and compound
Your proprietary data and know-how applied to the decisions that win customers. This is what a buyer pays for at exit.
Veles Capital Research Report Following the Herd: Why AI Isn't Reaching the P&L includes a ten-question board diagnostic: is your AI programme following the herd?
AI Readiness Assessment
Start with a one-hour conversation with a Veles Partner: Chris Gant, Graham Oates or Eddie Short.
One day workshop with preparation and report out - £10k fixed price
Our Experience, Your Success.
