Shows
How to ScalePhill Robinson - Part 2In Episode 11 of Frog's How to Scale podcast, we rejoin Senior Partner Mike Reid and Phill Robinson for Part 2 of our conversation about the critical components of building, scaling, and sustaining market-leading companies.With over 35 years in the software industry, Phill has held pivotal leadership roles, including CEO of IRIS Software Group and Exact Software in the Netherlands, and CMO at Salesforce.com. Now the founder and CEO of Boardwave, a networking community for European software CEOs and investors, Phill offers a wealth of insights drawn from decades of industry experience.In part 1...2024-11-1228 min
How to ScalePhill Robinson - Part 1In episode 10, we are delighted to bring you a special two-part episode of Frog’s How to Scale podcast. Senior Partner Mike Reid sits down with veteran software leader and founder of Boardwave, Phill Robinson.Phill and Mike discuss the critical components of building, scaling, and sustaining market-leading companies, with the first part focusing on software and the second part on strategy.With over 35 years in the software industry, Phill has held pivotal leadership roles, including CEO of IRIS Software Group and Exact Software in the Netherlands, and CMO at Salesforce.com. Now the founder and CEO...2024-11-1224 min
How to ScaleAndrew Betteley & Dominic Rodgers - Building with AI In episode 9 of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, Senior Partner Steven Dunne speaks with Frog Operating Partner, Andrew Betteley and Frog’s Head of Marketing at Frog, Dominic Rodgers, about our recent experience of building an AI search engine.With the speed at which AI capabilities has been advancing in the last couple of years, the landscape of what is possible is constantly changing. This means that it is hard to know how best to approach utilising AI technologies in your business and how to execute them effectively.Having developed a customised larg...2024-09-2322 min
How to ScaleAmanda Stainton - How People and Culture teams add real valueIn the new episode of Frog's How to Scale podcast, we are proud to introduce Amanda Stainton, Frog's new Operating Partner focused on People and Culture.Amanda has spent the last 18 months contributing to due diligence projects and supporting some of Frog's portfolio companies. She has over 30 years' experience leading people and culture teams across a wide range of blue chip businesses and is now focused on the importance of people and culture in the growth stage.The People and Culture function is a strategically important part of Scale-Up alongside Product, Sales, Tech, Marketing and...2024-08-1228 minHow to ScaleSebastien Blanc - The 3 Pillars of Company BuildingIn season 2, episode 7 of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, Senior Partner Mike Reid speaks with Scale-Up CEO, Sebastien Blanc, about the mindset of a company builder.Sebastien is a two time Software Scale-Up CEO. He is responsible for transforming the performance of two software companies from loss-making to profitability whilst maintaining steady growth. Sebastien was the CEO of Skimlinks, a former Frog Capital portfolio company, where he achieved 100% year on year growth with strong EBITDA margin.In our conversation we discuss the three elements of company building: the operating system, capital allocation and...2024-07-0124 min
How to ScaleKimberly Baker - Developing a customer-centric culture through scale-upIn the 6th episode of the second season of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, Senior Partner Mike Reid speaks with Kimberly Baker of Evotix, about putting the right people and structures in place to rapidly deliver value and achieve customer success. Kimberly is currently Chief Customer Officer at Evotix, a former Frog Capital portfolio company. She is responsible for championing customer needs, leading strategies that improve the overall customer experience, fostering cross-departmental collaboration, and cultivating a customer-centric culture. Her focus is on enhancing customer satisfaction, retention, and company growth by ensuring that the customer rem...2024-06-0126 min
How to ScaleJohn Lord - Successfully Scaling SalesIn the 5th episode of the second season of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, Operating Partner James Bagan speaks with John Lord, serial chair, investor and advisor to scale up businesses, about structuring processes to enable successful sales scale-up. John is currently chair at Red Flag Alert, Tred and Engage PSG Search, focusing on steering these companies through their scale-up journeys. He previously founded TruNarrative in 2016 until their successful acquisition in 2021. Prior to that he was Group Managing Director at GBG Plc, helping to take the business from a valuation of £18M to a list...2024-05-0126 min
