Every so often we do some analytics within the firm just to level-set on where we are.  OK, in all honesty, we’re very metrics-driven so it’s probably more than “even so often,” and it’s also not a casual, anecdotal assemblage of loose stories and vignettes.

One of the topics we wanted to  give greater scrutiny was how much of our practice in the last 18 months or so was for portfolio companies of private equity firms.  And not only how much, but while we were at it, what geographies, and why not look at size of those private equity portfolio companies’ revenues, and the industries in which they clustered?

That set us off to “cypherin’” as they say.  Below are some of the results.  Given that our roots 15+ years ago were in earlier-stage, venture-backed companies, it’s an interesting diversification.  For some, this may be intuitive. For others, they may wonder about whether leadership talent for venture capital is completely different than those executives we recruit for our private equity clients.  The answer to that?  It is still apples to apples, and not apples to oranges.  Just a broader spectrum of apple varietals.   When thinking about venture capital portfolio leaders versus private equity portfolio leaders, at their core (couldn’t help the pun) they are still builder-leaders, which is the mantra for the type of talent we’ve specialized in a decade-and-a-half after founding the firm back in 1997.

While much has changed, this has remained a constant.

Stats below are based on some 40+ searches.

Enjoy.

***

Our sweet spot over the last few years has been in the growth equity segment of the private equity investing thesis.  That means more than half of all searches we’ve performed for private-equity backed clients have been for companies with revenues in the $25 million  to $250 million range.  The balance–about a third of private equity-backed company search work–was for companies with revenues about $250 million.   These were sprinkled evenly across the $250 million – $500 milllion, $500 million to $1 billion, and great-than-$1 billion slices.

When we looked at the executive levels we had executed on behalf of our private equity-backed clients, a third of searches were for CFOs, 40% were for CEOs and COOs, and the balance of our search work was at the VP level, across the functional spectrum (see next graph for more detail on the VP-level exploded pie analysis).

Search work for private equity-backed clients at the Vice President level distributed nicely over the organizational functional spectrum, including VP Sales, VP Manufacturing, VP Engineering, VP Marketing, VP Operations, VP Content (most in the education industry sector), and VP Human Resources.

Finally, we looked at what party of the country (or globe) these searches clustered within, and the above graph portrays the distribution.  Even we were surprised at this chart, as it shows an almost geographic-blind distribution–searches executed in all 7 regions in the U.S. (Northeast, MidAtlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Rocky Mountain, West & Northwest), along with an equal slice representing private equity-backed companies for whom we had done searches that were based in Europe (United Kingdom, France, and rest of West Europe).

A Leading Pioneer in reCommerce

Our client is a pioneer in what has been dubbed the re-commerce sector.  The Company fundamentally improves how people buy, use and dispose of their consumer electronics by providing a complete trade-in solution focused on value and convenience.

The Company addresses a global e-waste problem and simultaneously accelerates the extraction and monetization of a $185 billion secondary market in consumer electronics, video games and DVDs.   Over 2,200 retail locations in the United States are currently utilizing the the Company’s trade-in platform.  Gartner dubbed this industry the ITAD sector, or “Information technology Asset Disposition.”

THE POSITION

Detail of Responsibilities

The role gives an energetic and experienced business development professional in the mobile phone business an opportunity to join an industry leader in a relatively new, high growth and disruptive space and reports directly to the President & COO.

The ideal candidate will source national tier-one mobile industry players, including tier 1 wireless carriers, MVNO’s, VAR’s, OEMs and other potential partners for trade-in partnerships with the Company.  This is a strong hunter role and any account management responsibilities will be kept at a minimum using leveraged resources wherever possible.

The selected candidate will possess a combination of the following attributes:

• A minimum of 12 years’ experience in a business development role with tier one mobility companies, with retail-side experience a plus.
• A proven history of high level engagement at executive levels.
• A successful partnerships track record with both global 2000, industry-relevant companies, as well as fast-emerging smaller entities strategic to our client’s success.
• A comprehensive understanding of how the mobile phone industry works, including the points of differentiation among the top providers, as well as insights into each company’s strategies.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills.  The ability to create one’s own customized business development presentations on demand.
• Strong financial acuity and experience conceptualizing, presenting, and negotiating a win-win economics structure for both partner and Company.
• Solid “team playing” skills.  This role requires the contribution of many people in the organization to support the “selling effort” by the business development team.

