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Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today we have the operator’s view on the show. We bring in someone who rose up the ranks of a private equity-backed software company to be CEO of that company — ECi Software Solutions — that now generates over $500M in revenue and $200M in EBITDA.
We welcome Ron Books, now an Operating Partner at Carlyle and the CEO at Net Health, a Carlyle portfolio company. He also sits on a number of boards for Carlyle.
He is now the Chairman and is the former CEO of ECi Software Solutions, a leading global provider of cloud-based software for SMEs, which he successful sold to Leonard Green & Partners for a multi-billion dollar exit. Ron started with ECi when it was a startup company and rose in the organization to serve as VP Sales, then COO, and then CEO, a position which he held from 2009 to 2021. While serving as CEO, Ron and his team developed and executed a strategic plan that included overseeing 46 M&A transactions and a successful software license to cloud migration across nearly a dozen platforms. They received investment from — and sold the business to — Insight Partners, Carlyle, Apax Partners, Goldman Sachs, and most recently, Leonard Green & Partners. Under his leadership as CEO, ECi grew from less than $50M in revenue to over $500M and a sale of the company in 2020 at a multi-billion dollar valuation.
Ron has all the hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur — energetic yet thoughtful, a tireless work ethic, the ability to connect with customers and employees, and loyalty to both customers and employees.
Ron and I had a fascinating conversation about what it takes to build a great company and culture and how to work with private equity given that he’s been on both sides of the table. We discussed:
Thanks Ron for coming on the show to share your wisdom and experiences that are an invaluable source of learnings for both founders and investors.
5
2424 ratings
Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
Today we have the operator’s view on the show. We bring in someone who rose up the ranks of a private equity-backed software company to be CEO of that company — ECi Software Solutions — that now generates over $500M in revenue and $200M in EBITDA.
We welcome Ron Books, now an Operating Partner at Carlyle and the CEO at Net Health, a Carlyle portfolio company. He also sits on a number of boards for Carlyle.
He is now the Chairman and is the former CEO of ECi Software Solutions, a leading global provider of cloud-based software for SMEs, which he successful sold to Leonard Green & Partners for a multi-billion dollar exit. Ron started with ECi when it was a startup company and rose in the organization to serve as VP Sales, then COO, and then CEO, a position which he held from 2009 to 2021. While serving as CEO, Ron and his team developed and executed a strategic plan that included overseeing 46 M&A transactions and a successful software license to cloud migration across nearly a dozen platforms. They received investment from — and sold the business to — Insight Partners, Carlyle, Apax Partners, Goldman Sachs, and most recently, Leonard Green & Partners. Under his leadership as CEO, ECi grew from less than $50M in revenue to over $500M and a sale of the company in 2020 at a multi-billion dollar valuation.
Ron has all the hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur — energetic yet thoughtful, a tireless work ethic, the ability to connect with customers and employees, and loyalty to both customers and employees.
Ron and I had a fascinating conversation about what it takes to build a great company and culture and how to work with private equity given that he’s been on both sides of the table. We discussed:
Thanks Ron for coming on the show to share your wisdom and experiences that are an invaluable source of learnings for both founders and investors.
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