Why Bigfoot's Founder Decided He Couldn't Keep Funding Growth Alone

Building Bigfoot

{Paul Lachance:} I’m Paul Lachance, and I am a Co-Founder of Bigfoot. Bigfoot is a product in the CMMS industry; it’s an industrial application for workers’ management, preventative maintenance, and asset tracking.

When Organic Growth Could No Longer Keep Pace With the Market

{Paul Lachance:} What drove me to sell Bigfoot was that I learned the limits of an organically funded, cash-strapped organization, and I knew we were not going to be able to grow at the rate the market was going to demand for us to stay relevant. My partners and I felt that the time was right to start looking into the process to sell. Eventually, we were getting enough inquiries from sort of anonymous parties that were interested in our company, and there was enough of a pattern that inspired me to reach out to Software Equity Group and start the conversations from there.

What Bigfoot Worked on Before It Was Ready to Sell

{Paul Lachance:} At the time, we were still too small, but they did take our call, and the team met with us. They spent their time with us, they spent a day, and taught us some really valuable lessons not only about the process but what we needed to focus on as an organization to get ourselves ready for the process, including, what would a possible acquirer be looking for. They didn’t have to do this, and they did. That really impressed me and my partners.

Finding Buyers Bigfoot Wouldn't Have Found on Its Own

{Paul Lachance:} What motivated us to use Software Equity Group as an advisor was: number one, I found that the team there was a lot like me. I like them as people, and I like to do business with people that I like to be around. They’re smart, they’re patient with us, and they know we’re a software company… we and many of us, have never been through this process before, and they have to guide you through that. They know the SaaS, industrial business market very well. They have a network of private equity and strategic buyers that the team has done numerous transactions with, and they are very well connected. They knew everybody in the space way beyond who we knew. They knew the organizations that would be a good fit for us, and maybe organizations that wouldn’t be a good fit for us, and they were ultimately able to connect us to Dude Solutions because they’ve worked with them in different members of their team in the past.

What Changed After Bigfoot Joined a Larger Company

{Paul Lachance:} The process was done smoothly and cleanly. Ultimately our customers are even happier than they were when it was Bigfoot because we now have the advantages of a larger organization. It takes money to sell your company. If you trust SEG to guide you through the process, the costs end up providing value, which ultimately will lead to a better valuation.

What the Outcome Meant for Paul

{Paul Lachance:} It was an amazing feeling when it was all done. It’s almost a surreal feeling because you work so hard to build your company. It’s your baby, and you know, like all babies, they eventually grow up and move out of the house and move on to another thing. To have that feeling that what we created ultimately was moving to that next level and being part of a larger, what I consider an awesome organization, was an amazing feeling.

{Paul Lachance:} The company that I ended up in, I really, really enjoy. I think that they’re an excellent company that I’ve learned a  lot from. I personally am in an awesome role. I’m in a strategic team now, looking at charting technology for the future in the space. I have an awesome day job in this new company. I look back at all those things, and right now, I couldn’t be happier about the process.