Modernization
Value Creation
Technical debt is financial debt. It compounds.
The Problem
You own a portfolio company. The technology "works" but:
Cloud costs keep rising with no clear ROI
Engineering is slow and getting slower
There's a system everyone's afraid to touch
The roadmap is all maintenance, no innovation
Key engineers keep leaving
This is technical debt compounding. Every quarter you don't address it, the cost to fix it grows — and the value of the asset shrinks.
Our Approach
Technical Debt Is Financial Debt
We don't talk about "refactoring" or "code quality." We talk about the carrying cost of deferred decisions and its impact on EBITDA and exit multiple.
Cloud Economics
Compute is a commodity. We apply economic theory — not just engineering best practices — to infrastructure decisions. The goal isn't "cloud-native." The goal is efficient capital allocation.
Rationalization Before Innovation
Most modernization fails because it adds before it subtracts. We consolidate, simplify, and remove before we build new. The goal is fewer systems that work, not more systems that might.
Measure in Business Outcomes
We don't track "story points" or "velocity." We track: time to revenue, cost per transaction, engineering hours per feature. If it doesn't move a business metric, it doesn't matter.
Patterns We See
“Lift-and-shift costs 40% more than promised. Re-architecture costs 60% more. Budget for reality.”
“The codebase everyone's afraid to touch is always the one generating the most revenue. That's not a coincidence — it's where the risk is.”
“10x engineers don't exist. 10x blockers do. Find and remove them.”
“Most "platform" initiatives fail because they're solutions looking for problems. Start with the constraint, not the architecture.”
“The best modernization is the one you don't do. Sometimes the legacy system is fine. We'll tell you.”
What We Do
Technology Assessment
Current state audit
Technical debt quantification (in dollars)
Constraint identification
Opportunity sizing
Modernization Strategy
Rationalization roadmap
Cloud economics review
Build vs. buy analysis
Sequenced investment plan
Execution Oversight
Architecture governance
Milestone tracking
Vendor management
Board-ready reporting
Engagement Models
Project-based
Specific initiative
3-6 months
Fractional
Ongoing strategic leadership
2-3 days/week
Advisory
Board-level oversight
Monthly