Posts Tagged ‘Apax Partners’
Reflections on Due Diligence
I still remember the reception committee from the due diligence on Tideway I did for Apax Partners some seven years ago. The folks were awesome. I am fairly certain they could convince birds to fly off the tree if they chose to apply their very many talents toward this end. I really don’t know whether Apax (who invested in Tideway) and BMC (who acquired Tideway at a later time) consider their investments in Tideway successful. But, take it from me: even the Royal Shakespeare Company would have been hard pressed to stage such a terrific act as the one played by Tideway for my benefit in 2004.
The Thing That Code Does Not Do
Click here for additional thoughts on the subject and its implications.
I Should have Asked for Equity, Not for Cash
In 2004 I was asked by the London Office of Apax Partners to conduct due diligence on a start-up name of Tideway. Flying all the way from Seattle to London was not something I was looking to. However, a promise to put me in The Hotel at the Chelsea Football Club proved irresistable. I packed my bags and went to London.
Apax paid me nicely for the due diligence – no complaints whatsoever. However, I woke up today to read the following news in The Register:
Systems management software maker BMC Software continues to snap up other software players as it bulks up to do battle with the likes of IBM, CA, Hewlett-Packard, and now EMC in its chosen market. Today, the company paid an undisclosed amount to acquire British software company and BMC-partner Tideway Systems.
I wonder whether I should have asked to be given equity instead of cash….
The Agile Executive 