For diagram of success attributes, team description, and compensation, clikc the “more” hyperlink below. 

More…

BOSTON, MA, April 10, 2013– BSG Team Ventures (BSG) announced today the appointment of Susan Hawkins as Vice President. Susan brings twenty years of experience working with boards, CEOs, and private equity leaders in identifying, assessing, and recruiting executives. She has deep experience and a proven track record of recruiting C-Level executives across a broad spectrum of industry sectors and company stages, with a specialty in private equity, Fortune 1000 technology, and venture-backed start-ups.

Prior to joining BSG Team Ventures, Susan spent six years as Director of Recruiting for Sun Capital Partners and their portfolio companies across North America and Europe. In that role, Susan led over 100 board level searches, with a focus on portfolio company CFO roles. These mandates encompassed a number of different industry verticals, notably, manufacturing and consumer. In her last year there, Susan successfully recruited both CFOs and CEOs across a broad range of Sun’s eighty portfolio companies.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers alum, Susan’s background also includes retained executive search experience and human resources roles in information technology and cleantech. Susan has a BA in Economics from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario and a Masters of Science from Nova Southeastern’s School of Psychological Studies in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

A Canadian native from Montreal, Susan is bilingual in English and French. In her spare time, she enjoys biking, tennis, and exploring the outdoors with her husband, Uri from their home base in the Boston area.

BSG Team Ventures Managing Director, Clark Waterfall, expressed excitement over Susan’s joining the firm, emphasizing that “BSG, over the last several years, has developed a strong track record of search execution across private equity-backed portfolio companies in the education and technology sectors. Susan’s addition brings both a deeper functional expertise in CFO recruitment, as well as a broader industry specialization of including sectors important to private equity, such as manufacturing and consumer.”

“I’m excited to be joining BSG,” Susan adds.  “Their boutique orientation and depth of experience combine to create the best possible outcome for the customer, in terms of delivery and results.” 

About the Company

Approximately thirty-five million Americans are covered by a flexible spending account (FSA) and each year, our client estimates that consumers collectively forfeit over $400 million back to employers because they don’t deplete their flexible spending accounts (FSAs).  The client operates an online shopping website for FSAs which are employer-based programs that allow consumers to set aside tax-free dollars to purchase medical products and services – from band-aids to smoking cessation programs and tens of thousands of products and services in between.

Our client is the only one-stop-shop stocked exclusively with FSA-eligible products and services so there are no guessing games as to what is and is not reimbursable, a dilemma consumers face every time they walk into a drugstore. In addition to more than four thousand FSA-eligible products, the site offers a national provider database of FSA-eligible services and an FSA Learning Center. The biggest challenge to the consumer in capitalizing on the tax benefits of the FSA is sorting through the arcane rules of what is eligible and what is not.  Given how difficult this can be for the consumer to do, many FSA account balances simply languish until year’s end, and then revert back to the employer.

The company was founded on the idea that it should be easy and convenient for a consumer to use their FSA and recently launched site enhancements, even in the face of recent eligibility changes, which require consumers to obtain a physician’s prescription for many products in order to be reimbursed by their FSA.

The Company has unequalled expertise in flexible spending account eligible products & services. FSA’s offerings include the following:

PRODUCTS: Baby care products, cold and allergy, diabetes care, digestive health, elastics/athletic treatments, eye/ear care, family planning, feminine care, first aid, foot care, home health care, oral care, pain relief products, skin care, smoking deterrents, and vitamins/dietary supplements.

SERVICES: The Company also provides services in the areas of primary care, cancer, heart health, radiology, mental and behavioral health, surgery, pathology, orthopedics and sports medicine, and women’s health services, as well as ear, nose, and throat.

The company was founded in 2010 and is based in New York, New York.

About the Position

Reporting directly to the Founder & President, the Chief Revenue Officer will play a senior leadership role overseeing all revenue generation for the company, holding leadership responsibility for a team of three to seven (plus), covering both online and offline marketing, merchandising, business development, and partner sales.

Responsible for the overall topline, the CRO will recommend appropriate strategies, tactics, and operational initiatives to continuously build measure and enhance revenue opportunities for the Company. The CRO will provide vision and leadership for each of the three major revenue legs— online acquisition, offline channel partnerships, and marketing/public relations initiatives–  specifically driving the Company’s consumer brand awareness and ubiquity.

