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Transcript
ADAM SOLOMON:
Hi, I'm Adam Solomon, partner at Thoma Bravo, and this is Beyond the Deal, a special bonus episode of Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal, and I'm here with the CEO of Raptor, Gray Hall.
Gray, I am so excited for this chance to hear more about your inspirations, your career, and your life. If our viewers wanna learn about the origins of our partnership, they can listen to our full-length episode on Behind the Deal. But now, in case anyone is joining us for the first time, Gray, could you tell our listeners a little bit about Raptor?
GRAY HALL:
Hi, Adam. Raptor is the leader in school safety software for the K through 12 education market. We provide a broad suite of school safety products for school safety practitioners to use in making their jobs more successful and more effective.
ADAM SOLOMON:
I'd love to know just day-to-day, what's the most rewarding part of your job?
GRAY HALL:
Well, two things come to mind. One is the people that we've had the opportunity to meet as our customers. You know, when you, when you think about the school safety practitioners that are out there every day taking on these school safety concerns and challenges, there are school resource officers, chiefs of police for school and campus police, superintendents, principals, teachers, and other staff members, mental health practitioners, counselors, and even local law enforcement, county sheriff's offices. We've just met some tremendous people that I think are underappreciated for what they do for all of us.
I think in general, uh, what I've always found rewarding about building and growing early-stage tech companies is the, the combined challenge of crafting a strategy to solve an important new problem in a new way and then seeing it all come together, building a team that can execute that strategy, and seeing it realized and seeing outcomes delivered to customers.
ADAM SOLOMON:
You know, wu- I think your, your leadership style is such a great with the way we do business. Would love just if you could describe that leadership style for me a little bit, um, and kinda what's worked, what's not worked, and just how you go about, you know, leading your company.
GRAY HALL:
It's hard to talk about leadership style without first talking about what, what I'm trying to accomplish. So the formula that's worked well for me in the past is getting the strategy right, getting the people on the team right, and then getting everybody aligned and focused on executing the strategy. And so to, to pull that off, I think style has to start with communication and take strategy for example. Part of my job is to make sure every employee in the company understands how their role fits into the strategy and how they contribute to the success of the company.
Beyond the employees, our customers need to understand our strategy and our partners need to understand it, and w- and we need to listen. In other words, oh- our, our strategy has to be informed by the customers. So my job is to communicate and you might say over-communicate, and communication's a two-way street, so get out, talk to customers, explain what we're trying to do, get their feedback, and incorporate that input into continuing to refine the strategy.
On the people and team-side of things- a big part of my job is hiring leaders and hiring leaders that, that want to join Raptor for the right reasons and that bring the, the type of leadership style that's gonna create a great culture, and that really means valuing the things we value.
So one of the things I value in leaders is, is low ego because I think, uh, a humble leader is gonna put customers first and is gonna put th- the success of the team ahead of their own success. And people that do that well tend to also be good at developing leaders, which is the, an important part of getting the, the people and the, the team right.
And then on getting everyone aligned and focused on executing the strategy, it all comes down to ownership and accountability. Uh, so another big part of my job is making sure everybody in the company understands what functional responsibilities they own and that starts at the top. Eh- every executive in the company owns something very specific and my job is to ensure there's no duplication and that we've got the entire waterfront covered, uh, with somebody owning everything that needs to be owned, and then holding people accountable, measuring results, and, and holding people accountable for, for delivering what needs to be delivered, based on what they own.
So, as a leader, I had to set the tone and I have to lead by example in all of these areas.
ADAM SOLOMON:
Gray, you've got kids as well, three girls, and grandkids. How does your family feel about what you do?
GRAY HALL:
My family's very excited about what I do. My youngest daughter, in fact, ih- works in a, in a large school district in Colorado as a counselor and I'm proud to say that the school district is a Raptor customer. My oldest daughter has two children who are just, uh, coming of school-age and, uh, we will be excited to have the opportunity to hopefully protect them as well or contribute to protecting them as they, as they enter school.
So, yes, with, w- with what we do as a company, it's hard not to, to think about how you would want your own children and grandchildren cared for and our mission is motivating enough in its own right but that little extra bit of motivation is and inspiration is definitely there.
ADAM SOLOMON:
Duh- I, I am definitely gonna make sure that every school my kids go to has Raptor and I'll do it even commission-free.
GRAY HALL:
Well, thank you, Adam.
ADAM SOLOMON:
Anytime. (laughs) That's what I'm here for.
GRAY HALL:
So, Adam, if Raptor were to develop a, a product to make the Miami airport more efficient, how much would you be willing to invest in the company?
ADAM SOLOMON:
A limitless amount.
GRAY HALL:
(laughs)
ADAM SOLOMON:
I, I, I love Miami, I love south Florida, it's a great place to, to raise young kids, I love living down here, the weather's great. That airport is terrible and anything we can do, I, th- there's a l- literally there's a limitless amount that we would invest in that company if we could make Miami airport actually work like a, like an airport.
GRAY HALL:
All right, now I know what to, to, what to focus on next year. (laughs)
ADAM SOLOMON:
(laughs) That's, that's right. New business plan, exactly.
DISCLAIMER:
The executives were not compensated in connection with their participation, although they generally received compensation in connection with their roles and in certain cases are also owners of Thoma Bravo portfolio company securities and or investors in Thoma Bravo funds, such compensation and investments subject participants to potential conflicts of interest.
