Inside Altvia’s Strategy for Success

Preferred Return Podcast

Inside Altvia’s Strategy for Success

ABOUT THE EPISODE

Hear from Altvia’s President and CEO, Brie Aletto, on a multitude of topics from cultivating meaning in the workplace to embracing a culture of personal and professional growth. Join us for an inside look into the strategies for success for our organization and what’s to come in 2023.

Subscribe:

MENTIONED CONTENT

COMPANIES

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] Jeff Williams: Brie Aletto. Welcome to Preferred Return. This has been a long time coming. We’ve been heads down with, you know, some big news. We obviously announced it, but the reason this has been a long time coming is because we haven’t been on the podcast to talk about it because we’ve been heads down.

[00:00:30] So that’s the point. A lot’s happened since a year or so ago. Want to walk us through whats been going on?

[00:00:38] Brie Aletto: Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. Do they know that we call you Dubs? Can I call you Dubs?

[00:00:45] Jeff Williams: I think that the listener’s worldwide audience of listeners does know that I go by Dubs and ought to feel free to call me Dubs too.

[00:00:53] So when you write into the show, or when you tag me on social media.

[00:00:59] Brie Aletto: Okay. Well, Dubs, you’ve obviously been a big part of this, but as you know, roughly about a year ago, we determined. Likely a good time to go back out to market. We had a lot of things we wanted to do. Our current sponsor, Bow River Capital, was an amazing sponsor.

[00:01:18] However, we also knew we wanted to likely do some things that they honestly hadn’t done before with a portfolio company. And so we decided we were gonna go back out to market and raise some additional capital to put on the balance sheet, which we were successful in doing. Roughly in July, we came down to a couple, potential sponsors and sometimes I feel like a fan girl because I’ve been in the Private equity-backed software world for a long time, and Marlin Equity had circled the hoop a couple of times, so I’d always wanted to work with Marlin. They’ve done amazing things with executives, with companies, and obviously just in the software market.

[00:01:59] And so that being said, we ended up securing a relationship with Marlin, they took majority ownership of our business. And I always like to say like, there’s this amazing intersection when, you know, your company’s got an amazing potential when you can. I read it somewhere about the three Cs and I’ve kind of injected my own, C in there.

[00:02:16] But really the compassion or care as I had read, I think of it a little bit even further when I think about compassion. The capital element which we secured obviously, first with Bow River and then with Marlin Equity. And then the last piece is really the clarity piece. And so those three Cs and we were founded, I don’t know if you’ve had Kevin Kelly, our founder on the podcast yet, but we were really founded from a place of care and compassion.

[00:02:42] You can see on our website regarding the values. And it was a huge reason why I wanted to join Altvia, is because we live and breathe it every day. We care about people’s development, we care about our customers and community. You can see that if you work with us. So all that to say, the intersection, like I said, of kind of that care and compassion with capital. And then finally the clarity piece. And so to your point, your original question, since late July, we’ve been really heads down with Marlin, and our partners, and our board in general, just to figure out what does that mean for us? Like what are the next. Next few years, what are the next big things, the big boulders that we wanna accomplish here at Altvia?

[00:03:21] And now that we have that, and we’ve got really a robust strategic plan and a lot of clarity around where’s the market likely going, of course there’s plenty of uncertainty. Uh, but where does Alvia wanna go and how do we wanna plan that market? So it’s an exciting time. As you know, we’ve been very busy.

[00:03:38] We just finally did all the things that I’m sure a lot of the companies are doing right now. The company wide kickoffs, the sales kickoffs, and. Time to do the thing I like to do, which is, can I say, get some shit done?

[00:03:53] Jeff Williams: You can. In fact, I’m not, I’m still uncertain of what I said, but, um, oh, apple Podcast for one of the episode did apply an explicit mark on one of the episodes, and I still to this day am unsure of what was said, whether I said it.

[00:04:12] Um, , and maybe it’s more than one. It will be now. And that’s, um, just fine. You mentioned, uh, or alluded to a little bit about your career. Maybe we should dig into that a little bit. Tell us kind of where you came from. How did you end up here? .

[00:04:29] Brie Aletto: Great. I hope the listeners care. I’ll try to keep it brief, but I came from an entrepreneurial family.

[00:04:35] My dad was, uh, my dad is actively starting and selling businesses left and right, and so I knew I wanted to do something obviously in the business world, uh, but wasn’t necessarily sure what. Um, and so all that to say went to college. Graduated actually thought for a little while that I might go into broadcast journalism.

[00:04:57] So thank you for bringing microphones back into my life. Debs, uh, and and quickly realized that I didn’t wanna move to the middle of nowhere as a 22, 23 year old, and thus looked at a couple big cities. and got landed a software job. It was actually in 2009, 2008, 2009, when really no one was hiring. And of course my dad is pushing me out the door saying, we just paid for your education, now you need to go make some money.

[00:05:22] And landed on really an entry level job, uh, in a software company that’s in Denver. And so it comes full circle as you’ll see here in a little bit, but answering customer support calls. So had a little headset and. Definitely was having my fun in the, in my twenties. And you, those were the days that you went into the office every single day.

[00:05:43] And I worked the 6:00 AM to the 3:00 PM shift. So that was a little bit rough at the time. And I remember thinking, why am I in software? This isn’t what I wanted to do. And I’d spend, you know, roughly the first hour of my job looking for other jobs. And then suddenly, six months later, so you, you get a promotion and.

