How to Write a Private Equity Case Study

How do you write a private equity case study when raising money?  What does a good PE case study look like?  How important are case studies in private equity investor communications?  What mistakes do others make when writing a private equity case study?

Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball

Ben is the founder of London-based Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London.  Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page. 

Your Guide to Writing a Compelling Private Equity Case Study

When you are on the road raising a new private equity fund or pitching to a prospective LP, your track record is your calling card. But a list of IRRs and multiples only tells half your story. To truly convince an investor that your success is repeatable, you need to show them the “how” through well-crafted private equity case studies.

LPs aren’t just looking for a win; they are looking for how you create value, and that you have a value creation process that works. A great case study will bring your investment thesis and value add approach to life.

Based on our 15+ years of experience writing PE fundraising pitch decks, here’s what we have learned about creating a powerful private equity case study.

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Why Case Studies Are Essential in a Pitch Deck

Think of case studies as your way of proving what you have already said in your pitch.  For example, if you claim that you are a hands-on investor with a proven value-add process, then your case studies are your opportunity to show how this process works in practice.  It’s much for powerful to show rather then tell.

Keep it Simple

The biggest mistake we see over and over again is writing a private equity case study that is too long and too detailed.  Instead, the best case studies are sometimes no more than 100 or 200 words and should be covered on one page. 

Your job writing a case study is not to go through every aspect of how you created value with an investment. Your job is to demonstrate how you apply your approach and that this approach works. The shorter your case study is, the easier it is to understand.

Show Your Approach Works

The point of your case study is to demonstrate how you build sustainable businesses.  That means you must highlight your intervention that changed the trajectory of the business.

One of the most important things is to demonstrate is your thinking and approach. Did you professionalise the management teams? Did you drive an aggressive buy-and-build strategy to increase market share? Your narrative should make it clear that the exit result wasn’t just market luck, but a direct consequence of your investment strategy and intervention.

Use the “Situation, Action, Result” framework

To keep your pitch deck clean and readable, structure your private equity cases using this framework:

• The Entry (Situation): Define what the core business looked like when you bought it. Describe how you found it, Talk about the risk factors you identified. Perhaps it was one of those smaller companies that was a leader in a niche market size but lacked a formal sales .
• The Transformation (Action): This is the meat of your story. Use specific examples of how you improved the market position. If it was a leveraged buyout, explain how you managed the debt while investing in growth.
• The Exit (Result): Finish with the hard numbers. LPs want to see how your investment decision paid off / is paying off.

Tell Your Story Through Headlines

The secret to writing great case studies it to use headlines to tell your story.  A bad case study will use neutral headlines like:

• Investment Case
• What We Did
• The Result

A well-written case study will not waste those headlines and will use them to tell the story.  For example:

• A company that matched our ‘niche market leader’ profile
• Within 6 months we changed the senior team
• Profits up 6x in 2 years

Keep it clear and punchy

While private equity is a technical business, your writing doesn’t have to be dry. Avoid the typical corporate fluff that LPs see in every other deck.

Use clear, simple language that avoids jargon.  No ‘deep experience’, ‘focused on’ or ‘strategic advantages’ here.  Instead use personal pronouns and language that anyone can understand.

Show, don’t just tell

The best practices for case studies involve using visual cues to back up the text. If you are talking about how you helped one of the best companies in your portfolio, then include a simple chart that shows how something grew as a result (e.g. users, revenues, profits). These practical examples provide the “proof of life” that LPs need.

Bringing your case study to life in the room

Writing the deck is only half the battle. When you finally sit down with an LP, your communication skills become just as important as the data on the slide. You aren’t just reciting a financial model; you are narrating a business transformation.

Here is how you can guide an investor through your private equity case studies during a live meeting.

Discuss the human element

While your slide might list “management transition” as a bullet point, your verbal delivery should explain the reality of working with management teams. Talk about the specific hurdles you faced. Perhaps you had to convince a founder of one of those smaller companies to step aside, or you had to recruit a new CFO to professionalise the core business.

Sharing these “war stories” demonstrates your strategic thinking in a way that a static PDF cannot. It shows the LP that your private equity firm is hands-on and capable of navigating the messy reality of value creation.

Bridge the gap between risk and reward

LPs are naturally wired to look for risk factors. When discussing, don’t wait for them to point out the flaws. Address the challenges of the leveraged buyout or the competitive market position upfront.

Explain why you made the investment decision despite those risks. When you show that you understood the market and the competitive landscape from day one, you build a level of trust that numbers alone can’t provide.

Connect the dots to your current fund

The most important things to convey are the best practices you’ve developed over time. As you finish presenting one of your private equity cases, always bring it back to the present.

Use phrases like, “You will see this same approach in our current private equity fund,” or “We are applying these exact lessons to the best companies in our new portfolio.” This ensures the case study isn’t just a history lesson, but a proof of concept for your future success.

Use an outsider to help

One problem with internal people writing case studies is that they are too close to the action.  They have lived through every problem and know all the detail.  Therefore it’s hard for them to see the wood for the trees. 

Writing a great case study requires an outside perspective so that nothing is included except that which pushes the case forward.  A professional writer can add huge value to make the case easy for the investor to read.

Call us to see some examples of great case studies we have written.

Get Professional Support for Your Case Studies

To make sure you have really persuasive case studies, get in touch.  Our team have worked on winning PE pitch decks of all types from small cap to renewables to real estate to infrastructure.   

Call today and speak to Louise Angus about how we can give you a pitch deck that works with investors.  Either +44 20 7018 0922 or click the button below.

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Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

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Frequently asked questions about private equity case studies

When you are preparing materials for a private equity fund pitch, you might find that LPs ask similar questions during their due diligence. Here are some of the most common queries regarding how to present private equity case studies effectively.

How many case studies should I include in a pitch deck?

Quality always beats quantity. For a standard deck, three to five high-quality private equity cases are usually sufficient. You want to show a range of value creation strategies across different management teams without overwhelming your audience with data.

Should I include a failed investment as a case study?

It might feel counter-intuitive, but showing a “broken” deal can build trust. LPs value clear thinking and honesty. If you can explain the risk factors that led to a poor outcome and, more importantly, what your private equity firm learned from it, you demonstrate a level of maturity that many firms lack.

How much detail should I give about the financial model?

Stick to the most important things: entry and exit multiples, revenue growth, and EBITDA margin expansion. If an LP wants to dive deeper into the financial model, they will ask for it during the data room phase of the investment decision.

Is it necessary to mention the leveraged buyout structure?

Yes. LPs in the private equity industry want to understand your relationship with debt. Explaining how you balanced the leveraged buyout with reinvestment into the company shows that you are aiming for long-term market position, not just financial engineering.

If you want help crafting better case studies or pitch decks get in touch.  We’d be delighted to show you how we add value to your fund raise. 

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