pe-executive

PE Executive Plugin

A decision-making model for understanding how private equity portfolio company executives think. This plugin is not a comprehensive PE operations manual — it focuses on the mental models, incentive structures, and behavioral patterns that drive executive decisions, so non-executives can understand, anticipate, and work effectively within PE-owned companies.

What This Plugin Does

• Brainstorm deliverables and opportunities through a PE executive's decision framework
• Review work products the way a PE board member would evaluate them
• Explain PE executive behavior and decisions in plain language for non-executives

What This Plugin Is Not

This is not an operational playbook for running a PE portfolio company. It does not cover technology strategy, sector-specific models, procurement frameworks, ESG compliance, or market dynamics. It covers how PE executives reason — what they prioritize, what they ignore, and why — grounded in the incentive structures, governance systems, and cultural forces that shape their thinking.

Components

Skill: pe-executive-mindset

Core mental model covering the four interlocking pressures that drive PE executive behavior: the exit clock, equity incentives, leverage constraints, and the replacement threat.

Reference material in five areas:

• Incentive structures — Compensation mechanics, equity design, hurdle rates, case studies (Petco, SolarWinds, Toys R Us)
• Governance and monitoring — Board dynamics, reporting cadence, VCP structure, KPI cascades, adjusted EBITDA and quality of earnings
• Decision patterns — Exit clock, leverage effects, buy-and-build, deal-type variation (buyout, growth, distressed, carve-out), motivation dynamics across the deal lifecycle
• Demographics and culture — Selection patterns, network effects, cultural norms, shareholder primacy origins, psychological selection effects, key academic works
• Psychological experience — Coping patterns, moral injury, moral disengagement, cognitive dissonance, emotional labor, ethical fading, practical resources

Commands

• /pe-brainstorm [topic or file] — Generate deliverables and opportunities from a PE executive perspective. Accepts a topic, a file path for company-specific context, or both.

• /pe-review [file] — Review a deliverable through a PE executive's lens. Evaluates strategic alignment, metrics, timeline, and rigor. Provides a direct board-readiness assessment.

• /pe-explain [decision or concept] — Explain PE executive decisions and concepts in plain language for non-executives. Connects behavior to structural forces and provides actionable implications.

Repository Structure

• skills/ — The core knowledge base (SKILL.md and reference files)
• commands/ — The three slash commands
• docs/ — Archive of the source research that informed the plugin. These files are not loaded by the plugin at runtime; they are preserved here for provenance and future reference.

Deployment

Claude Code

Add the marketplace and install:

/plugin marketplace add michaelmilton/pe-exec-plugin
/plugin install pe-executive@pe-plugins

Or load directly for a single session:

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/this/repo

Once installed, the skill loads automatically when relevant topics come up, and the three commands (/pe-brainstorm, /pe-review, /pe-explain) are available.

Cowork

Install the .plugin file from the latest release through the Cowork plugin manager. The commands and skill will appear in your session automatically.

Plain Claude (claude.ai) or ChatGPT

These platforms don't support plugins directly. Use the single-file deployment artifact instead:

1. Create a new Project (Claude) or GPT (ChatGPT)
2. Upload pe-executive-guide.md as project knowledge or custom instructions

That's it. The guide combines the full skill body, all five reference files, and usage instructions into one document.

The commands won't work as /slash-commands on these platforms, but you can achieve the same results by asking directly (e.g., "Brainstorm a 100-day plan for a SaaS acquisition from a PE executive perspective").

Examples

• /pe-brainstorm 100-day plan for a SaaS acquisition
• /pe-review @board-deck.md
• /pe-explain Why is our new CEO replacing the entire leadership team?
• "How would a PE executive prioritize these three initiatives?"
• "What would a PE board want to see in this quarterly update?"