Operators and investors.
Our partners have sourced, structured, and negotiated lower-middle-market acquisitions, then run the companies as CEO through the transition to institutional ownership.
For investors
Operator-led buyouts. AI we build ourselves.
Corefour Partners acquires control of U.S. lower-middle-market businesses. The partners who underwrite each deal sit on the board, support management on the operating plan, and build the AI systems, so the value plan never depends on a consultant who leaves before the result.
Every manager now claims AI. Few can build it hands-on.
Portfolio companies usually get AI from outside providers who are paid by the project, arrive after the deal, and leave before the result. Nobody is accountable for whether the EBITDA lands. We put the investors and the builders on one team, with equity on the line.
In-house AI expertise.
A Meta AI engineering manager and an in-house developer bench that builds and deploys the systems in each company.
Proprietary technology platform for fund and portfolio company operations.
Software we built to source and underwrite deals, then run reporting and AI workflows across each company we own.
Differentiation
What we add to the usual models.
| Model | What it brings | What Corefour adds |
|---|---|---|
| Independent sponsors | Deal flow and operator backgrounds | An in-house AI build team and a tested margin range. Others hire consultants after close. |
| Funds with operating partners | Capital and playbooks | Engineers who build and deploy, not advisors who recommend. |
| AI consultancies | Delivery capacity | The same builders, owning the outcome instead of billing hours. |
| VC-backed AI roll-ups | Capital and software teams | Operators who have run and transformed existing businesses. |
Every partner has led companies from the C-suite, not from spreadsheets.
All of our partners are former intelligence officers. The team that underwrites a deal is the team that sits on its board.
Joel Willett
Joel has sat on both sides of a lower-middle-market deal: sourcing, structuring, and negotiating it, then owning the P&L afterwards. He was CEO of a $65M, 200-person government software and services company backed by a public investment firm, where he ran integration and the 100-day plan, built the executive team and finance organization, led the first independent audit, and drove company-wide AI adoption. As Principal and Operating Partner at a lower-middle-market private equity firm, he served as CEO of a 355-person defense engineering services business and President of a 120-person manufacturer. He leads AI transformation work for large private equity sponsors, pricing EBITDA opportunity before a deal is signed. Earlier, he spent five years at the CIA, including as a duty officer in the White House Situation Room. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army. A Kentucky native, Joel graduated from the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky, and received his MBA from the University of Chicago.
Campbell Marshall
Campbell has run global operations for frontier technology companies and invested from inside a $3B fund. He was most recently Chief Operating Officer of a space-optical communications company serving defense and telecommunications customers, and before that an executive at a satellite communications company, where he built the government and military business from inception. He invested on the team of the Xerion Fund, a special-situations fund of more than $3B within Perella Weinberg Partners Asset Management. Earlier he was a counterterrorism operations officer in the CIA’s National Clandestine Service and worked for the U.S. Trade Representative and the Deputy Secretary of State on major trade agreements.
Zak Amchislavsky
Zak led AI engineering teams at Meta as a Security Engineering Manager, responsible for defending the platform’s data against continuous adversarial attack. That discipline, covering adversarial machine learning, data integrity, abuse and error detection, is what keeps portfolio AI systems dependable once they run unattended, with controls a board can rely on. Earlier, as CISO of a SaaS start-up, he made security and compliance a selling point with commercial and government buyers, then led a go-to-market refresh that added new use cases and partnerships and drove 50% annual revenue growth.
The build team
Expert developers provide the build capacity behind each transformation and are billed to portfolio companies at cost. Adding a company adds work for engineers we already manage, not a new consulting contract.
What our partners delivered running companies.
Our partners have been the first leaders of businesses after their owners moved on to their next chapter. These results come from companies where one of us held the CEO, President, COO, or CISO seat.
Took a founder-built company into institutional ownership: hired the executive team, installed governance and weekly KPI tracking, and built a $400M+ pipeline.
An AI workflow delivered 200% faster, and a new ERP tripled gross margin on the flagship contract. Built the finance organization and led the first independent audit.
Grew revenue 11% by redesigning pricing, demand planning, and the supply chain.
Won Department of Defense Space Development Agency contracts and negotiated a $150M program for an allied government.
Moved headquarters from California to Colorado, opened a 25,000 sq ft factory, and raised $50M+.
Made security and compliance a selling point with commercial and government buyers, then led a go-to-market refresh that added new use cases and partnerships.
Operating results of companies our partners led in prior roles. They are not investment returns. Company names are withheld for confidentiality. A deal-by-deal record with role, dates, entry, and exit is available to qualified investors on request.
Value creation
People, strategy, execution, and capital. Multiplied by AI.
An operating system our partners have run as executives, built with each management team from close, and supported by our partners directly, not delegated to consultants. Learn more about the Scaling Up framework
- People.Leadership assessment, key hires, clear accountability, and management incentives tied to realized EBITDA, never to headcount.
- Strategy.Core customer, brand promise, and a three-to-five-year plan, with organic growth and add-ons aimed at one objective.
- Execution.Weekly and quarterly rhythm, KPI scorecards, and visible priorities with named owners.
- Capital.Disciplined allocation, working capital focus, institutional reporting from day one, and leverage sized to the business as it stands.
- AI.Workflow automation built and run by our engineers, on models the company controls where it fits, so a vendor cannot re-price the margin.
Essential, hands-on businesses where AI expands margin.
Every target has to pass three tests before we spend money on diligence.
An immature back office.
Operations still run on inboxes, spreadsheets, and old ERPs, with the owner at the center of everything. That is where better systems and AI add the most.
Priced by the job, not the hour.
Customers pay per unit, per transaction, or a fixed fee, so efficiency becomes margin instead of a smaller bill.
A core AI cannot replace.
Customers pay for a result delivered by a skilled team. AI lowers the cost of delivering it without making the service obsolete.
- SIZE$3M to $10M of EBITDA, headquartered in the U.S.
- SECTORSBusiness, technical, and government services; industrial services; distribution; light manufacturing
- CONTROLMajority or full control, with our partners on the board
- LEVERAGESized to the business as it stands today, not to the value plan
Deal by deal, side by side.
We partner with family offices, private investors, and institutions who want direct exposure to operator-led control buyouts.
Each deal on its merits.
You see each opportunity with our diligence, value plan, and model, and decide whether to invest.
Our partners invest alongside you.
We put our capital into every deal we bring, and our economics depend on the value we create.
Clear rights on the decisions that matter.
Investor consent on a sale, new equity, significant debt, and add-on acquisitions, with board representation for lead investors.
The numbers management runs the company on.
Monthly KPIs and quarterly board packages from the reporting system we build with management from close.