01
We have carried the number
More than 20 years leading enterprise technology sales at Oracle, Cisco and HubSpot, and part of the team that scaled The Access Group from £280m to over £1bn in SaaS revenue.
The new arithmetic of private equity
Multiple expansion will not carry the next fund. Revenue growth will.
Higher rates, longer holds and more selective buyers have changed where returns come from. The value creation plan now rests on organic growth, and the revenue line is where most plans slip: the commercial upside is identified in diligence, then handed to a stretched management team to deliver.
That gap, between the plan and the sales floor, is where we work.
10–12%
annual EBITDA growth a typical buyout now needs to return 2.5x over five years, against around 5% in the 2010s.
7 years
typical holding period at exit for buyout funds, up from five to six years between 2010 and 2021.
66%
of private equity respondents say diligence focuses more on the commercial opportunity than on whether the business is ready to deliver it.
Sources: Bain & Company, Global Private Equity Report 2026; Simon-Kucher, Private Equity Value Creation Study 2026.
Why Venezia Capital
Operators, not observers.
Strategy firms diagnose and design, then hand over. Interim executives deliver inside one business, often without an investor’s lens. We do both: senior, hands on GTM leadership that carries the investment thesis all the way to the sales floor.
02
From diligence to delivery
The partner who tests your revenue case before you invest builds the plan after close and stays to deliver it. Nothing is lost in the handover.
03
Light touch, high leverage
Senior time on a fixed monthly fee. In when it counts, out of the way when it does not, and on call when a deal, a hire or a reset needs weight behind it.
04
One system, every company
The same GTM disciplines, metrics and operating rhythm in every engagement, so performance is visible and comparable across a portfolio.
The GTM Value Creation System
One plan. One team. One pipeline. One forecast.
Every engagement runs on the same system, built and refined inside private equity backed software businesses. It turns an investment thesis into a commercial operating rhythm that management owns.
01
GTM strategy and integration
Commercial diagnostic, ideal customer profile and segmentation, value proposition, cross sell and white space, and the integration of acquired sales teams.
→ One combined GTM strategy
02
Revenue planning and execution
A 12 month value creation plan, worked back from the target through win rates and conversion to activity, with territory, quota and capacity built to match.
→ Revenue plans the team can execute
03
Sales leadership and capability
Organisation design, leadership assessment and hiring, coaching in the flow of work, and a written sales culture with visible career paths.
→ A common standard of excellence
04
RevOps and performance
One CRM and data model, a board ready KPI scorecard, forecast cadence, compensation design, and a sales technology and AI stack that fits the plan.
→ Visibility and predictability
DiagnoseDesignAlignEnableExecuteMeasureScale
For private equity
Alongside you for the whole hold.
Before the deal
GTM and sales due diligence
Can this team deliver the plan you are about to underwrite? We test the people, pipeline and process behind the forecast.
First 100 days
A fast start plan
Set the numbers, assign the field, commit the plan. Owners, dates and targets in place within 90 days, measured weekly from then on.
Through the hold
Execution and integration
Execution on demand, integration of acquired sales teams, cross sell that customers buy into, and a reset when momentum fades mid hold.
Into exit
Exit readiness
A growth story and a set of metrics that stand up to buyer diligence, with credible upside left on the table for the next owner.
For technology companies
From founder led sales to a revenue engine investors back.
For founders, CEOs and boards preparing to raise, to sell, or to scale beyond what the founding team can carry. We build the GTM model, the leadership and the operating rhythm that make growth repeatable, and we make sure the numbers tell that story.
- GTM strategy, positioning and pricing
- Sales organisation design and leadership hiring
- Interim or fractional chief revenue officer
- Investment and exit readiness
Ways to work together
Senior time, shaped to the moment.
GTM due diligence
An independent view of the sales engine behind the forecast, written for the investment committee.
Fixed scope, run to your deal timetable
Value creation fast start
The commercial plan for the first 100 days: numbers, territories, quotas, cadence and quick wins.
Days 0 to 90 after completion
Our core model
Execution on demand
A fractional GTM operating partner: on site for QBRs and leadership sessions, remote for coaching and deal reviews, on call when it matters.
12 months, around two days a month, fixed monthly fee
Interim CRO
Hands on revenue leadership while you hire, through an integration, or when performance needs a reset.
Full time for a defined period
Managing Partner
Alex Blakeway
As Chief Revenue Officer and Managing Partner at Venezia Capital, he has built and scaled world-class sales organisations, driving over a billion in SaaS revenue. Across a career spanning Siemens, Cisco, Verizon, Oracle, The Access Group and Forterro, he has closed major deals, scaled teams, and transformed sales strategies at the highest levels of global sales.
He works with investors and leadership teams on the commercial side of value creation: diligence, integration, revenue planning, sales leadership and the operating rhythm that holds it all together. He is the author of Blueprint to Sales Mastery and Blueprint to Sales Management, and an inspirational speaker at sales kick offs, leadership events and investor forums.
Beyond the engagement
The playbook, shared.
BooksThe Blueprint seriesBlueprint to Sales Mastery, and its follow on for sales leaders, Blueprint to Sales Management.
SpeakingKeynotes and portfolio forumsFor sales kick offs, investor events and leadership offsites.
AccSellR8
1 Target2 Plan3 Position4 Engage5 Progress6 Close7 Grow
New platformAccSellR8Our sales acceleration platform for SaaS teams, with the selling cycle built into every working day.
Insights
From The Sales Accelerator.
Alex’s LinkedIn newsletter on accelerating B2B sales growth in private equity backed and high growth technology companies.
From the fieldSlapped by a nun, live appearance on national TV and kissed by a celebrity. How was your Monday?A five foot balsa wood chocolate factory, a national competition and a headmistress known as Sister Caramel. What a group of nine year olds understood about winning: think big, be different, then outwork everyone.7 September 2026 · 4 min readRead on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
Sales leadershipWhy Most Sales Teams Are Drowning in Activity but Starving for OutcomesPacked calendars, full CRMs and growing dashboards, yet the fundamentals still slip. Why so many teams confuse activity with effectiveness, and the practical steps leaders and sellers can take.12 May 2026 · 7 min readRead on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
PipelineThe Pipeline Problem: Why Most Forecasts Are Fiction. Can AI Fix It?Forecasts are rarely wrong because of the forecasting. They are wrong because the pipeline is not real. Where it goes wrong, and what high performing teams do differently.5 May 2026 · 4 min readRead on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
Contact
Start with a confidential conversation.
Whether you are assessing a deal, planning the first 100 days or getting a business ready to scale, a short call is the quickest way to see whether we can help. Everything you share is treated in confidence.
Venezia Capital
London, United Kingdom