- Evidence
- Opportunity
- Value
- Ownership
- Actuals
One closed loop from what the evidence shows to what lands in EBITDA and enterprise value. See the APG Platform →
Proven track record
EBITDA Improvement
Education Services Business
Weekly cash losses of $40k/week to sustained ~$10M EBITDA. National awards for customer service. Student base grew from 7,000 to 16,000, becoming the largest provider in the country.
Achieved within 18 months
Most businesses are managed from fragments.
The accountant sees the numbers. The team sees the workload. The owner sees the pressure. The advisor sees the symptoms.
But no one is working from the same picture of the business.
APG changes that. We build a single, connected view of what is actually happening commercially and financially, what is constraining performance, and what needs to change. Then we connect it to the plan, the people, the execution, and the measured financial result.
Case studies
Proof. Not Promises.
Education
$10M EBITDA Improvement
From Weekly Cash Losses to ~$10m EBITDA
A national education provider was losing $40k per week with a customer rating below 1.5 stars. We rebuilt the commercial model and turned it into the largest provider in the country.
Healthcare
$3M Value Created
From Sustained Losses to >$500k Profit
A GP practice was losing over $350k annually, propped up by the owner's consulting income. We rebuilt the practice model and delivered over $500k profit within six months.
Here is what "not improving the way it should" usually looks like.
The business is not broken. The team is capable. The constraint is structural. Structural constraints require a precise read to surface. The feeling is usually right. The cause is usually specific.
Revenue is moving but profit is not keeping pace. The cause is somewhere specific: a product margin, a customer segment, a cost line. But not visible in the aggregate accounts clearly enough to act on.
Priorities have been set, but when results arrive in the P&L nobody can say with confidence what drove them.
Commercial opportunity exists inside the business: in the customer base, the pricing, the cost structure. But it is not specific enough to capture.
Planning happens, but it starts from assumption rather than a rigorous read of what the data actually shows.
The business depends too heavily on the owner. It cannot scale, hand over cleanly, or step back from without risk.
The plan is to sell, or step back, at some point. But the honest assessment is that the business would not survive a buyer's due diligence in its current state. The gaps are probably knowable. The time to find them is not during the process.
These are not effort problems. They are structural ones. And they have a precise cause.
Common situations we work on:
How we work out why. And how the value lands.
Most owner-led businesses have never had a genuinely independent, outside read of their commercial and financial position. Not from an accountant working from the same data the business already has. Not from a coach reflecting what the owner already thinks. The Value Architecture runs one closed loop, from what the evidence shows to what lands in EBITDA and enterprise value.
Establish the reality
We assess from outside the business: no prior relationship to protect, no existing recommendation to defend. Six lenses read the financial, commercial and operating reality against one reconciled financial foundation, synced from your own ledger. Every finding is sourced, quantified and corroborated in a single observation register.
A finding, not a facilitation. The analysis is independent before any work begins.
Consolidate and quantify
Evidence patterns become quantified opportunity pools: where value can be created or protected, and roughly what each pool is worth. Not a list of actions: a sized picture of where the money is.
Prioritise before committing effort
Opportunities are ranked against value, confidence, cost, complexity, capacity and risk. Chosen opportunities move forward; the remainder are deferred, accepted or monitored transparently. Not every finding becomes an initiative. That is the point.
Define what the move is worth
Gross opportunity, realistic capture rate, cost-to-achieve, confidence adjustment: every material initiative carries a net, timed, risk-adjusted value case before work begins. The EBITDA bridge shows how much of the target is backed by owned work, and how much is not, honestly.
No material initiative enters the plan without a value case. Committed, not claimed.
Owned commitments, not action items
Chosen initiatives become operating commitments: a named owner, a KPI, work packages, milestones. Your team manages delivery through its normal weekly rhythm, the platform gives that rhythm one structure.
Reconciled against your actual numbers
APG leads the Monthly Value Review: expected impact against actuals from your own ledger, initiative by initiative. Value is realised or the plan changes. Results update the evidence, and the loop closes.
For most owner-led businesses, this is the closest thing to a commercially rigorous board they have ever had.
The APG Platform
From advice to operating discipline.
Most advisory work ends with a recommendation. APG goes further.
We build the operating layer that connects every recommendation to the commercial model of the business:
- Assessment findings become prioritised initiatives with clear owners.
- Owners report progress against milestones each month.
- Financial impact, expected and realised, is measured and tracked.
- What worked and what did not is captured explicitly.
- The plan adjusts as the business changes.
- Improvement compounds rather than reverts.
