For the last five years, CEO Arnie Bellini and his team at ConnectWise spoke with eight different private equity firms in the hopes of not only a successful acquisition, but to create a culture change in the Tampa Bay region. Bellini wanted to show Silicon Valley investors it is not only okay to go beyond the California hills, but that they could actually thrive in doing so.
As of Feb. 28, Bellini will get his wish.
Officials announced Monday that ConnectWise, the largest software development firm in Tampa Bay last valued at $1.2 billion, is pending acquisition by Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm.
"The shine is coming off Silicon Valley; it's expensive to live there, the state of California doesn't make it easy to do business," Bellini said. "As a result, a lot of Silicon Valley is looking to go somewhere else. So we thought, 'Let's try and be a beacon for the Tampa Bay area.' [Thoma Bravo is] a high-profile private equity firm and now they're coming in town all the time, they're meeting with us, seeing our success story and saying, 'It would be a great place to invest in.'"
While the deal was made for an undisclosed amount, Bellini was able to say $270 million in stock was being redeemed by ConnectWise's non-C-level employees — making around 70 of their employees millionaires.
"It's generating lots more jobs in the area — more high-tech jobs — and a whole bunch of young millionaires," he said. "We see it as a seminal event, as a tipping point. I'm hoping part of the legacy of ConnectWise is, when we look back in 50 years, people will say, 'That's the company that kickstarted things.'"
Bellini is planning to take his funds from the acquisition and put it directly back into Tampa Bay businesses and hopes the soon-to-be millionaires will follow suit to create a trickle-down effect in the ecosystem.
"ConnectWise is a very unique Tampa story; we’re 100 percent organically grown, right in the soil of Tampa Bay," Bellini said. "Think of how fertile the soil Tampa must have to grow a large company. It just means there's a lot of opportunity for this to be done over, and over, and over again. We've got a very good alumni system and we expect our alumni to go do great things. If you leave [ConnectWise] for whatever reason, we expect them to create new technology, invest in them. We think it's the next Silicon Valley."
It is something Tech Data Corp. founder and ConnectWise board of directors member Steve Raymund saw after he sold his shares of the company.
"I've seen a number of former Tech Data employees go off and work with other businesses or start their own," Raymund said. "Larger companies like Tech Data or ConnectWise spawn their downstream of an ecosystem of startups. It's all good news; these are people that will have some financial resources and a lot of valuable work experience now."
But while leaders are looking toward future investments, they are still keeping an eye on the growth ConnectWise will have with new ownership. Bellini will take on a senior advisory position, with current COO Jason Magee stepping into the CEO role.
"The great thing is Arnie and I have been working together the last eight years," Magee said. "So it's going to be good to continue to go forward with the pieces we put in place and have [Thoma Bravo] alongside us, to do bigger things and on bigger scale that we may not have done previously."
"[Thoma Bravo] is going to fuel a lot of growth," said Stan Levy, a member of ConnectWise's board of directors and banking adviser. "They can fuel and accelerate growth, both organically and strategically, with strategic acquisitions — things we might not have done if we were on a stand-alone basis. I think they can add a lot of additional platforms like beef up the cybersecurity side which we all know is important. And I think Thoma Bravo is going to help bring them to the next level."
Both Levy and Raymund stated they will not stay on the board under the new acquisition.
"It's been a wonderful journey. It is particularly impressive to watch what Arnie and [brother] David created," Levy said. "Do you know that Arnie is the one who swam the English Channel? You know he swam around Manhattan? Do you know he swam from Catalina to Los Angeles? When he sets his mind to something, he gets it done. He's a visionary."
Bellini's ultimate vision was arguably to have a Tampa-planted and grown company, owned by colleagues — and he did just that.
"ConnectWise was born here in Tampa, it's growing here, it's staying here," he said. "We’re leading the way and showing folks it can be done here and we’re here to create as much success as we can. I think it’ll be pretty good success story — it's nice to have good news once in a while."
