The focus of the BVCA's 2022 summit was: 'Transforming the Future'. Oakley Capital Partner Rebecca Gibson joined BVCA Director General Michael Moore to discuss the important role that entrepreneurs have to play, and what they are looking for in a private equity partner
"Some of the value creation methods we leverage to help entrepreneurs grow their business include digitising business models, building out leadership teams, and M&A. It can also include performance improvement: giving our management teams the tools to make better informed decisions. The finance function is often an area where we find entrepreneurs have under-invested.
"Alongside business-founders, we will build up this function basic with the nuts and bolts of good management information, including monthly reporting packs and cash forecasting. These steps may sound basic but for a founder-owned business they can be transformational in helping them understand and forecast their business. In a period of uncertainty, these processes and information become much more critical.
"Attracting and working with an entrepreneur early on in their career is a valuable virtuous circle: business-founders are ambitious and often want to do multiple deals over their lifetime. For them, being able to partner with a trusted manager not once but several times and who has a track record of delivering value, is very attractive. Over the years, we have invested in web hosting businesses Intergenia (2.5x MM); Plesk, which became WebPros (6.7x MM); and more recently Contabo (>10x MM), all with the same entrepreneurs.
"These partnerships are incredibly valuable to us, our investors and the broader Oakley platform because there’s nothing more compelling than when you can turn to another founder and say: we have a track record of working with people like you. We understand your business your sector but also the cultural empathy that goes along with working with business founders.
"A group of our fund investor base comprises former and current management teams and entrepreneurs which together make up about 10% of our latest fund. As soon as they successfully exit their business they want to invest in our funds. This is tangible endorsement of our investment strategy and capabilities. They believe in the Oakley economic model because they want to make a good return.
"They also want to remain part of our ecosystem where they can continue to bring us attractive investment opportunities, and feel comfortable doing so because they know they can leverage our support and partnership model to help them grow successful businesses.
