This episode features a conversation with Thoma Bravo Partner Irina Hemmers and EQS Group CEO Achim Weick.
AIR DATE:
April 3, 2025
LENGTH:
29:31
DISCLAIMER:
This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an advertisement. Views expressed are those of the individuals and not necessarily the views of Thoma Bravo or its affiliates. Thoma Bravo funds generally hold interest in the companies discussed. This podcast should not be construed as an offer to solicit the purchase of any interest of any Thoma Bravo fund.
Transcript
[MUSIC IN]
IRINA HEMMERS:
Hi, I’m Irina Hemmers, a partner at Thoma Bravo and this is Beyond the Deal. Our bonus episode on Thoma Bravo’s Behind the Deal. And I’m here with EQS Group CEO and Founder, Achim Weick.
[MUSIC IN]
IRINA HEMMERS:
Hi Achim! Good to see you.
ACHIM WEICK:
Hi Irina, great to have me here.
IRINA HEMMERS:
So this is our bonus episode. So for those listeners who didn't have enough of the Behind the Deal, this is now very much kind of going more into you, Achim, as a founder, a CEO, but also as a human being and individual. Maybe before we go into these really exciting topics, tell us quickly about what EQS does.
[MUSIC OUT]
ACHIM WEICK:
Yes, EQS is a leading GRC software provider. GRC stands for Governance, Risk, and Compliance. We serve around 13,000 customers globally. And we serve four corporate departments: compliance and ethics, investor relations, data privacy, and sustainability management.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Great. Well, listen, let's move on to learning a little bit about you within EQS. You know, remember you said you, you, started your career in banking, very, very classical, good career choice. And I think you had some great experiences, but also some observations about, I think, some of the toxic cultures and behaviors that you could observe there in certain contexts.
And I always thought from day one that EQS was big on culture. You were big on culture. You know, you have a very longstanding, loyal management team around you. Tell us a little bit more about that cultural fabric of the business and how you built that over the years.
ACHIM WEICK:
Yeah, I started in institutional sales equities just after finishing the university. And I was so proud to get this job and I was sitting in this fantastic trading room with all the bells and whistles. Great. I think I had four monitors, and everything was totally new, and I felt really great. And there were, of course, a lot of great people around me, and I was so excited to work there.
But I must say that after, I think it was kind of half a year later, friends talked to me and said, “Achim, you're not as fun as you were before. Something changed. What's going on with you?” And I was totally surprised and didn't really know what they meant, and then reflecting, I learned that in the end, I worked in a kind of a toxic environment where every day I heard people complaining, talking badly about other colleagues.
You know, in this trading room, there are no walls, everything is very open. It is toxic. It has an effect on you. I said I cannot work here anymore. There was no mission, there was no values, nobody talked about work principles, and so on. It was, in the end, about commission, you know, and it was very egoistic work and really not a lot of team spirit there. And then I decided to leave that and start my own company.
And from day one, I said, I want to focus on culture. I want to create a healthy culture where people really feel safe, where they have fun, where they can grow. And I'm really proud of that. That since 25 years we have the same values, we have the same work principles, the mission, everything stayed the same through all these changes and I think this is kind of what helped us to be successful and run a sustainable growth company.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Great. And you talk very often, and I think when you refer to customers as well, and what makes EQS unique with customers, it's that trusted partner, right? And it's built on trust. Help us a little bit more understand how that goes through the DNA of the company, from customers to the team you're working with, to every employee in every corner of the world that you now operate.
ACHIM WEICK:
Yeah, we know that trust is the basis of every business transaction. We also know that it's kind of the basis of every personal relationship. And we know that, you know, at the beginning, when you start working with somebody, it's all about building or creating trust. And the more sensitive the work is or the more sensitive the data is companies have to exchange with us, the more they look into this and the more they have to rely on us and there were times where companies for example where they said “look this is very sensitive data I know everything when I work with you everything is in the cloud, I cannot share this data with you it's too sensitive”.
And one year later, the same company said, “well, this is such sensitive data, you have to take care of it. I cannot really take care of this data anymore.” So it's really amazing what changed there, the last 25 years, but in the end, also what stayed the same. And that was always trust. We have the trust of our customers that we can take care of their most sensitive data, insider data, data of misconduct, potential scandals, and so on.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Let's dive into culture for a moment. You know, I get asked quite often by our investors or colleagues, how do you cope culturally? You know, how different is the US from Europe, and how do you adapt as a kind of US investor, you know, going into Europe now? You have a ton of experiences with different geographies and cultures.
You know, you've built a pan-European business starting out in Germany for a long time. You've now expanded materially into other geographies. You yourself have lived and worked in the US as part of your expansion of EQS Group. Give us a sense of how you think about the cultural difference, particularly from a workplace perspective.
