From Hype to EBITDA: Operationalising AI for Value Creation
Turning promise into performance in PE-backed businesses
Private equity has never had more pressure to prove value. Exits are slower, holding periods are longer, and the commercial bar is rising. AI is now firmly on the agenda, but vague ambitions won’t move the needle. What matters is how it gets deployed to drive repeatable growth, margin, or efficiency.
This session will feature three of the most original thinkers and doers in the field of AI today.
Marco Iannone, Chief AI Officer at Virgin Active and former VP of Product & AI at Ometria, draws on a decade of real-world implementation experience across mid-market and enterprise businesses.
Polly Barnfield, OBE, CEO of Maybe*, offers first-hand expertise in AI-driven value creation, shaped by transformation delivered for 25,000+ organisations including FTSE companies and UK Government agencies.
Dr Daniel Hulme, Chief AI Officer at WPP and founder of multiple AI ventures, brings 25 years of academic and commercial insight to bear on how firms can adopt AI without sleepwalking into complexity.
Together, they will explore how PE-backed companies can extract value from AI without overbuilding and how to avoid being seduced by scale over substance.
We’ll cover:
Which AI use cases are already delivering commercial results across GTM, pricing and operational efficiency
How to build lean, focused AI teams that drive results without adding organisational drag
What PE firms get wrong about timing, and how to place AI in the lifecycle for real impact
When to build, buy or partner, and how to avoid the false economies of internal AI overreach
Who it’s for: Operating Partners, value-creation leaders, investors, and senior executives of PE-backed businesses including CEOs, CFOs and CROs.
Expect a pragmatic and honest conversation on where and how AI creates value in the portfolio, and where it doesn’t.