Case Study

Nexus

Driving Growth Through Product Innovation

“We believe Mainsail was the ideal partner at our stage of growth. By helping to build out our management team and collaborating with us on the best strategy for the company, Mainsail proved to be a valuable partner in charting the path to becoming a purpose-built procure-to-pay platform."
– Tom Coolidge, Co-Founder and CEO, Nexus

At a Glance

  • Recruited CFO, CPTO, VP Product, VP Sales, Chief of Staff and independent Board member
  • Assisted management in designing the NexusPayments product from the ground up, including recruiting the CPTO who led the product development of a scalable version of the product
  • Optimized go-to-market motion, including persona and messaging development, scaling a BDR team and optimizing digital marketing channels
  • Led analysis to define the ideal customer profile (ICP) and most compelling segments, focusing on the enterprise commercial and multi-family real estate segments
  • Launched a comprehensive sales enablement program, including sales training, an ROI calculator and additional content

THE COMPANY

Nexus Systems is an end-to-end procure-to-payment (P2P) solution for the real estate industry that allows companies to replace paper checks and send secure payments to suppliers. With its roots in AP automation, Nexus Systems’ product suite includes the NexusPayables A/P automation software, NexusPayments — a proprietary payments process — and NexusConnect, an online supplier platform that allows vetted suppliers to transact electronically and securely with its buyers.

As of 2022, Nexus Systems had made the Inc. 5000 list of “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” eight times.

THE STORY

Nexus Systems was founded in 2000 by husband-and-wife team Tom and Jennifer Coolidge. From the start, Nexus was customer-focused and dedicated to helping companies with high-volume AP functions improve operational efficiency, manage cashflow and lower processing costs.

In 2016, Mainsail Partners invested $28M in Nexus. Over the subsequent five years, Nexus and Mainsail built out the executive team, struck new strategic partnerships, enhanced operations and customer experience, and optimized the company’s go-to-market strategy.

Additionally, Mainsail helped the company launch an innovative digital payments platform and develop a marketplace to facilitate electronic payments between vendors and property managers. Mainsail recruited former Mainsail portfolio company executive, Julio Palacio, as the CPTO to lead the build of a scalable version of the platform. Within two years the payments engine helped to accelerate the growth of the company.

VALUE ADD

Talent Acquisition: Supported by Mainsail’s Talent Team, Nexus hired a CFO, CPTO, VP Product, VP Sales, Chief of Staff, and an independent Board member. CPTO, Julio Palacio, was instrumental in helping the company build and launch the second generation of its signature payments platform.

Product & Engineering:  Nexus developed and launched an innovative payments platform, leveraging offshore resources to accelerate development and manage costs.

In addition, the Product & Engineering teams:

  • –  Implemented a new cross-functional product development process
  • –  Added a data science team, as well as a security and compliance team
  • –  Restructured the product and technology organizations into pods to support six product lines

Marketing: Mainsail worked with Nexus’s management team to optimize the company’s go-to-market strategy, including:

  • –  Persona and messaging development to improve targeted outreach
  • –  Lead nurturing and lead scoring
  • –  Scaling of digital marketing channels
  • –  Launch of sales enablement
  • –  Completed a win/loss analysis to pinpoint closed/won deals, providing insight for Product and Customer Success teams

Sales: Nexus worked with one of Mainsail’s preferred sales trainers to lead sales enablement and training, which facilitated improved productivity of the sales organization as it scaled.

Additionally, the sales team:

  • –  Optimized the implementation of Salesforce.com to become the system of record across sales, marketing, and customer success
  • –  Developed an enhanced workflow and BDR process that reduced friction for suppliers joining the platform

Finance: Mainsail’s Finance Team completed due diligence on potential add-ons as part of a build vs. buy analysis for the payments product. When the company decided to build the product in-house, Mainsail helped build the financial models for the new payments product line, including the supplier economics within the two-sided marketplace. Mainsail and the team at Nexus collaborated to define KPIs and establish consistent reporting to increase visibility across the business.

OUTCOME

On September 9, 2022, Nexus was sold to Bottomline Technologies, a Thoma Bravo portfolio company.

Procure-to-Payment (P2P) Solution for the Real Estate Industry
  • LOCATION: Falls Church, VA
  • SECTOR: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
  • CEO: Tom Coolidge
  • FOUNDED: 2000
  • INVESTED: 2016
  • STATUS: Acquired

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