BuildGroup founder and former Rackspace veteran Lanham Napier is, above all, a problem-solver.
When he was bootstrapping Rackspace from a $1.7 million fledgling hosting company to a $1.5 billion juggernaut during the height of the 2008 recession, solving business problems became both a way of life and a philosophy.
That philosophy was the impetus for BuildGroup’s founding in 2018 and continues to guide how we invest in and work with high-growth SaaS companies and their CEOs today.
Most investment firms play the numbers game. They raise huge funds, invest in dozens of companies and govern their portfolios with a 30,000-foot view and an eagle’s eye on the growth rate and little else.
We wanted to take a different approach, one grounded in servant investing and operational specialization in equal measure that leads to high growth and performance.
the BuildGroup difference
Operator Specialization
For us, operational expertise is more than a tagline to attract investments. It’s who we are. We have the infrastructure of an investment company but the blood and battle scars of a veteran tech CEO. BuildGroup was founded to be the source of knowledge and expertise our operators wish they’d had when they were bootstrapping it themselves. We don’t invest in companies to hear boardroom fairy tales about everything that’s going right. We’re there to help CEOs and their leadership teams achieve their full potential.
Servant Investing
Founders and business leaders want more from their investors than a check. Many have been bootstrapping it for years, confident in their vision and direction but often needing an ally that can help them solve their unique challenges and catalyze growth. You don’t find that in a cash infusion or in the boardroom. You find it everywhere in between. Everything we do is designed to serve the needs of our CEOs, from board appointments to direct one-on-one engagement with our operators. We accompany CEOs on their journey to building a business instead of waiting for them at the destination.
Quality Over Quantity
We maintain a relatively small portfolio for a reason. Large portfolios often mean that investors are less involved and less vested in any one company’s success. We limit the number of investments we make to guarantee that BuildGroup’s operators can dedicate their time and attention to engaging directly with founders and CEOs to solve operational challenges and build high-performing teams and businesses.
Scaling With Purpose
Five-year exit horizons have become the industry norm to benefit investors, not founders and CEOs. While those timelines may make sense for some, they force others into a grow-at-all-costs mentality that does more harm than good, solely to benefit the investor. That’s not the case at BuildGroup. We prime companies for sustainable growth over a time period that makes sense for their unique market conditions, growth strategies and leadership potential, all without an arbitrary expiration date.
