Why Vedant Saboo Measures Business Value, Not Business Activity

Turning Change Into Value

Over the last two years, Vedant Saboo has helped leadership teams navigate some of the most complex initiatives companies undertake. His work at Accordion has included large-scale finance and operating model programs, organizational redesigns, automation initiatives, and performance improvement efforts that have collectively contributed to more than $100 million in enterprise value impact.

Yet Saboo believes many organizations still focus on the wrong thing. “Companies are very good at measuring activity,” he says. “The harder question is whether those activities are actually creating value.” That perspective is shaped by a career that has spanned consulting, private equity, entrepreneurship, and business advisory.

A Private Equity Lens on Value Creation

Saboo started his career at McKinsey & Company, where he learned how organizations approach growth, strategy, and operational improvement. He later joined Blackstone’s private equity team, evaluating investments and partnering with management teams across technology, consumer, telecom, and industrial sectors.

It was at Blackstone where he developed a deep appreciation for how investors think about value creation. “Private equity has a very disciplined lens,” he explains. “Every initiative ultimately gets tied back to growth, profitability, cash generation, or enterprise value. It forces you to focus on outcomes rather than activity.”

Lessons From Building a Business

After earning his MBA from The Wharton School, Saboo took a different path and became a founder. As Co-Founder and COO of Frutero, he helped build a consumer brand from the ground up, expanding distribution to thousands of retail locations across the United States and raising capital from experienced investors and operators.

The experience gave him a perspective few consultants or investors ever get. “When you’re running a business, every decision has consequences,” he says. “You quickly realize that execution is much harder than strategy.” Today, those experiences influence how he approaches business improvement efforts.

Why Good Initiatives Often Struggle

One of Saboo’s strongest beliefs is that many initiatives fail because different groups inside an organization experience them differently. “The board may see value creation. Executives may see performance improvement. Managers may see additional work. Employees may see uncertainty,” he says. “If people don’t understand how success connects to their priorities, execution becomes much more difficult.”

That insight is especially relevant in private equity-backed environments, where timelines are compressed, expectations are high, and every initiative must connect to measurable business outcomes. For Saboo, the best leaders are not simply those who launch programs, but those who align people around the value those programs are meant to create.

The Next Shift in Finance

Looking ahead, Saboo believes finance will be one of the first business functions to experience significant disruption from artificial intelligence. While AI will affect every part of the enterprise, he sees finance as uniquely positioned because of its reliance on structured processes, data, and decision-making workflows.

“The opportunity isn’t just automation,” he says. “It’s helping finance teams spend less time producing information and more time helping businesses make better decisions.”

Across McKinsey, Blackstone, Frutero, and now Accordion, the common thread has remained remarkably consistent: helping organizations focus less on activity and more on the business value they create.

About the Author

Rohan Pius is an accomplished news writer renowned for his analytical expertise across diverse sectors. He skillfully merges incisive analytical capabilities with meticulous research methodologies to deliver clear, insightful reporting on industry trends and their broader economic implications. His work consistently demonstrates a keen ability to synthesize complex information and identify meaningful patterns that resonate with audiences seeking substantive business and economic coverage.