Cherwell Software CEO: We Don’t Need An Exit Strategy
Cherwell Software, an IT service management and help desk specialist in Colorado Springs, Colo., has a rather interesting take on exit strategies. Chairman and President Vance Brown, formerly CEO of Goldmine Software, says he focuses on “yesterday’s values” of solid support, rather than modern day pursuits involving venture capital and exit strategies.
“Many of our competitors use money from venture capitalists whose main priority is their ROI. They have to answer to shareholders,” said Brown. Cherwell, he says, has no outside funding or debt. Instead, the company was built from the finances of a seven-member leadership. “We don’t have an exit strategy,” Brown added. “I plan to retire doing Cherwell.”
So what’s the business strategy? Cherwell Service Management is an integrated service management platform. The company claims its IT support software offers enterprise power at mid-market prices. True believers apparently include TV Guide, The Weather Channel and Ohio State University. Cherwell’s platform adheres to Pink Elephant and ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) best practices. Cherwell also promotes a patented Codeless Business Application Technology (CBAT) platform.
The Cherwell platform comes equipped with incident, problem, change, configuration, and release management services just to name a few. So straight out of the box, says Brown, the CBAT platform offers 80 to 90 percent of what you need to run a business. Plus, CBAT doesn’t require programming expertise (hence, the C stands for codeless), so customers can extend the platform in new directions, Brown claims. For instance, Cherwell itself uses CBAT to submit expense reports.
In 2009, Cherwell began offering its services both on-premise and in an SaaS model. By the end of 2011, Cherwell plans to have a fully integrated enterprise application store that will work much the same way as Apple iTunes, Brown says. Clients will be able to purchase new products, and independent developers will also be able to use the online marketplace to sell their products, he adds.
And what about a long-term exit strategy? Again, Brown says he plans to lead Cherwell Software until retirement. And it’s important to keep his exit strategy thoughts in context. Across the managed services market, plenty of CEOs downplay the potential for a specific exit event. Instead, they play up the fact that their companies are well-run entities that aren’t desperate for outside attention.
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There was a time when people talked of “truth” in lending. Truth in advertising and “trusted” advisors. Cherwell actually adheres to these principles.
Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your thoughts. What makes you so confident in Cherwell?
-jp
I don’t know Chris’s reasons, but after dealing with them for the better part of 4 years, I have confidence too. It comes down to great people. They listen to their customers. For example, I had a problem with a feature (not major, but annoying), mentioned it to the chief software architect, who had wandered in to say hi to the class I was attending, and after I explained and suggested what might work instead, he agreed it was an issue and by the next day, it was fixed. You don’t see that very often!
Plus, they have an amazing product.
Got to love the development team. The product is amazing, but I am little biased since I work for Cherwell. Just this past Wednesday we found an issue with service management while attending the partner conference in Colorado Springs. I sent the issue to development. Thursday morning there was a new build and the issue was fixed.
I have been reading CRUSH IT by Gary Vanerchuck and one of the chapters is titled “legacy is greater than currency”, I could not agree more. Vance has this vision and so do other successful business people. I am so excited to be part of Cherwell and will get to build my legacy.
Lynn@3: Companies that listen to their communities (partners, customers) will always come out on top.
Robert@4: When did you join Cherwell? Why? What attracted you to the company?
-jp