Cash and service stabilised. A credible plan in 90 days.
Turnarounds have a physics. Cash runs out before the operating improvements take hold. Lenders lose confidence before the management team has proven it can execute the new plan. Customers defect before the service level recovers. The window to stabilise is narrow — typically 60 to 90 days — and the cost of missing it is the difference between a restructuring and an insolvency. The Atelier engagement takes the operating seat — typically as interim COO or CEO — and executes on the three things that determine whether the window stays open: cash stabilisation, service recovery, and a credible forward plan. The operator is in the seat, making the decisions, and accountable to the lenders and the board for the outcome.
What the engagement covers
+
- 01
Cash: immediate cash conservation — payment terms, capex deferral, inventory liquidation, AR acceleration.
- 02
Service: triage the customer base, protect the relationships that cannot be lost, be honest with the ones that require renegotiation.
- 03
Cost: identify structural cost reduction — the permanent kind that does not damage the forward plan.
- 04
Lender communication: a factual, operator-credible narrative for the bank or PE sponsor.
- 05
Operating cadence: install the weekly review that did not exist and was probably part of why the crisis developed.
- 06
Forward plan: a 12-month operating plan with milestones that are achievable and verifiable.
Who engages a Business Turnarounds
+
- 01
PE sponsors and lenders managing a portfolio company in operating distress.
- 02
Boards where the CEO has been removed and the company needs operating leadership through the restructuring.
- 03
Founder-led businesses that have run into a cash crisis driven by operational failure rather than market failure.
Engagement structure
+
Four to five days per week on-site or in-market. Written mandate with the board and lender group. Duration typically six to twelve months, closing on a stabilized business and a successor CEO or COO.
Where the boundary sits
+
- —
Not advisory in a distressed situation — Atelier does not produce a restructuring recommendation and hand it to management to implement.
- —
The operator takes the seat, makes the decisions, and is accountable for the outcome.
Where this discipline compounds.
If the business is in stress and the plan is no longer credible, a private conversation is the fastest route to a real one.
Engage
Ready to scope business turnarounds?
Share a few details and a partner will reply within one business day.