Thoma Bravo Partner Brian Jaffee takes listeners inside the years of waiting and watching that eventually turned into a quick make-or-break opportunity to acquire Bottomline. With 30 years of history, a management shakeup, activist investors and plenty of competition, the Bottomline take-private wasn't easy but it was worth the work. Brian is joined by Bottomline CEO Craig Saks who talks about his unique experience transitioning to CEO, the importance of optimizing cash flow, where the fintech world is headed, and how eliminating paper checks can lead to higher GDP.
AIR DATE:
March 14, 2024
RUN TIME:
35:15
Transcript
DISCLAIMER:
This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an advertisement. Views expressed are those of the individuals and not necessarily the views of Thoma Bravo or its affiliates. Thoma Bravo funds generally hold interest in the companies discussed. This podcast should not be construed as an offer to solicit the purchase of any interest in any Thoma Bravo fund.
HOLDEN SPAHT:
Welcome to Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal. I'm Thoma Bravo Managing Partner, Holden Spaht, and that was Thoma Bravo partner Brian Jaffee speaking with Craig Saks, CEO of Bottom Line. The take private of Bottom Line is an example of a classic Thoma Bravo deal. The company had a solid, highly recurring revenue profile in a highly differentiated business payments network. This was a company we've been tracking as part of our fintech efforts for more than 15 years, which gave us a differentiated understanding of the business and its markets. Combined with that, strong secular tailwinds were accelerating the move of B2B payments from paper to digital. As with every deal, there were hurdles. The company was misunderstood in the public markets and needed a refreshed, simplified strategy that focused its energy on B2B payments and an assist when it came focusing on growth and profitability. Fortunately, as a firm, we already had a strong history and a great relationship with Craig Saks, whom we quickly realized was an ideal CEO candidate to lead Bottom Line through a market that was right for disruption. Brian and his team played their hand perfectly. They enabled us to buy the business at a great price, and in 18 months, we've tripled the EBITDA, and that's just the beginning. So today, you'll hear everything that went on behind the deal from Brian Jaffee, the deal lead and partner at Thoma Bravo, followed by his conversation with Bottom Line CEO Craig Saks.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Hi, I'm Brian Jaffee. I've been with Thoma Bravo for just about 10 years. I'm a partner in our flagship fund. And today on Behind the Deal, we'll be discussing our Bottom Line take private.
Bottom Line is a really interesting business in the B2B payment space. It's actually a company that's been around for a really long time, uh, originally founded in 1989 and then went public in 1999. And so, it was a public company for over 20 years by the time we ended up taking it private. And the business back then, its core focus was kinda ahead of its time. So, if you go back and look at the original S1 from 1999, they really talk about digitizing B2B payments. Uh, so back then, they were very ahead of their time, and ultimately, what they're trying to create is like the Zelle or the MasterCard or Visa of business payments.
Bottom Line really stood out to us in the market for having really the, the best position in AP automation for the enterprise. So if you look at that AP automation market, there are players down at the low end that really focus on SMBs, there are some players that focus on the middle market, and then Bottom Line really focused on this enterprise market, which really has a lotta complexity and tons of volume, and still a lot of paper checks being processed for these payers. And so, we felt like bottom Line was still in the early days of gaining market share. A lot of those enterprise customers are either using very manual processes to make their business payments or leveraging their ERP or their banking relationships, but they're not doing it in a very automated or, or digitized way. And we saw that opportunity with Bottom Line as something that should be a huge, uh, growth engine for the business going forward. And the other big thing that, that we saw in terms of the, the market and Bottom Line's products, was that even though Bottom Line had a lotta different pieces in this B2B payments market, a lotta those pieces hadn't been integrated together from a technology standpoint.
Thoma Bravo had been following Bottom Line for a really long time. When I joined in 2014, I started a dialogue and relationship with Rob Eberle, the CEO at the time, and we spent years and years getting to know him and the business. And actually, in 2016, we took a pretty hard look at the business, although we decided at that point in time that, that we weren't quite comfortable or ready to, to buy it, but we continued to, to stay in touch, track the performance of the business, uh, keep a really good dialogue with Rob.
And then in 2021, there was, uh, a number of activist investors that actually came into the stock, and the reason for that is that the business at the time, you know, it was seeing its, its top line revenue decelerate a little bit down to closer to 10% growth, and its margins at the time were in the low double digits, around 12 or 13%. And being a rule of, call it 20 company as like a micro cap stock is just not a very interesting place to be. And, uh, these activist investors realized, you know, that there was probably an opportunity for the company to either, uh, split off some of the pieces and try to sell them, or push them to, to sell the whole company. And so, given our longstanding relationship with Rob and our deep understanding of the business, we were able to actually come in kinda toward the end of 2021 and move very quickly to try and get a deal done.