[00:06:04] Then suddenly you’ve got this newfound confidence. And, you know, fast forward, however, 13, 14 years later, I’m still in software and actually still in some way, shape or form working for the same CEO that I had that had initially taken a chance on me. Uh, and I will, you know, again, bring this full circle because now that I’m at alvia over the coming years, I spent a lot of time with different software companies, uh, private equity backed, taking them to market, uh, and working with different.

[00:06:29] Private equity firms and, and just understanding how to grow a business. Uh, those were also some of the days where growth you just grew at all costs, and that was most important. And so it’s been cool to see kind of the evolution of how we look at private equity firms and what makes them very valuable.

[00:06:44] And we’re at a great place right now, in my opinion. And thus, uh, you know, here at Alvia now, we have the same type of customer support program where we invest in people. They can come in, this can be their first job, we’ll take a chance on you, and then they’re able. Learn and grow through different departments in the business and really learn how to run a business.

[00:07:02] We talk about metrics all day long and we really try to get them to understand what is important in growing a sustainable business. So they’re able, everybody in our company, for that matter, is able to really get a good grasp of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, what it’s like to care about the business, what it’s like to be in all facets of the business and how you can build, again, really a, a market winning.

[00:07:25] Company

[00:07:26] Jeff Williams: thrilling to think about, um, growing a bunch of mini britos, .

[00:07:34] Brie Aletto: I don’t know if that’s scary or good. Uh, I’m everyone’s biggest cheerleader and I do. I have to say, I think my favorite part of the job is getting that front row seat to people’s development, and all of a sudden you see someone that stands up in front of the company and does a presentation.

[00:07:47] This happened very recently for us and gives a presentation when you initially started with them, and they were again, kind of first. First jobs, sometimes first interviews, you remember their voice shaking in their interview and all of a sudden they’re up in front of a company or they’re talking to a customer and you’re able to see that growth.

[00:08:04] Uh, and again, you know, as the company grows, they should be growing too. And that’s what makes it so amazing.

[00:08:11] Jeff Williams: Uh, feels like that’s the first c you mentioned compassion care. I wanna talk about. A minute because there’s a couple things in there that, that, uh, you mentioned. I think that’s super important, uh, for a listener, whether it, perhaps it’s, you know, a.

[00:08:29] uh, prospective employee. I, you know, uh, always laugh when people come in. They’re like, oh, you’re the podcast guy. Um, as if, you know, it’s a worldwide audience, um, could be, could be. Don’t limit us. Oh, its, I just, it makes you nervous to, to think about it that way. So, uh, on tape, I pretend it’s not, um, Uh, prospective customer.

[00:08:54] I think it’s super important. Uh, and then of course there’s existing clients, customers that, um, that hopefully listen. I think, you know, of those groups, there’s one that clearly knows what, what makes this company special. Uh, and then of course, you know, I’ve, I’ve heard a lot with, with the new employees that come in and even in interviews for prospective customers, or sorry, employees.

[00:09:18] You know, what, what’s the culture like? And I. Very difficult for people to, to appreciate that. But let’s talk about that. You, you alluded to it, it starts with, you know, um, caring for our employees and, and really caring for our customers. Like what, what is the c really mean? Because like, yeah, we’re in an audio format, right?

[00:09:39] It’s just a word being thrown out. Let’s, let’s unpack it a little bit.

[00:09:42] Brie Aletto: Mm-hmm. . Well, it’s funny because I was actually on a, a webinar yesterday. Um, Quick plug. Marlon does a great job of keeping all of their portfolio companies ingrained in talking about industry and market trends, whether it’s SaaS or whether it’s our own market.

[00:09:57] But with that being said, they did an amazing podcast around centering around your customers and that the impact isn’t really just supposed to be business impact. You really need to be thinking about what is the actual emotional. Impact that you might be making on a person that has sponsored you to their business.

[00:10:14] They’ve, you know, gone to Mark, or I’m sorry, gone to bat for you, essentially saying, I want to bring this software company into my business. And that’s, there’s a lot at stake there. And so I think by way of showing our. , our, our employees, how much we care. It is easy to then see that impact go through into our customers.

[00:10:35] So we start, yes, with these, I say four walls, we actually are the, the still in the old school world of people coming into the office, which is amazing. Uh, you can smell our office. It’s, it’s. Filled with cinnamon toast. If you ever wanna come in here, uh, and we will, we’ll feed you on a C PW day, as we call it, crockpot Wednesday, where everybody gets to sit around and eat lunch together.

[00:10:55] But, you know, I actually was talking to our CFO yesterday and he said one of our core values might be trust and transparency, and it is trust and transparency, but. Uh, it’s not about, there’s a ping pong table. We’re a very Denver-based company, ping pong table. We’ve got brewery named, uh, conference rooms and garage doors that roll up so we can enjoy the sunshine here in Colorado.

[00:11:17] But the point is, ping pongs not really a part of our culture, and I’m quoting him here. But ping pongs not a part of our culture. It is the trust and transparency around we all trust and. Appreciate that each other need to take a break every once in a while. And even if it’s 2:00 PM in the afternoon, we trust that they’re doing their job.

[00:11:33] And I think that was such an amazing way of putting it because it’s so true. And when we talk about we over me as another one of our core values, it’s not about, you know? Yes. It’s amazing to see, you know. , somebody wants to go on vacation and we cover each other for our customers, or we cover each other on a, on a prospect call.

[00:11:53] But really it’s also saying, okay, we’re all in this together and there are dishes in the dishwasher and we’re gonna load the dishwasher because somebody else has a conference call and they can’t load their dishes right now. So it is amazing to see that all come to life. It sounds cliche and cheesy and it’s hard when I’m doing interviews as often as we are cuz we’re growing.