How to ScaleDawn Marriott - Driving growth through leadership team developmentIn the 4th episode of the second season of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, Senior Partner Mike Reid speaks with Dawn Marriott, Partner at Hg Capital, about effectively developing the leadership team as you progress through the different stages of scale-up.Dawn focuses on the CEO community at Hg Capital, driving growth and operational effectiveness within their portfolio. She acts as a serial Exec Chair with a particular emphasis on driving change, growth and C suite succession. Previously she headed up Hg’s Portfolio team and was CEO in Hg investments Kinapse and Azets. Prior to t...2024-04-0229 min
How to ScaleMatthew Elson - Building sustainable profitability with purposeIn the 3rd episode of the second season of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, Senior Partner Steven Dunne speaks with Matthew Elson, CEO of Evotix, about how entrepreneurs can create a purposeful business that builds sustainable profitability through the scaling journey.Matthew has been CEO at Evotix since buying the business for £1 in 2011 and has continuously grown 30-40% year-on-year under Matthew’s leadership, transforming how companies manage Health, Safety & Risk, and engaging with their employees to deliver safe, nurturing and compliant workplaces. Frog invested in Evotix in January 2020 when they had reached £6m ARR and were a...2024-03-0125 min
How to ScaleDale Murray CBE – Working effectively with boardsIn the 2nd episode of the second season of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, Senior Partner Mike Reid speaks with Dale Murray CBE about how entrepreneurs can work as effectively as possible with their boards and how they can mentor and coach their own senior teams to collaborate at board level.Dale is an experienced board director to global technology businesses and a successful tech entrepreneur. She is currently on the board for 6 companies, including Xero, the cloud accountancy software business. Earlier in her career, Dale co-founded Omega Logic which launched mobile phone “top-ups” in the UK...2024-02-0129 min
How to ScaleMartin Leuw: Business as a Force for GoodWelcome to Season 2 of the How to Scale podcast! In the 1st episode of the new season, host Mike Reid speaks to Martin Leuw about the role of purpose in software scale-ups.Martin is a serial software entrepreneur with a 25-year track record of creating significant tangible value to PE and Founders through leading business growth. As Group CEO of IRIS Software Group, over a 10 year period, Martin led the scale-up growth from £2m to £50m EBITDA pa and Enterprise Value from £30m to $1bn, delivering a 90% IRR exit to the PE backers.In...2024-01-0124 minHow to ScaleDeveloping Team Culture and Robust CollaborationIn the twelth episode of 'How to Scale', we focus on ‘building a strong collaborative culture'. Host Jens Düing speaks with Frog's in-house psychologist, John Sutherland. John is one of Frog’s Operating Partners and is a specialist leadership team development consultant. He works with the companies Frog invests in to assess their senior teams, assist with new key hires and develop team culture.In our conversation we dive deeper into topics including building team culture and language, the rules of belonging, fostering an environment for robust contention, nurturing, strong collaboration, teamwor...2023-11-0120 minHow to ScaleScaling to Market LeadershipIn the 11th episode of How to Scale, host Jens Düing speaks to Adam Hale about the 5 things software companies need to focus on at the same time, to set them on their way to 'Scaling to Market Leadership'.Adam is the Chair of 3 companies, including Clue Software, one of the companies Frog has invested in. He has had successful careers in executive search and professional services, as well as successfully scaling a business called Fairsail from 13 people and £700k ARR to over 200 people and £12 million ARR before being acquired by Sage Group.I...2023-10-0226 minHow to ScaleBeing Successfully AcquiredIn the tenth episode of How to Scale, host Jens Düing speaks to fellow Senior Partner, Mike Reid about the steps for software companies to follow to increase the chances of 'Being Successfully Acquired'. Mike founded Frog Capital in 2009 and has been investing in businesses for over 20 years and overseen the sale and acquisition of over 50 companies in that time. In our conversation we'll cover topics including building value sustainably, shareholder and stakeholder alignment, corporate communications, mastering due diligence, and most importantly of all; planning well in advance.You ca...2023-09-0118 minHow to ScaleScaling HR through fast growthIn the ninth episode of How to Scale we focus on scaling HR when a software company is growing fast. Host Jens Düing speaks to Ulli Dittgen-Noweski, who is Chief People and Communications Officer of Caspar Health, one of Frog Capital’s portfolio companies. Ulli has a wealth of experience in HR leadership roles across the world, having worked for BMG, MSD and Schering-Plough Research Institute amongst others before joining Caspar Health. In the conversation we cover putting the right HR processes, policies and