Edward Robson Profile
Edward Robson

@27XVII

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Partnering with small-cap technology management teams to deploy a private equity value-creation strategy in the public markets

San Francisco, California
Joined July 2023
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Pinned Tweet
@27XVII
Edward Robson
3 months
See link below for the updated dashboard.
@27XVII
Edward Robson
6 months
See link for our Software and Technology Dashboard. In general, the growth opportunity for software companies is limited given pressure on budget for exploratory spend on AI and broader macro concerns. With the capital markets showing signs of re-opening, we expect to see M&A
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
I’ve been getting a lot of career related questions. As someone who’s seen a cycle or two, here’s my perspective: 1) Career’s are extremely long. When you are 27 years old, you’ve only completed 10-15% of your career. Play the long game. Your reputation is all you have.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Following up on the spaces tonight, I wanted to provide some incremental perspective on our investment criteria. On a quantitative front, we focus on businesses with high recurring revenue (75+%), high gross margins (70+%), and high gross retention (90+%). The high level of
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Great quote from a friend: “Life is just interim cash flows, there’s no terminal value.” It’s the nerdiest proverb I’ve ever heard…. but he’s not wrong.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
How to destroy a ton of value as a founder/CEO. 1. IPO and make sure you maintain a significant amount of voting rights. Zuck and Spiegel did it - you should too! 2. When you're hiring bankers, don't spend time learning about the various stakeholders and their incentive
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
During the first two phases of private equity, returns were primarily generated from financial engineering. The future will be operational engineering. Phase I: PE returns were primarily generated from financial engineering. The market was inefficient, with an unregulated debt
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
It’s just a matter of time until PE shifts to an evergreen structure. The world doesn’t need any more MM funds consolidating fragmented essential home services markets. An evergreen structure, built on a central thesis provides more optionality to LPs. Interval funds would
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
@HighyieldHarry COVID class is real.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
Quote from a CEO. "Corporate Development and Strategy are what I think about during my walk from the car to the office. That's it."
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
6 months
I gave a guest lecture at an MBA Class for another FinTwit member this week. I’ll be posting the slides, specially evaluating return on investment through the P&L for B2B Enterpise SaaS companies. I need to refine them following the great feedback from the students.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
As referenced, see link for our Initial Deck (~50 pages) on $EVBG. Please note, some information (e.g., share price) is a little dated. If you find this information helpful or valuable, please RT.
@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
Had another top target get taken out today. 2024 is off to one hell of a start. Posting our research later today.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
LTV to CAC has to be the most flawed metric I’ve ever seen a group of very smart people rely on.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
6 months
I have my five year MBA reunion coming up next month. Two groups stand out. 1. A lot of people are seeing the pathway to making MD/Partner getting more and more crowded. A fair amount of them are looking to move into search, but are conflicted because they could have pursued
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
27 days
Quarterly question: What publicly listed companies have high quality companies and business lines hidden within them? $BLDE has an interesting medical transportation segment.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 month
We're looking to make a hire in SF. If anyone is interested, send your resume and an example of work (e.g., stock write-up) to analystapp @2717partners .com
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
The most sustainable large cap PE strategy is buying bloated tech companies that were backed by “founder friendly” VCs and hyper focused raising at crazy, peak bubble ARR multiples when money was free. These companies have a bloated and unstructured sales team. They have a wild
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
2) No one owes you anything. The best way to succeed is to assume help isn't coming. Your superiors are busy doing their job, which is not hold your hand. Your job is to help them do their job. Be self sufficient and google before asking.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
We will post our research on what we believe to be one of the cheapest SaaS names in North America shortly. The company's primary competitors are being acquired by Private Equity at multiples significantly above current valuation levels despite the company actively gaining
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
I'm a firm believer that a process oriented investment approach combined with strict investment criteria is important for any GP. It's also important for prospective and existing limited partners - blind pool risk is real thing. For EVERY single Company we underwrite, we always
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
Who are the best small cap and micro cap researchers out there? Indifferent if paid or public. cc: @joinyellowbrick @SumZero
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
Interesting anecdote from an endowment this week. It’s harder to make public manager decisions because the results are pretty quick. By making 10 year capital commitments (in PE), it’s not my problem when the results get published. Incentive structures…
@piktoggle_
PIK Toggle
7 months
Despite the proliferation of MM managers, AUM has increasingly accrued to large PE platforms.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
See link for the intro deck the team did on Byggfakta: The password is "EnterEmail". Overall, we have more of an international tilt on these small-cap SaaS names. More take outs are coming!
