Carve-out customer interview timeline to Day 1

A seven-step timeline for interviewing the customers of a carve-out, counted back from Day 1. It starts with agreeing contact rules with the parent, runs two waves of interviews by revenue, sorts accounts before the Day 1 message, and repeats the study before the transition services agreement ends. Operating partners can follow it as written, and Koji runs the interviews and the report.

Where this appears

• Carve-Out Customer Interviews: A PE Operating Partner Playbook for Keeping Customers Through Day 1

What's in this process

1. T-8 weeks: agree contact rules: Settle with the parent who you may contact and who sends the invite. Get the list with revenue and a flag for shared customers.
2. T-7 to T-6 weeks: build and pilot: Write the decisions the study feeds. Build the guide, preview it and run 5 pilot interviews.
3. T-5 weeks: wave 1: Every top-20 account and every shared customer, two contacts each, with a personal link.
4. T-3 weeks: wave 2: The rest by revenue band, one reminder each. Close fieldwork at T-2 weeks.
5. T-2 to T-1 weeks: sort accounts: Read the report and sort accounts by the Three Ties test. Cut every theme by count and by revenue.
6. Day 1 to T+30 days: follow up: Send a Day 1 message built from what customers said. Re-interview a sample of parent-held accounts.
7. Before TSA exit: run it again: Six weeks before billing, support and systems leave the parent, rerun the same guide.