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For PE-backed companies and their operating partners

AI agents for private equity portfolio companies

Take OpEx out of the business. Keep execution moving.

Machine-like builds and runs custom AI agents that handle the recurring work behind your overhead: support tickets, operating reports, customer onboarding, invoice follow-up, and sales administration. Your agents work inside the systems you already use. Your people keep the decisions, relationships, and delivery commitments that need them.

Lower the cost of getting work done, free your operators to lead, and give the business more room to grow. We build the agents, run them, and keep them working.

Find your first workload to automate

See an agent complete a real job and map the opportunity in your business.

Workload mapPE-backed operating companyIllustrative
  1. Support tickets
    1. Identify the issue
    2. Retrieve account history
    3. Check the relevant policy
    4. Answer within its authority
    5. Update the ticket
    Complex cases, context assembled
  2. Operating reports
    1. Gather approved data
    2. Check freshness and completeness
    3. Apply your metric definitions
    4. Prepare the recurring report
    Missing inputs and discrepancies
  3. Customer onboarding
    1. Check the intake
    2. Follow up on missing information
    3. Prepare records
    4. Route to the delivery owner
    Delivery commitments
  4. Invoice follow-up
    1. Review the approved aging list
    2. Check payment status
    3. Follow up under your rules
    4. Record the response
    Disputes, credits, payment arrangements
  5. Sales administration
    1. Capture inquiries
    2. Apply qualification and routing
    3. Prepare follow-ups
    4. Maintain CRM records
    Pricing, negotiation, relationships
21Steps run by agents
5Handoffs to your people

Pull cost out of completed work.

Machine-like agents take the manual, mechanical steps inside repetitive operational jobs, reducing the net expense required to deliver the finished result.

Resolve routine support with less manual handling.

A customer request arrives. Your agent identifies the issue, retrieves account history, checks the relevant policy, answers within its authority, and updates the ticket. Complex cases reach the right person with the context already assembled.

That takes repetitive triage, lookups, replies, and recordkeeping out of the support team’s day. You reduce the workload behind overflow coverage and overtime while keeping experienced people focused on customers who need their attention.

Support queueTicket lineIllustrative

Get operating reports without paying for the assembly.

Your reporting agent gathers approved data, checks freshness and completeness, applies your metric definitions, and prepares the recurring report. Missing inputs and discrepancies are flagged for the owner.

The weekly operating review and monthly management pack stop starting with a scramble through spreadsheets. Finance and operations spend their time explaining performance and deciding what to do next.

Operating reportsAssembly lineIllustrative

Move customers into delivery with less administrative drag.

When a new customer signs, your agent checks the intake, follows up on missing information, prepares records, and routes the work to the delivery owner. The handoff includes what is complete, what is outstanding, and who needs to act.

You reduce the coordination work between the sale and the start of service. Delivery teams get the information they need without becoming the document-chasing department.

Customer onboardingHandoff runIllustrative

Keep receivables moving without the daily chase.

Your agent reviews the approved aging list, checks payment status, follows up under your communication rules, and records the response. Disputes, credits, and payment arrangements go to finance with the relevant history.

Routine collections administration requires fewer manual touches. Consistent follow-up also supports faster collection, giving the business a separate working-capital benefit alongside lower administrative cost.

ReceivablesApproved aging listIllustrative

Keep salespeople selling.

Your agent captures inquiries, applies qualification and routing rules, prepares follow-ups, and maintains CRM records. Open opportunities keep moving through the agreed sequence instead of waiting for someone to find time between calls.

You take data entry and follow-up administration off the sales team while preserving ownership of pricing, negotiation, and customer relationships.

Pipeline administrationCRMIllustrative

Reduce overhead without missing a beat.

Machine-like agents follow defined workflows, use approved information, and escalate exceptions so lower-cost execution stays aligned with your operating standards.

Give every recurring job a consistent path to completion.

We build each agent around the trigger, required inputs, sequence of actions, and finished output. The work follows the process you set, including the checks that matter before a handoff, reply, or update.

Your team spends less time remembering the next step, checking whether someone followed up, or reconstructing what happened.

Anatomy of a workloadEvery run, the same path
  1. 01
    TriggerWhat starts the job
  2. 02
    Required inputsWhat the job needs
  3. 03
    Sequence of actionsThe process you set
  4. 04
    ChecksBefore a handoff, reply, or update
  5. 05
    Finished outputThe result, delivered
No longer on your teamRemembering the next step
No longer on your teamChecking who followed up
No longer on your teamReconstructing what happened

Keep sensitive decisions with accountable people.

Agents start in draft mode. You set which actions need approval, which can run within defined limits, and which are off-limits. Pricing exceptions, payment authority, contractual commitments, and final financial sign-off stay with the people you designate.

