By Jocelyn Sexton — VP of Marketing at Growth Acceleration Partners
In the fast-paced world of private equity, value creation is a race against the clock. PE firms have a limited window — often just three to four years — to maximize the growth and exit potential of their portfolio companies.
This urgency demands precision, strategy and execution. And that’s where the partnership between Thinktiv and Growth Acceleration Partners delivers exponential value.
What Is Thinktiv?
Thinktiv is a boutique consultancy headquartered in Austin, Texas, specializing in product and commercial strategy for software and software-enabled service companies. Their team consists of ex-operators — rather than career consultants — which brings a pragmatic and entrepreneurial mindset to each engagement.
Thinktiv focuses on helping private equity (PE) firms and their portfolio companies unlock enterprise value through product and commercial strategy. They don’t write code or deploy software. Instead, they set the direction, serving as upstream architects of what should be built and why. Their sweet spot is working with software and software-enabled services businesses.
Thinktiv’s core strength lies in identifying strategic opportunities for growth: refining product roadmaps, shaping commercial strategies and creating value creation playbooks. With deep roots in SaaS, Thinktiv provides clarity to investors and operators alike by crafting go-to-market (GTM) plans aligned to aggressive revenue goals and short hold periods.
PE firms turn to Thinktiv for insight-driven, results-oriented advisory work early in the lifecycle of a new investment, or when growth stalls mid-hold. By crafting high-impact business heatmaps and prioritizing initiatives by value and complexity, Thinktiv helps portfolio companies zero in on what will move the needle before the next transaction.
What Is GAP?
Growth Acceleration Partners (GAP) is a consulting and technology solutions provider that enables growth through AI, custom software, data engineering and modernization solutions. GAP partners with several mid-market and growth-stage companies — many of which are in the PE space — to provide hands-on execution for digital innovation and your technology-driven business evolution.
With more than 600 engineers across Latin America and the U.S., GAP specializes in:
- Custom software engineering
- Data platform modernization
- AI and analytics enablement
- Cloud transformation
GAP supports companies facing challenges around limited in-house bandwidth, legacy tech stacks or inefficient engineering processes. Clients like MediQuant and Self Financial have turned to GAP to address specific bottlenecks, from streamlining healthcare data onboarding workflows to rebuilding and scaling a data lake to meet rising analytics demand.
With deep expertise in high-impact technologies, GAP helps CTOs and technical leaders execute fast, reliably and cost-effectively.
Unlike traditional outsourcers, GAP doesn’t just fill technical roles. They offer flexible models: taking projects off a team’s plate entirely, embedding with existing engineering staff, upskilling internal teams and a variety of options for managed services. GAP is a trusted partner when execution capacity or domain expertise is the bottleneck to strategic progress.
From AI-readiness assessments to modernizing legacy infrastructure, GAP offers an execution engine that delivers on strategic priorities.
Here’s How Do Thinktiv and GAP Work Together:
Thinktiv and GAP operate as complementary forces. Thinktiv frames the business opportunity and sets the strategic vision; GAP brings it to life by delivering the solution.
In practical terms, Thinktiv works with portfolio companies to identify and prioritize the initiatives that will drive the most enterprise value. Then GAP steps in with the technical firepower to deliver on that roadmap.
Here’s how the model works:
- Thinktiv leads the upstream strategy, defining where value lies, shaping product and go-to-market plans, and identifying digital transformation opportunities through business heatmaps.
- GAP steps in downstream, executing the technical components of those strategies with scalable engineering resources, data platforms, modernization tools for aging platforms and AI enablement capabilities.
For PE-backed companies, this means a seamless transition from strategic insight to tactical implementation. Thinktiv pinpoints the “what” and “why.” GAP delivers the “how.”
This partnership is particularly potent in PE settings, where every initiative must tie directly to enterprise value growth. This model allows PE firms to deploy a “strategy-to-execution engine” that is fast, repeatable, and designed for high-leverage returns.
Whether right after acquisition or in the run-up to exit, Thinktiv and GAP ensure that strategy and execution are aligned and accelerated.
Here’s How GAP and Thinktiv Help PE Firms and PortCos:
1. Misaligned or Stagnant Product Strategy
Problem: A newly acquired company isn’t growing as projected, and the board is demanding answers.
Solution: Thinktiv steps in to assess product-market fit, reframe the roadmap and build a GTM strategy that resonates. GAP then builds the future-state platform that supports this new direction.
2. Slow Execution on Digital Transformation
Problem: Companies often have good ideas, but lack the technical depth or bandwidth to execute, especially with AI and cloud technologies.
Solution: GAP’s teams deliver software modernization, data unification and AI readiness quickly. In Self Financial’s case, GAP restructured data lake operations to restore engineering focus and support future innovation.
3. Mounting Technical Debt Slows Innovation
Problem: Legacy systems hinder new feature development and frustrate internal teams.
Solution: Thinktiv prioritizes the fixes that matter most; GAP executes modernization initiatives that create near-term wins and long-term flexibility, as seen with MediQuant’s onboarding solution overhaul.
4. Fragmented Data Makes AI Roadmaps Impossible
Problem: PE sponsors know AI should be on the roadmap, but portcos often don’t have the data infrastructure to make it viable.
Solution: Thinktiv identifies AI opportunities based on value and feasibility. GAP ensures foundational data pipelines and platforms are in place to make AI adoption real.
5. Need for Accelerated Time-to-Value
Problem: The hold period is short. Waiting a year to see traction isn’t an option.
Solution: Thinktiv’s strategy cycles are short and actionable. GAP’s engineering models (such as 2NABOX and pre-built pods) enable faster onboarding, execution and iteration. The model is repeatable across the sponsor’s portfolio.
Why Should PE Firms Care?
Thinktiv and GAP offer a combined force that is surgical, strategic, and execution-ready. Together, they:
- Reduce the friction between strategy and execution
- Minimize the ramp-up time for new initiatives
- Improve alignment between product, engineering and commercial teams
- Provide transparency and accountability for board-level updates
- Help sponsors create repeatable playbooks for unlocking value across portfolios
What else? We can:
- Accelerate value creation at critical inflection points
- Enable AI and data maturity, from foundation to features
- Drive modernization through targeted digital transformation
- Support efficiency and scale in technical delivery
- Prepare portfolio companies for high-value exits
Now… Let’s Build Together
For PE firms and their operating partners, Thinktiv and GAP offer a rare combination of strategy and execution. We don’t just tell you what should be done… we help you do it. Together, we are helping portfolio companies unlock growth, accelerate transformation and position themselves for premium exits.
If you’re a PE operating partner, GTM leader, or board member staring at a sluggish growth chart and wondering, “What now?” — the Thinktiv-GAP partnership is your answer.
If you’re a PE leader looking for fast, high-confidence value creation, the Thinktiv–GAP partnership might be your most strategic advantage.
We understand the stakes. We move fast. And we’re obsessed with helping you grow.