ACHIM WEICK:
Yeah, yeah. There are, of course, many stereotypes and I'm sure some are right. When you think about Germany, people are probably more risk-averse. People think maybe more long-term, they strive for excellent, continuous improvement. And on the other hand, maybe the US is very agile, entrepreneurial, kind of a “can do” mentality.
I think that is all kind of true on the one hand. On the other hand, when we think about tech, I think we're pretty aligned everywhere. We kind of listen to the same podcasts, we read the same books, we all, you know, solved some Harvard studies, case studies and so on. So I think there is not a huge difference in tech when you talk about culture in a US tech company and then a European tech company, that is kind of pretty alike, I would say.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Great, great.
ACHIM WEICK:
Do you have a different opinion there, Irina?
IRINA HEMMERS:
Yeah, listen, it's interesting. My observation would be around pace in the main, know, I do think in the U.S., and this again, you know, it's generalization, but the pace of decision making in the U.S. is quicker. There is more of a, you know, an acceptance to say it's an 80-20, you know, I know I have 80 % consensus. I don't need to get the rest of the 20.
I think in Europe is a more consensus-driven society in many jurisdictions, at least in many cultures, there is a little bit more of a desire. Let's go one more time around the executive team table, so that for me is a difference and I think we've operated at a really quick pace at EQS, so I wouldn't that that's not a good example, but I think that's something where maybe sometimes accelerating, being a bit more comfortable with agile, faster decision making helps us in Europe to operate at that speed.
But at the same time, some of the continuity of building businesses that we see in businesses that have been owned and led consistently over many years, also some really good fabrics there, some really good elements there. So that would be my addition to your thoughts on the culture.
ACHIM WEICK:
I think that's a great answer, and I think you're absolutely right.
IRINA HEMMERS:
So we've talked a lot about success, would you be happy to share some of the hurdles you had to overcome and how you've done it?
ACHIM WEICK:
Yeah, I guess there were many, when I think about the 25 years. Starting EQS Group, we had this idea to create this B2B Investor Relations platform based on video and audio streaming. And our main target group was institutional investors.
So we had, on the one hand, the companies that were kind of excited to go on stage to do their first internet roadshow, to also show their products and their company in a video. And on the other hand, we learned that most of our institutional investors, think about it, it was the year 2000, worked in an environment where they had Reuters and Bloomberg, but no internet in their trading rooms.
So it was very, very difficult to get to our target group, institutional investors, and we learned that we were just kind of too early in the year 2000, just relying on video. So we had to pivot, and this was, I think, kind of a pattern–we had to pivot a lot less 25 years.
And I love this word because especially in Europe and in Germany, people want to avoid mistakes, and we said “we don't want to even talk about the word mistakes for us” it's really testing our things, trial and error, and then of course making mistakes, but learn from them.
And I think this helped us a lot, this attitude, this approach, being curious, trying out things, having also then the stamina to really dive deep into the topics and continuously improve until you have it right. And I think this is what I would always recommend to entrepreneurs. Be open to pivot and then show stamina.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Great, really, really valuable lesson, and we should take that all on board. So let's move on to what does a day in the life of Achim Weick looks like? What does a day in the life of a founder look like? I believe you cycle to work every day. Come rain, come snow, come cold in Munich. But what happens after that?
ACHIM WEICK:
Yeah, but that's kind of easy, it's because it's only 20 20-minute ride.
IRINA HEMMERS:
You shouldn't have said that. Make people believe you do an hour cycle each way. [laughs]
ACHIM WEICK:
I also loved cycling in Manhattan when I lived there for a year. That was also an amazing experience. You know, I try to have as much variety in my life as possible and
Try to really do different things and not the same thing every day.
I also don't like to work out every day; I only do it every other day. When I think about my discussions with Eugene Austin, my operating partner, he would say, “I should look on a daily basis at the pipeline.” This is something I have to get used to and should really have, you know, improved, and I'm already much better at that.
I think the good thing, 25 years of EQS Group, kind of every day was different and it's the same company but I would even say every quarter it's a different company, different topics, different challenges that you have to overcome and of course a lot of successes within the team, what really motivates me a lot.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Right, so let's look back to your younger self. If you could meet your younger self, maybe when you were at that cusp of saying there are certain things that aren't working so smoothly in institutional equity sales, I can pull together a solution and make a living out of that and become a successful entrepreneur. What would you have told that younger self then? What advice for their career would you give them from what you know today?
ACHIM WEICK:
As an entrepreneur, I would say be aware that probably timing is the most important success factor. And of course, with timing, there is also some luck involved. If you're too early, it is way too expensive; if you're on a mission, you shouldn't go that way. If you're too late, especially in SAS, you have to be then 10 times better or 10 times cheaper to steal away customers from your competitor, that's also very difficult.
