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Transcript
CARL PRESS:
Hi, I am Carl Press, partner of Thoma Bravo, and this is Beyond the Deal. A special bonus episode of Thoma Bravo is behind the deal, I'm here with president and CEO of Foundation, Mike Ode. Mike, this is my chance to get to ask you questions that I want the listeners to hear, and also, quite honestly, these are just questions I want to ask you anyways. So are you ready for this?
MIKE ODE:
Uh, it doesn't sound appetizing, but-
CARL PRESS:
No, I know, I know.
MIKE ODE:
... let's go.
CARL PRESS:
This is what we are really here for.
MIKE ODE:
(laughs) Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
Everything else will just lead up to this.
MIKE ODE:
Sure, sure. Let's go for it.
CARL PRESS:
Uh, okay. All right. Let's jump into it.
MIKE ODE:
All right.
CARL PRESS:
So you started with Foundation basically when the company was founded. We're talking almost 30 years ago in 1996.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
The company was still in its infancy.
MIKE ODE:
Mm-hmm.
CARL PRESS:
You were, uh, a young rising star in the business. Thinking about what you know now, having run this company for so long, and having been part of this organization for so long, what advice would you give yourself back then about the journey that was coming ahead?
MIKE ODE:
All right, that's an easy one. I thought you were gonna stump me there.
CARL PRESS:
Okay.
MIKE ODE:
I would ask more questions. It's the advice I give to every new employee. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There's a lingo there, and there's a dictionary that I'm sure you have here at TB as well. As a matter of fact, I know you do 'cause I had to learn that one during the deal, right? But it, sometimes you put yourself through things because you're afraid to ask somebody a question that you think you should have known the answer to, so you take time, and back then there was no Google, right. So, (laughs) so you couldn't Google things. And, um, funny story is, I remember the first time that, uh, I'm in day one, and we had these in, in order to learn the software, they gave you these seven big three ring binder-
CARL PRESS:
Sure.
MIKE ODE:
... books through my desk and said, "Learn this." And they're like-
CARL PRESS:
Right.
MIKE ODE:
... and your chart of accounts, and I'm like, "Yeah. I don't even know what a chart of accounts are, right."
CARL PRESS:
(laughs)
MIKE ODE:
And I wouldn't ask anybody, right?
CARL PRESS:
Sure.
MIKE ODE:
Like, I wouldn't even ask. So ask more questions.
CARL PRESS:
[inaudible 00:02:08].
MIKE ODE:
Don't be afraid to ask questions, yeah.
CARL PRESS:
One thing about you that I love working with you is, it, it seems like you have a joy for continuing to learn. Like, you're never satisfied with status quo. You always wanna know more about how our business works, how your business works.
MIKE ODE:
Sure.
CARL PRESS:
You're always today asking questions in a really intelligent way. Tell us something, a lesson that you learn maybe the hard way in your career.
MIKE ODE:
Sure. Never write an email that you don't want somebody to read, even if you're not sending it to them.
CARL PRESS:
That's a good one.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
That's just good life advice generally.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah, it is.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
So I will never write an email-
CARL PRESS:
(laughs)
MIKE ODE:
... that if it got in somebody's hands, I would regret it. And obviously, I made that mistake.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
One time, and that's one that I learned the hard way.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah, fair enough.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
And don't email angry.
MIKE ODE:
Don't, don't email angry. Get up, take a walk.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
Come back, read it and make sure that, you know, it's, it's written and comes across appropriately.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah. Yeah. I'd imagine you had a bunch of mentors throughout your life and, in particular, throughout your time at Foundation. Who among them stands out and, and maybe talk about what you learned from them.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah. So, so throughout life I've had many, right. Most of them would go back to sports and be coaches. Uh, you know, I'd say my, my high school hockey coach was, uh, was a great mentor and he, he taught me what I believe to this day is the best advice you can pass down to anybody. And that's just work harder than the person next to you-
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
... right? You know, we all have God-given abilities, um, in different ways. And a lot of that you can't necessarily control, but if you work harder than the person next to you, you're gonna be successful in something.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
Not saying what it is, but, um, that, that, that, that was created base. Um, from a business standpoint, you know, I, I... When I started with my uncle, I, I, I learned a lot from my uncle in, in, in how to approach business.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
Um, I would say coming back to, to recently, um, since the deal, I've probably learned more in this four-year period than I have in the previous 20 years, right? Because in that previous 20 years, it was work harder than everybody else.
CARL PRESS:
Right.
MIKE ODE:
And I lived by that motto, right? And over and over and over, and I was always trying to learn more and learn more and learn more. And I did. But that was what got me through those 20 years. Now, since it... I- I- I've come into this new world of PE, that the things that I've learned from the team and, and the operating partners with, with, with Bill and Jim is, is amazing.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
Um, so lot of different mentors, uh, I'd say, you know, going back, you know, going back and getting a little more personal, my, my grandfather was a big mentor for me, right?
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
You know, taught you about family and, um, making sure that you take care of your family and, uh, be disciplined and discipline is good, and routine is good. Um, you know, so ma- many different manners throughout life.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah. You, you, you never do it alone, right?
MIKE ODE:
Oh, no. You can't. No.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
It's, it's impossible. And, and in all honesty, I probably learned more from my kid than I've learned from anybody in life. Sounds odd.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
But, you know?
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
I've, I've learned a lot from them, and that's great, right? I'm not gonna tell him that. But (laughs) actually, I did. He got married, uh, he got married about a little over a year ago, and I told him that in my speech, but he's not allowed to talk about it. (laughs)
CARL PRESS:
(laughs) I'm, I'm sure he appreciated that.
MIKE ODE:
He did. He did.
All right. So I have one, one question for you as well.