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
This was one of our top targets - I'll be posting our initial cut deck shortly. Candidly, I thought this would have been Thoma Bravo and a much larger premium.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
I’ve seen a lot of things, but VCs backing essential home services and route-based consolidators was not on my bingo card. What’s next? A traditional PE fund buying GP stakes in VC funds?
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
At the end of the day, true differentiation and “edge” in PE comes down to one of two things: (i) sourcing and/or (ii) operational execution. The reason platforms tee’d up for roll-ups trade at such high multiples… alot of funds can do it - it’s not hard. I’ve always been
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
3) Find out what you love ASAP and be a lifelong learner. Our greatest competitive advantage, relative to our peers, is focusing on an area/sector that we enjoy learning about. Most of us are turned on 24/7, and it's easier to do it if you love it. Knowledge Compounds.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
5) Focus on mentorship and learning over comp. If you can find someone that genuinely cares about your success, you are ahead of the game. Don't ever let go of that. Ever.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
5 months
If you write a book about being a billionaire, you must be a Tiny man.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
Most investors are innately curious about business. While that curiosity can be a super power, it typically leads to the most expensive mistakes - poor time management. Everything needs to be outcome oriented. Map out your thesis and understand the key drivers and
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
I've spent the past four years working on a thesis within Construction Tech. Why? 1. We prefer businesses that have long-term, organic reinvestment runway. Construction is one of the largest contributors to GDP, with one of the lowest levels of IT spend. It will be a long-time
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
See link for the intro deck the team did on Byggfakta: The password is "EnterEmail". Overall, we have more of an international tilt on these small-cap SaaS names. More take outs are coming!
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
6) Most of your success is due to the asset class and firm. Great. I love the confidence from candidates that think they're the next Chase Coleman, but we're cogs in a machine. Game selection drives 95+% of your success, unless you have the guts to start something.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
5 months
Let's just run down the list of rumors - 2H24 will be pretty fun. BigCommerce Instructure N-Able PowerSchool EnVestnet Enfusion RCM 1 Zuora DocuSign Blackbaud Hubspot Bentley Peloton E2Open
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
2 months
Since the great deal boom in 2021, bankers have always conveyed confidence in deal sprints coming out of holiday weekends in January and September. I always check their temperature as a sign of market recovery. This is the first time I’ve heard realistic expectations, which
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
As we prepare for our fund launch in a couple of weeks, there are a few trends in our day one portfolio. In general, the alternative metrics reflect our focus - strong downside protection with the opportunity for near-term asymmetric upside from catalysts. 1. Misfits: We
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
We’re in market for our final analyst to round out what I consider to be the best team I’ve ever been lucky enough to be a part of. Ideal profile is someone with investment banking experience (M&A focused) and public markets experience (small and mid cap) in fintech and
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
This was one of our top targets - I'll be posting our initial cut deck shortly. Candidly, I thought this would have been Thoma Bravo and a much larger premium.
@business
Bloomberg
10 months
A consortium of investors including Macquarie Capital makes an offer to acquire Byggfakta, a Swedish software company catering to the construction industry
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
11) If you know it's not the forever home, and you're learning curve has flattened... leave. Time is your most precious resource. Don't waste it.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
Our biggest position, Mintra, just announced it was being taken out. ~8% premium. Happy Thanksgiving.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
8 months
First night alone with the baby. pray for me.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
@sweatystartup You don’t have to start trying to own a business at 23. Building a skill set for 6-7 years doesn’t hurt. The goal is to get there, timing doesn’t have to be on point.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
In the spirit of giving, I will be posting access to our sector dashboards tomorrow. I will be making the account private tonight, if you want access, make sure to hit the follow button.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
FTC is coming after roll-ups, the number one return driver for PE.
