Bridging the Gap: Translating Corporate Jargon into Venture and PE Impact

After an 18-year career in corporate, Archita Fritz assumed she understood the universal language of business. However, upon transitioning into the venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) spheres, she discovered that the terminology she’d long relied upon held a dramatically different meaning, or sometimes, no meaning at all.

The word strategy serves as a prime example. In the corporate world, strategy often translates to a multi-day offsite meeting culminating in a 50-slide presentation. In venture capital, the core strategy is simply survival – ‘staying alive.’ For private equity, the objective is more concrete: ‘move EBITDA in 12 months.’

The ‘Devil Wears Prada’ Moment in Business Communication

Two years into successfully driving results across both VC and PE firms, Fritz found herself on her fifth call with a value creation marketing lead from a firm she was keen to continue working with. The conversation took an unexpected turn when the lead looked directly at her on Zoom and asked, “Archita… but what do you actually do?”

This question, delivered with polite sharpness, felt akin to a scene from ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ where Miranda Priestly’s understated inquiry cuts to the core. Fritz realized the lead wasn’t wrong. She had been communicating her impact using familiar corporate language:

• “See the impact!”
• “Look at this case study!”
• “Here are the metrics!”

While these phrases made sense to her, they weren’t resonating with her new audience. She was speaking her language, not theirs.

Embracing the ‘Voice of Customer’ for Personal Branding

Grateful for the candid feedback, Fritz decided to apply a strategy she often advises her clients to use when their message isn’t landing: she ran a ‘Voice of Customer’ analysis on herself. She reached out to several of her PE and VC clients and asked them to describe the impact of her work in their own words.

The responses were eye-opening. Her clients didn’t mention frameworks or decks. Instead, they highlighted:

• Speed
• Trust
• Clarity
• The ability to make chaos operational

This feedback fundamentally shifted Fritz’s perspective. She understood that true credibility isn’t built on how loudly you proclaim your impact or the titles you hold. It’s established by how clearly others can articulate the value you bring, even in your absence.

Scaling Through Clarity and Aligned Messaging

This realization marked a turning point. When clients can articulate your value without your direct prompting, your work naturally begins to scale, and your narrative finally aligns with the tangible results you deliver. Fritz emphasizes that if you’ve navigated industry shifts, scaled roles, or pivoted your focus, and people still struggle to define your contribution, the solution isn’t to speak louder. It’s to listen more closely. The key to unlocking your next level of clarity is often found within the words of others.

This article was inspired by a LinkedIn post by Archita Fritz, a professional who works with private equity-backed CEOs and value creation teams to address growth impediments such as misalignment, unclear messaging, or unscalable go-to-market systems.