“We are on the same side of the table, but look with different eyes and lend an extra pair of hands”

Patrick Van Deven, Partner & Head of Operations at Fortino Capital

Fortino Capital is best known as a leading venture and growth capital for B2B software. But the organization also offers extensive support in HR, general management, sales leadership and product development – all crucial for both start-ups and scalers. Fortino even goes beyond advice, information and support, but also really works with the founders when necessary. “Good ideas within technology only have a very limited time frame to become successful, so scaling is key.”

Patrick Van Deven, partner and head of operations at Fortino Capital, has more than thirty years of experience in large international software companies – including the American SAS Institute and SAP – but also in start-ups. Experience that he now puts at the service of other companies in the Benelux. “I really want to use everything I’ve learned in recent years to help driven entrepreneurs to scale”, says Van Deven.

“An attitude that I share with all my team members. We are on the same side of the table with the companies, but look at things with a different pair of eyes and lend an extra pair of hands. That way we live up to our tagline: grow with confidence. And rapid growth is the basis for success for B2B SaaS companies. Good ideas within technology only have a very limited time margin to become successful: if you wait too long, your chance is gone because the market has already evolved further. Time is critical – in software even more so than in other industries – so scaling quickly is a must key. We help with that.”

Content driven communities

“In concrete terms, we do this in three ways,” explains Van Deven. “Firstly, through internal company services, where we really dive deep into an organization and offer customized support. For example in the form of training or targeted recruitment.”

“In addition, we are building a community with all Fortino companies, both online and offline. In that way, we not only want to maximize networking opportunities, but also content sharing – in other words, we don’t strive for wine & dinemoments, but to deep, content driven communities from marketers, chief product developers, CFOs, and so on. Based on the idea that they can learn from each other, we create moments where they can exchange experiences and inspire each other. Where we focus in our first service on individual companies that have their own specific challenges, this allows us to really scale.”

“Last but not least we provide companies with portfolio benchmarks, so that they can clearly see how they are performing compared to all other companies in their domain. This mainly concerns benchmarks in financial performance, salaries and technology: productivity of the software, quality of the code, security, you name it.”

share expertise

For entrepreneurs, these services are often a real eye-opener, says Van Deven. “Why? Because Fortino’s venture capital fund specifically focuses on young, small companies that are looking for initial capital and that were therefore very focused on themselves, their market, their customers, and so on.”

“When we come with extensive, external expertise, with contact moments with other Fortino companies and with the possibility to compare our own performance with that of other software companies, a world opens up for them. I am not exaggerating when I say that we almost always achieve a wow effect with that. And that’s what makes our job so much fun: we can share our expertise, bring people together and can also use our analytical mind to benchmark (laughs).”

Revise opinion

That all sounds nice, but the proof of the pudding is still in the eating. So let’s take a look at some of the companies that actually called on Fortino Capital. Sigma Conso, for example, develops corporate performance management software to support CFOs of large organizations with financial results, legal consolidation and planning.

“To be honest, I didn’t feel like talking to investors anymore because none of them could offer me the help I really needed”, says CEO Dominique Galloy. “But when I came into contact with Fortino in 2020, I had to change my mind. Fortino turned out to be not just an investor, but the private equitypartner who effectively enabled me to grow faster.”

Onemanshow

Sigma Conso evolved – or better: exploded – after Fortino’s entry into a tech player on a European scale: today its 70 employees serve more than 620 corporate clients, including big names such as Umicore, Deloitte, Besix Group and Auchan. Turnover rose to 12 million euros.

“Fortino’s goal was clear from the first talks,” continues Sigma Conso’s CEO. “Strengthen all layers in the organization and bring in the right people. For example, the Board of Directors, the management and the various teams were expanded. With that foundation, it would accelerate organic growth in existing countries and serve new ones.”

“I had no sales, finance and service director either: Sigma Conso was a one-man show, although I realized that the company had grown too big for that. In a very short period of time, Fortino looked for and found a few suitable profiles, including a CFO and sales director. Immediately they also suggested that I hire an assistant. This did not seem necessary to me, but my initial resistance immediately disappeared when I experienced how much time and space was freed up for me.”

Next rewarding sales step

With all growth consequences of serving. “In the first six months, new license sales doubled”, continues Dominique Galloy. “We acquired our successful distributor in Asia and started operations in Germany. As the next rewarding sales move, we encouraged existing customers to move to our latest SaaS platform.”

But not only the growth of the company was on Fortino’s agenda. Knowing that an organization can only grow if its CEO grows, extra investments were also made in this area. “I was introduced to a coach from Fortino’s advisor group. It challenged me and my ideas,” says Galloy. “I was able to present my problems to them, but I didn’t get any solutions. Because that’s not what a coach does: he taught me how to find the answers within myself and how to fully use my self-confidence.”

That the success of Sigma Conso serves as an example for the entire industry is also proven by the recognition as BEST PE AWARD 2022, probably the most sought-after recognition for investors

More attractive employer

With the insights from the new, better reporting, Dominique was able to adjust his policy more quickly. “Fortino brought in interesting methodologies, including the weekly report to estimate future sales. Three lines on one graph represent the realisations, the forecasts and the possible upselling. This simple visualization greatly improved the sales follow-up. In combination with sales training by Fortino experts, our entire sales team now performs at a much higher level.”

Another Fortino customer is Bizzmine, which develops quality management software. CEO Peter De Brabandere is extremely enthusiastic about the collaboration. “Over the past six months, we have made great strides together in various areas: in HR, sales, company structure, strategy, reporting, and so on. We followed courses in sales, among other things, and received expertise from the Fortino team, where we could literally ask any question and learn from their wealth of experience.”

“I also saw and see my sales team – and by extension all our employees – grow. I see how motivated they are after Fortino’s investment. I see their enthusiasm and confidence increasing due to the new dynamics. Many are making huge progress and feel even more motivated than before.”

The growth scenario envisioned by De Brabandere was worked out and put on paper after just one day of collaboration with Fortino. “Since then, our growth direction has become so much clearer. We also became an attractive employer in a short time because Fortino’s HR expert de hard-to-get mentality of candidates managed to turn into curiosity.”