Stephane Manos: Building Legacy With Valsoft Presidents Club

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Nov. 29, 2016) - Valsoft, a Montreal-based software company specialized in the development and expansion of software companies in niche markets, has been attracting industry attention with an unusual twist in its acquisition strategy. When evaluating the purchase of a promising business, Valsoft has been placing culture compatibility and values at the forefront of its criteria, often turning down deals, which seemed to make perfect financial sense from an accounting standpoint.

"We do not buy companies with the intent to resell them within the shortest delay for a high profit," explained Stephane Manos, Valsoft's Vice President. "When we bring a business into Valsoft, we hold onto the business forever. And it all begins with believing deeply in what the people who created a company were trying to achieve in the first place."

To support this philosophy, Stephane Manos announced the creation of The Presidents Club, an advisory board composed of presidents, often owners and founders, whose companies were acquired by Valsoft. These passionate entrepreneurs, whether still active or not in their ventures, are thus invited to remain part of the business they created by providing input on the best ways to move forward, sales, product reviews, or offering general advise. The extent of a member's role is left up to each individual.

"If we decide to acquire a business, it is because we sincerely admire the work of the entrepreneur who founded it, and the company he or she built before we came along," added Manos. "Working with people we respect and like is at the core of our culture. Personal relationships and partnerships mean a great deal for us, and we see buying a business as more than a financial play. We are taking charge of a person's life painting and it wouldn't make sense for us to disconnect from the one who created the business that attracted our attention in the first place."

Stephane Manos can recall times when Valsoft had reached an agreement on price, but ended up backing out of a deal when reaching the conclusion that his team could not agree with the culture and philosophy of a company's founders. "We are entrepreneurs and we acquire businesses with the intention to keep them forever. We must be able to have a strong working relationship with its people and an alignment on values," concluded Manos. "Investing in people first has proven to be a successful and meaningful path for us, and The Presidents Club is our way of building upon remarkable legacies."