I would say, this one is maybe a little bit unique in terms of the length of time, but this is exactly what we do. Even if there isn't necessarily a deal to be done today, what we love to do is build relationships and dialogues with, with companies that we have a ton of respect and admiration for in markets that we like a lot, knowing that at, at some point in time, there, there may be a deal to do. And this was a great example of, of that. And I think the fact that we had such a great relationship with Rob and that we had such a deep understanding of the company, that actually gave us a huge competitive advantage relative to a few others that were looking at the deal at the same time as us.
There were definitely some hurdles, like any deal. I'd say, with Bottom Line in particular, one of the big hurdles in the deal was that Rob had come to us and, and basically said, "Hey, I've been doing this for a long time, I'm probably not gonna be your CEO for this four or five year journey. I'm certainly not gonna, you know, step out tomorrow and leave you guys in a, in a lurch here, but you should just know that we're gonna have to figure out a, a succession plan." And there wasn't really a, an obvious internal candidate, so we knew coming into the deal that we were gonna have to solve this, this very specific, very important leadership issue.
And that's a little bit different for us in terms of how we normally operate. We have a very long history of partnering with existing management teams and not changing them out. In this situation, it was totally fine because Rob was very upfront with us from the beginning and we knew we were gonna have to solve this issue. And during our diligence process, we were working with a market consulting firm to really help us better understand, uh, the size of the market, the growth in the market, Bottom Line's competitive positioning in all the different, uh, markets that they operate in. And that particular consultant happened to be working with an operator that we knew, and his name was Craig Saks.
And that actually was really interesting for us, because we were starting to think about potential CEO replacement candidates, and Craig was certainly on that list. And then he showed up to help us with the diligence, so he got to really deeply understand the Bottom Line business through that process. We obviously got to know him super well. And when we signed the deal, we turned around pretty quickly and said, "Hey, Craig, is this something you might be interested in, in running?" And he was very excited, uh, about the opportunity. The only issue is that we signed the deal in December of '21, but we weren't gonna be able to close until about May of the following year as we had to go through all the different regulatory, uh, processes to get closed.
And, you know, in private equity land, that's a very long time to have to sit on your hands. And knowing that Rob was ultimately gonna transition out, we went to him and said, "Hey, we've got an idea. What if you bring on Craig as, like, your chief operating officer? Let him work with you, uh, you can mentor him, he can get underneath the business and really understand it between that sign and close period, and then when we close, instead of having to go through that process five or six months later, he can basically step in as CEO, you can step down as part of your retirement plan, and it would just be a really seamless transition for the business and for the employees."
And to Rob's credit, he was super supportive of that idea, he took it to his board, he needed to get the public company board of directors to approve this idea, which they ultimately did. Craig became the Chief Operating Officer of the company, uh, really in early 2022, we closed in May, we made the transition where Craig stepped in and became CEO, and we were off to the races. And that really gave us a six-month, uh, headstart on the investment, which is just incredibly valuable.
Craig really is one of our strongest leaders and best operators, uh, I think a- across the portfolio. The first time we really got to know Craig deeply was when he was working with us on the diligence of the deal. And in the final weeks leading up to signing the deal, that's always the most intense time, you're scrambling to get all your work done, to move faster than, than your competitors in the process, and there was a point in time, actually, where we had the company under exclusivity for seven days. You know, seven days is not a very long time to finish your work. And so, we were basically having to do diligence calls around the clock, and we were based in San Francisco on the West Coast, Craig is based on the East Coast, some of the members of the management team at Bottom Line are based in Europe, and so we were doing calls at all hours of the night. And Craig was showing up on these calls at 2:00 AM his time, grinding through it with us. So that was, I think for us, the moment where we realized that he was just totally committed, such a hard worker. And now that we've seen Craig on the other side as our CEO, not surprisingly that has completely carried through.
And the other thing I would say about Craig is he clearly has a strong following, and I think that's always a good sign of any operator, particularly a, a CEO. So as he's gotten started and, and really dove into the business, he's brought in, uh, leaders from his past life that, you know, had great opportunities where they were, but really wanted to come to Bottom Line and work with us and with Craig because of the relationships that they had built over many years. And so, because of that, you know, we're now fortunate to have a, a really strong leadership tea around Craig as well.