This role will also work closely with Operations to close, onboard, and drive partner program effectiveness.  The CRO will also work in concert with Engineering to optimize UI, UX, merchandising, and retention.

Reporting directly to the President, the Chief Revenue Officer shall:

•  Successfully lead and manage a sales and e-commerce team of three to seven staff
•  Be responsible for hiring, training, measuring, and motivating the team
•  Building new and expanding existing partnerships with third-party administrators and other channel partners to drive program adoption and execution
•  Drive online marketing excellence in search engine optimization, search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, online social awareness (e.g., Twitter, blogs, Facebook) with single-minded goal of revenue growth and optimization
•  Travel when needed to meet key partners and partner prospects to establish, develop, and maintain those relationships, including the management, expansion, and renewal of multi-year partner contracts
•  Manage short- and long-term staff planning, recruitment, performance management, work assignments, training, mentoring, career development, and recognition or disciplinary actions
•  Set up processes for project team selection, resource loading, KPIs, etc.
•  Own and drive overall budgeting, forecasting, and performance measurement against goals
•  Be responsible for business planning and proposals, operating budgets, and financial terms/ conditions of contracts for all revenue channel partners.

The successful candidate must also have the ability and experience to lead a multi-disciplined organization.

click the more button below to see rest of blog post, including the job description

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BSG Team Ventures is proud to announce the successful completion of the chief executive officer search at Harvest Automation Inc. (www.harvestai.com) in Billerica, MA.

BSG recruited John Kawola to replace Charles Grinnell, who will assume the role of chief operating officer at the innovative robotics start-up.  “John’s experience commercializing hardware technology and leading companies thru the various stages of growth will be invaluable as we take the company to the next phase.” Grinnell stated.

Clark Waterfall, who led the search process added, “Charlie and his team have built an exciting company, and we were excited at the prospect of working with him and the Board of Directors to identify a commercial-stage CEO who could leverage prior experience and success as an impact player to help bring Harvest into the customer market.”

For the past four years, Kawola served as the President and CEO of Z Corporation.  Z Corporation was a manufacturer of 3-D printers and hardware peripherals.  Z Corporation was acquired by 3D Systems at the beginning of 2012.  While serving as CEO at Z Corporation (at the time owned by private equity firm, Ratos (www.Ratos.se), he managed 45 million dollars in revenue and over 130 employees.  Participating in all facets of the company, he had worked his way up from Sales Manager, when he joined the start-up in 1997.

“I am extremely excited to be joining Harvest,” recently said Kawola. “They have a robust technology that is focused to address clear customer pain points. Agriculture, like most industries, is always looking to become more efficient and productive and our aim is to bring solutions that address specific labor constraints. Charlie [Grinnell] and the team have done a fantastic job so far and my goal is to help lead the company through strong market introduction and scale-up.”

Harvest Automation develops and engineers robots for the agricultural industry.  By addresses labor scarcity issues, Harvest creates a workforce of sustainable robots that can safely work alongside people.  Backed by Entrée Capital, Founder Collective, Life Sciences Partners, Cultivian Ventures, and Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation, Harvest Automation is headquartered outside of Boston, MA and was founded in 2008.

For more information, please see the Harvest Automation press release: http://bit.ly/UgRxle.

Read the recent article about John Kawola’s new job in The Boston Globe:  http://bo.st/SAAvBq.  

BSG Team Ventures is proud to announce the successful completion of the CEO search for the Virtual High School Collaborative (www.govhs.org).

BSG recruited Jeffrey A. Elliott to replace Liz Pape, who retired as CEO of the nonprofit pioneer of K-12 online learning in July.  “We conducted a nationwide search to find a CEO who has the experience, expertise, and vision to build on VHS’ 15 years of success and help set our direction for the future,” said Kevin Lyons, chairman of the VHS Board of Directors. “Jeff’s extensive business experience, as well as his in-depth knowledge of the online education market, and his commitment to VHS’ values and beliefs made him the right candidate for the job.”

Ralph Protsik, of BSG TeamVentures, who led the search process, added, “I’ve known Jeff as a client for more than ten years. That the timing—and opportunity—for Jeff’s move to VHS were right was, frankly, a bit of luck. He will fit well into the culture of this highly respected, mission-driven company.”