[00:12:11] To exemplify or to articulate that to a potential employee. But it is, it can be all, you know, it can be cheesy as much as you want, because my name is Brie, so I like to be cheesy, but it is true, and I think that’s the most important part of ensuring that as we grow the way that we want and scale, that we keep that alive and thriving because it bleeds into our customers and how we treat our customers.

[00:12:38] Jeff Williams: Mm. Nailed it. Uh, so the other two Cs you mentioned, uh, capital and clarity. That’s really where we’ve been heads down on kind of laying out a strategic plan. . Um, we, we don’t have to get into the specifics of the Capital One, but together those are, you know, sort of teed up for, uh, what we’re gonna be doing.

[00:13:04] So it’s, it’s already March 2nd today.

[00:13:07] Brie Aletto: Um, don’t remind me every day that passes. There’s more we could have done more we want to

[00:13:11] Jeff Williams: do. Yeah. Which is fun, but it’s still, you know, uh, still early in the year we’ve been hiring like crazy, which is awesome. You, you alluded to that. Uh, now we’re ready to really. Uh, let’s talk about, you know, what’s going on.

[00:13:24] I mean, um, I’m super excited. I’ve obviously been around for a while. Uh, lots of new faces, a bunch of new executives that brought a ton of new energy and really for the, for the first time in a long time, feels like, you know, uh, a really clear, uh, picture of kind of what we want to accomplish. Yeah, it’s

[00:13:46] Brie Aletto: great.

[00:13:47] Tee up. I will say we’ll start with the Capital One because I do think it’s important for those that know us. We’ve been in business business since 2006. I haven’t been here obviously since 2006, but we’ve been in business since 2006 and been. And Kevin, our founder, was bootstrapping the business. As you know, you’re here for some of it, Deb’s and bootstrapped the business and did an amazing job of securing some customers that are still with us today, which hopefully means we’re doing the right things to make sure that those foundational elements that Kevin started the business on are still alive and thriving today.

[00:14:19] But with that being said, there does come to a point where you say, okay, there are some big things we wanna do. And we saw obviously the market shifting towards the alternative asset space and it growing so much that. and I’m, you know, assuming here was, uh, where Kevin was and said, okay, I think it’s time for this company to continue to grow and to do the things that we wanna do in this market.

[00:14:40] It’s time to bring in outside capital to fuel the growth. And so that happened in actually May of 2020, uh, with Beau River Capital. As I mentioned, I had worked with River before, so that’s when I was brought in, which was an amazing time to be brought in because again, it’s, it’s fun when you’ve got fresh capital, fresh ideas.

[00:14:59] But you’re also trying to keep in mind that this company has been in business a long time. So how do you keep the good things and make sure that you’re expanding on those things and bring some new, fresh ideas? And so that’s also now happening again. Now come 2022, when we secured our investment from Marlon Equity, uh, To your point, Deb’s, we’ve brought in some great talent across the, the leadership team and we have some amazing things in place.

[00:15:21] We’ve got incredible customer relationships. Uh, AMA an amazing employee base already. So how do we build on the foundational elements that have made us successful and then continue on through, uh, capitalizing on our, our market momentum? And so that was a huge piece of spending a lot of. Going through, you know, honestly Marlon’s due diligence materials.

[00:15:42] What are the things that they learned, what makes them have conviction in this space, and ensuring that we were aligned on what we’re gonna be doing over the coming years. and so super excited about many elements in the business. Yes, it’s about bringing on new talent, new ideas, all those things. But as I mentioned before, it’s also about keeping the, the core elements in place and then bringing, you know, again, new products, new ideas to market.

[00:16:03] How can we continue to be seen as really the, the thought leader in this market? We’ve got hundreds of customer relationships. They are our biggest cheerleaders in the market, as with. Companies that have strong NPS scores, strong retention rates. We know that if we can capitalize on our customer relationships, it’s going to help continue to fuel our growth.

[00:16:23] And so it leads all the way back to the conversation around that care around our customer. So what are the things that we need to be doing to. Fuel those relationships with our customers and it will inevitably fuel the other side of the growth related to new logos and bringing in additional new customers as well.

[00:16:39] So that’s a big, those are big elements around what we plan to do with the capital, uh, and again, the clarity piece around driving a strategy that really supports where this market is going. Uh, and we can get into that, but I know you’ve probably had plenty of, of folks on this podcast that have talked about that.

[00:16:59] Jeff Williams: Well, no, look, look, maybe fewer than you think. Uh, so I do wanna get into it a little bit, but, um, I guess generally I, I’d love to just talk about like what it means, right? So, um, you mentioned we’re, we’re back in the office, there is a lovely smell of, um, cinnamon toast. Today. I love it. Um, makes us feel at home.

[00:17:19] It it, did your elementary school have cinnamon toast in the mornings? I, it’s very nostalgic kind of thing.

[00:17:26] Brie Aletto: My, I mean, my mom made cinnamon toast every single morning. Okay, perfect. Yeah. So very

[00:17:29] Jeff Williams: nostalgic, um, back at home. But there’s a bunch of people, I mean, there was, the office was packed yesterday. Love it.

[00:17:35] Uh, and so I guess that’s like almost this poster child of what you implied before mentioned. Uh, things are kind of getting back to normal, which means. People are traveling, you know, again, um, what, what’s coming this year? Like what, just generally what, what’s kind of new now that we’re a little bit less heads down than we have been on the last.

[00:17:59] Six to nine months. I know we’re, we’re gonna be getting out on the road, seeing folks attending events and stuff. So, um, let’s talk about that a little bit and then mm-hmm. , you know, we can come back to a little bit of the kind of strategic vision stuff. Sure.