Routine work moves through the system. Decisions that need judgment arrive with the information required to make them.

Agent permissionsDraft modeTry it
Reply to routine support requests
Update ticket and CRM records
Send invoice follow-ups
Issue a credit
Stays with the people you designate
  • Pricing exceptions
  • Payment authority
  • Contractual commitments
  • Final financial sign-off
Approval 2Within limits 1Off-limits 1With designated people 4
fitDEGREECustomer story · SaaS

Bring the same discipline to a growing support queue.

At fitDEGREE, Machine-like agents automated 82% of Tier 1 support tickets. Average first-response time fell 68%, and the ticket backlog decreased 54%.

The agents handled classification, customer-context retrieval, approved responses, and record updates inside the SaaS company’s existing support workflow. The team concentrated on complex issues and high-value customer interactions.

Put your best people back on the hard problems.

Machine-like takes responsibility for building, operating, and maintaining your agents, removing the technical workload from your management team.

Hand off the build and the daily operation.

You bring the process knowledge, examples of good work, and the rules that govern the job. We connect the systems, configure the agent, test the workflow, and run it.

Your controller does not become an automation engineer. Your COO does not inherit a second operations team to manage. Your process owner reviews the decisions and exceptions you have chosen to retain.

You bring

  • Process knowledge
  • Examples of good work
  • The rules that govern the job

Machine-like

  • Connects the systems
  • Configures the agent
  • Tests the workflow
  • Runs it
Your controllerAutomation engineer
Your COOA second operations team
Your process ownerReviews the decisions and exceptions you chose to retain

Keep changes and fixes off your team’s backlog.

When a connection fails, an application changes, or an unfamiliar input holds up a run, we investigate and fix the cause. When your process changes, we update the agent’s rules and workflow.

Automated monitoring runs around the clock. Our team handles remediation during Eastern-time business hours and acknowledges alerts within four business hours. You get a plain-language explanation of what changed.

Service pathWhen something breaks
A connection failsAn application changesAn unfamiliar input holds up a run
  1. Around the clockMonitoring catches itAutomated monitoring on every run
  2. Within four business hoursAlert acknowledgedOur team picks it up
  3. ET business hoursCause fixedInvestigated and repaired by us
  4. Plain languageChange explainedWhat changed, sent to you
Your process changesWe update the agent’s rules and workflow

Manage by the work delivered.

A weekly operating report shows what completed, what is waiting for approval, what failed, and what we fixed. Run records connect the summary to the underlying actions and outputs.

You can see whether the job is getting done without supervising every step. See how Machine-like runs your agents.

Weekly operating reportWeek 44Illustrative
Summary, linked to run recordsMon to Fri
  1. CompletedWeekly operating review prepared and deliveredrun 0412
  2. WaitingCredit request held for finance approvalrun 0439
  3. FailedHelp desk connection dropped after an application updaterun 0451
  4. FixedConnection repaired; what changed, explained in plain languagerun 0453
  5. CompletedOverdue invoices followed up under your rulesrun 0470
CompletedWeek closedEvery line opens its run record

Decouple output from OpEx.

Machine-like agents absorb knowledge work as demand grows, giving your team capacity for more customers, transactions, and operating activity.

Break the link between more activity and more administration.

More customers create more support requests, onboarding steps, records, and follow-ups. Agents handle that recurring execution so growth puts less pressure on administrative staffing.

Your people can spend more of their time delivering the service, resolving exceptions, and strengthening customer relationships.

As demand growsIllustrative
Absorbed by agents16 items
Support requests
Onboarding steps
Records
Follow-ups
Where your people spend their timeUnchanged
  • Delivering the service
  • Resolving exceptions
  • Strengthening customer relationships

Carry a successful workflow into the next portfolio company.

Use the first deployment as the starting point for a repeatable operating playbook: the job, required inputs, finished output, controls, and responsibilities. We adapt the workflow to the next company’s systems and rules.

Operating partners gain a concrete way to expand agent adoption across holdings. Each company keeps its own process owner and separately authorized access to its data.

Portfolio rolloutOne playbook, adapted per holdingIllustrative
Operating playbookFrom the first deployment: invoice follow-up
The job
Invoice follow-up
Required inputs
Approved aging list, payment status
Finished output
Follow-ups sent, responses recorded
Controls
Disputes and credits go to finance
Responsibilities
One process owner per company
Holding ALive
Systems
HubSpot, Gmail
Process owner
Controller, Holding A
First deployment, its own access
Holding BAdapted
Systems
Salesforce, Slack
Process owner
AR lead, Holding B
Separately authorized access
Holding CAdapted
Systems
Intercom, ERP (scoped)
Process owner
Finance manager, Holding C
Separately authorized access

Re-evaluate IT migrations.