CARL PRESS:
Okay, all right.
MIKE ODE:
So-
CARL PRESS:
Here we go.
MIKE ODE:
Obviously, uh, during the deal there was a lot of back and forth and, uh, a lot of, you know, uh, calming people down and, um, you know, uh, you using me as a sounding board. What, what, what was that like for you? 'Cause I know, I, I believe it was, it was your first, uh, your first big deal, which I could be wrong about. But, uh, I'm curious what, what your thought process was throughout that-
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
... three months, four months?
CARL PRESS:
(laughs) Yeah. It, it was, it was the second deal in the fund. They, they, the first two were happening at about the same time. It was a, it was just a crazy time in the world. First of all, we were all virtual. We were all stuck in our homes. Uh, I had a baby in April, as you know.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
My second son, Cameron, was born in, in late April of 2020. So it was a, it was a wild time for me personally. Uh, this deal, like many good deals, it, it died 1,000 deaths. I, I felt like, you know, there were many Friday nights where I'd read an email from you or your uncle, and I was like, "Okay, well this, this one's going away from us." And I was depressed all weekend. And then Monday would come around and it would be back, and we'd be right back at it. But, you know, like every good deal, the deeper we went, the more we loved it, and the more we felt like, this is a phenomenal team. This is the company to go invest in. Uh, and you know, we, we were gonna do everything we possibly could to try to make it work. And I don't say that about most of the companies we meet and due diligence on-
MIKE ODE:
Sure.
CARL PRESS:
... but we, we knew this was, this was gonna be special. And the whole investment committee knew it, and Orlando knew it. And, and so there was just a lot of energy around trying to get to the right deal for both sides. And amazingly, we did. I still remember-
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
... the, the, the day that we came to an agreement was my sister-in-law's wedding, and I was literally three minutes away from having to run outside to get in line and to, you knows, put the ceremony to start's.
MIKE ODE:
It's so funny, I was standing at the golf course. I remember that. I do remember that.
CARL PRESS:
I remember you were at the golf course.
MIKE ODE:
Because I, I was about to tea time, so you-
CARL PRESS:
I remember that.
MIKE ODE:
You had to get to a wedding, I had to get to a tea time.
CARL PRESS:
That's right.
MIKE ODE:
How about that?
CARL PRESS:
That's right. And we got it done, and-
MIKE ODE:
We got it done.
CARL PRESS:
(laughs) You probably played a good 18 holes and-
MIKE ODE:
Oh, I just-
CARL PRESS:
Good enough.
MIKE ODE:
Celebrated, and didn't worry about it. Yeah. (laughs)
CARL PRESS:
Yeah. And I strapped my, my then like one month old son to my chest and ran out to the wedding. (laughs) stood out there.
MIKE ODE:
That's awesome.
CARL PRESS:
And it was a, it was an awesome day.
MIKE ODE:
Good.
CARL PRESS:
Okay. Should we do some rapid fire?
MIKE ODE:
Do it.
CARL PRESS:
Let's do it. Um, you have a few hours, uh, a rare instance where you have a few hours free, what do you do?
MIKE ODE:
Work out, go outside. Something outside.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
I'm outside.
CARL PRESS:
You're a prolific runner, I think we should make that known to the listeners.
MIKE ODE:
Getting too old to be prolific, but I like to run, yeah.
CARL PRESS:
Average, average length of run is what for you?
MIKE ODE:
All over the years? I don't know. I... When I was training for marathons, I'd probably run 50 miles a week.
CARL PRESS:
Jesus.
MIKE ODE:
Uh, now I'm probably more in the, the 20 range 'cause it's really cold in Cleveland right now.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah, yeah.
MIKE ODE:
It's not fun to be outside, but-
CARL PRESS:
That's still incredible.
MIKE ODE:
I do enjoy running. It's therapeutic for me.
CARL PRESS:
Okay. Uh, favorite comedian.
MIKE ODE:
Chappelle.
CARL PRESS:
I might have to agree with you on that.
MIKE ODE:
Definitely.
CARL PRESS:
There's, there's, there's a lot of good choices there, but I might have to agree with you. Last question, and, and I'm gonna get personal here for a moment-
MIKE ODE:
Sure.
CARL PRESS:
... 'cause I know this is something near and dear to your heart. The Buffalo Bills.
MIKE ODE:
(laughs)
CARL PRESS:
They're, they're right there. They're right there-
MIKE ODE:
Mm-hmm.
CARL PRESS:
... on the verge of winning. When will the Bills get over the Hump-
MIKE ODE:
Oh my God.
CARL PRESS:
And win the Super Bowl?
MIKE ODE:
My answer would've been when Brady retires, which would've been accurate. And now, when Mahomes twist an ankle or something.
CARL PRESS:
Oh dear.
MIKE ODE:
I don't know.
CARL PRESS:
Oh, dear.
MIKE ODE:
I don't know.
CARL PRESS:
Okay.
MIKE ODE:
They both have our number.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
Patriots had it forever, and Kansas City has it for some reason.
CARL PRESS:
As a, as a-
MIKE ODE:
Hopefully, in my lifetime it's gonna happen.
CARL PRESS:
Yeah.
MIKE ODE:
It's been 50 years of Misery, man.
CARL PRESS:
As a Chicago fan, I can, I can lament and it.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
I can, I feel your pain-
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
... so. Mike, it's been, it's been so much fun to get to do this.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah.
CARL PRESS:
Thank you again for making the time. Thanks for sharing with us. Thanks for the partnership for all your leadership and your friendship and, um, looking forward to the years ahead.
MIKE ODE:
Yeah, absolutely. Uh, it's been a, a great time thus far and look forward to continuing, absolutely.
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.