[00:18:13] Brie Aletto: Well, this year is a big year for us. As you’re alluding to.

[00:18:17] We’ve got countless events. We’re gonna be out meeting with customers, uh, Allocated or assigned all of our top executives to every single customer account to make sure that we’re out there talking to customers, meeting with people, getting in the field. Finally, and again, as you’ve mentioned, we’re finally able to do that again.

[00:18:34] And as I was just saying, customer relationships are, are pivotal to our continued growth and our continued success. Uh, and we learn a lot from our customers. That’s the best part. You know, I, I mentioned the due diligence elements, but. customers gave countless interviews to these potential sponsors of ours.

[00:18:53] We were able to read all the things that they have to say, which is amazing fuel into how we think about what our product strategy needs to look like going forward, and how we continue again to capitalize on great, amazing customer relationships that we, we currently have and wanna continue to grow. So we’ll be on the road lots.

[00:19:09] We’ll be also working lots on, on product. Uh, we’re seeing, as many of you are out there seeing that. , it is the main focus on the lp as more and more competition continues to enter the market for LP commitments. It’s funny, my husband, as you know, is also in private equity, so I feel like I live and breathe this private equity world.

[00:19:30] It’s, uh, talked about plenty over the dinner table. Uh, you all can . I can only imagine, you know, the conversations around dry powder and all the, the typical terms that you can, um, that are a part of our everyday life. I think our kids at 11 years old, uh, now know more about private equity than many other kids out there.

[00:19:50] But with that being said, you know, the, the competitive nature right now for gaining LP commitments for the good deals that are actually in market right now. There are things that we can be doing to support our customers and to be supporting others in the market There to really be differentiated and help them differentiate as a firm and make sure that we’re supporting their relationships with their own customers.

[00:20:13] So it bleeds down this. Theme of the customer, the theme of care and compassion. It bleeds all the way down into our customer’s customer. And that, I think, is the overarching theme that we, you will see from Alvia. Whether it’s through our product, through things that we’re doing with our customer relationships, us being on the road, our podcasts, our, you know, marketing materials.

[00:20:35] It’s all going to be how can we support our customer’s customer because we know they care about that and that, and thus, to bring it full circle it, it’s what we care about. .

[00:20:47] Jeff Williams: I, uh, did a webinar a couple days ago and for the first time I heard somebody else preempt this idea of we’re in the business of providing customer service to our customer’s customer.

[00:21:01] And cuz I’ve been using those terms for a while and you know me, I like to be a little provocative sometimes. I know it makes people uncomfortable to kind of think about it that way. Uh, it’s the, our customers, I. Uh, more formally, but it’s really just a customer service game. So I was, um, I love using those terms obviously, but for the first time, just the other day, live in front of a worldwide audience.

[00:21:27] Brie Aletto: Did you feel so vindicated? I

[00:21:29] Jeff Williams: did, yeah. I loved it. Uh, it makes me happy. You can see physically right now the smile on my face. Um, what, what is it? So you, you know, you, you talk about dry powder at dinner. , interesting ,

[00:21:45] Brie Aletto: um, with your, just some, just some light dinner conversation with, with

[00:21:49] Jeff Williams: our kiddos. Sure. Uh, what keeps you com coming in, waking up in the morning, like what you, you’ve mentioned, you know, the, the background, several software businesses.

[00:22:03] What, what’s the one thing that kind of keeps you coming in? Like you get to talk private equity all the time? Uh, wake up in the morning, like, it’d be one thing if you talked about. , um, you know, soccer and video games and stuff at the dinner table. Then you, you might wake up in the morning and be like, Ooh, I get to go talk about private equity now.

[00:22:24] Brie Aletto: All fair questions. I maybe don’t wake up like stoked talk to talk private equity. I do wake up stoked about the fact that our, there is a huge need in our. based on, again, as we’re talking about the competitiveness out there for LP commitments and how much harder it’s getting for the private equity and venture capital space.

[00:22:47] And so I do wake up knowing that we are, we are going to continue to help companies do that, right? So that, of course anybody wants to make sure they’ve got product market fit when they’re working for a company. And that gets me fueled more importantly, that also lends itself to the fact that we have a place, is supporting them in doing that, and then thus supporting those employees.

[00:23:12] So it’s like this big round circle as we were just talking about is, you know, you care about your employees unless they care about their customers, unless their customer cares about their customer, it’s, it goes all the way downstream. Right? I know that we’ve got product market fit. I know that we’ve got an industry supporting us that it needs our software and that fuels the growth of our company, which then fuels the employees and how they’re growing their careers.

[00:23:34] And so it’s, it’s really. Amazing cycle, uh, and caring about all those things along the journey, whether it’s your employees journey, your customer journey, uh, the product journey, and how it’s being used across the industry. I care about all three of those. And so seeing those three come together, Is really meaningful.

[00:23:52] And again, it, it, it’s what fuels me and makes me excited. Unfortunately, I’ve been at companies where some of those things are missing or some of those things aren’t as strong. So as an example, a company with not as great of a culture is a lot harder to turn around and figure out how do you get people fueled and excited about coming into work.

[00:24:12] You have a company where maybe there isn’t great product market fit and you’re just desperate to create a product that’s gonna solve for things, and it takes some. or you have a customer base that maybe isn’t feeling and seeing the value that your product and your people are providing and you maybe don’t have great retention rates, uh, and your customers are not out there singing your praises.

[00:24:31] When you’re able to capitalize on all three of those things, that’s exciting and that’s what’s going to continue to fuel what we’re doing for customers, what we’re doing to the market and what we’re doing for our active employees today.