Machine-like agents connect the steps across your existing business tools, reducing manual handoffs without requiring a company-wide software migration.

Let the agent move the work between applications.

The inbox holds the request. The CRM holds the customer record. The help desk holds the history. Your agent brings the information together, performs the agreed actions, and puts the result where your team works.

Common connections include HubSpot, Salesforce, Gmail, Slack, and Intercom. We scope ERP access, custom applications, and legacy connections around the specific workload.

Across your existing toolsNo migration
InboxHolds the request
CRMHolds the customer record
Help deskHolds the history
Your agentBrings it together, performs the agreed actions
Where your team worksThe result, in place
CommonHubSpotSalesforceGmailSlackIntercomERP, custom, legacy: scoped per workload

Keep control of your systems and information.

You authorize the connections and can revoke access. Your company owns its data and the outputs the agent produces. Customer communications and sensitive changes follow the approval policy you set.

ConnectionsAuthorized by your companyTry it
  • HubSpotAuthorized by you
  • GmailAuthorized by you
  • SlackAuthorized by you
  • IntercomAuthorized by you
Data and outputsOwned by your company
Customer communicationsFollow the approval policy you set
Sensitive changesFollow the approval policy you set

The cost of agent execution stays predictable.

Machine-like bundles the agent build, integration, monitoring, and maintenance into a monthly price per recurring workload.

Pay for the job, including the operation behind it.

One or two workloads cost $249 per workload per month. Three to five cost $199 per workload per month. Six or more receive custom pricing.

A workload is one recurring job with an agreed scope. It can include several connected steps, such as classifying a request, retrieving information, sending an approved response, and updating the record.

Rate cardMonthly, per recurring workload
Workloads
2
Per workload$249/ month
Monthly total$498/ month
Included in every workloadAgent buildIntegrationMonitoringMaintenance

Start without setup fees.

There are no setup or integration fees. Your 14-day free trial starts when the agent goes live on real work, and no credit card is required. Monthly billing is the default, with cancellation available anytime.

When the clock startsTrial timing
  1. ScopingProcess, rules, systems
  2. BuildNo setup or integration fees
  3. Live on real workDay 1 of the free trial
  4. Day 14Trial ends
  5. Monthly billingCancel anytime
$0Setup fees
$0Integration fees
14 daysFree trial
NoneCredit card

Optimize your plan for the work, the people, and the controls.

Get answers to the practical questions about deploying Machine-like agents in a PE-backed business.

01

How do AI agents lower operating costs in PE-backed companies?

Machine-like agents take over recurring digital work that would otherwise require paid staff time or outsourced services. An agent completes the connected steps of a job, including information retrieval, processing, communication, and record updates. That reduces the manual workload behind administrative overhead, overtime, and external support.

02

Where should we start?

Start with a frequent, well-defined job that consumes meaningful paid time. Support handling, recurring reports, onboarding administration, and invoice follow-up are practical starting points. Machine-like maps the workflow with your process owner and defines the finished output before building.

03

How soon can our first agent go live?

Machine-like typically launches a scoped workload within a few days. Timing follows the systems involved, the access required, and the workflow’s complexity. We agree on the launch window during scoping, and your trial begins when live work starts.

04

What does our team need to do?

Your team provides the business rules, system access, examples of completed work, and a process owner. Plan for an initial scoping call of roughly 30 minutes. After launch, your people handle the approvals and exceptions assigned to them and tell us when the process changes.

05

Who handles errors and interruptions?

Machine-like monitors runs, investigates failures, and repairs the workflow. Unrecognized inputs and failed verification hold work for review. If an incorrect output gets through, we pause the workflow, trace the issue, and fix the cause. Deadline-sensitive jobs include an agreed escalation and human fallback.

06

Can an operating partner introduce agents across multiple holdings?

Machine-like works from a defined workload and adapts the implementation to each operating company. An operating partner can coordinate priorities while local teams supply the systems, rules, and approval owners. This supports a repeatable rollout with company-specific controls.

07

Do we need to hire an internal AI team?

Machine-like provides the technical build and ongoing agent operation. Your business retains process ownership and decision authority. Our team handles configuration, monitoring, connection maintenance, and fixes.

08

What happens to our work if we cancel?

Your company keeps its data and the completed outputs in its own tools. Machine-like stops the agent’s runs when the service ends. You retain control of the connected accounts and can revoke access.

Get back tothe work of humans⁠1

Your work should be about creativity, solving problems, and building relationships.
Leave the machine-like tasks to us.