Bottom Line acquired Nexus pretty quickly after we closed the deal. So we, we closed our take private in May of 2022, and we turned around and really working hand in hand with the management team, uh, identified Nexus as a really strategic acquisition target, and got that deal signed in the summer of '22 and then closed shortly thereafter. And this is something at Thoma Bravo that we really like to do, which is both helping our companies build really strategic positions in their markets through M&A, and doing it very quickly with the balance sheet capacity that we create from all the operational changes. And the other big opportunity for the company is, we are putting together the pieces in a much more strategic, coherent way. And I'll give Craig a lotta credit, he's been, uh, really taking charge on, on that initiative, but having a much tighter technical integration between all the products, cleaning up a lotta the legacy tech debt that existed for years and years, and unlocking revenue opportunity, and really simplifying and streamlining the business as he does it. So we couldn't be more excited about the future growth opportunity for Bottom Line and where the business is going from here.
Up next, my conversation with Craig Saks, CEO of Bottom Line.
Craig, good to see you.
CRAIG SAKS:
Hey, Brian, good to see you too.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
We had a board meeting yesterday, so I guess it's, it's good that you decided to still come back. (laughs)
CRAIG SAKS:
(laughs)
BRIAN JAFFEE:
We didn't scare you off.
CRAIG SAKS:
Yesterday's was a good board meeting, so.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
That's true. When the numbers are going up it makes things a lot easier.
CRAIG SAKS:
Absolutely. I don't wanna come to board meetings when the (laughs) numbers aren't going up.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
That's right. (laughs)
CRAIG SAKS:
That doesn't look good.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
That's right. We're super excited to, to have you here and to talk about Bottom Line and what's been a, uh, really fun partnership and investment, and really appreciate all, all your leadership here. If you could give us a short elevator pitch on Bottom Line and its mission, that would be great.
CRAIG SAKS:
Yeah, of course, Brian, so, thank you. So, I always test this when I tell my friends and family what I do, because otherwise it doesn't make sense and it just sounds like quite an esoteric thing, but essentially, Bottom Line is all about helping companies pay each other. So if a company needs to pay another company, we've got the products and the networks, the payment networks that enable companies to make those payments or to receive those payments, and then to actually manage the cashflows. And the reason this is really important is, as we always say, cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. And anything that can make cash flows more efficient and safer and quicker is going to really be helpful just to keep the whole cogs of commerce turning. And so, it's a really important thing we believe where we have an opportunity to help the, the wheels of business in the US, in Europe, and in fact in Asia and around the world, to turn more smoothly and more quickly.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Maybe before we dive into the company in a little more detail, let's bring everybody into the months leading up to the deal getting signed. There was obviously a, a lot of activist pressure on the company, and you were actually able to come in as part of our diligence process to help us better understand the company's products and the market opportunity and the growth. What was it like working on, on that side? What did you see in terms of initial thoughts on Thoma Bravo and how we were operating, and then also maybe your initial impressions of the business?
CRAIG SAKS:
Yeah, look, that was a, a real fortuitous opportunity and gift, really it was, being able to participate in the process from the outside in and to see how Thoma Bravo thinks about making an investment and what you guys valued, and just to be able to look at the business objectively. 'Cause I actually think that's really one of the most important things that organizations like Thoma Bravo bring to a company, is you look at it objectively and you ask the hard questions without emotion, without rationalization or anything else. And that was really helpful. So the fact that I was able to participate not as an insider but as an outsider through the deal process, really gave me an opportunity to see the business from the outside perspective and to see the opportunity in the business not colored by trying to sell it or to dress it up in any way, but to really understand what is underneath the opportunity and why it is such a great opportunity.
And Bottom Line is a fantastic opportunity, but at the time, it was quite hard to understand. It was a collection of somewhat related assets that weren't coherently packaged and described, and there inlay a lotta the opportunity in the business. And going through that diligence process and working with the Thoma Bravo team was very helpful to bring real clarity to the essential opportunity, and to what really mattered and where we could turn the dial quite quickly and have a big impact on the performance and value of the business, and quite frankly, where we needed to be more disciplined and focused. Being able to spend that time for a few months looking in and participating in the debate and the discussion and the evaluation was really constructive, and I think gave us an opportunity for an incredibly fast start once the transaction actually closed.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
So, Bottom Line was founded in 1989, went public in 1999, 10 years later as a, a hot fintech, uh, business back then, and really was public ever since until we, we took the company private a few years ago. Maybe talk a little bit about the history of the company in terms of how you understand it.