structures in place to enable growth. We als...2023-08-0123 minHow to ScaleChairing Software Scale-UpsIn the eighth episode of ‘How to Scale’ we discuss the role of the Chair at software companies through the scale-up stage. Host Jens Düing speaks with fellow Senior Partner, Mike Reid, and Frog’s in-house psychologist and Team Development Operating Partner, John Sutherland, who have put together a Chairing Framework, which forms the basis for our discussion.Put together in collaboration with Frog’s wider network of Chairs, it examines the five key elements a Chair will focus on:Strategic time horizonBalancing Stakeholder focusGovernance/ Mentoring approachAdaptive/ Intentional styleDevelopment strategy You can find m...2023-07-0421 minHow to ScaleGrowth Strategies with M&AIn the seventh episode of How to Scale we focus on mergers and acquisitions. Host Jens Düing speaks to serial entrepreneur Michael Kent, who was the CEO of Azimo, one of Frog Capital’s former portfolio companies, which recently was acquired by Papaya Global.’ Before being CEO of Azimo, Michael worked in corporate mergers and acquisitions at News Corp and WPP before founding Small World where he and his team conducted multiple acquisitions. In the conversation we cover growth strategies with mergers and acquisitions, including what to focus on if you're l...2023-06-0726 minHow to ScaleScaling Finance TeamsIn the sixth episode of How to Scale we focus on scaling finance teams. Host Jens Düing speaks to fellow Senior Partner at Frog Capital, Steven Dunne. Steven has over 20 years of private equity experience gained both within private equity firms and as a senior executive of private equity backed companies.In the conversation we cover topics including the organisation and process of scaling the finance function, and why engagement with the rest of the business is fundamental to success.If you'd like to read content from Steven, you...2023-04-0420 minHow to ScaleTeam Development in the Real WorldIn the fifth episode of 'How to Scale' we focus on ‘Senior team development in the real world'. Host Jens Düing speaks with Frog's in-house psychologist, John Sutherland. John is one of Frog’s Operating Partners and is a specialist leadership team development consultant. He works with the companies Frog invests in to assess their senior teams, assist with new key hires and develop team culture. In our conversation we'll discuss the common pitfalls in team development and what strong teams do to address them. We cover topics including diversity, dealing...2023-01-2518 minHow to ScaleScaling SustainablyIn the fourth episode of How to Scale we follow last episode's focus on the recent tech downturn with the perfect antidote that lies at Frog's core - scaling businesses sustainably. Host Jens Düing speaks to fellow Senior Partner at Frog Capital, Steven Dunne.Steven is Frog's CFO and heads up our operating partner programme. He has over 20 years' experience working in private equity backed businesses and private equity companies themselves. works closely with the CFO's at the companies Frog has invested in.In the conversation we cover topics including balancing growth a...2022-11-0813 minHow to ScaleScaling in difficult marketsIn the third episode of How to Scale we focus on the recent tech downturn and how entrepreneurs can best react to market volatility. Host Jens Düing speaks to fellow Senior Partner at Frog Capital, Mike Reid. Mike has been investing in software companies for over 20 years and ridden out the dot com bubble and the global recession of 2008/9 when he started Frog Capital.In the conversation we cover topics including aligning board and shareholder priorities and managing changes and communicating them with the wider team.If you'd lik...2022-09-1519 minHow to ScaleScaling Technology Products and TeamsIn the second episode of How to Scale we focus on 'Scaling technology products and teams' with Andrew Betteley, an Operating Partner at Frog Capital. Andrew has been leading software development projects and teams for 20 years as a CTO and consultant having started as a developer and engineer. In our conversation we'll cover topics including scaling system architecture to prevent performance throttling and how a CTO transitions from being involved in everything to delegating effectively.If you'd like to read content from Andrew he has written several great pieces available at frogcapital.com/scalingtech as well as...2022-07-2718 minHow to ScaleScaling Sales TeamsIn the first episode of How to Scale we talk to James Bagan, an Operating Partner at Frog Capital, who specialises in sales and marketing. James started out many years ago in sales and went on to lead Private Equity backed businesses as a CEO. James covers topics including moving from founder sales to hiring a sales leader and a sales team, avoiding reliance on star performers, establishing consistency and predicatability, and answering the all important question: what is the most important KPI in sales?For more insights and practical...2022-06-2724 min