Post-close · Cybersecurity Services

Management Incentive Plans (MIP) for Cybersecurity Services Independent Sponsors

Securities and M&A counsel for independent sponsors structuring cybersecurity services transactions, from LOI to close to the capital markets that open up afterward.

EV range $10M to $130M EV EBITDA $2.5M to $22M Audience Independent Sponsor
The deal context

Management Incentive Plans (MIP) on cybersecurity services deals is one of those workstreams that looks routine on a checklist and decides outcomes in practice.

The typical cybersecurity services platform sits at $10M to $130M EV with EBITDA in the $2.5M to $22M range. The thesis runs on MSSP or specialty consulting platform. Cleared workforce is the moat. Cleared workforce can also be the deal-killer in CFIUS reviews.

The moves

How Management Incentive Plans (MIP) actually gets structured.

  1. Size the MIP at 10 to 15 percent of post-close equity, with 60 percent time-vested and 40 percent performance-vested.

  2. Use profits interests for tax efficiency, with a clear strike value at grant.

  3. Build double-trigger acceleration on change of control plus termination.

  4. Document the MIP in the LLC operating agreement, not in a separate plan only.

  5. In cybersecurity services, layer in FSO succession plan in place as part of the Management Incentive Plans (MIP) workstream.

The common mistake

Promising the MIP percentage in the LOI without modeling the impact on the LP waterfall. The LP finds out and the deal stalls.

Jason's take
"MIPs are the cheapest retention tool you have. Use them deliberately, document them precisely."
Jason Powell · Management Incentive Plans (MIP)
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

Most independent sponsors solve the closing capital and then run into the post-close capital problem alone. The capital markets relationships that matter at month 18 are part of this practice.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
WORK WITH JASON

Bring the cybersecurity services deal. Get Management Incentive Plans (MIP) done right.

Direct counsel from a securities and M&A attorney with billions in structured transactions, the independent-sponsor-native playbook, and the capital markets network that opens up post-close.