PE Firm Spent Six Figures on AI Consulting for 7 Portfolio Companies, Got a Chat Subscription
alex_verem · x · 2026-09-20
A PE fund paid six figures for AI consulting across seven portfolio companies and ended up with just a team chat subscription, a bloated 150-hour discovery deck, and a dev vendor charging extra "AI productivity" fees with zero shipping gains. The authors were brought in to replace the engagement and argue the same four gaps keep appearing between consulting promises and engineering needs — verifiable proof vs. slide decks chief among them. Their core point: PE funds are buying AI advice far faster than that advice becomes working software, and this fund needs real EBITDA impact by December to underwrite 2027 exits.
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