How two tech giants have sustained growth without going public

The past year has seen a slow down in the number of tech companies going public, and while there are a lot of reasons for a technology company to IPO, many technology companies have found success without jumping on the quarterly treadmill. By going public, you ostensibly gain money to expand operations, stroke the founder’s ego, and allow investors to take money off the table among other benefits. I’m sure it sounds great to ring the bell or watch your stock ticker pass on NASDAQ.

There’s a lot of discussion on the topic of going public so I’ll let you peruse the internet for more scholarly and well, less scholarly prose on the topic. What I will point out are two private companies that have continued to march on quite nicely by taking a long-term approach to growth and profits. They both have avoided the quarterly treadmill and great things have happened.

UKG
The merger of Ultimate and Kronos left us with a cryptic name for a company but the team there has done a fantastic job of making those three letters represent a high-quality product that drives consistent value for customers in both WFM and HCM. Feedback from customers is consistently strong both in the quality of the solution and the customer service behind the company. UKG took the steps they need for long-term development. Hellman & Friedman took Kronos private, took their time to assess, then purchased Ultimate and initiated a merger. For technology, it was a glacial pace but like glaciers, it was unrelenting and will result in a permanent change in that market. Long slow clap for the H&F team that had the stamina to realize the potential with those investments.

Infor
Being backed by a rich family is helpful and there’s no doubt Koch Industries has given Infor plenty of breathing room. Here’s another company that continues to march forward, allowing management to make decisions that ignore the typical 90-day reporting horizon. Infor is providing business quality solutions across a range of areas today because it could make the investments to integrate a collection of acquisitions made years ago. I’m sure the financials hurt for some time, but Infor is another company that stuck to the plan and is realizing success both in product and customer satisfaction.

Infor and UKG may someday go public, allowing investors to take the money and run, but both represent what management can do when it is allowed to make good business, rather than market, decisions.