[00:24:43] Jeff Williams: Hmm. That is a sound. Hey, if I’ve ever heard one, uh, there’s this common, uh, and I think very smart idea of podcasts where you, you know, this sort of intro hook.

[00:24:57] I think that one, that might be it. Yeah. We don’t always have one, but that one could be it. Uh, okay. We, we’ve talked a lot about all the hiring and stuff. I mean, I, you know, You’ve heard me say this to people. I, you know, and sometimes it makes me emotional. Like I, I think back to early days and, uh, you know, we, we joked about this, but there’s a certain element of it that was very serious, which was like, man, like, you know, how are we going to convince people to come work here?

[00:25:29] Um, and now these days I just find. , uh, in awe at the sort of talent that we’re able to bring in here. And it makes me emotional a lot of times. I, I was talking with a candidate yesterday and got a little emotional about it, just, you know, in the moment being like, wow, this is amazing that we’re able to attract candidates like that.

[00:25:52] Brie Aletto: Uh, well, and kudos to you, who’s been here 11 years. being a big part of that culture. When I talk about, I inherited some of those things related to the culture, the product market fit, and where we sit in the industry today. And I’m grateful and I’m very serious and committed to keeping those things in place as we continue to grow.

[00:26:17] Jeff Williams: Aw, love it. What, what is it you think that some of these folks, you know, we, we’ve, we’ve got a, a bunch of new executives that. Really. That’s kind of what I’m blown away by. So I asked you the question kind of what keeps you, you know, coming in, in the morning despite talking over private equity at dinner the night before.

[00:26:38] What is it you think attracts those folks? You know, like they have to come in every, every day too, right? That’s not the question I’m asking. Mm-hmm. , like, what was it that, to my point earlier, I mean, there’s something. for this, this level of talent that in this caliber that we’re now working in. Mm-hmm.

[00:26:56] something that, you know, this is serious. These people are like, you know, considering big career moves and, um, you know, have families, all those things, like what is it, if you had to put words in their mouth, I mean, you’re the one that’s, that’s spending the most time recruiting them, what do you think they would.

[00:27:19] Brie Aletto: I don’t wanna sound like a broken record, so I’m gonna try to, I’ll try to switch it up a little because I do think all of those things that I just mentioned, you know, great, strong customer base, great product, market fit, great product, great culture, but those things don’t happen overnight to your credit.

[00:27:34] Uh, and I was just, again, listening to something that said, you know, if your employees are, you know, you’re not in the right job when you. Dreading work on Sunday. And so I take that to heart and think about it very seriously in making sure that we continue to provide the things that get people excited to come in to work.

[00:27:54] Uh, and I do think that the care piece is huge, and I think the clarity piece is huge. And honestly, the capital piece, right? All three of those things need to be strong to make somebody feel valued and for them to bring value. So the care piece and thinking about all of our values, making sure that they feel supported, that they have the opportunity to be ambitious and evolving.

[00:28:16] Another one of our core values, that they’re trusted, that we’re transparent from top down. I mean, when we went to market last year, we told them everything that was going on because to me, that’s pivotal if we expect them to, you know, trust us that we’re making the right decision. We needed to be very transparent and.

[00:28:34] Trust and transparency. We over me, as I’ve mentioned before, the ambitious and evolving and feeling like they have opportunities to grow and develop their career to get access to in Marlon equity. Obviously we’re in the private equity venture capital space, so they’re countless customers that they’re also learning from on an everyday basis and how they operate their own portfolio companies.

[00:28:54] So I think it is really that opportunity. Uh, there will always be a capital piece, but I always say we’re never gonna be necessarily the highest paying employer out there. So you have to look at the full package by way of where you’re going to work. Do you like the people that you work with? Are you doing great things?

[00:29:09] Are you able to give back to your community? We have, we’re a B Corp and that’s important to us. We. dedicate time to giving back to our, to our community. So I think it is again, kinda the capital, the care. And then it is the clarity, as I mentioned, the transparency piece. And I think really knowing what we’re doing to feel like you’ve got a hand in something, you know, of course people will, will peg the Gen Zers as wanting to have more meaning in their careers, but I really think it’s, it’s true.

[00:29:39] Any generation that you get to a place where you want to find meaning in what you’re doing, uh, why are we here otherwise? And so it is being able to see that we make an impact on our customers, that we’re making an impact on the community and the industry. And we spent a lot of time last year making sure that we did, uh, basically exposes or however you wanna, that might even be the wrong word.

[00:30:01] You’ll come to learn if you get to know me at all that. , I’m not great with words. Um, but with that being said, we did kinda highlights of customers and things that they were doing with their portfolio companies to really help the world to help, whatever it might be. Whether it’s e s G initiatives, whether it’s, you know, again, my husband for example, he sits on the KinderCare board and when everything was going on with Covid and a lot of the teachers were put out, they were, you know, you have all these grown men sitting around.

[00:30:31] On a board in tears, like how do we support these teachers and being able to use capital to support them and, and help them through that process. Like, there are things that people don’t see that are amazing in this world. It’s not just about, you know, making a return. Like, there are great things that are, are able to be done.

[00:30:48] And so I think providing that clarity and that visibility with our, with our employees that, yes, you’re, you’re helping customers, you’re helping the industry, and then you’re helping each other. Like you’re, you know, some of these executives that come in. I make sure that every single one of them. cares about the development of their employees.

[00:31:04] Yes, we have to hit numbers, but to hit numbers, that means that your people are doing things they’ve maybe never done before and you’re growing them and pushing them to limits that they’ll look back and say, which anybody that knows me has heard me say this many times, that I want anybody that’s worked with me to hopefully look back and be able to point on their resume.

