Dave Blumhorst: During the last 18 months as an employee of Daptiv, I've had the rare opportunity to get a "view from the trenches" as our company evolved from a venture-backed company to private equity ownership. Prior to this, I had a ring-side seat watching the company's transformation from a startup to a company with $20 million in revenue when I led a strategic services partner of Daptiv.

To be honest, I held some misconceptions about private equity firms and how the acquisition would turn out. We've all heard horror stories about private equity firms that are known as "quick- flip" artists and divest assets to maximize profits without a long-term commitment to growing companies. But any misgivings I had about Parallax Capital acquiring Daptiv were dispelled soon after our first meeting when I asked our new CEO, John Baldwin, about their exit strategy. I was floored when he responded, "We don't focus on the exit; we make money the old fashioned way - with profits."

Their pedigree (particularly in the project management space where Daptiv plays) backed up that statement in spades. Since that time, I've seen a lot of change worth sharing. The acquisition has had a ripple effect on everything from our company's strategic direction to our corporate culture and employee morale.

Strategic focus and long-term vision

It starts with realizing that venture capital and private equity firms have very different focuses, and that difference leads to many of the changes we've experienced at Daptiv. Venture capital is typically focused on growing young companies quickly and preparing them for liquidity events such as an IPO or acquisition. In contrast, a firm like Parallax is looking for companies that have reached scale and can be grown sustainably over the long term. That's not to say that private equity firms don't sell companies in their portfolio when the time is right, it's just not a short-term goal.

Daptiv experienced exponential growth (compound growth rate of more than 50 percent per year) from 2003-2008 and the corporate culture was best described as a roller coaster ride: fueled by adrenaline and excitement but often volatile and unpredictable. Over the last few years, Daptiv has accumulated more than 500 enterprise customers and 80,000 subscribers worldwide. Parallax valued that investment and wanted to build on Daptiv's success, but in a way that ensured long-term growth – a strategy I'm very comfortable with. That gave me (and my co-workers) a great sense of relief, and confidence that Daptiv would be a stable workplace. There are some investment firms who want to dramatically change the business model, product or other fundamental areas of the business, but Parallax was more interested in building on what was already working.

Sector expertise and experience

Another difference with Parallax is they place partners into the company as key executives. This contrasts with the venture capital model where partners typically play an advisory role on the board. Daptiv gained what Gartner Research referred to as project portfolio management "visionaries" with the addition of the Parallax management. John Baldwin, our CEO, has more than 24 years of experience in the software applications and technology industry, including 12 years in the project and portfolio management industry. John, and our COO Brad Clark, had been tracking Daptiv for more than a decade and were well-suited to dive right in and begin executing on Parallax's strategic vision to take the company to the next level.

Placing executives with this type of deep sector expertise and global outlook is a change we particularly valued at Daptiv. Indeed, since the Parallax acquisition, we've already expanded our Asia Pacific presence with the acquisition of an Australian PPM company and bolstered our European operations through a strategic partnership with a German PPM specialist. This expansion might not have been possible without the financial backing and strategic vision of our partners at Parallax.

Impact on company morale and culture

From a company culture perspective, the impact of our private equity acquisition can be summarized in one word: maturity. We're growing up. I’m sure that not everyone on the team is comfortable with the shift – that's part of dealing with change. Like so many technology companies, Daptiv prides itself on its driven, entrepreneurial attitude. But we haven't lost that drive, and shifting our company mentality to profitable growth in our core PPM market has been instrumental in reigniting our sense of mission, our confidence, and our motivation to excel.

Customer focus: Outside-in vs Inside-out

Finally, the biggest improvement has been our focus. We've become more focused on our core PPM market. More focused on our customer’s business challenges. More focused on how all of us at Daptiv – from the product side to services delivery, from sales to the back office – can help our customers solve those challenges. In short, we've become an extroverted company focused on our customer’s success.

And perhaps that's the bottom line for me. Our change in focus to profitability and long-term success has sharpened our strategy for growing Daptiv to a $50 million-plus company. While there are plenty of challenges and opportunities ahead, I feel we are in a better position to meet those challenges, take advantage of our opportunities, and most importantly serve our customers since the private equity acquisition.

Dave Blumhorst is the VP of Professional Services for Daptiv, the on-demand leader in project portfolio management software. He oversees a professional services team focused on helping customers using Daptiv's PPM toolset. Blumhorst is a seasoned executive that has run IT, professional services and finance departments. He has served as a controller and CFO for small to mid-sized companies, served as CIO at mid-sized companies such as Clarent and was the senior director of the IT-PMO at PeopleSoft. Throughout his 30-year career he has always found innovative ways to use technology to create business value.