Inversion Leadership Transitions at PE-Backed Agencies - Fractional CRO
The Revenue Window That Opens
When a New CEO Arrives
at a PE-Backed Agency
BarkleyOKRP named Katy Hornaday CEO in May 2025. Jeff King moved to Founding Partner. Keystone Capital has held the firm since 2023. The revenue operating system that Jeff King carried in his head for 16 years does not transfer with the org chart. Kevin French builds the one that replaces it.
The Transfer Problem
What Does Not Transfer
When a Founder-CEO
Becomes Founding Partner
Jeff King ran BarkleyOKRP for sixteen years. In that time, the agency became one of the most recognized integrated marketing firms in the country - a legitimate Midwest powerhouse that competed for national accounts and won. Keystone Capital's 2023 investment reflects the quality of what he built.
When a founder-CEO transitions to a Founding Partner role and names a successor, there is an asset transfer that happens formally - title, reporting structure, board seat, ownership - and an asset transfer that does not happen at all. The informal one is often worth more. Jeff King's network, his pattern recognition for what clients actually want, his personal credibility in new business pitches, his instinct for when to push and when to listen - those do not transfer with the org chart.
Katy Hornaday is a talented executive. She does not need those things handed to her - she will build her own version of them over time. What she needs immediately is a revenue operating system that does not depend on any individual's network or instinct to function. One that qualifies deals systematically, builds pipeline deliberately, forecasts accurately, and gives Keystone Capital the precision they need from their investment.
Nate Swift as President creates the operating partnership that most successful agency transitions require. But neither the CEO nor the President is typically the person who designs the revenue architecture. That is a fractional CRO engagement, and the 90-day window after a CEO transition is the best possible time to install it.
Kevin's Relevant Experience
I Have Watched This Transition
Happen More Times Than
Most People in This Business.
At Stuzo, I was CRO and Partner during a period of significant leadership transition that ended in a $200 million exit. The revenue architecture I built during that transition was one of the specific factors that allowed the business to perform predictably during a period of organizational change and to demonstrate pipeline quality to strategic buyers. The PE firm's confidence in the revenue story was not accidental.
At Globant, at BairesDev, and at WPP, I ran commercial operations during periods where the leadership structure was changing faster than the revenue system could adapt. The consistent lesson was the same: the revenue operating system is the thing that keeps the business performing while the humans sort themselves out. It is the one thing in the business that should be independent of the people running it.
My experience with integrated marketing agencies is specific. I know the Midwest market. I know the enterprise marketing buyer. I know what the pipeline looks like at an agency that grew through reputation and I know exactly what it needs to look like at an agency that has a PE mandate on top of it.
Signs Your Model Is Fighting Physics
Four Patterns.
Every One Is Present
at This Stage.
These are not theoretical. They are the specific commercial physics failures that appear in every technology services company and digital agency at this stage. The Growth Audit identifies which ones are acute within 48 hours.
Pattern 01
The AI Multiplier Trap
BarkleyOKRP is using AI-enhanced creative production to maintain volume while headcount compresses. The trap is when that volume - more pitches, more capability decks, more speculative creative - goes out to a market that is no longer selecting on volume. Pipeline quality is moving in the wrong direction at most integrated agencies right now.
Pattern 02
The Execution Paradox
The integrated agency org structure built under Jeff King was a delivery machine. Account managers, strategists, creatives, producers - the bottom of the pyramid was heavy with execution. Katy Hornaday's mandate, whether she frames it this way or not, is to invert that pyramid before the market forces her to.
Pattern 03
The Billable Hour Anchor
BarkleyOKRP's revenue is tied to retainer hours and project deliverables - inputs. Keystone Capital's exit multiple will be determined by whether the business can demonstrate outcome-accountable revenue at scale. Moving from 'we execute your marketing' to 'we own the commercial outcome of your marketing investment' is the Judgment Arbitrage shift the PE timeline requires.
Pattern 04
The Discovery Gap
The CMO evaluating BarkleyOKRP has already shortlisted three firms, reviewed case studies, and talked to references before the first credentials presentation. The new business process that opens with standard discovery is running a 2012 motion on a 2026 buyer.
"Most technology services firms have revenue. They do not have a revenue system. The difference between those two things determines whether the next three years look like compounding or ceiling."
