About
Seven2, formerly known as Apax, is the oldest private equity firm in France, managing a portfolio worth €5 billion. The firm focuses on investing in small and medium-sized enterprises across sectors such as technology and telecommunications, consumer goods, healthcare, and services, with a particular emphasis on tech-enabled service businesses. Leveraging decades of experience, Seven2 provides strategic support and capital to drive growth, innovation, and long-term success for its portfolio companies.
The challenge
Seven2 had a strong team of senior advisors with extensive commercial expertise; however, the firm recognised a gap in its advisory capabilities, specifically in the area of technology strategy and product development. Addressing this gap was crucial to enhancing value creation.
With a need to better connect technology and business perspectives, Seven2 sought a Digital Senior Advisor to bridge the divide between business strategy and technology implementation, particularly within Seven2 portfolio companies.
By integrating a tech-oriented perspective into their advisory team, Seven2 aimed to bolster its ability to scale portfolio companies, particularly those undergoing digital transformation and SaaS transitions, ensuring a more holistic approach to value creation.
The solution
In order to solve Seven2’s needs, we identified that the ideal candidate would have a technical background and experience in managing products. The candidate would additionally need to possess deep expertise in both SaaS and on-premises solutions, with a track record of migrating systems from on-prem to SaaS.
To identify candidates with these experiences, we conducted a comprehensive market search across Europe. This involved mapping out private equity backed SaaS companies and identifying their CTOs and CPOs. Additionally, we leveraged our internal networks, engaging with trusted contacts to explore potential candidates who could effectively fill this critical position.
The result
We placed Dr Hendrik Witt; a dynamic leader with a successful track record of SaaS business scaling including the sale of Ubimax GmbH, where he served as CEO, to TeamViewer. Following the acquisition, he served as Chief Product Officer with global responsibility for TeamViewer’s product portfolio, product strategy, and product innovation.
With a proven ability to drive revenue growth, optimize operations and software development including product innovation, Hendrik possessed the necessary blend of skillsets as well as strategic leadership abilities to meet Seven2’s needs.