Built for private equity sponsors who need to create exit value faster than they can hire for it.
Blackbox Zero puts AI into one high-volume back-office team at a portfolio company, using the tools the company already licenses, and proves the savings on the company's own numbers. Twelve weeks, two checkpoints where you can stop, and shared-risk pricing: half the fee is paid only on measured results.
Blackbox Zero is led by Chris Cook, former Vice President and CFO of IBM UK and Ireland and IBM Deputy Chief Auditor. He built IBM's first AI audit program and reviewed and approved AI use cases as a voting member of IBM's AI Ethics Board.
Lower cost per transaction, measured on the company's own data.
Of the company's team time. No one is assigned full time.
Of the fee depends on measured results.
We start with that team. Here is what it looks like in the four workflows we focus on.
Before: visit notes, authorizations and EVV records are matched to claims by hand, and rejected claims are reworked one at a time.
After 12 weeks: AI assembles and checks each claim against the visit record and payer rules, and billers work only the exceptions.
Before: staff check coverage on payer portals and by phone before every admission or visit.
After 12 weeks: AI runs the checks and flags coverage changes, and staff pick up only the cases that need a call.
Before: claims arrive as emails, PDFs and forms, and each one is keyed into the system by hand.
After 12 weeks: AI reads and enters the routine claims, and the team reviews only what fails a check.
Before: orders are keyed in, invoices are chased by email, and payments are matched to invoices in spreadsheets.
After 12 weeks: orders flow into the ERP, payments match automatically, and collectors focus on the accounts that need a person.
Illustrative examples.
Best fit: PE-backed companies with $50 million to $250 million in revenue and a back-office team of at least 10 people.
Distributions have stayed below 15% of NAV for four straight years, and holds now average about seven years, the point where returns start to stall. Recurring EBITDA is the lever you control.
Build it into your 100-day plan.
Refresh the plan with a result you can measure.
Buyers pay for savings in your trailing twelve months, so the clock has started.
Source: Bain & Company, Global Private Equity Report 2026.
We measure how much work flows through the team and how long each item takes, using the company's system data, and agree a target with the CFO.
Checkpoint 1: If the numbers do not support a target, the project stops.
The new AI process runs alongside the team on live work, with no impact on customers, and the company sees accuracy and time saved every week.
Checkpoint 2: If the results do not point to at least half of the agreed target, the project stops.
The workflow goes live, the work is reorganized around it, and the released capacity is measured against the target and documented for the CFO.
At week 12, the company keeps the improved process, the results tied to the general ledger, the control documentation, and a team trained to run it.
$60,000 in total at target results. Stop after Step 1: $15,000. Stop after Step 2: $30,000. Software licenses are paid directly by the company.
If the numbers are not there, you will know at week 2, not week 12.
We document and trace every AI decision, and the savings tie to the general ledger, so they hold up in a quality-of-earnings review.
“Tying half the fee to measured results is where this market is going, and it takes the risk off the sponsor. For a portfolio company, $60,000 is a small investment against the return.”
Every recurring dollar of EBITDA is worth about eight at a typical middle-market exit. Start with three numbers you already know. Not sure of them? We will estimate them with you on the fit check.
Management decides how released capacity is used: absorbing growth or add-on volume without new hires, not backfilling attrition, or moving people to revenue work. The first two show up in EBITDA directly. The third shows up when it lifts revenue. Assumes 160 productive hours per employee per month.
As IBM's Deputy Chief Auditor, Chris mapped the audit process end to end, redesigned it for automation and AI, and moved a 130-person global team onto IBM OpenPages, integrated with IBM's first AI audit plan. When 40% of IBM UK and Ireland was carved out into Kyndryl, a new public company, he remapped client contracts and pricing into separate business units and reassigned accountability and oversight.
He also served as Vice President and CFO of IBM UK and Ireland and Controller of IBM Japan, and reviewed and approved client AI deployments as a member of IBM's AI Ethics Board. As an Operating Partner at Altos Equity Partners, he applies AI to deal sourcing, diligence and deal workflows, and sees the sponsor's side of the table.
CFA charterholder · Yale SOM MBA · BU Computer Science · Audit Committee Financial Expert
Chris leads every engagement personally, from the first measurement to the CFO's sign-off, bringing enterprise rigor and financial discipline to your transformation. Specialist AI, data and process engineers, controls design experts and regulated industry experts are deployed where needed, matched to the needs of the workflow.
Bring one portfolio company and one workflow, with ballpark numbers. You will know whether it qualifies, and what the improvement could be worth at exit. There is no cost, and no data to send in advance.
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Prefer email? ccook@blackboxzero.com or connect on LinkedIn.