@linakhanFTC
Lina Khan
1 year
1. Today @FTC sued U.S. Anesthesia Partners (USAP) and private equity firm Welsh Carson for engaging in a roll-up scheme to monopolize anesthesiology markets in Texas and drive up prices for patients and businesses.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
I started this account when my garden leave ended in July, hitting ~3k much faster than @ValueAddCapital . The 2024 goal isn’t the quantity, but the quality of what we produce. Thank you for following our firm on this journey; get ready for some headline announcements in Q1.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
It’s interesting that the S&P is hitting all-time highs, while high-quality, small-mid cap software companies are trading near all-time lows on alternative valuation metrics.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
A few thoughts on the current market for small-cap SaaS: There was a ton of interest in P2Ps back in 2022. Most boards were reluctant to accept offers, given most shares were reaching all-time lows and a substantial discount from peak COVID valuations. No one wanted to sell, and
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
8) Make a bet and stay. Per (6), find a place that you think has a sustainable, competitive advantage, and a right to win both deals and capital. Try to stay and rise. Compounding on relationship capital is real. Find a winner and ride the wave.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
8 months
Feels like the market has already shifted from 2024 will be a bounce back year for M&A to “just wait for the second half of the year”. We’re on year three of this narrative.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
Another great quote from my friend, who is a new dad. “No dad has ever said they wished they spent less time with their kids.”
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Great quote from a friend: “Life is just interim cash flows, there’s no terminal value.” It’s the nerdiest proverb I’ve ever heard…. but he’s not wrong.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
I feel like everyone eventually comes to this realization. NYC is expensive, you don’t save much, and not the healthiest lifestyle. It’s why there typically is an outflow of people in their late 20s to early 30s. NYC takes everyone in, but it makes you grind to stick around.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
6 months
Hat's off to TB for still keeping FTX on their website. Most firms would have taken that down a long time ago.
Tweet media one
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
4) Forget opportunity costs and spreadsheet math in career decisions. The majority of earnings happen later in life. Making career decisions off excel indicates that you're shortsighted - when in reality you should be making long-term, risk-adjusted bets. (cc: @annieduke )
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
20 days
OpenAI will generate $132 million in ARR (management fees) for VCs next year.
@danprimack
Dan Primack
21 days
🚨 It's official: OpenAI has raised the largest venture capital round of all time.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
When you’re running a business focused on operational efficiencies, specifically asset utilization, you can’t afford missteps like this. Hertz fleet was ~11% EVs, which is larger than the estimated ~7% share in the U.S. From a customer perspective, it’s actually very
@business
Bloomberg
7 months
Hertz is replacing its chief executive officer in the wake of a disastrous bet on electric vehicles that the company started to unwind in recent months
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
The bid/ask spread is narrowing, 2024 will see a record number of take privates. A small cap SaaS biz just traded for a ~35% premium. About a year ago, I had my bankers back channel with the CEO to understand what it would take to get a deal done. The ask was at least 2x.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
When Bain acquired $PWSC, the premium was relatively small, but it could have been worse. Vista and Onex owned Tax Receivable Agreements (sometimes referred to as NCI in docs) - which equated to ~$400mm in value. If they had chosen to get paid out on that (per their legal
@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
Advice for people making speculative bets on takeovers: liquidity is priced at a premium right now, and don't underestimate the value of DPI during a fundraise. There have been a few takeunders recently, and more to happen in the back half of the year. PE Funds don't care if
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
When I first started investing in public markets, I thought that cash on the balance sheet was a massive positive - in reality, it's a significant risk. Most add-ons in private markets are great for returns vs. small cap land, where most add-ons erode equity value.
@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
Quote from a CEO. "Corporate Development and Strategy are what I think about during my walk from the car to the office. That's it."
