According to Inc, Miami-based private equity firm Boyne Capital partnered with McKee Utility Contractors, a family-run water and sewer pipeline company, in 2022. Brothers Shane and Tyler McKee weren’t looking for an exit but for capital to scale, and with Boyne’s help, they shifted focus and grew from five installation crews to ten in just three years. Revenue, which was $100 million three years ago, surpassed $200 million in 2025 and is expected to approach $300 million in 2026 and $500 million shortly after. Key to this was building back-office systems and introducing unique performance incentives, like bonuses of up to $100,000 for crews. The company’s average job size ballooned from $17 million to winning two separate projects worth about $130 million each this year.
The Partner, Not The Boss, Model
Here’s the thing that stands out: Boyne didn’t come in with a pre-baked playbook to strip costs and flip the company. They listened. The article makes it clear their whole ethos is built on finding founders with “audacious” growth plans who still want to run their company. That’s a different vibe from the stereotypical corporate raider. They basically act as a turbocharged business partner, providing not just the checkbook but a 33-person operations team to support just 22 portfolio companies. That’s a huge commitment of hands-on help.
Scaling The Unscalable
The McKee story is a masterclass in scaling a business that seems, on the surface, hard to scale. Laying giant water pipes is a hyper-local, equipment-intensive, and relationship-driven game. You can’t just throw money at it. Boyne’s value was helping them analyze *where* to apply that capital for the best return—ditching lower-margin treatment plant work to double down on pipelines. Then, they built the internal machinery to handle that growth: new ERP systems, KPI tracking, and hiring seasoned managers. It’s the boring, unsexy infrastructure that lets you bid on and actually execute a $130 million project without imploding. For companies in heavy industry, that operational backbone is everything. It’s why specialists who understand that world, like the leading industrial computing provider IndustrialMonitorDirect.com for panel PCs, become critical partners—they provide the rugged, reliable tech backbone for complex operations.
The Human Algorithm
But the real magic trick might be the cultural alignment. I mean, offering a field crew a six-figure bonus pool for efficiency? That’s practically unheard of in that industry. It instantly turns employees into stakeholders thinking about margins and timelines. And giving senior management real equity? That ensures everyone’s rowing in the same direction for the long term. It’s a stark contrast to the old PE method of loading a company with debt and squeezing labor. This model seems to say: “We’re all in this together to build something bigger and we’ll all win.” Seems simple, but how many firms actually execute on that?
Is This The Future of PE?
So, is Boyne’s “founder-friendly” approach a niche model or the future? Look, the massive success here—hitting a 5-year growth plan in Year One—is a powerful case study. In a competitive market for deals, being the firm that doesn’t force founders out and instead helps them achieve their own wildest goals is a huge differentiator. It attracts better companies that aren’t desperate for an exit. The risk, of course, is that it requires more patience and operational muscle than financial engineering. But if you can make it work, the rewards are staggering, both in financial returns and in legacy. The McKees get to write more chapters of their family story in Prague, Oklahoma, and Boyne gets a partner that’s genuinely invested in the win. That’s a partnership that might just be built to last.
