Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
Mark Twain
About
Lightning Partners provides direction and advice to growth technology companies on M&A, capital raising and strategy that result in superior outcomes, including industry leading valuations, ideal transaction terms and best-in-class close rates. We are committed to consistently and tenaciously delivering optimum results to entrepreneurs and growth companies by applying our key strengths to each engagement.
Experience
The Lightning Partners team offers a wealth of experience in providing best-in-class M&A, capital raising and strategy services for SaaS and tech companies. We consistently deliver high value outcomes to strategic acquirers. We have a track record of more than 150 outstanding transactions valued at more than $20 billion. We have advised more than 1,000 board members on transactions with a host of notable leading strategic acquirers such as Google, Salesforce, SAP, IBM, Cisco, Symantec, Dell/EMC and many, many others.
Valuable Relationships
With more than 20 years of tech industry experience and more than 150 transactions, our team provides access to, and a deep understanding of, the right buyers and investors. Our unique buyer insight and access enables us to anticipate their behaviors including key concerns, interests, negotiating tactics, engagement patterns and decision-making processes. These relationships help us to best position your company, to access key decision makers, and to negotiate premium outcomes.
Domain Expertise
Maintaining a current understanding of activity in our focus markets (not just “what” is happening in your sector, but “why”) is critical to evaluate, perfect and communicate the value proposition of your company to potential acquirers and investors. We maintain regular dialogue with buyers and investors in our focus sectors, so we understand their evolving interests and strategies, the subtleties of their markets and companies, and their ever-shifting views about growth opportunities. Our domain expertise and sector focus also go beyond the top names in our sectors to include less obvious players who are positioning to disrupt or redefine the market through unexpected market plays.
Senior Level Attention
Our business model is deliberately structured to ensure that our senior level bankers actively participate in your process on a daily basis. Our years of investment banking and operating experience help us to capitalize on every conceivable opportunity and advantage for your company. We have learned that each transaction has critical, defining moments where value can either be created or lost – and it is at these crucial moments where you need a seasoned banker to help guide founders and board members to reach the best outcome. Maintaining this level of senior attention and expertise throughout a process distinguishes Lightning Partners from other investment banks and enables us to drive each process forward on its optimal trajectory every hour of every day.
Entrepreneurial Roots
Lightning Partners stands apart from other technology investment banks thanks to our entrepreneurial roots. We have not only advised on numerous high-impact strategic transactions, but we have also worked inside of technology companies and have built, run and sold our own companies. We combine our operational background and vast transaction experience to minimize management distraction, to understand your company’s priorities, and to intimately but efficiently understand your business while becoming a true partner in your success.
Strategic Positioning
Lightning Partners works with you to thoughtfully formulate and clearly articulate your strategic positioning. We realize your strategic fit is not “one size fits all” and therefore our knowledge of the buyer universe helps us to optimally position your company with each potential buyer. We also run our process to ensure you get credit for some of the joint synergy you have with a given acquirer. Through years of experience in M&A, capital raising and strategic advisory engagements, we have developed a proven method to optimally position your company.
Customized Process
The idea of a “standard” transaction process for tech companies is a losing proposition. This leads to mediocre outcomes that fail to uniquely articulate your value proposition and future opportunity. Lightning Partners was created with the goal of providing highly customized, perfectly-run processes that deliver the highest possible valuations.
Impeccable Execution
With our commitment to excellence, each unique process that we manage is refined and led by senior level experts. Each process is designed to yield a highly competitive bidding dynamic that allows us to maximize valuation, negotiating leverage and certainty of close. In this way, we consistently run an impeccable process that meets your needs and objectives.
“Dan and his team's exceptional access to buyers and investors, and their ability to strategically position our company, made for a highly competitive acquisition process that resulted in an optimal outcome. We couldn't be happier with the process and the results the team delivered.”
Gab Goncalves, PeopleAnswers CEO