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Just closed out the first SPV. Share price was up 60+% from date we first started trading to take out. Not bad for 4.5 months. Onto the next one.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
The next ten years of Private Equity will be defined who is differentiated and adds value. Multiple Arb and Low Rates are gone… We’ll find out who the real investors are.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
See link below for the takeout analysis. Keep in mind this is an automated scoring system based on a number of metrics. The key takeaway, it comes down to growth relative to valuation multiples - surprise, surprise. Growth adjusted multiples and "rule of" tends to be a decent
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Post your top tech takeout target and rationale below. On Monday, for every name that’s in our system, I’ll provide our takeout score. RT for visibility - I’m interested to see if we have all of your ideas in our database.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
Had another top target get taken out today. 2024 is off to one hell of a start. Posting our research later today.
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Just closed out the first SPV. Share price was up 60+% from date we first started trading to take out. Not bad for 4.5 months. Onto the next one.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
One of the more interesting questions allocators have asked: A part from your current strategy, how else have you personally invested? What have you learned from those experiences and how have they impacted your approach? It’s a great question for an emerging manager, and can
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
Tale as old as time: PE investors jealous that HFs get annual performance distributions. HF investors jealous that PE funds get control over marks and long-term, committed capital. Both are right, but underestimate how hard it is to do the role, better yet launch a fund.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Also, see below for the revenue quadrant I referenced. The darker the shade, the better. I enjoyed the discussion and look forward to more in the coming months. Thanks to @carrynointerest and @privateinequity for the great discussion!
Tweet media one
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
3 months
Life’s too short to do turnarounds.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Your reminder that the risk-free career option isn’t coming. High upside, no downside jobs are only for tech people.
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Unsolicited career advice: Everyone is waiting for the opportunity to join a place with significant upside, but also want the same downside protection provided by a large institution. The market for highly-qualified candidates is sizable and growing. I believe this will only
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
7) Specialization > Generalization Early in your career, try a bunch of things to find (3). At the end of the day, having a specialized skillset prevents you from becoming a commoditized asset.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
8 months
Its much easier for an investor to adapt to an evolving market with liquidity, than to adapt in an illiquid market. The driver of returns in every asset class change over time. In early days of PE, it was the impact of high leverage. It evolved into multiple expansion and
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
With all the talks on boards, I recommend this one. It’s a good listen.
Tweet media one
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
Elliott already massively underwater on this one. $ETWO is a classic 2015 vintage PE deal. A combination of disparate assets that were cobbled together with no true integration plan. Product reviews indicate low quality. Not much in terms of cost savings.
@jfineman
Josh Fineman
1 year
$ETWO - E2open jumps amid report activist Elliott evaluating takeover offer; takes 9% stake - Bloomberg Big stake confirmed in 13D filing - REMINDER Elliott presents at 13D Monitor Activist-Passive conference in NYC tomorrow -
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
Not sure if you knew, but Small Cap’s are trading at all time lows. I’ve got a book for you.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
At the end of the day, it comes down to two things: 1. Ability to generate sustainable free cash flow + 2. Runway of opportunities to re-invest free cash flow at return levels above the cost of capital That's it. That's the tweet.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
Looked at a seed investment about 13 years ago (passed) - and now it's going public at a $2+bn value. Just another one in the long list of passed opportunities that would have been gamechangers.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
8 months
We've decided to release our research on our top take private target. This is one I approached in Q4 2022. Stay tuned.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
I wish more people would talk about revenue quality. I understand most people are momentum investors, but durability of revenue streams is important. Even if you're selling a "mission-critical" product, the buying center needs to have durability as well. If seats are cut,
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
I’ve been reading old books on hedge funds. It’s fascinating to read the history of the industry. Most distressed debt hedge funds were a result of the junk bond boom. Makes sense, but I’d never thought of it that way. What will be created by the explosion of private credit?
