Welcome to the first part of a three-part series discussing the acquisition story of Vizergy Digital Marketing. Watch our in-depth interview with Joe Hyman, CEO & Founder of Vizergy, as he shares insights into the pre-acquisition phase of the journey.
Video Transcript
Tell us about Vizergy Digital Marketing.
We serve the world's hospitality industry with leading marketing technologies. We leverage a data first approach to marketing with our software platform. We have a digital sales and marketing system that we call the Vizergy Marketing System and with that we really deploy complete travel life cycle marketing solutions.
That's our SaaS [Software as a Solution] platform, and then around that platform we build the website, the analytics, harvest review information planning tools and we provide digital marketing services, reservation solutions, media planning, media deployment and we help our clients measure and optimize on a consistent basis their website and direct to consumer storefront.
What was the initial spark for wanting to sell Vizergy?
We had been in business for 22 years and were thinking about the next transition for the company. As much as we would like to think we could work till we're 100, most of us can't. We were really looking for a transition plan where Vizergy's next phase of the company's life will grow from and how we continue to grow the business, build the brand, and provide an environment that is healthy for the staff to grow in their careers.
As I was getting older as the primary owner, we evaluated different ways of creating an exit and really chose a full acquisition as the best solution for this transition.
How did you discover Vertus Group?
Because we have to run a business and we've got customers to serve and employees to serve - from a size and scale our business employed 76 employees at the time of acquisition and serves over 1,000 clients - so there's a lot of work that goes into managing the business on a day-to-day basis. What we did was we hired an M&A consultant, and that consultant helped us frame the value proposition. They specialized in travel, tech, and hospitality technology in general.
Then they took that value proposition and solicited quite a few parties. It's a highly competitive market, the M&A space, but they honed in on the parties that would be most interested in our solutions and that would fit into their portfolios the best. That banker went out and solicited interest from multiple buyers and that's when I was first introduced to Vertus.
What stood out to you about Vertus Group?
Our calls [with Vertus Group] were great for a couple of reasons. We spoke with multiple suitors along the way, but I think it was the level of humility that was demonstrated by the team as we had discussions that stood out. They were really interested in learning about the business and how the business could fit into their model.
So, we spoke with different types of folks, some were bankers, and they asked all strictly banker type questions. Vertus was a nice mix of the financial, the business strategy and understanding the nuances of the hospitality, marketing, and software business. We're a tech enabled marketing services group and they really understood that and could speak our language. It wasn't like we had to educate the folks on the other end of the phone what we did and how we did it.
Instantly, there were much higher quality questions that were being asked. We were talking more about the business, the strategy and the customers and they really understood that. That was a difference maker.
What started to tip the scales towards Vertus?
I mean, this is my legacy. I've worked 23 years to build this. You want to make sure that your staff and your team are cared for and there's an opportunity for them in the future. And then you'd like to see your business live on into the future and grow and expand and have the best opportunity for growth and expansion.
For me, the Vertus Group really checked all of those boxes because of the buy and hold concept. The fact that they're going to use metrics across 1,000 companies, apply it to our company, means you have a lot of confidence that they're going to run this in the highest most efficient way. They have benchmarks and metrics to help your business grow and prosper and then there's a place for your staff, all of your staff, to grow and expand in their careers.
At the earliest phase, those were all really important consideration points. If you think of this as a funnel, you have interest, you have some meetings, and now you're starting to evaluate where you can see your home in the future.