[00:31:22] That was killer. That was amazing. I learned so much. I did things again, I’ve never done before, and I’m so proud of that company and that time that I spent there.

[00:31:32] Jeff Williams: Yeah. I love it. Yeah. The, the meaning thing, it’s interesting. I was just thinking as you were saying that, uh, well first off, one thing that, that I found myself saying yesterday on the meeting, I was telling, um, some folks, some new folks, that they spent some.

[00:31:51] uh, just anecdotally how you remember the, um, our response to Covid emails that, that the whole world Oh, sent Oh, oh, yeah. Oh yeah. That was, that was a real moment, uh, that like the, the world really had a moment when everybody just felt the need to send that. And, and your inbox filled up with like the

[00:32:10] Brie Aletto: same, the same exact message for the most

[00:32:12] Jeff Williams: part.

[00:32:12] Right. And it was like, oh. Uh, online shoe vendor that I bought shoes from like 15 years ago and haven’t heard from, like, thank you so much for that . I was really wondering how you were gonna respond to it.

[00:32:25] Brie Aletto: I feel like I blocked that time out a little bit. Feels like forever ago and yet also feels like yesterday.

[00:32:31] Yeah,

[00:32:31] Jeff Williams: it does. Uh, one of the really cool things I was telling these new employees that about that time was that, um, we, as people were sending. Those emails and you know, we got together as a management team and we’re sort of, you know, what, what do our customers need to know and what do our employees need to know?

[00:32:53] And you know, do you kind of really put yourself back at that time? It was weird time. Little, little freaky. And so one of the things that we decided was that we had to look through our customers. , you know, portfolios and I bet there’s companies that are already like three, four weeks into Covid working on vaccines.

[00:33:18] And sure enough, with very limited information that we were going off of, I think we found like 10 or 12 companies within just our customers portfolios that we’re already working on covid vaccines and um, Of course that was probably more like 50, right? Just cuz the information we have was pretty limited.

[00:33:38] And so that was this really cool moment, um, you know, for us, for the employees and stuff to kind of really find meaning in. Uh, what it is we’re doing. Of course, we’re not like making those investments. Uh, we’re helping them find those investments. We’re helping them understand what’s going on at those companies.

[00:33:58] We’re helping tell that story to, uh, their LPs and their investors. Um, but I, but I was thinking as you were talking about meaning, you know, the, like I think if we went to the Wall Street Journal or to Forbes something in search, meaning you’d find like 150 articles that are like, you know, or at. Uh, business review, right?

[00:34:17] Like how to, you know, it, it’s this big problem that many companies have is helping their companies find meaning. And you know, that that sort of covid moment was, was one way. I think ours did. But you know, I was thinking. meaning is something that the employees have to sort of like go get or go find and, and you have to help like lead them to it.

[00:34:39] But I wonder if inspired is not the thing because inspired is like something that is done to them. Mm-hmm. , like if you can sort of get them inspired

[00:34:48] Brie Aletto: to feel inspired, right? Yeah.

[00:34:50] Jeff Williams: Agreed. Did we just come through? Maybe the Harvard Business reviews listening, and we just came up with a major breakthrough.

[00:34:57] Brie Aletto: Well, come on your podcast to Harvard Business Review. Yes. Come on, have one. Come. Come on. Come on. Our action. You can write an article. No, I, I mean, I think that is a great way of putting it, and you’re right. Like we can’t. , many companies must have a hard time figuring out how do you create meaning for someone, or how do, how do you get them to feel meaning in this role?

[00:35:19] I mean, even when I first started, you know, at 22, 23 years old, I’m like, I’m working for a software company. How cool slash unmeaningful is that uncool slash unmeaningful as that? You know, and you’re kind of rolling your eyes a little bit and then all of a sudden you start to really just tune in and pay attention.

[00:35:36] And there are things all around you. . You know, again, I’m gonna get cliche here, but. Uh, the same person that, you know, gets up in front of the company that maybe, you know, had started out as a shaky voiced interviewee. One day is also now getting married and, you know, making isn’t managing people and making an impact on people underneath him.

[00:36:00] And you find, I find meaning in that. Like, that’s amazing that I got to sit and watch that and watch that growth in someone. And it is true. I mean, you could feel. Meaning inspired, however you wanna articulate it. Uh, but if you look most companies in some way, shape or form, if you’re really paying attention, Are making a difference, whether it’s just on the employees around in their company or it’s actually making a difference.

[00:36:25] And to your point, we might not be making the actual investments, but seeing what our customers are able to do with their investments is pretty incredible. And making sure that our. Our employees are seeing that versus just thinking, we’re just providing software. It’s like, no, we’re solving for problems and we’re helping them do their jobs better and thus are providing better customer service to your point, to the LPs so that they can see, you know, if I’m an LP and I really care about, you know, very diverse portfolio, of course I wanna see how those things are doing so I can make sure that, again, if ESG is something super important to me or women backed businesses or whatever it might, shout out to women backed businesses.

[00:37:05] Um, but you know that we’re able to. All the way along that stream of capital, help them do their jobs better. Mm-hmm. .

[00:37:12] Jeff Williams: Yeah, I love it. Um, I think it’s a full on breakthrough. Um, meaning, uh, or inspired is the new meaning. You heard it here? Um, no, but I, dude, I, I think it’s. One of those things where, you know, um, companies maybe are, are sort of struggling to lead the, their employees to find meaning.

[00:37:34] It’s like, here’s meaning, here’s meaning, you know, grab onto something. And I think maybe what we’ve had, can

[00:37:40] Brie Aletto: I flip the script here? Yeah. What inspires you?