So, timing is key as an entrepreneur. As a CEO, I would say data. I talked about this. I look much more now into data. I rely on data. I make much faster decisions now. And I'm much more informed, of course, I guess the decisions are much better than in the past.
And I didn't do that. I relied on a lot of stomach feelings, and also, as you said before, also kind of compromises within the management board or consensus. And that is sometimes not a good idea when you want to be fast or if you want to start something new.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Very good. I think it's your turn to ask me a question now.
ACHIM WEICK:
Yes, Irina, I would also love to ask you the question, what would you do differently now looking back? What are your lessons learned? And on the other hand, what's also interesting to me, you're also kind of a startup entrepreneur. When I think about your European fund, you started this from scratch in London for U.S companies, bringing private equity into Europe and the B2B sales area. I guess there were also a lot of challenges, and it would be really interesting how you mastered them.
IRINA HEMMERS:
No, great question. And yeah, Thank you. Thank you for including me in the group of entrepreneurs. It's a, it's a startup with a big safety network and the big support network, you know, through our US platform and every single one of my partners and the entire team. So that's been a highly de-risked startup, but you know, some of the elements are clearly the same of, you know, building the team here, building the office, building our presence in Europe.
And it's probably similar to what you have experienced early, early days, right? You need to prove yourself. People are saying, “Can you really deliver? Yes, you're saying A, B, and C. Are you going to deliver? Do you have to go back to ask the U.S every single time whether you can invest in my business or on every turn? Right. How independent are you? How much backing do you get?” And so that kind of proof points of “Are you real? Are you here? Are you around? Can you deliver?” So when you start, I'm sure when you sold to your first client, they were like, “Are you going to be around tomorrow? Are you going to run out of money?”
And the question for us as well, you know, is that commitment long term from the firm and fortunately now looking—well actually I met you probably on the day that I joined the firm officially and then looking forward now, you know, we have four really great partnerships in Europe with you and three other businesses. I know many, all of the CEOs, you have a great regular dialogue with as well. You know, the companies have achieved a tremendous amount over the last kind of two years or year, in the case of our partnership. There's a lot more to come.
And so, but those were the early question marks, but I think now we have something to show for, you know, we've really made a commitment to Europe in the form of building a team here, investing here at pace and, you know, having a dedicated fund to form these partnerships with founders like yourself. So, but that's been the early challenge.
ACHIM WEICK:
You said it, this is a great team you have in place in London, but also back in the U.S. On the other hand, I think there are three areas where you have to be excellent at the same time. On the one hand, you have to attract investors, you have to convince them to also invest in Europe, then you have to find good companies, and then you also have to deliver great performance, right? So, three areas and you have to do it—kind of everything at the same. So what's the most difficult one?
IRINA HEMMERS:
It’s ultimately money follows opportunity. So for us, it's been really, you know, finding these unique business. We are very selective investors. You know, you're each fund–out of each fund, we invest in eight to ten businesses. So, we don't settle for mediocre and okay business. We really want to invest in the best and really help them become faster, better, leaner to great platforms.
And so I think it really all starts with finding the right partnerships, finding the right businesses with the right partners because we know and you and I had a very open discussion I think when we decided to do this together on EQS, is there will be bumps along the way, right? and so overcoming those is not linear and straight line, you know, even so the size of the business has doubled you know it's a hugely profitable business it has great customer feedbacks.
Even in the last 12 months that have been challenging, the ability to overcome those challenges I think is probably at the core of what makes us successful, because if we strike these great partnerships with great founders, management teams and businesses, you know, the money will come, investors like to back these great opportunities. So, at the core of it is finding businesses like yours to partner with. And so this has been really set us up for success and put us firmly into business in Europe. And so I'm grateful for that.
ACHIM WEICK:
That's great to hear.
IRINA HEMMERS:
Achim, this was great. This was good fun for me. I was allowed to quiz you a little bit, as obviously as the founder, about the business, but also you as a person. So really appreciate your willingness to do this and your openness in addressing all the questions. It's been a great pleasure having you on this podcast.
[MUSIC IN]
ACHIM WEICK:
Thank you so much, Irina. It was really fun and I felt totally comfortable.
[MUSIC OUT]
DISCLAIMER:
Certain statements about Thoma Bravo made by portfolio company executives are intended to illustrate Thoma Bravo's business relationship with such persons rather than Thoma Bravo's capabilities or expertise with respect to investment advisory services. Portfolio company executives were not compensated in connection with their podcast participation, although they generally receive compensation and investment opportunities in connection with their portfolio company roles and in certain cases are also owners of portfolio companies, securities and or investors in Thoma Bravo Funds. Such compensation and investments subject podcast participants to potential conflicts of interest.