That is how performance improvement becomes manageable rather than aspirational.
Explore the APG Platform →Direction
Where is the business going, and are the priorities clear?
Visibility
Can the owner see what is actually driving or constraining performance?
Constraints
What is limiting growth, margin, cash, or enterprise value?
People
Are the right people accountable for the right priorities?
Execution
Are initiatives moving, blocked, or drifting?
Value
What is the expected and realised financial impact of the work?
Cadence
Is there a rhythm for review, decision-making, and course correction?
How we work
What makes the model different
Every engagement starts with the owner's goals
A business being run toward an exit in three years needs different priorities than one being built for scale. The Commercial Assessment begins by establishing what the owner actually wants. The right set of priorities depends on it.
We assess, then we build
The Commercial Assessment and Performance Architecture are distinct engagements. The Assessment finds what is happening. Performance Architecture builds the operating infrastructure to act on it. You can stop after either one. But the architecture is only as good as the diagnosis it is built from.
We work from outside the day-to-day
APG does not manage your initiatives, own your KPIs, or sit in your weekly meetings. The execution belongs to the business. We bring the outside view, the analytical rigour, and the discipline of regular review against the numbers.
We are selective
The model works when the owner is prepared to look at what the data shows, including the things that are uncomfortable. We work with a small number of clients at any one time. If the goal is confirmation of what you already believe, we are not the right fit.
Our principles
Actionable.
If you can't implement it, we won't recommend it.
Pragmatic.
ROI-focused and feasibility-tested. The balance between ideal and achievable.
Grounded.
Every recommendation tied to impact on cash flow, profitability, and value. Rooted in financial reality, not theoretical best practice.
How we engage
Three engagements. Each with a defined scope and a clear output.
Commercial Assessment
A precise picture of what is actually happening in your business.
A structured diagnostic across seven dimensions: strategy and direction, financial performance, commercial performance, operations, people and leadership, systems and visibility, and owner alignment. Delivered as a prioritised findings report with a recommended pathway.
Outcome
You will know what is constraining performance, where the commercial opportunity is, and what should happen first.
Investment
Fixed fee. Defined scope. Clear output.
Performance Architecture
Build the structure that connects priorities to financial outcomes.
We take the Assessment findings and build the structure around them: clearer priorities, stronger accountability, and a disciplined way of executing against what matters. Improvement becomes traceable rather than assumed.
Outcome
A direct, measurable line from priorities to financial outcomes. Tracked, not assumed.
Investment
Fixed base fee. Performance component available where attribution is clean and metrics are agreed.
Advisory Cadence
Hold the discipline. Surface issues before they compound.
For clients where ongoing involvement makes sense, APG reviews performance monthly: against the numbers, against the priorities, against what was expected. Not embedded in the operation. Close enough to hold the discipline and surface issues before they compound.
Outcome
Improvement compounds rather than reverts. The same constraints do not repeat.
Investment
Monthly retainer. Performance upside where metrics are agreed.
About APG Partners
Built on direct operating experience where results had to show up in the numbers.
APG Partners was founded by Trent West, former Chief Operating Officer of Foundation Education Group. The assessment approach was developed in environments where the analytical read of the business had to be right, because the consequences of getting it wrong were real.
The same pattern appeared consistently: businesses underperforming not because everything was broken, but because the right things were not being seen precisely enough to act on with discipline. APG exists to fix that.
The APG Performance System was built from that experience. It is not sourced from a methodology framework or adapted from a consulting model. It was developed through direct P&L accountability across situations where the analysis had to translate into financial outcomes.
More than 20 years of senior operating leadership, with direct P&L accountability across turnaround, rebuild, and growth situations.
Step-change turnaround
Weekly losses → $10M EBITDA
As part of the executive leadership team. Achieved within 18 months.
Trent West, Founder
Former COO of Foundation Education Group. 20+ years of senior operating experience with direct P&L responsibility, financial performance accountability, transformation and growth execution. Architect of the APG Performance System.
LinkedInThe APG System
Built around three connected components.
Commercial Baseline ℠
Establish the financial and operational reality of the business.
Planning Model ℠
Translate insight into a prioritised execution roadmap.
Performance System ℠
Track initiatives and their impact on financial outcomes.
If performance is below potential, the first step is knowing precisely why.
A Commercial Assessment takes two to four weeks. Fixed fee. At the end, you have a clear picture of what is constraining performance, where the opportunity is, and what should happen first.
Start with a Commercial Assessment →Not ready to talk? Find your constraint in 60 seconds →