CRAIG SAKS:
Yeah. 1989, I was still a teenager, and-
BRIAN JAFFEE:
(laughs)
CRAIG SAKS:
... I met my future wife, so it was a good year, also a good year to, to start the company. So, Bottom Line, people often ask, "What is it... Where does the name come from?" Because it's a great name for a company that's involved in business payments, I love it. Bottom Line, the company's bottom line, all of those good things. So, I, I love the, the brand and it's fortuitous.
But where it really came from is that in the, the '80s, paying by check was still a big thing in the world of business, and people wrestling with how do you make payments more efficient when check is the dominant way to pay? And obviously paper check is slow and it's, uh, risky and what have you, and people were building solutions to optimize the check payment process. And one of the things that Bottom Line did when it was founded was to say, "Well, how do we make the production and distribution of checks better?" And so, they created solutions that would print checks, and we, at the time, had a check printing solution and help you manage the whole check process and flow. And the bottom line referred to the account number that you print at the bottom of a check. So we would distribute blank checks, just the basic paper, pre-printed, but without the check details, and then we would print the check details, including the account details at the bottom line. And so, that's where the name of the company came from.
And so, in 1989, that was really important. And in fact, the surprising thing, particularly in the US, the world of checks still persists and is actually one of the big reasons we have this opportunity. The US is such a huge economy, there's, what, over 30 trillion dollars of business payments each year, and we believe about half of those are still made by check. And so, our mission in life is to, to how do we make that a better experience? Because checks are slower, you know, it takes... the physics are limited, you can only fly a check across the country so fast, it can only move at the speed of a jet, whereas electronic payment moves at the speed of light and is instantaneous, for example.
And so, we continue this journey of digitalizing business payments, bringing efficiencies to the party, making sure that they're secure, and taking the immense cost that is associated with paying by check or paying in a more inefficient way with our new solutions and this continued transformation. And if you convert that market opportunity of trillions and trillions of dollars of business spend that hasn't been optimized in the realm of payments as far as consumer payments that have been optimized, um, in our countries, you actually have this immense disruptive market opportunity, which is really what Bottom Line's all about, how do we contribute to making the world of business payments and cash management more efficient and faster and safer at scale? And out of that, companies get all sorts of benefits, and of course we get to, to participate in the benefits by providing our value adding service.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Yeah. I think it's so cool how the company originally started focused on helping businesses print checks, and then over time has completely reinvented itself to basically disrupt that market and now move everything closer and closer to full digitization.
CRAIG SAKS:
Yeah. It is actually quite ironic that we started with someone that we're now trying to destroy.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Yeah.
CRAIG SAKS:
But the market wants us to destroy it. I had a meeting with one of the very senior guys in one of the big banks we work with, and we were talking about this whole marketplace, and from his perspective, one of his number one business priorities is the removal of paper from the business payments process. And I think the important thing is, it's not just about the physical check and the payment itself. Business payments are a complicated process from beginning to end because it's about reconciling the invoice and the purchase order and the delivery note and making sure that those things are lined up, that you're only paying what you should be paying for and so on, and it is then also by taking it through a whole authorization process.
And I don't have to speak to a lot of people before I make a payment at home. Uh, maybe it's a discussion between my wife and I, but in a big company there're a whole lot of people who need to look at a payment and say, "Yes, I agree, we've received the goods and I agree we can pay it and I agree it's lined up with the legal contract," and the boss must say yes and the boss's boss must say yes and so on. And so, there's this whole convoluted and very complicated workflow that is necessary to ensure that you only pay for what you're supposed to pay for and that you do it in a managed and a safe way. And so, that's a complex flow, and we help with that whole flow.
And then specifically, for checks themselves, you're totally right. Someone has to go to the mailbox or the lock box and collect the checks, someone's gotta read it, someone's gotta connect it to where it came from, someone's gotta figure out who sent it, someone's gotta scan it, someone's gotta make sure it's deposited, and then someone's gotta go and capture the fact that it's been paid into the ERP system. And so, there's this whole process. Whereas enter a company like Bottom Line, and the payment arrives electronically, all the data that you need to do all of that reconciliation and matching arrives with it. And, you know, when you properly integrate it, it automatically gets posted in the right place. You go from a process that involves the physical transportation of a piece of paper, if you're still sending a paper check, through to the whole management of them reading, the scanning, the reconciliation, et cetera, et cetera, to something that comes through the system as quickly as a computer can push it through. And the cost differential is massive. People talk about processing a check costing tens if not hundreds of dollars for some of the more complex processes because it's so manual and it needs so much management, compared to what a truly digitized business payments process is.
