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The VMS M&A Pulse
A newsletter for owners of UK vertical mission-critical software businesses. As an owner, you're focused on building your business. But you should always have one eye on the end-game. Knowing why buyers are paying real money for businesses just like yours is the key to positioning your own company for a maximum-value exit, whenever you decide the time is right. The last 60 days have seen some significant moves in the UK VMS space. Let's break down three of them and see what
Sean Massey
Oct 313 min read


Building Sustainable Growth in Sticky Markets: Lessons from the UK Software Sector
I’ve had the great fortune to work with many founders and CEOs navigating a very typical shareholder’s paradox: their customers rarely leave them, but those same customers rarely leave their competitors either. This creates a unique strategic challenge that requires a fundamentally different approach to growth. Software companies that thrive in these conditions aren't necessarily the flashiest or the most aggressive. They're the ones that understand their market dynamics and
Sean Massey
Oct 317 min read


Strategic Hibernation: A Luxury or a Death Sentence for UK Vertical Software?
The Argument for "Strategic Hibernation" I just read the new article, "Is This a Moment for Strategic Hibernation?" (Harvard Business Impact Education), by Christopher Marquis. The core idea suggests that in times of intense political and regulatory whiplash, companies should adopt a strategy of strategic hibernation . This approach is about more than just scaling back; it's a deliberate decision to: Preserve Core Capabilities: Maintain essential assets and IP. Minimize E
Sean Massey
Oct 312 min read
Why Decentralisation Matters for UK Software Founders Who Want to Sell—but Stay
If you're a UK software founder thinking about selling your business, but still want to run it post-sale, there's one operating model you should pay close attention to: decentralisation. In the UK, decentralisation is quietly becoming the preferred model for founders who want continuity, autonomy, and growth post transaction, without the bureaucracy of traditional private equity or corporate roll-ups. This article explores what decentralisation really means, why it’s gaining
Sean Massey
Oct 313 min read
Know Your Business, Grow Your Business
After years of steering a B2B software business through market shifts, funding cycles, and acquisition offers, I’ve learned this: flashy metrics might win slide decks, but only a handful of KPIs truly reveal the health of your business. Here's what I delve into each month: 🔹 Net Revenue Retention (NRR) If I could only track one metric, this would be it. NRR blends churn, expansion, and upsell into one number. If you're above 110%, you're growing even without new sales—your
Sean Massey
Oct 311 min read


Wanted PR Firm To Re-Brand AI......
Because "Artificial Intelligence" Is About to Get Artificially Uninvested Recent warnings suggest AI stocks could be heading toward bubble territory, with some valuations reaching unsustainable levels and corporate AI projects struggling to deliver returns. Major AI companies have achieved price-to-sales ratios exceeding 40 times revenue, with some pushing close to 69 times sales — numbers that would make even the dot-com bubble blush. Is the AI bubble about to burst? - Inves
Sean Massey
Oct 315 min read
Real Pipeline v Sales 'Pipelie'
How many times have you been told for months that an important deal is definitely going to happen, been reassured that the buyer is 100% committed, that the budget is approved and the business case signed off, only for the deal to slip away for reasons that 'nobody could have predicted'. You've been looking at sales 'Pipelie'. A reliable sales forecast is crucial and hinges on high-quality opportunity pipelines created by your sales team. Let’s delve into why this matters: S
Sean Massey
Oct 304 min read
🧭 Thinking Beyond the Sale: Why Employee Ownership Might Be Your Smartest Exit Strategy
For many founders of medium-sized UK software businesses, the question of “what next?” looms large. After years of building a profitable, mission-critical product, the natural instinct is to explore a sale—perhaps to a strategic acquirer or private equity. But there’s another path that’s gaining traction: transitioning to an Employee Owned Enterprise (EOE) . 💡 What Is Employee Ownership? An EOE is a business structure where employees collectively own a significant stake in
Sean Massey
Oct 302 min read
More evidence needed to establish 5G’s green credentials
Research paper from UK university cautions that received wisdom of sustainability associated with next-generation mobile technology is...
Sean Massey
Jan 28, 20224 min read
Schneider Electric launches Go Green Challenge 2022 in India
Schneider Electric is kicking off its annual student competition in India – the Schneider Go Green challenge 2022, in collaboration with...
Sean Massey
Jan 23, 20221 min read


How ‘Sustainable’ Web Design Can Help Fight Climate Change
This article appears in the July/August issue of Wired here. To cut the carbon, programmers are cutting the code. Call it green...
Sean Massey
Jan 21, 20224 min read


Green Code in Space!
I have been catching up on my news feeds this afternoon and found myself thinking about the latest Raspberry PIs going up to the...
Sean Massey
Jan 15, 20221 min read
Tips For Greener Software
I've come across a great (and accessible) research paper for coders to look at how they can measure the impact of their software and how...
Sean Massey
Jan 13, 20222 min read


How Green Is Your Website?
How is your website impacting the planet? Estimate your web page carbon footprint: By using this carbon calculator, you agree to the...
Sean Massey
Jan 13, 20221 min read
THE GREEN SOFTWARE FOUNDATION RELEASES ALPHA VERSION OF SOFTWARE CARBON INTENSITY SPECIFICATION FOR
Software powers much of our modern world, from personal productivity to organizational transformations. Software can also play a critical...
Sean Massey
Jan 13, 20224 min read


Test Your Code's Greeness!
A project called GreenSoft at Texas State University have built a great tool for understanding how green your code is. GreenCode is the...
Sean Massey
Jan 13, 20221 min read


BEYOND SINGLE-DIMENSIONAL METRICS FOR DIGITAL SUSTAINABILITY
In measuring energy consumption of software a move towards multi-dimensional, rich metadata-supplemented metrics offer better...
Sean Massey
Jan 13, 20227 min read


How Green Is Your Software
Originally published by Harvard Business Review 18/9/20 @ https://hbr.org/2020/09/how-green-is-your-software Without doubt, software is...
Sean Massey
Jan 13, 20226 min read


Software With Sustainability @ Heart
This blog explores how software developers in all settings can make micro changes to deliver big improvements from the energy expended on...
Sean Massey
Jan 13, 20221 min read
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