[00:37:44] Jeff Williams: Well, It. So there’s a couple things we’ve been, because

[00:37:48] Brie Aletto: nobody ever asks you as the interviewer No, I know. This

[00:37:51] Jeff Williams: actually the, this is my, the seat just got so hot.

[00:37:55] Uh, thank you for coming on and asking me questions, but it, as it turns out when I’m asking the questions, , I we’re already talking about these things. It, I still feel, um, you know, this sort of. Uh, unfinished business about providing LPs with an experience that, you know, I, I felt was missing in this market way before it was appropriate to even suggest that.

[00:38:27] But, you know, going back now 15, 16 years, um, and you know, it, it, that’s just this thing. I just, it’s like personal to me. I feel like it’s, uh, you’re actually delivering on that. We haven’t fully done it yet. We’ve, we’ve done a lot of it, but it’s also this moving target and that’s what, you know, um, keeps going.

[00:38:48] But, but the simple thought in that is that like, if we are able to have even a small part of creating better, more meaningful, relationships between GPS and LPs. Like that’s this small part of helping capitalism, like do its thing and, and let capital flow. So telling stories to LPs about, Hey, you know, we’re a sort of leading edge Silicon Valley healthcare investor.

[00:39:18] We already have a company working on Covid, telling that story to like a, um, you know, a leading institutional LP that’s, Esg, you know, whatever, right? Mm-hmm. , I mean, there’s just so much meaning and inspiration in that. And, you know, for the, for the better part of my career, what I’ve seen outta this market is that those, you know, those stories aren’t being told.

[00:39:41] And, and I think that when they’re not, then there’s, um, the capital is not probably as, Is flowing as efficiently. Mm-hmm. , uh, and so there’s a lot of lost inspiration and, and meaning in that. But, but really a big part of it too these days is kinda what we talked about before, which is just seeing the caliber and the level of folks that are coming to work here and, you know, again, getting pretty emotional of, of like, wow, it’s amazing that y’all would.

[00:40:14] you know, and, and like, put your family, you know, your career, all these things like, uh, these are not easy decisions that, that you make for, for people of this level. And to think that they’d come, you know, uh, on the faith that like the products that I had a central role in creating, um, are worth, you know, that risk and stuff.

[00:40:39] It’s, it’s very inspir. , uh, and humbling, I’m sure, for sure, no question. Um, we get to see it, you know, these days and, and each n like, you know, uh, over the last couple years, it just kind of keeps escalating. And now I think, you know, we’re, we have more employees than we ever have. Um, the level is high, the highest it’s ever been.

[00:41:00] Mm-hmm. . And then that will like, keep happening, you know?

[00:41:03] Brie Aletto: And what do you feel now that you know, and I’m being a little bit, uh, coy maybe is the wrong word, but I’m gonna use it anyway, about the plans. Who knows who might be listening about our big plans for the product and how we go on supporting that gplp relationship?

[00:41:23] How are you feeling about what. Next 12 to 36 months might look like to support that.

[00:41:31] Jeff Williams: It, it’s thrilling. Um, it’s inspiring. Great word. Yeah. How about that? Um, and I mean that, you know, like that’s sort of easy answer, especially based on the conversation we’ve just had. ,

[00:41:48] Brie Aletto: um, it’s things you’ve wanted to do for a

[00:41:50] Jeff Williams: long time.

[00:41:51] Yeah, for sure. And, and here’s, here’s what I’ll tell you is that like, you know, coming from the sort of origins that we have, there was, there’s a lot of things that I think about. . And a lot of situations I find myself in where the grounding or the default sort of like thought and context that I come with is like, oh, we couldn’t do that.

[00:42:14] Mm-hmm. , you know? Yes. Because it’s like, which is so limiting. Right? Right. And so it’s been this sort of, you know, paradox or dichotomy of like, wanting to be ambitious with this big vision that we’ve had for a long time. And yet also being realistic about like, oh, we don’t, you know, we just don’t have the resources to do that.

[00:42:32] And now it’s like a, you know, that, that’s, that’s really now this sort of next chapter is like mm-hmm. , you know, some of the, the folks that we’ve got here now. And, um, and so I find myself, yeah, like in inspired by that and. , one of the things that I kind of consistently have to stop and like really appreciate is like, there’s so many people helping now, you know, and that’s awesome.

[00:42:56] And so it, it’s one big learning for me. You know, it’s like it if you said like, how do you kind of go from zero to, you know, five, call it. in, in Arr. It’s like, uh, you know, you gotta be really scrappy. Mm-hmm. and, and you gotta, like, it’s, it’s a very different thing. And now, you know, you’re sort of having to learn like no, there are like, you know, people that, that you can bring in and specialize in.

[00:43:23] You really have to start pointing people in like the direction where they, you know, can, uh, be successful. And you don’t have to do

[00:43:30] Brie Aletto: it alone and not to bring. Again, full circle, but exactly to what you’re saying is, you know, you started out with so much care around this market and conviction, I guess, that maybe that would be another good C to bring into the mix, but without, to your point around like, you know, we could never do that without the capital and let’s say the clarity around having other voices in the room and really having, you know, it’s a big risk when you’re a bootstrapped business to.

[00:43:59] put a stake in the ground and say, this is where we’re heading. But now when you’ve got other people around the table, again, you’ve got, you know, a partner that’s doing due diligence and making sure that we’ve analyzed the industry and all those, those types of things. Now it, it feels so much more tangible to actually be able to, to do the things that you’ve wanted to do.

