THE AI FIX FOR PRIVATE EQUITY

A New Playbook For Value Creation
From Due Diligence To Exit

A New Playbook For Value Creation From Due Diligence To Exit

MY BOOKS

MY BOOKS

Unlock the potential of generative AI with confidence.

Unlock the potential of generative AI with confidence.

Unlock the potential of generative AI with confidence.

Navigate the risks and seize the opportunities of adopting generative AI. From evaluating security and ethical considerations to identifying transformative business applications, get tailored insights to support informed, strategic AI integration.

Navigate the risks and seize the opportunities of adopting generative AI. From evaluating security and ethical considerations to identifying transformative business applications, get tailored insights to support informed, strategic AI integration.

Navigate the risks and seize the opportunities of adopting generative AI. From evaluating security and ethical considerations to identifying transformative business applications, get tailored insights to support informed, strategic AI integration.

The AI Fix for Private Equity

The AI Fix for Private Equity

A New Playbook for Value Creation, from Pre-Deal to Exit
A New Playbook for Value Creation, from Pre-Deal to Exit
A New Playbook for Value Creation, from Pre-Deal to Exit

Build Smarter. Move Faster. Exit Stronger.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t a side project. It’s the new playbook.

Most AI initiatives stall in pilot purgatory, chasing cosmetic wins that don’t move the needle. This book shows private equity leaders how to do it differently by building intelligent systems that scale, adapt, and create real enterprise value.

Build Smarter. Move Faster. Exit Stronger.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t a side project. It’s the new playbook.

Most AI initiatives stall in pilot purgatory, chasing cosmetic wins that don’t move the needle. This book shows private equity leaders how to do it differently by building intelligent systems that scale, adapt, and create real enterprise value.

The AI Fix for Private Equity delivers a field-tested framework to:

  • Identify real AI advantage—before the deal is signed

  • Build intelligent systems that learn, adapt, and defend margins

  • Avoid the leadership, governance, and cost traps that kill value

  • Turn token costs, model risks, and system debt into strategic clarity

  • Prepare for buyer scrutiny and exit with a defensible AI narrative

The AI Fix for Private Equity delivers a field-tested framework to:

  • Identify real AI advantage—before the deal is signed

  • Build intelligent systems that learn, adapt, and defend margins

  • Avoid the leadership, governance, and cost traps that kill value

  • Turn token costs, model risks, and system debt into strategic clarity

  • Prepare for buyer scrutiny and exit with a defensible AI narrative

A Book, The Accidental Strategist

The AI Fix Field Guide

The AI Fix Field Guide

The What and How of AI Adoption
The What and How of AI Adoption
The What and How of AI Adoption

The AI Fix for Private Equity explained where AI can create value across the deal lifecycle. The AI Fix Field Guide is the follow-up: a practical guide to making that value real inside portfolio companies.

AI adoption does not fail because the models are weak. It fails because the business is not ready to absorb them. Processes are unclear. Ownership is diffuse. Data is fragmented. Governance lives in policy rather than workflow. Measurement tracks activity instead of outcomes.

This book is for CEOs, chairs, operating partners, transformation leaders, boards, and investors who need to move beyond AI theatre. It shows how to identify where AI can change an outcome, govern the work it performs, build the infrastructure it needs, fund the right initiatives, redesign human roles, and measure value the board can trust.

This is not another argument for becoming “AI-first.” It is a field guide for building the operating model that lets intelligence compound.

The AI Fix for Private Equity explained where AI can create value across the deal lifecycle. The AI Fix Field Guide is the follow-up: a practical guide to making that value real inside portfolio companies.

AI adoption does not fail because the models are weak. It fails because the business is not ready to absorb them. Processes are unclear. Ownership is diffuse. Data is fragmented. Governance lives in policy rather than workflow. Measurement tracks activity instead of outcomes.

This book is for CEOs, chairs, operating partners, transformation leaders, boards, and investors who need to move beyond AI theatre. It shows how to identify where AI can change an outcome, govern the work it performs, build the infrastructure it needs, fund the right initiatives, redesign human roles, and measure value the board can trust.

This is not another argument for becoming “AI-first.” It is a field guide for building the operating model that lets intelligence compound.

A Book, The Accidental Strategist

What Readers are Saying

What Readers are Saying

We all seem to be stumbling around the topic of how AI can connect with broader value creation themes in portfolio companies. The AI Fix for PE is the first book length examination of how to make that happen in reality, studded with examples from the authors’ experiences and, crucially, an explanation of the organisational requirements to ensure that concrete benefits are delivered. That makes it invaluable reading.

Dr Mike Hicks, CEO of Catalysis Advisory and author of Assessing and Strengthening, Teams and Organisations: A Handbook for Mid-Market Investors

Impressive work! And very interesting that it can be understood and applied also by people who are not very proficient in the tech space.

M.A. Private Equity Partner

This book is much more than just a discussion about AI, you’ll find yourself smiling and reflecting throughout. The leadership lessons and management tactics shared are both fascinating and highly applicable across a wide range of organisational settings, including the multinational company environment that I am familiar with.

