Technology vetting during sell-side readiness leads to billion-dollar exit

Our Impact  

Our client was determined to make a significant impact in the market with their products. To ensure their technology was best-in-class as they prepared for sale, leadership engaged West Monroe for an in-depth assessment of its technology and technology organization to recognize both strengths and areas of improvement in preparation for exit.

West Monroe tackled the assessment with a multidisciplinary team of tech and M&A experts, analyzing our client’s technology and product offering from multiple expert perspectives. Our well-rounded understanding empowered the management team with confidence in the strength of their data analytics, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology, and a clear understanding of what improvement opportunities existed, including guidance strengthening an already robust data room and identifying opportunities to enhance overall application security. West Monroe also supported the client through discussions with potential buyers during the exit process, providing expert input every step of the way.

The Full Story 

The Challenge 

Entering the sale process with technical gaps was not an option. To continue bringing exceptional products to the market and their clients, the client wanted to proactively identify risks and concerns before they became roadblocks. Our team worked closely with leadership to help them understand both the big picture and the nuances of communicating their unique and complex technology to a financial buyer.   

West Monroe’s onsite presence was also a difference maker. Our unique personal approach underpinned a strong product narrative around our client’s offerings, and our iterative processes improved their application security profile from above benchmark in CAST code scan benchmarks to achieving leading scores. 

An Undeniably Different Approach  

We were honored to find out that our client chose West Monroe because of our reputation, recommendations from a notable private equity firm, and the level of detail in our sample deliverable. What pleased us even more was their reaction to our approach.  

The CEO was elated that we were able to come onsite—West Monroe was the only consultancy willing to do that in the first quarter of 2022. Our client was also looking for a firm that could tailor our approach to their specific needs and leverage a diverse set of expert knowledge, including both technical and industry perspective. We delivered by assembling an multidisciplinary roster that included veteran deal professionals, experienced entrepreneurs, and technology and data science leaders.  

How did leveraging expertise in M&A and essential TTS resources from data analytics, software, and infrastructure impact this project?  

• The tailored team helped us better understand and document the client’s B2B model and its supporting technology 
• Multidisciplinary expertise was essential to uncovering quick wins to deliver enhanced products to customers and creating an iterative strategy for capitalizing on those wins 
• Deep technology expertise helped us see risks from different professional perspectives to satisfy due diligence fully 
• Data analytics expertise helped identify future value creation opportunities through data monetization 

Real Results

Six months later, our client announced the sale of their company to a leading global investment firm. While reaching their goal was undoubtedly the headline of our results, we also accomplished plenty on the backend.  

The expertise we brought to this project allowed our client’s management team to approach the sales process with confidence, knowing they were bringing high-quality products to market and had been thoroughly vetted prior to the sale.  

Our work also provided immense value to the investor, giving them a comprehensive technology report that required very little additional time from our client’s leadership team. This allowed them to focus on their day job of serving their customers with the best software possible.