PE-CXO’s Success Stories cast a spotlight on private equity-backed operators and the tools and tactics they leverage to create real value. In each entry, a world-class executive details a practical solution to a critical business issue. To be featured, contact mallory.stokker@pe-cxo.com with the subject line “Success Story.”
Executive: Michael Murphy, CFO at Personiv, previously VP of Finance and Operations at Genesys.
Challenge: Adapting the business to incorporate the new private equity owner’s vision for value creation.
Solution: Drive clarity on the investment thesis throughout the organization. Highlight improvements that will come under the new ownership alongside the new set of expectations for employees.
My experience at Genesys has proved formative in my career as a private equity-backed executive.
I started with Genesys as the Revenue Controller in the Dot-com Era when a software company’s value was largely driven by the growth of perpetual software revenue.
This was before companies like Red Hat and Salesforce.com began garnering attention with their subscription services model. At the time, most software company management teams would nervously watch the hockey stick of quarter-end deals to determine whether it would be a successful quarter or if they should begin informing shareholders of a material miss.
When I joined Genesys in 1999, we were still a publicly-tra...