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Thank you for all the kind messages! Shifting from leading multi-billion dollar take privates at an institution to an entrepreneurial opportunity is not seamless. It's the worst fundraising market of all time, but that just means we have conviction. Trying to enjoy a win before
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Just closed out the first SPV. Share price was up 60+% from date we first started trading to take out. Not bad for 4.5 months. Onto the next one.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
For anyone in PE looking to jump into ETA, I recommend you read this book.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
If I was an allocator interested in credit, I would be looking at convertible preferred investments in small-cap tech businesses. Paper can be ~15+% PIK with a conversion price of 15% to 20% premium, plus options/warrants. Shares are trading down significantly, close to PE
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
7 months
Complexity can present amazing opportunities. Most people hit a roadblock during diligence and decide to pass. It's easy to justify passing, given there's no guarantee of a near-term payoff or that the opportunity is replicable. That's why the opportunity exists. Earlier in
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
12) Process oriented firms are typically the best training grounds. If there's a process, it's usually because it works. Process means the ability to scale an org with leverage (e.g., human capital). Learn the process and copy it.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
See link below for access to our quarterly sector tearsheets. We review this on a quarterly basis, in conjunction with a number of other internal research resources. It's mostly automated - if anything stands out - it means we need to dig in further and verify the underlying
@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
In the spirit of giving, I will be posting access to our sector dashboards tomorrow. I will be making the account private tonight, if you want access, make sure to hit the follow button.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
6 months
It’s important to understand the purpose of creating new metrics. Most metrics were helpful in comparing companies at different stages, but they quickly became justification for paying extremely high valuations. “Rule Of” came about to reflect the balance of growth and
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
10) Understand what a lateral move means. If you're coming in at a mid to senior level, you're facing homegrown competition. They know the process and standards, which is massive leg up. Career friction has short term costs. Be committed to overcoming them.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
14) No one works for you, they work with you. I don't care if you're physically signing their paycheck - we work with other people, people don't work for us. The Bain consultant is your partner on a deal, treat them like such.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
8 months
Our launch got pushed back by a month. In that month, 20% of our day one portfolio got bought or leaked. But, this is the last time I can complain. 🚀
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
@bucketshopcap Irenic is a pretty interesting shop with a flexible mandate.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
11 months
Understanding Customer IRR and Customer Payback Period, combined with Gross Retention, is one of the most valuable ways to evaluate a business. If I can acquire a high-retention customer, recover my expenses in less than a year, and re-deploy that capital into acquiring another
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
9 months
Seeing more and more deals that have a Senior Executive (w/ very relevant experience) leading the charge in partnership with an ex-VP/Principal. 50% of capital is from a large FO that can speak to the whole check and help syndicate amongst their network in return for heavily
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
My main focus is consistently on down-side protection and I look for customer behavior as a key factor in diligence. While being integrated into daily workflows and having proximity to a core platform (e.g., ERP, CRM, etc.) is a net positive, it also forces you to evaluate the
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
@alex_kirshner We’re saying Georgia should’ve been in the playoff.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
5 months
Two broad generalizations when it comes to TAM penetration. 1. If S&M efficiency, relevant to new logo adds, continues to drop, it can indicate that the Company has potentially penetrated its core market. At this stage, the Company may be moving down market (e.g., Alteryx). 2.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
4 months
Every month, I set aside time to review decks and provide feedback for people launching their own investment strategies (e.g., Fundless Sponsor, Search, Credit, HF). If you’re getting close to launching something, please feel free to send me a DM with the materials. I’ll provide
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
1 year
One of the key takeaway's for everyone from the Audax/HIG lawsuit. Percentage of Completion rev. rec. policies should always require an extra level of diligence - and cash reconconciliation is not sufficient.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
10 months
Post your top tech takeout target and rationale below. On Monday, for every name that’s in our system, I’ll provide our takeout score. RT for visibility - I’m interested to see if we have all of your ideas in our database.
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@27XVII
Edward Robson
6 months
See link for our Software and Technology Dashboard. In general, the growth opportunity for software companies is limited given pressure on budget for exploratory spend on AI and broader macro concerns. With the capital markets showing signs of re-opening, we expect to see M&A
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