PE-backed operator for software, data and tech-enabled services businesses.
PROFILE & BACKGROUND
Leon Hurst
PE-backed CEO
Crescere Partners is my vehicle for providing focused operator support to PE funds and their portfolio companies. I work with a small number of funds each year, pre-deal, mid-hold, and through leadership transition, in situations where the outcome depends on real world operator judgement, not advisory.
My fund work is most useful where the deal, the value creation plan or the leadership transition needs experienced operator judgement.
Where I am most useful.
A CDD firm can size and interview the market while I’ve operated and grown businesses within the market. I can tell you whether the management team can actually deliver the VCP, and whether the growth assumptions hold when you look at the sales engine, the product, the customer economics and the AI exposure together. The output are IC-ready: conviction ratings on each value lever, a management read, and a clear go/no-go with named conditions.
When growth has stalled or needs super-charging, and the fund needs it fixed, not explained.
Portfolio underperformance typically has one real constraint underneath several visible symptoms. I run a short diagnostic to isolate it, then fix it — embedded with leadership, with a defined output and a fixed fee. I do not hand back a slide. I have rebuilt sales engines, reset retention and monetisation models, restructured operating cadence and cost bases in businesses between £10m and £85m revenue.
When the deal carries execution risk you can't fully price from the outside.
When the leadership gap cannot stay open.
Founder transitions and CEO replacements in PE-backed software businesses are where most value is lost — not because the permanent search is slow, but because the business drifts while it runs. I step in as Interim CEO or Commercial COO, take full accountability from day one, and stay until the business is in better shape than I found it. I have operated P&Ls up to £85m, led businesses through Covid, and managed eight M&A processes on the buy and sell side — which means I can hold the board relationship, the investor relationship and the management team at the same time.
£80m
Insurtech scaled to exit
£250m
Gross profit delivered across B2B and B2C
5
VCPs built and delivered
SMF-3
FCA regulated leadership experience
8
M&A processes across buy, sell and roll-up
£85m
Largest P&L operated
Operating style.
Direct, high-trust and execution-led.
I bring structure without bureaucracy. My style is to create clarity quickly, align the Board and leadership team around the few decisions that matter, and then build the rhythm, metrics and accountability needed to deliver.
The aim is not to replace judgement with process. It is to make good judgement repeatable across the organisation, so performance no longer depends on one founder, one operator or one heroic team.
Operating history across build, scale, reset and exit.
CRESCERE PARTNERS (SELF-EMPLOYED)
Independent Operating Partner
Pre-deal operator diligence for funds including Mayfair Equity Partners and Bowmark Capital. VCP stress-testing, growth lever assessment, AI durability pricing, management reads and IC recommendation
2025-2026
UK / Europe
FLOCK
Chief Operating Officer
Commercial motor insurtech scaled to an £80m exit. The work combined product-market fit, insurance capacity, operating leverage, safety-led unit economics, FCA governance and leadership scale-up.
2022-2025
London / UK
SBD AUTOMOTIVE (PART-TIME)
Non-Executive Board Advisor
Post-MBO advisory role supporting the Chair and CEO on strategy reset, product and GTM simplification, leadership and strategy-to-action transformation.
2022-2024
Milton Keynes / Global
IMS FLEET DIVISION
Chief Executive Officer
PE-backed fleet and insurance telematics division. Rebuilt the commercial and product engine, expanded into leasing and courier, and supported investors through multiple sell-side processes.
2019-2022
Manchester / UK
JATO DYNAMICS
Chief Commercial Officer
Global automotive data platform requiring a commercial and SaaS reset. Rebuilt customer strategy, expanded into leasing, modernised the platform and strengthened direct data partnerships.
2018-2019
London / Global
JAGUAR LAND ROVER
Head of Product & Marketing, Connected Car
Co-founded the Connected Car business unit, turning a £210m regulatory requirement into a profitable global subscription business with direct digital channels and international scale.
2012-2017
Midlands / Global