And that comes back to some of the comments I was making earlier on, by doing this, we are really oiling the machine of business payments. You don't wait days to get your money. You don't spend days trying to figure out where it belongs and which cost center to code it against. You get to see it, you get to forecast it because you see when we send it and so on. And so, the whole management of your cash flow is just optimized. Your management of the money flowing through your business and the management of your ability to then pay your suppliers in turn is just so enhanced that it is value adding.
And if you look at a bunch of market research that has been done by big payment companies and academics, you can noticeably connect the level of improving the digitization of payments to improvement in the macroeconomics of the country. GDPs improve with every percentage point of digitizing payments. That's been proven time and time again. And so, the value proposition is for individual companies, but the value proposition is also for countries and for markets as a whole. [inaudible 00:24:10] geeking out on payments, actually [inaudible 00:24:12] on changing the world, I really do believe that what we do as, as a company adds value to businesses and to the economies and the communities within which we operate.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
So, I like to think in that last week leading up to when we signed the deal, I joke that in that exclusivity period, we had seven days to diligent seven business, basically. And it was pretty fast and furious, and you were a huge part of that process and helping us get comfortable with the business. What was that like for you? I, I... You were on diligence calls literally at some points at two in the morning. And I look back on that very fortunate that you were still willing to work with us (laughs) after that process. But maybe tell us a little bit about that.
CRAIG SAKS:
If I had any illusions about what it would be like-
BRIAN JAFFEE:
(laughs)
CRAIG SAKS:
... to work in a Thoma Bravo company, after the fact, (laughs) that certainly gave me a good sense.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
(laughs)
CRAIG SAKS:
No, I'm teasing. Um, the, that whole intense week was actually really good, because I think what people get wrong is that one can storm in and do this and truly understand the nature of a business in one week, and particularly something like Bottom Line, as you point out, which was essentially seven different independent lines of business, almost like a, a federation holding company. And I think that one of my key takeaways from that was that week was actually a combination of you guys, I know, watching the company for two decades and really building a real good understanding of the industry, of the underlying drivers of what this business is, of its market and its potential. So you guys had been thinking about this for a long time, which I think actually enables you to be very decisive and very focused and quite intense when the moment is right to make a move.
And so, that week, while it was incredibly busy, and we were really studying seven different business, and assessing the market, and talking to management, and debating what we thought, and scratching in the data, and working these very long hours, was actually built up on a foundation of real insight and understanding of what the underlying hypothesis and opportunity is in the marketplace. And I think that enabled Thoma Bravo to make a, a good decision and to act quite decisively. And I think my main takeaway from that was just how structured the process was, how incredibly disciplined Thoma Bravo is in that process, how unemotional you are, you don't believe anyone's propaganda, you know, and you were able to evaluate things clearly and then make a call. And in this case, you guys made a great call.
I think the other thing that, that struck me is that it's just, it's not two guys in a room and a cup of coffee, it's (laughs) actually an ecosystem of people that are working. And if I think about those two weeks as that, th- that last week, that diligence process, it was obviously the consultants working on the market, it was the legal firm, it was the quality of earnings auditors, it was big team from Thoma Bravo, it was IT due diligence and technology due diligence, and no stone was left unturned. And it was actually just amazing to watch this machine that has obviously been honed over decades assess every single aspect of the business, what was important, what was risky, what was exciting, what needed to be taken care of, and then move decisively. And I think everyone was surprised by how quickly you got to the point where you said, "We wanna go exclusive. We're gonna figure this out. We're gonna make an offer and we're gonna do a deal." And you guys got it done, and I think it will go down in history as a, a very good moment in Bottom Line's, uh, 40 years and ongoing existence.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Yeah. That's really well said. And y- you were definitely a, a huge part of that process in the end. And you're right, I mean, we had a lotta perspective having watched the company for so long, a lotta built up hypothesis, but you were a big part of helping us bring that all together and, and get the conviction that this actually, even though it was a collection of different assets that had been put together over time, they were actually really good assets, probably somewhat under manged in that there was a huge opportunity to transform the business, which is exactly what we've done.
CRAIG SAKS:
I think that part of the role, I think, of events like a go private is to shake up the status quo and extract the true essential opportunity in a business. And after 30 years, I think that Bottom Line had got stuck in its path, in its approach, in its style, and while that had served it incredibly well in the lead up to this event, there was a real opportunity to step back, take a fresh look at how we did things, and truly transform ourselves for the next era of growth and market success.
