OPEN LETTER – When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

This open letter comes from Rachel McCorry, a former YFM-backed CEO, reflecting on her early experience, what she didn’t know at the start, what she learned along the way, and what she would do differently if she were stepping into a PE-backed role today.

It’s written for first-time CEOs, founders transitioning into PE ownership, and anyone who has ever sat in a boardroom thinking, “I probably should understand this better.”

When you first step into a private equity–backed CEO role, you don’t yet know what you don’t know, and that’s completely normal.

Boardroom language will feel unfamiliar. You may feel uncomfortable admitting that. You won’t yet have the trust in place to say, “I don’t understand this,” even though doing so would speed up alignment and confidence. Your Finance Director may struggle to translate early conversations too, leaving you operating with less clarity than you’d like.

You’re learning a new world.

Looking back on my own experience as a PE-backed CEO, these are the lessons I would share with my younger self in the hope they make the journey smoother for others.

Your role has changed.

Take time early on to understand who sits around the board table, what each person is there to do, how they add value, and what “good” looks like from their perspective. Clarity on roles, decision-making and challenge is what allows a board to genuinely contribute to the success of the business.

Especially with your Chair.

This relationship will become central to your effectiveness and resilience. Invest in it early. Be open. Be honest. Don’t wait until issues escalate before raising them. Spend time with other board members too, progress accelerates when relationships are strong.

Understand how funds are raised, how investor expectations shape conversations, and how those pressures flow through boards and investment committees.

This context helps you anticipate decisions rather than react to them and makes boardroom discussions far less opaque.

Learn how to balance hygiene reporting with deeper analysis.

Become familiar with tools such as EBITDA bridges, cash forecasting and value levers from day one. Ask for examples and explanations early, good reporting underpins how performance and value are understood.

Strategy is not a one-day workshop.

Push for clarity on how strategy cycles should run, who needs to be involved, and how to balance exploration with optimisation. Without structure, strategy risks becoming vague aspiration or endless delivery.

Saying “I don’t understand this yet” is not a weakness – it’s essential.

Curiosity builds credibility. You don’t need to perform certainty; you need to pursue clarity. You’ll learn all this eventually, learning it earlier just makes the journey easier.

Once a deal completes, a CEO often regains some headspace. That moment is ideal for a focused induction, particularly for first-time PE-backed CEOs.

Based on the reflections above, these are the topics I believe would form a meaningful, high-impact induction:

• Understanding the PE environment
  Fund structure, investor expectations, Investment Committees, board roles and governance
• Operating rhythms and reporting
  Board vs SLT decision rights, escalation, what “good” reporting looks like, core PE financial tools
• Strategy and value creation
  Running strategy cycles, embedding value creation plans, tracking progress
• The first 100 days
  Resetting ways of working, establishing rhythms, assessing capability and alignment
• Learning from others
  Case studies, governance examples, real-world strategy outcomes, CEO peer learning

Stepping into a PE-backed CEO role comes with an extraordinary learning curve and genuinely exciting opportunities.

If sharing these reflections helps smooth that journey, even in a small way, then it’s been worth writing them down.

Part of the Open Letter Series
More reflections for PE-backed CEOs coming soon.

Rachel was CEO of Intelligent Office, a former YFM portfolio company.