Previously, Elliott served as President and CEO of Advanced Academics (a division of DeVry), one of the leading providers of online education for public school students in the country. There he led the company’s pioneering strategy to serve at-risk students and the deployment of its comprehensive online learning model. Prior to that, he served as vice president of development for the Wright Group/McGraw-Hill, where he oversaw three divisions of this leading educational publishing company. He is a graduate of University of Chicago – Graduate School of Business and University of Missouri – School of Journalism.

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Maynard, MA, The VHS Collaborative (formerly Virtual High School Global Consortium) is the pioneer of K-12 online learning, having first brought online learning into secondary education. Since then, the nonprofit organization has been setting the standard for quality online education. VHS provides co-synchronous courses taught in global online classrooms for secondary school students and online professional development in 21^st century teaching best practices for educators.  The organization also meets the unique educational needs of schools through custom course development, private course offerings, and support for blended learning initiatives.

VHS’ design and delivery standards were the model used by the National Education Association in their recommended standards for online learning.  The organization has won numerous awards, including the Stockholm Challenge Award for Global Excellence in Information Technology and is a three-time winner of the United States Distance Learning Association’s (USDLA) award for Excellence in Programming and Excellence in Best Practices.

For more information, please see the VHS press release:  http://tinyurl.com/9sjhy47.

September 13, 2012 marked our 6th annual charity tennis tournament pitting venture capitalists against entrepreneurs on the grass courts in Chestnut Hill.

At stake? Another year’s bragging rights.  A combination of Ryder Cup meets Davis Cup meets… a half-day out of the office playing hooky for a great cause.

What made this year special?

The weather:  A perfect 75 degree, zero-humidity, crystal-blue fall day.

The turnout:  40+ tennis players making up 20 doubles teams, paired as investors or entrepreneurs.

Nic Bollettieri coaching VC and Entrepreneur team members

The tennis legend:  Silicon Valley Bank, one of the event’s charter underwriters since our first year, inspired the players and the greater Boston tennis community by bringing in Nick Bollettieri for half-hour coaching sessions with players, family, and enthusiasts. Throughout the day more than 30 aspiring junior and adult players participated in a series of clinics and learned from Nick’s coaching expertise while listening to Nick’s anecdotes of top ranked players. Nick Bollettieri is best known for the IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Maitland, Florida.  The Academy has produced players like Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi, Venus & Serena Williams and other pro tour all-stars.

click the more button below to see rest of blog post

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Pioneering custom reimbursement solutions for companies with mobile employees

Our client designs and administers vehicle reimbursement programs and expense management solutions for companies with mobile employees.

Companies are under increasing pressure to reduce costs, administration, and liability while increasing employee satisfaction and productivity. Our client’s reimbursement experts, technologists, and tax specialists ensure these goals are achieved.

Each program maximizes the benefits of combining tax-free reimbursements with an easily managed and automated process for administration, resulting in lower costs, enhanced productivity, and increased employee satisfaction.

The Position

Reporting directly to CRS Founder & CEO Gregg Darish, the Vice President of Client Services will play a senior leadership role as part of the senior executive team, overseeing all client services operations, holding leadership responsibility for a team of 30+ account managers and call center service representatives.

Responsible for overall client satisfaction, the Vice President of Client Services will recommend appropriate strategies, tactics and operational initiatives to continuously enhance client satisfaction. The VP of Client Services will provide vision and leadership to our Call Support and Account Management teams.

This role will also work closely with both the VP Sales on the business side to help close, onboard, and review CRS users.  The VP Client Services will also work in concert with the CTO, participating in SaaS implementation of CRS software, product roadmap recommendations, and internal management software development including CRM software and other management software as required.

Reporting directly to the CEO, the CRS VP Client Services shall:

•  Successfully lead & manage a client services team of 30 to 50 staff

•  Be responsible for hiring, training, measuring and motivating the team

•  Working with global B2B Global 2000 client relationships in onboarding new relationships, and managing & growing existing customers

•  Travel when needed to meet key client stakeholders to establish, develop, and maintain those relationships, including the management, expansion and renewal of multi-year customer contracts

•  Manage short- and long-term staff planning, recruitment, performance management, work assignments, training, mentoring, career development, and recognition or disciplinary actions

•  Set up processes for project team selection, resource loading, KPIs, etc.