[00:44:18] Where you’ve got, again, those three Cs, the care and the capital and the clarity that think it’s time, it’s time we go. .

[00:44:29] Jeff Williams: Absolutely. And I’m gonna, um, close us out with one more open invitation to a big media outlet, because on that note, uh, I, it was about 2016 and I, I found myself telling the story a couple times lately too on the same topic.

[00:44:49] Uh, it’s what, 2016 and I ended up, um, In a interview with a Wall Street Journal reporter who shall remain unnamed. But if you’re out there, this is an open invitation to come on the podcast. Uh, and it was just as we were about to launch, like interactive self-service, like data visualization inside of our portal product, and.

[00:45:16] You know, the, the topic was, was clearly interesting enough to have this conversation. Of course, nothing like came out, nothing got published, but it, you know, I actually laid awake all night the night before the interview. And just, I was just like, this person’s just gonna laugh at me. This sounds ridiculous, that like, my position is that it is inevitable that this is the future.

[00:45:39] And so now, you know, 2023 sit here and now we, you know, we’re talking about not only do we not, not only do we actually have that when we deliver on it, but like it’s very, you know, mainstream at this point. And it just wasn’t, you know, that was not something. Did anybody, um, had seen and if, if not the poster child for that, like this reporter just being like, okay.

[00:46:05] Yeah. I mean, cool. You’re cute. Yeah. Right, right. Anyway, good, good chat. I’ll let you know if anything comes of this and, you know, both knowing that nothing would, but, uh, super exciting times, very inspiring. And now that that’s mainstream, I mean that, you know, that. Really starts to get exciting is it’s not like that was this spot we just needed to arrive at.

[00:46:28] I mean, that was like the target. Turns out the target’s always moving. And so the, I’m very inspired by, you know, the folks that we’ve got the vision, we’ve got the resources we have to go after the target. Having moved from that and um, and so that’s what inspires me. .

[00:46:48] Brie Aletto: Very cool. Well, thank you for having me.

[00:46:51] This will hopefully also be a plug. For anyone that’s listening, we would welcome you as future guests, either of the podcast, but more importantly of our office. We will serve you cinnamon toast and you will get to meet some of our amazing employees that, uh, maybe are now getting married, doing a.

[00:47:10] Presenting in front of the business, all the things that I just mentioned playing. We would love ping pong playing pong for ping pong players playing ping pong. We would love to host you for a ping pong match. All

[00:47:19] Jeff Williams: right. Hey, thank you so much. I know you’re a very busy woman. Um, I appreciate you taking a few minutes to, to join me.

[00:47:27] I mentioned it’s a long time coming. I feel so grateful you finally have. Uh, but thanks for everything you bring. Thanks for inspiring me, for inspiring all these folks and, uh, yeah, looking forward to continue to get after it.

[00:00:00] Jeff Williams: Bri ato. Welcome to Preferred Return. This has been a long time coming. Uh, we’ve been heads. with, you know, some big news. We, we obviously announced it, but the reason this has been a long time coming is because we haven’t, we haven’t been on the podcast to talk about it because we’ve been heads down.

[00:00:30] So that’s the point. Uh, a lot’s happened since a year or so ago. Want to walk us. .

[00:00:38] Brie Aletto: Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. Do they know that we call you Dubs? Can I call you Dubs? I think

[00:00:45] Jeff Williams: that the, um, the listeners worldwide audience of listeners does know that I go by dubs and ought to feel free to call me Dubs too.

[00:00:53] Okay, good. So when you write into the show Yeah, exactly. Or when you tag me on

[00:00:59] Brie Aletto: social media. Okay. Well, dubs, you’ve obviously been a big part of this, but as you know, roughly about a year ago, we determined. Likely a good time to go back out to market. We had a lot of things we wanted to do. Our current sponsor, Beau River Capital, um, was an amazing sponsor.

[00:01:18] However, we also knew we wanted to likely do some things that they honestly hadn’t done before with a portfolio company. Uh, and so we decided we were gonna go back out to market and raise some additional capital to put on the balance sheet, which we were successful in doing. Uh, roughly in July, we came down to a couple, uh, potential sponsors and sometimes I feel like a fan girl because I’ve been.

[00:01:40] Private equity backed software world for a long time, and Marlon equity had circled the hoop a couple times, and so I’d always wanted to work with Marlon. They’ve done amazing things with executives, with companies, uh, and obviously just in the software market. And so that being said, uh, we ended up.

[00:01:59] Securing a relationship with Marlon, they took majority ownership of our business. And I always like to say like, there’s this amazing intersection when, you know, your company’s got an amazing potential when you can. I, I read it somewhere about the three Cs and I’ve kind of injected my own, um, C in there.

[00:02:16] But really the. The compassion or care as I had read, I think of it a little bit even further when I think about compassion. The capital element which we secured obviously, uh, first with Boat River and then with Marlin Equity. Uh, and then the last piece is really the clarity piece. And so those three Cs and we were founded, I don’t know if you’ve had Kevin Kelly, our founder on the podcast yet, but we were really founded from a place of care and compassion.

[00:02:42] Uh, you can see on our website regarding the values. And it was a huge reason why I wanted to join alvia is because it, we live and breathe it every day. We care about people’s development, we care about our customers, our community. Uh, you can see that if you work with us. So all that to say, uh, the intersection, like I said, of kind of that care and compassion.

[00:03:00] With capital. And then finally the clarity piece. And so to your point, your original question, since July, late July, we’ve been really heads down with Marlin, uh, and our partners and our board in general, just to figure out what does that mean for us? Like what are the next. Next few years, what are the next big things, the big boulders that we wanna accomplish here at Alvia?