And so, these moments in time, I think, are amazing opportunities to step back, look at a company and yourself objectively, and reset. And as I described to my management team, we've got a four-year project. And after 35 years, we've now got aw four-year project to reset the company for the next 35 years. And that means you [inaudible 00:29:29] holy cows and you tackle every single aspect of the company, you make choices, and you go forward. And a business like Bottom Line where the fundamentals were so solid and where the products are so solid and the market opportunity's such a, an amazing blessing in terms of its size and what you've gotta work with, I think it's just putting rocket fuel onto this thing, and it was necessary, very helpful, and I think we're gonna look back on this era as really important in the longterm journey of the company, and quite frankly, the business payments industry in North American and Europe.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Agreed. The, the foundation of the business was so solid, and I think that was the piece that we were really trying to, to understand in, in diligence. And we give a lotta credit to the former CEO, Rob Eberle, who built the business over a long period of time, but also built a, a... I know you've talked a lot about the culture of the company that you stepped into. And we've always found that it's so difficult to change the direction of a culture. And so the fact that you were able to come in and inherit a business that had a really good culture, a group of employees that were really excited and committed and loyal to the company, but to come in with a fresh perspective in partnership with us to start to say, "Hey, can we do things differently to unlock the growth potential of the company?" And that has been really exciting to watch, uh, unfold under your leadership.
CRAIG SAKS:
Yeah, it's been great. It's wonderful joining a company where your biggest problem is picking which market opportunities you go after, not picking which customers you're gonna steal from your competitors. And so (laughs), this is really exciting stuff, um, in terms of the market opportunity. And just to build on the culture thing, Brian, I don't think you can underestimate the power of culture. As a group, I experienced an open-mindedness that led to far less resistance than I could ever have imagined, and far less politics than I expected. And in fact, the team really worked with us to, to give us a go and give us an opportunity, and that enabled us to get a lot done quite radically.
And then even when it's rough because there are some bumpy times when you change how an organization works so quickly, the team has given us the benefit of the doubt and embraced the art of the possible versus just being resistant. And it's a very different outcome given than experience (laughs) than the other way it could've been. And there're real positives to that, not just our ability to rapidly turn the ship, but actually, I'm starting to see it come through in other ways. A flexible, curious, open-minded culture is a creative culture.
Over the last 18 months, for example, we have created three brand new big market offerings, things that didn't exist as an idea 18 months ago. One's already gone live. They thought of it, we built it, we got it into the market, and it's generating millions of dollars or revenue 12 months later. We've created two other exciting market opportunities that are gonna be worth tens of millions of dollars, um, in the business payment space in this coming year and the years after. And that is only possible when people are open-minded and creative. And then what we did is we created the opportunity for these different aspects and ideas to come together and to come to fruition. And the, the value of a good culture is so strong. It, it enables innovation, it enables alignment, it enables a sense of comradery, it is built around who and what you are. And as you pointed out, Bottom Line is blessed with a very (laughs), very wholesome culture that they spent years and years building and that we've worked very hard to preserve. And I think it's part of the secret sauce of what we're gonna become.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Well, Craig, thank you so much for coming on the Behind the Deal Podcast. It's been super fun diving into the background of how the deal came together and, and how you specifically, uh, got involved with us and now the company. We're very grateful for your leadership and all the value creation that's happened, uh, over the last several years, and couldn't be more excited about where the company's going, all the innovation that's happening in the business and the growth to come. So, thank you very much.
CRAIG SAKS:
Great. No, Brian, thank you so much, and thank you for the opportunity. I love talking about what we do, (laughs) it's very exciting and it's great to just share the, the story and the message.
BRIAN JAFFEE:
Thanks to Craig for sitting down with us today. To learn more about Bottom Line and keep up with what they're doing, visit bottomline.com/us. And for more stories that go behind the deal, check out all of our episodes wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to subscribe to Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal to hear new episodes as soon as they drop. If you enjoyed my conversation with Craig, check out our miniseries Beyond the Deal for more insights we didn't have time for today. Catch it on YouTube and in this feed next week. I'm Brian Jaffee. Thanks for joining us.
HOLDEN SPAHT:
Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal is produced by Thoma Bravo in partnership with Pod People. Stay tuned for more stories behind the deal. I'm Holden Spaht, thanks for listening.
Disclaimer:
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.
