Operating leadership for companies in transition.
Lift 525 is the practice of Darren Bonnstetter. He works with companies at a turning point: stalled or flat revenue, a turnaround, a restructuring, or the move from promising technology to a focused commercial business.
Two ways to work together
01 Executive leadership
Interim or permanent executive roles for companies that need focus, a commercial plan and execution. Typical starting point: a defined first 90 days with goals the board agrees on, then a decision on the longer-term role.
02 Customer Revenue Assessment
For PE-owned software companies whose growth has stalled. In six weeks, the company's own customers show where revenue will grow: what they will pay more for, how to price it, and which accounts are at risk. Fixed fee, about two hours of management time.
95% of stalled public software and IT companies did not return to lasting growth
A study of 15 years of SEC filings for 954 public software and IT companies. Of 166 stalled companies whose later years can be seen, only 8 returned to 15% growth for two years and then averaged 10% or more for three to four more years with no down year (three others passed only by buying companies, and two of those later went bankrupt, so they are not counted). Counting only companies still public four years after the stall, about 1 in 12 lasted. Applying the same bar mechanically in a separate count, 21.5% of companies that were already growing met it, against 2.8% of stalled ones.
The usual fixes, a new CEO, a new product or cost cuts, were at least as common at similar companies that stayed flat. That does not show the fixes hurt, only that they did not set the recoveries apart. 7 of the 8 lasting recoveries were packaged software companies, mostly large ones moving customers from one-time licenses to subscriptions. Of the 29 that bounced back to 15% growth for two years, 23 relied on acquisitions and 13 had a down year again within four years.
Public companies, industry codes 7370 to 7374 (software, IT services and internet), fiscal 2010 to 2025. Private companies may differ.
CEO and operator for companies in transition
Darren was the founding CEO of 280 Earth, a carbon removal company spun out of X, the Moonshot Factory (Google), where the team raised more than $50 million and built its first pilot plant. Through Lift 525 he has also advised a second X project on its spinout.
He has served as CEO of Conexiom, an enterprise software company, leading its repositioning for the AI era, and as President of Bowers & Wilkins, the premium audio company.
Earlier he co-founded Quarry Capital, a private equity firm, and led its portfolio company through a turnaround and sale, after turnaround work at AlixPartners.
Harvard MBA. Stanford MS, Mechanical Engineering. Based in Palo Alto and available to travel.
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