The Constellation Software Playbook for Acquiring and Growing Software Companies

My Guest Constellation Software is one of the world’s most admired, well-followed, and well-respected software acquirors. Since their founding in 1995, they have acquired over 500 individual software companies, and have grown to achieve $8.4B in revenue and a $77B market capitalization. They have achieved these staggering metrics through their exclusive focus on the lowerContinue reading “The Constellation Software Playbook for Acquiring and Growing Software Companies”

Evaluating Stock Options as Attraction, Retention, and Incentive Alignment Tools

Listen to this Blog Post In my second year as a CEO, it became clear to me that our business could benefit from formalizing and codifying our company’s core values. Though I was originally fearful that they might quickly devolve into tired, clichéd, and mostly hollow platitudes, I eventually came to appreciate that if theyContinue reading “Evaluating Stock Options as Attraction, Retention, and Incentive Alignment Tools”

Profit Before Anything Else: With Mike Michalowicz, Author of “Profit First”

My Guest Today I’m joined by entrepreneur, investor, and best-selling author, Mike Michalowicz. Mike is the author of nine books, most notably Profit First, which boasts ~8,700 ratings on Amazon.com with an average rating of 4.8 stars. The book outlines a deceptively simple yet highly effective system to help businesses hit their target profit numbersContinue reading “Profit Before Anything Else: With Mike Michalowicz, Author of “Profit First””

Michael Girdley on The Rise of Holding Companies

My Guest Michael Girdley is an entrepreneur and investor who has spent the past 30 years building a personal holding company boasting over $100M in annual revenue, comprised of 12 businesses across software, technology, consumer retail, and education, among others. Outside of managing his holding company, Michael is deeply involved in the North American SMBContinue reading “Michael Girdley on The Rise of Holding Companies”

Building a $5.5B Mid-Market Private Equity Firm: Brent Belzberg, Founder of Torquest Partners

My Guest My guest today is Brent Belzberg, Founder and Senior Managing Partner of TorQuest, a middle market private equity firm that he founded in 2002 that has since grown to ~$5.5B in assets under management. Outside of TorQuest, Brent serves as a Director of The Sinai Health System, having previously acted as Chair. HeContinue reading “Building a $5.5B Mid-Market Private Equity Firm: Brent Belzberg, Founder of Torquest Partners”

A Deep Dive on Compensation

Listen in Your Browser Questions Asked Verne Harnish: Crafting Company-Wide Compensation Plans (3:06) Verne Harnish is the founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (“EO” for short), a global network of entrepreneurs and CEOs that boasts over 16,000 members worldwide. He is the author of multiple global bestselling books including Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and Scaling Up,Continue reading “A Deep Dive on Compensation”

A Deep Dive on Hiring

Listen in Your Browser Questions Asked Randy Street (3:30) Many of you will know Randy Street as co-author of the book Who: The A Method for Hiring, which introduced the now widely used Topgrading hiring method to the world. The book went on to become a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, USA Today,Continue reading “A Deep Dive on Hiring”

The Merits, Risks, and Possible Unintended Consequences of Earn-Outs

Listen to this Blog Post When acquiring small to medium sized businesses, buyers often utilize a tool called an “earn-out”, which is a form of contingent consideration that sellers may receive at some point in the future in addition to the cash that they stand to receive at closing. Though earn-outs can be useful andContinue reading “The Merits, Risks, and Possible Unintended Consequences of Earn-Outs”

The 2023 SaaS CEO Survey

Listen to this Blog Post The Data Set The year in which each target company was acquired is detailed in the chart to the right. As can be seen, we were able to achieve reasonably good diversity by vintage year, with 18 of the 41 transactions taking place in 2019 or earlier, and 23 ofContinue reading “The 2023 SaaS CEO Survey”

Are You Selling to the Wrong Customers?

Listen to this Blog Post In my experience, among the countless strategic decisions that software CEOs must make, the decision of which end markets to serve doesn’t seem to command the time, attention, and level of thoughtfulness that it probably should. Leaders who run mature and established companies often take comfort in the product/market fitContinue reading “Are You Selling to the Wrong Customers?”