In this Beyond the Deal mini-sode, Thoma Bravo Partner Carl Press sits down with Foundation Software President and CEO Mike Ode to talk about mentorship, the importance of asking questions, and how some of the best deals get done at times when you least expect it.
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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?
Uh, it doesn't sound appetizing, but-
No, I know, I know.
... let's go.
This is what we are really here for.
(laughs) Yeah.
Everything else will just lead up to this.
Sure, sure. Let's go for it.
Uh, okay. All right. Let's jump into it.
All right.
So you started with Foundation basically when the company was founded. We're talking almost 30 years ago in 1996.
Yeah.
The company was still in its infancy.
Mm-hmm.
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?
All right, that's an easy one. I thought you were gonna stump me there.
Okay.
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-
Sure.
... books through my desk and said, "Learn this." And they're like-
Right.
... and your chart of accounts, and I'm like, "Yeah. I don't even know what a chart of accounts are, right."
(laughs)
And I wouldn't ask anybody, right?
Sure.
Like, I wouldn't even ask. So ask more questions.
[inaudible 00:02:08].
Don't be afraid to ask questions, yeah.
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.
Sure.
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.
Sure. Never write an email that you don't want somebody to read, even if you're not sending it to them.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
That's just good life advice generally.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah.
So I will never write an email-
(laughs)
... that if it got in somebody's hands, I would regret it. And obviously, I made that mistake.
Yeah.
One time, and that's one that I learned the hard way.
Yeah, fair enough.
Yeah.
And don't email angry.
Don't, don't email angry. Get up, take a walk.
Yeah.
Come back, read it and make sure that, you know, it's, it's written and comes across appropriately.
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.
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-
Yeah.
... 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.
Yeah.
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.
Yeah.
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.
Right.
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.
Yeah.
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?
Yeah.
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.
Yeah. You, you, you never do it alone, right?
Oh, no. You can't. No.
Yeah.
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.
Yeah.
But, you know?
Yeah.
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)
(laughs) I'm, I'm sure he appreciated that.
He did. He did.
All right. So I have one, one question for you as well.
Okay, all right.
So-
Here we go.
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-
Yeah.
... three months, four months?
(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.
Yeah.
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-
Sure.
... 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-
Yeah.
... 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.
It's so funny, I was standing at the golf course. I remember that. I do remember that.
I remember you were at the golf course.
Because I, I was about to tea time, so you-
I remember that.
You had to get to a wedding, I had to get to a tea time.
That's right.
How about that?
That's right. And we got it done, and-
We got it done.
(laughs) You probably played a good 18 holes and-
Oh, I just-
Good enough.
Celebrated, and didn't worry about it. Yeah. (laughs)
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.
That's awesome.
And it was a, it was an awesome day.
Good.
Okay. Should we do some rapid fire?
Do it.
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?
Work out, go outside. Something outside.
Yeah.
I'm outside.
You're a prolific runner, I think we should make that known to the listeners.
Getting too old to be prolific, but I like to run, yeah.
Average, average length of run is what for you?
All over the years? I don't know. I... When I was training for marathons, I'd probably run 50 miles a week.
Jesus.
Uh, now I'm probably more in the, the 20 range 'cause it's really cold in Cleveland right now.
Yeah, yeah.
It's not fun to be outside, but-
That's still incredible.
I do enjoy running. It's therapeutic for me.
Okay. Uh, favorite comedian.
Chappelle.
I might have to agree with you on that.
Definitely.
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-
Sure.
... 'cause I know this is something near and dear to your heart. The Buffalo Bills.
(laughs)
They're, they're right there. They're right there-
Mm-hmm.
... on the verge of winning. When will the Bills get over the Hump-
Oh my God.
And win the Super Bowl?
My answer would've been when Brady retires, which would've been accurate. And now, when Mahomes twist an ankle or something.
Oh dear.
I don't know.
Oh, dear.
I don't know.
Okay.
They both have our number.
Yeah.
Patriots had it forever, and Kansas City has it for some reason.
As a, as a-
Hopefully, in my lifetime it's gonna happen.
Yeah.
It's been 50 years of Misery, man.
As a Chicago fan, I can, I can lament and it.
Yeah.
I can, I feel your pain-
Yeah.
... so. Mike, it's been, it's been so much fun to get to do this.
Yeah.
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.
Yeah, absolutely. Uh, it's been a, a great time thus far and look forward to continuing, absolutely.
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.
Certain statements about Thoma Bravo made by portfolio company executives are intended to illustrate Thoma Bravo's business relationship with such persons rather than Thoma Bravo's capabilities or expertise with respect to investment advisory services. Portfolio company executives were not compensated in connection with their podcast participation, although they generally receive compensation and investment opportunities in connection with their portfolio company roles, and in certain cases are also owners of portfolio company securities and/or investors in Thoma Bravo funds. Such compensation and investments subject podcast participants to potential conflicts of interest.
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