Charting a New Course with Fund C: A Deep Dive into Our Growth Strategies and Operational Evolution

We're proud to say how much we've grown at SureSwift Capital — both over the past two years since our acquisitions pause, and over the long term, with two successful funds since our 2015 inception. With that said, we fully recognize that expanding in any sector brings growing pains right along with it. Around here, it's no exception.

Since SureSwift was founded nine years ago, the SaaS ecosystem has matured, which means that things that worked well for us as a small startup weren't necessarily going to work as we grew. We needed to pivot and evolve. Throughout this, our team was lucky to go through several learning and improvement opportunities, including all the twists and turns along the way.

Now, we're excited to take all that we've learned and become even bigger and better with Fund C. Here are just a few of the areas that look different today than when we started.

"We're proud to say how much we've grown at SureSwift Capital — over the past two years since our acquisitions pause, and with two successful funds since our 2015 inception — but we fully recognize that expanding in anything brings growing pains… and we're ready for them." James DeGreef, CEO

1. Leading with a new, highly experienced team growing SureSwift to new heights

Since 2022, as our portfolio grew, so did our leadership team and its capabilities. SureSwift has welcomed a new group to lead the organization with deep experience in tech businesses and investment.

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CEO James DeGreef joined, with COO John Austin and CFO Paul Moore following quickly. Since then, a variety of subject matter experts and visionary leaders in key areas like marketing, M&A, investor relations, and HR, have joined them, as well as a GC to support our growth and our portfolio companies' operations. Most recently, Connor Edwards came on as our new Director of Mergers & Acquisitions, bringing invaluable investment expertise and experience along with him.

2. Improving organization and business processes: Exceptional Operator Framework

A growing team and growing portfolio called for new approaches to operations. According to SureSwift COO John Austin, “Throughout the past two years, we've changed and improved processes and procedures across SureSwift for a more scalable, dynamic approach and better fit with our growth and future plans. This is what we call our Exceptional Operator Framework.”

This framework was created to achieve high-performing, semi-autonomous operations where portfolio businesses are empowered to make smart, swift decisions and quickly respond to changing market demands independently — all while being fully supported by collaboration in the broader SureSwift ecosystem.

Newly onboarded Fund C businesses will have the benefit of these updates and resources from their very first day in the SureSwift portfolio:

Business planning. Businesses are on a biannual business planning cycle, with planning happening every 6 months.

Skill guilds. These are monthly meeting opportunities, hosted by corporate leadership, for team members in similar roles to share knowledge, solve problems, and participate in learning and development. They learn from our business leaders' experience and expertise in each session, which strategically covers topics that are part of the current quarter or half-year. Formats include virtual collaboration calls and presentations shared broadly across the organization.

Playbooks. Our best practices, guides, and checklists — from security protocols to marketing strategies — are compiled into "playbooks" by experts across the portfolio and are made available to every SureSwift team member.

Monthly basecamps. Each month, the executive team and corporate subject-matter experts meet with our portfolio General Managers to review data, problem-solve, and provide transparency to metrics, OKRs, issues, and initiatives.

3. Deepening Investor involvement from day one with a Limited Partners Advisory Committee (LPAC)

During Fund B, Investors were provided with information, but fund agreements did not allow for an advisory committee or LPAC. We've since learned there could have been more opportunities to provide feedback. After all, Investors have plenty of investment, business, and tech expertise and experience to share.

So, in 2023, we amended the Fund B agreements to provide the framework for an LPAC. The LPAC now provides ongoing insight and strategic advisory overview for the Fund, improving business decisions even further. This includes advice on acquisitions, fund management, and more. Although participation is optional, we can see it generates amazing business ideas and advice and that it has truly become invaluable to our operations.

4. Creating and offering better value

Our Fund B businesses were acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic market peak, at a time when valuations were very high for quality SaaS businesses. With interest rates having increased since, the economy has cooled and valuations are down. This means that with Fund C, we expect to see better value through business acquisitions at lower prices.

SureSwift Founder Don Wharton is excited about the acquisition opportunities he sees for Fund C. “SureSwift is now in a position to acquire excellent SaaS businesses at better values than were available a few years ago. Post-COVID, valuations have cooled down, but the SaaS ecosystem continues to produce strong businesses with great growth potential.”

5. Acquiring larger, standalone businesses

During Fund B, we acquired businesses in a variety of sizes, including some small and some with add-ons or products that complemented other SureSwift portfolio businesses, along with several Shopify apps. We learned that these smaller businesses were more difficult to stabilize and didn't perform quite as well over the long term. Plus, synergies with our existing product suite were tough to predict accurately, despite plenty of due diligence. Finally, we’re paying careful attention to factors like heavy app or integration dependencies, which can bring a level of uncertainty even to high-performing products.

This time, with Fund C, we're focusing on slightly bigger businesses of about USD$1-5 million ARR. We know that each business we consider must be excellent and stand on its own. As well, we'll dive deep into getting to know the Founders, their teams and ensuring overall they're a good fit for SureSwift's culture, values, and vision, with the support of solid onboarding for a smooth transition.

6. Targeting the B2B SaaS model

Throughout Fund B, we acquired a range of businesses that aren't completely within the B2B SaaS realm, like Tradervue, MeetEdgar, and Cross Sell. Along the way, though, and over our nine years and 50+ acquisitions, we've unearthed our key to success: B2B SaaS. These businesses simply offer regular revenue we can count on along with consistent growth opportunities. During this time, our true B2B SaaS businesses — Vitay, Ghost Inspector, and LeadDyno — delivered the strongest performances and potential against the rest.

This means for Fund C, we're making sure to prioritize acquiring SaaS businesses with similar go-to-market and customer success functions along with product capabilities. Although we're not seeking business or market synergies like cross-promotions and revenue expansions, we are seeking operational similarities where our teams can share learnings and best practices based on similar business functions. This will enable our leaders and teams to leverage one another's success by collaborating and sharing knowledge with other Fund C businesses (and many Fund A and Fund B businesses, too).

7. Connecting with Founders on the regular

Over the course of Fund B, Founders were sold on the notion they were getting a straightforward, fast sale. They gave our product teams advice and information for a short period post-closing. Since then, we've learned they were surprised we didn't come to them more often after that time for advice — after all, they truly care about the products they sold and want to ensure we were set up for success.

This insight reveals a huge value-add for SureSwift, and we welcome having them around to support our success post-acquisition. That's why for Fund C, we've introduced the Founder’s Council — a place where those who have sold to us can offer their insight and advice, plus benefit from networking opportunities with SureSwift and Fund C stakeholders.

These strategies are just some of the various measures we're taking at SureSwift to make sure we continue to thrive and grow - and look to contribute meaningfully to the SaaS ecosystem. As the SaaS landscape has evolved over the past several years, we expect it will do so again (and again!), and we're excited to adapt, pivot, and embrace whatever changes come our way — during Fund C and beyond.

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For more information on any of these initiatives or our acquisitions, visit our Founder page, explore our portfolio, learn about our process, and get in touch anytime.

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