Why Work With Atlasview Equity?

5 Reasons To Work With Us (number 4 will shock you...just kidding)

There are thousands of acquirers out there with many different private equity firms sounding identical to one another. It can be daunting and overwhelming, considering that you’re dealing with the fate of your entire life’s work.

At Atlasview, we’re committed to making things easy & transparent for business owners. So here’s a quick breakdown of reasons why you should work with us and what makes us different from other acquirers out there.

Given this is our first blog post, I’ll start our introduction by sharing a bit of backstory on Atlasview, before getting to the 5 reasons why you should partner with us.

Background

Though we got our start in ~2020, the origins of Atlasview Equity actually go back nearly a decade ago. In 2014, left my job as a consultant at Deloitte to start my own marketing consulting firm. One of my very first hires was Ryan Khan (now Principal at Atlasview). But Ryan left my firm to pursue a career in finance, holding various investment banking, venture capital, and private equity roles, including corp dev for a $1.6bn Thoma Bravo portfolio company.

Meanwhile, my firm worked closely with over 300 clients, designing campaigns, building apps, and working with sales teams - in short, helping clients scale their revenue. We worked with several B2B and tech-enabled companies like InMode, which had a successful $450m IPO, and Cynosure which was acquired for $1.7bn by Hologic.

I started to invest money that I earned from running my consulting firm across different asset classes and building a portfolio of real estate, public equities, and private companies. Ryan and I stayed connected, exchanging our thoughts on what was happening in the world of business and finance over large cups of coffee (and sometimes beers).

I enjoyed investing so much that wanted to transition my consulting firm to an investment firm. I developed a thesis based around B2B software and technology after seeing the massive success of several of my clients. The strategy being: utilize the same operating playbook we developed via our consulting services, but on companies we actually own a stake in, thus capturing the upside. The ultimate alignment.

I kept in touch with Ryan over the years and became increasingly impressed with the investing experience he’d accumulated. Knowing Ryan would be the perfect fit, I convinced him to join me again, and with that, Atlasview Equity was born.

The combination of both our operating expertise and investing experience gives us a significant edge in the lower-middle market.

But let’s dive into what really makes us different…

1. We’re Closers

We have a 100% close rate on our signed LOIs. Yes, it’s only 2 platform acquisitions so far, but think of us like the ‘93 Chicago Bulls right now: we are hungry for a three-peat!

But in all seriousness, we put a lot of effort into our LOIs/offers and stand behind them. We try to do as much due diligence upfront as possible and have a streamlined process for underwriting deals. Specializing in software, tech, and recurring business services helps here. We know exactly what to look for and ask for it upfront.

We know business owners are busy and the last thing we’d want to do is waste your time. So rest assured, if we put an offer on the table, and it gets signed, we are closing the deal!

2. We Move Fast

We don’t have layers of hierarchy, complex investment committees, or multiple decision-makers. No bureaucratic shackles mean fast answers. Either a quick yes or the runner-up to that - a quick no.

We understand and appreciate that you have a business to run, and getting it ready to sell is a large undertaking. Reach out to us first, we promise to make the process easy, and give you a quick response!

3. We Create Value

Atlasview brings a range of both operational and investing experience to the table. We understand that businesses aren’t just Excel Spreadsheets and Powerpoints. Whether you’re selling bits or atoms, all successful businesses are made up of people, and we want to ensure those people are set up to thrive.

We’ve developed an operating playbook that we’ve refined over the years working with several different companies. It’s equipped with strategic initiatives and core KPIs we track and align incentives to. We bring in operating partners and industry veterans that we’ve worked with for a long time to help us execute our playbook and augment the management team. Some of the areas we focus on include:

• Marketing - This is my forte, given my experience running a marketing consulting firm. Allocating marketing dollars to the right programs can have a dramatic effect on any business. My core expertise is in direct response marketing, which has proven to deliver the highest dollar ROI for B2B businesses.

• Finances - Implementing best practices to optimize the cash conversion cycle and increase cash float within the business. Managing your balance sheet effectively means making cash magically appear out of nowhere (believe me, it truly is magical).

• Pricing - Effective pricing is critical, but often overlooked by business owners. Price-increase strategies can drive significant operating leverage, and generate more revenue without changing the overall cost structure.

• Outsourcing - Globalization has flattened the world over the years, and it was expedited by the pandemic. Emerging technologies and applications have made it easier than ever to hire and manage overseas talent. The implementation of a successful outsourcing program can be a force multiplier in any business.

• M&A - The fun stuff. We leverage our experience sourcing and leading deals and help you build a pipeline of potential targets, manage the offers and structure the deals. Completing anywhere between 1-5 deals during our ownership can have a significant impact on your business and its scale.

On average, we’ve improved our portfolio companies’ EBITDA by 132% and customer net dollar retention to 104% under our ownership¹. We’re working around the clock to increase the value of the businesses we’ve been privileged enough to acquire.

4. We Love Founders

Being a business owner myself, I can empathize with just how important your business is to you. Atlasview prides itself on being great stewards of each seller’s legacy. This means taking great care of your customers and your employees.

We want to empower your team with the tools and training needed to help them excel and realize their full potential. Our default position is to retain all of your employees and work with the existing management team, aligning incentives and setting everyone up for success.

We also want to ensure a favourable deal structure for business owners. You’ve worked hard your entire life, put the hours and sweat equity in. You deserve a great payday and a fair market value for your business. Our focus is to take what you’ve built and continue to elevate it through the next stage.

5. We’re Up For a Challenge

We’re not scared to roll up our sleeves to solve challenges for our portfolio companies. Some of the challenges we’ve helped solve for our portfolio companies include:

• Merging 2 multinational entities

• Building go-to-market initiatives from the ground up

• Re-configuring financial controls and entire reporting systems

• Deprecating a non-performing division and a foreign subsidiary

• Revamping A/R and A/P policies and in fact, even helped a portfolio company chase clients for substantial payments

Many PE firms are looking for the Goldilocks of businesses, one that checks all the boxes perfectly. At Atlasview, we’re totally fine dealing with challenges that require a bit of effort to fix. We know that every business has its challenges and we’re not afraid to tackle them. And when needed, we call on a vast network of operating partners and advisors to parachute in and aid us where needed.

Let’s Get In Touch

And there you have it, 5 reasons to work with Atlasview. Are you ready for an intro call?

Feel free to reach out to us, whenever. Whether you’re ready to sell your business today, have a deal for us, or just have questions - let’s chat.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to subscribe. We have all sorts of content lined up around topics like portfolio company management, deal sourcing, optimizing your business’s finances and the inner working of a budding private equity firm!

1. As of August 2022, FX adjusted & normalized