- Kevin French - Inversion GTM
The Engagement Arc
What the First 90 Days
Looks Like at a Company
Like BarkleyOKRP
This is not a consulting engagement with a final presentation. It is an operating role. Every step produces something that works without me - a criterion, a process, a scorecard, a habit in the team.
Days 1-15 The Growth Audit
A complete review of the pipeline, the CRM, the last 24 months of won-and-lost business, and the ICP as practiced versus the ICP as stated. Output: a written diagnosis Katy Hornaday can use in her first board presentation under Keystone Capital.
Days 15-45 Qualification Installation
MATH qualification criteria installed across the team. Every deal in the pipeline re-qualified. The pipeline gets cleaner, smaller, and more accurate. The team learns to say no to the wrong deals faster - which is one of the most valuable commercial skills an integrated agency team can develop.
Days 45-75 New Business Architecture
The new business motion gets rebuilt around BarkleyOKRP's actual differentiation - not Jeff King's personal credibility but the agency's specific expertise, its cultural values, and its commercial terms. The pitch deck, the capability story, and the qualification process all get aligned.
Days 75-90 Forecasting and Board Readiness
Keystone Capital needs a forecast that is math, not narrative. Stage-probability weighting, pipeline velocity metrics, ICP conversion rates. The CEO and President now have a commercial system they can operate and report against.
Is This the Right Conversation
You Should Call Kevin If -
The Growth Audit is $2,500-$3,500 and takes 48-72 hours. It produces a written diagnosis of exactly where the revenue system is breaking and what needs to be fixed. There is no obligation to continue. Most clients say it is the most useful commercial conversation they have had in years.
A CEO transition just occurred or is imminent
The 90-day window after CEO transition is the highest-leverage period for installing a revenue operating system. The team is receptive, the board is patient, and the new CEO has the credibility to drive change.
The PE board is asking questions about pipeline that the team cannot answer precisely
When the board asks the same pipeline questions consecutively, it means the data does not exist. The Growth Audit creates the data in 48-72 hours.
Revenue is concentrated in a few large accounts
High account concentration is a risk flag for PE firms and a symptom of a revenue system that has not been designed to generate new business systematically. It is the most common pattern at integrated agencies that grew through reputation.
The new business team cannot describe the ICP in consistent terms
If three people on the business development team describe the agency's ideal client differently, the ICP has not been codified. That is a foundational revenue architecture problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions About Fractional CRO
and CGO for Companies Like BarkleyOKRP
What is the relationship between a fractional CRO and the incoming CEO at BarkleyOKRP?
The fractional CRO builds the revenue operating system. The CEO runs the business and owns the relationships. They are complementary roles - Kevin French is not a replacement for Katy Hornaday's commercial leadership, he is the person who gives that leadership a system to operate.
How does the Keystone Capital relationship work in a fractional CRO engagement?
Kevin engages with both the management team and the PE firm. Keystone Capital benefits from the engagement because the revenue system Kevin builds is exactly what they need to support their value creation plan. Transparency to both parties is standard.
What is Inversion Selling and why is it relevant to an integrated marketing agency?
Inversion Selling is a B2B sales methodology built for the buyer-controlled era - where the client enters the new business process already knowing what they want and already having compared three or four alternatives. Most integrated agency pitches are built for the old buyer. Inversion Selling is built for the new one.
What happens after the 90-day engagement?
Most engagements extend beyond 90 days as the revenue system gets refined and the team internalizes it. Kevin's goal is to build something that operates without him - the engagement is successful when the team is running the system and Kevin is the person they call when they want to make it better, not the person running it.
Does Kevin work with agencies outside of Kansas City and the Midwest?
Kevin is based in Philadelphia and works remotely and in person across the country. The engagement structure is typically one or two days per month in person with the rest of the work remote. Geography has not been a limiting factor in any engagement.
Ready to Find Out
What Is Actually Wrong?
The Growth Audit is 48-72 hours, costs $2,500-$3,500, and tells you exactly where the revenue system is breaking - with no obligation to continue. Most clients say it is the clearest diagnosis they have ever received on their commercial operation.
856-418-0502 - Philadelphia, PA - Max 3 active engagements