Huiming Chen, Regional CFO of a public listed BioTech company

"Impressive Work!"

"Impressive Work!"

When I first heard of the “The AI Fix Field Guide”, I had high hopes for a useful “how-to” for AI adoption. Pearson and Rogerson have delivered. This book provides a comprehensive approach to understanding and applying AI in a business and supports the transition with practical tools at every step with a focus on the business outcomes, not the tool.

Amazon review

The field guide asks how a portfolio company builds the structure and discipline to adopt AI well and answers in Monday morning terms rather than destination terms.

…..It is encouraging to find organizational themes at the heart of this book rather than decorating it.

Dr Mike Hicks - Read the review here. [https://bit.ly/4xbvHJd]

Meet The Authors

The minds behind "The AI Fix for Private Equity".

The minds behind "The AI Fix for Private Equity".

Mark Rogerson and Gary Pearson both served as commissioned officers and air traffic controllers in the Royal Air Force. Their early careers were forged under pressure, managing complex, high-stakes environments where timing, clarity, and systems thinking weren’t optional.


That shared foundation, part discipline, part decision science, shaped how they lead, think, and operate. After leaving the service, both went on to successful careers in technology, private equity, and executive leadership, applying the same operational rigor to boardrooms, turnarounds, and strategic transformations. Together, they bring decades of experience helping organizations move faster, think smarter, and build systems that don’t just work, but compete.

Mark Rogerson and Gary Pearson both served as commissioned officers and air traffic controllers in the Royal Air Force. Their early careers were forged under pressure, managing complex, high-stakes environments where timing, clarity, and systems thinking weren’t optional.


That shared foundation, part discipline, part decision science, shaped how they lead, think, and operate. After leaving the service, both went on to successful careers in technology, private equity, and executive leadership, applying the same operational rigor to boardrooms, turnarounds, and strategic transformations. Together, they bring decades of experience helping organizations move faster, think smarter, and build systems that don’t just work, but compete.

Mark Rogerson Headshot

Mark Rogerson, MBE MBA MA

Mark Rogerson, MBE MBA MA

PE Portfolio Chair, Operating Partner

Mark, spent over 20 years in the Royal Air Force before commencing a private sector career which spanned UK-based international corporates, including Serco Plc, Costain Plc and Speedy Hire Plc.

In 2015, he commenced his private equity journey as an operating partner at a UK mid-market PE Firm.

Subsequently, Mark has become a leading mid-market PE-backed Software, Technology and Business Services Chair with an exceptional track record of building and leading complex businesses. He has held 12 PE roles as Chair/Exec Chair (9 exited) and his assets have created over £1.3Bn of Enterprise Value for investors and his management teams.

Contact: mark.rogerson@mac.me

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www.markrogersonmbe.com

Gary M Pearson Headshot

Gary M Pearson, MBA

CEO, Founder, Strategist

Gary is a seasoned technology CEO, board director, and former Royal Air Force officer who made the improbable leap from marine navigation to air traffic control, and from software tester to public company CEO, sometimes by design, often by sheer refusal to stay in his lane.


With over 25 years in the software and technology trenches, Gary has led turnarounds and driven growth in global markets. As CEO and COO of an ASX-listed technology company, he orchestrated a 317% EBITDA improvement, transitioned the business to a high-margin recurring revenue model, and triggered an 1100% market cap increase.

Gary is a seasoned technology CEO, board director, and former Royal Air Force officer who made the improbable leap from marine navigation to air traffic control, and from software tester to public company CEO, sometimes by design, often by sheer refusal to stay in his lane.


With over 25 years in the software and technology trenches, Gary has led turnarounds and driven growth in global markets. As CEO and COO of an ASX-listed technology company, he orchestrated a 317% EBITDA improvement, transitioned the business to a high-margin recurring revenue model, and triggered an 1100% market cap increase.


Gary is a tech startup founder, consultant, and strategist with deep domain knowledge in artificial intelligence, especially where it intersects with systems thinking, decision velocity, and organizational leverage. He is a strong advocate for rethinking strategy in the age of AI, not as a static plan, but as a dynamic system designed to learn, adapt, and deliver differentiated value at speed. His work helps boards and CEOs avoid cosmetic AI experiments and instead build core systems that can actually scale and compete.


He currently consults through NewThistle Consulting, guiding tech businesses on how to embed intelligent systems into the fabric of their operations. He is the author of The Accidental Strategist, which introduced the ReSCUED framework, a battle-tested approach to strategic value creation inspired by the precision and pressure of air traffic control.


Gary holds an MBA from Nottingham Trent University and has completed extensive executive education in AI, finance, governance, and systems design. He splits his time between advising, writing about strategy in an AI-native world, and calling out LinkedIn leadership platitudes with a raised eyebrow and a dry wit.

Contact: gary@newthistleconsulting.com

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www.newthistleconsulting.com

FREE CHECKLISTS AND WORKSHEETS

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Exit Checklists and worksheets

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© 2025 The AI Fix for Private Equity. All Rights Reserved.

A book by Mark Rogerson & Gary M Pearson