•  Own & drive overall client satisfaction

•  Manage & expand internal call centers with a follow-the-sun client support capability

•  Be able to support SaaS software-powered services solutions via training and technical proficiency within the client services team, and strong interface to the software development organization

•  Be responsible for business planning and proposals, operating budgets and financial terms / conditions of contracts for both internal and external customers.

•  Set up and monitor a set of customer SLAs to which the entire company will adhere

The successful candidate must also have the ability and experience to lead a multi-disciplined organization in a multi-location environment.

 Ideal Candidate Profile

Click the hyperlink below for a  diagram illustrates the intersection of competencies critical in the VP Client Services position:

VP Client Services Competencies Heatmap

Staff

The team reporting into the VP Client Services runs at about 30 staff.  Departments that report into this role include the following:

•  Account Management (enterprise side corporate B2B relationship managers)

•  Call center (driver-side customer management)

Compensation

Compensation is competitive with the marketplace.  In a performance-based environment, this will include base salary, incentive bonus structure based on qualitative and quantitative MBOs, and the opportunity to participate in any liquidity event/change of control that may occur in the future of the company.

Tennis Legend Nick Bollettieri Headlines

Boston’s VCs vs. Entrepreneurs Tennis Fundraiser

Sixth annual tourney to raise money for Tenacity, the award-winning non-profit

providing tennis and scholastic programs for inner-city youth

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass., September 11, 2012: A who’s who of investors and entrepreneurs from the Boston-area innovation community will take to the legendary grass courts in Chestnut Hill this Thursday to battle for the title of best tennis doubles team.

Iconic Tennis Industry Hall of Famer Nick Bollettieri – mentor and coach to such international superstars as Agassi, Becker, Courier, Hingis, Jankovic, Rios, Seles, Sharapova and the Williams sisters – will preside as more than 50 players take up their racquets during the round-robin tourney to raise funds once again for Tenacity. Using tennis and physical activities to meet a critical need for safe, healthy, productive after-school, in-school and summer programs for urban youth, Tenacity’s initiatives have served more than 20,000 children. Importantly, they are closely integrated with literacy programs to help build academic motivation and achievement.

BSG Team Ventures is hosting the tourney. Sponsors include Silicon Valley Bank, Burns & Levinson LLP, Grant Thornton LLP, Xconomy, Weston Racquet Club and CHEN PR.

A few spots remain for interested players, so sign up as soon as possible. Silicon Valley Bank has kindly organized for Coach Bollettieri to provide several clinics during the day. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, space is limited. Request participation when registering for the tourney.

What:                       VCs vs. Entrepreneurs Tennis Tournament

When:                      Thursday, September 13, 2012, from 2:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Where:                     564 Hammond Street, Chestnut Hill, MA

Donation:                $175 for tennis, cocktails, dinner, networking and fun

To Attend:                Register here or contact Karlap.Franco@gmail.com

BOSTON, MA, August 00, 2012– BSGTeam Ventures (BSG) today announced the appointment of Todd Hand (www.talentbench.net/company/principals/) as Managing Director of TalentBench (www.talentbench.net), a division of BSG. Todd has more than 15 years of search experience in the same innovation-driven industry sectors asBSG. “I’m excited to have Todd join us to run the TalentBench brand,” said Clark Waterfall,BSG Managing Director. “Todd has been an industry colleague and friend for more than 15 years. The synergies run deep.”

Before joining TalentBench, Todd was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Altela, the leading company in water treatment for the oil and gas industry, where he was responsible for identifying new business sectors and driving revenue in the U.S. and international markets. Prior to Altela, Todd was COO at CleanSwitch Solar, a photovoltaic engineering and integration company. He also raised venture capital financing for Talent Capital Group, an executive search firm that recruited leaders to drive the success of innovative companies in the technology and renewable sectors. Previously Todd built management teams for both Idealab, a creator and operator of technology companies, and the Yankee Group, the global technology market research firm.

Todd serves on the board of directors of Coronado Ventures Forum, an organization focused on educating and connecting entrepreneurs with private equity financing. He is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and attended the Babson MBA program. “TalentBench expands our recruiting services,” said Todd, “and helps emerging technology companies who want the quality of an executive-level retained search for their key individual contributor through to their Vice President-level roles.”