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Case Study

Strata Information Group

Location: San Diego, CA
Sector: IT Services
Date Acquired:
Exit Date:
Strata Information Group

Brent Rhymes
CEO, Strata Information Group and former CEO, WolfePak Software (aka PakEnergy)

"I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Fort Point as the CEO of two of their portfolio companies, WolfePak Software (aka PakEnergy) and now, Strata Information Group. Their thoughtful approach to taking very good businesses and making them even better is inspiring. With Fort Point’s support, we made significant investments in our management team, professionalized the Company’s systems and infrastructure, implemented a growth strategy that established leading service practices across the entire higher education technology consulting market, and established a robust M&A strategy that complemented our strong organic growth."

Situation

Strata Information Group (“SIG”) is a leading provider of technology support services to higher education institutions. SIG is an integral technology partner to colleges and universities with services including digital transformation and support, cloud migration, CRM, cybersecurity, optimization and consulting services and managed services. After more than 30 years spent growing the company to be a leader in the field, SIG’s owners were seeking a partner to bring new leadership as well as the strategic and financial resources that would help transition the company to its next stage of growth.

Our Role

Fort Point Capital completed the recapitalization in June 2021, and immediately went to work, identifying strategic initiatives and closely collaborating with retiring co-founder and CEO Henry Eimstad on transitioning to new leadership. We instigated a number of initiatives, including augmenting the management team, professionalizing the organization and infrastructure, executing follow-on acquisitions and establishing a robust M&A pipeline to complement the Company’s strong organic growth momentum and category expansion.

Senior Management Team

  • Helped identify and recruit a talented management team to facilitate a succession plan for the Company’s founders.
  • Hired a CEO, CFO, COO, and CRO, most with previous experience in higher ed-focused senior management roles. 

Improved Corporate Governance

  • Implemented a strategic plan.
  • Established regular cadence of operating reviews and Board meetings.
  • Added outside Directors to the board.

Implemented Growth Strategy

  • Re-designed organization structure along service practice lines, each with a dedicated practice leader reporting into the COO and CEO.
  • Repositioned the service offering to focus on high-value, growing technology ecosystems and services.
  • Introduced an updated pricing model allowing for margin expansion and higher effective billable rates.
  • Established a sales compensation structure and cross-sell incentives.
  • Invested heavily in sales and marketing resources.
  • Oriented operations towards key KPIs and managed towards goals around those metrics.
  • Disciplined approach to focusing solely on the higher education end market.

Improved Infrastructure

  • Implemented new CRM system, transitioned to more sophisticated financial reporting system, and developed a proprietary sales KPI tracking and reporting system.

M&A

  • Completed and fully integrated three strategic add-on acquisitions, with additional actionable pipeline targets.
  • Enhanced integration plan to establish effective, repeatable process for future transactions.

Results

During Fort Point’s ownership, SIG grew to become one of the county’s largest technology agnostic providers of IT services to the higher education market. Fort Point worked closely with management to professionalize the company’s infrastructure and corporate governance and implement a strategic plan that established leading service practices across the entire higher education ERP/IT ecosystem. The company implemented upgraded systems that allowed it to manage towards its strategic goals and enhanced its M&A capabilities to support the company’s growth initiatives. Over the course of Fort Point’s investment period, revenues have more than doubled and EBITDA increased more than 4.0x. In December 2024, Fort Point Capital sold SIG to Ridgemont Equity Partners, a Charlotte-based private equity firm.

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