The Success Curve™

The S-curve… Every Company’s Reality

• Over time companies and products transition from start up, to growth, to maturity and decline, and eventually to obsolescence.
• Why do some companies fail to achieve their potential, resulting in significant lost value?
• Reasons include:
  
  • An incomplete management team
  • Inadequate capitalization
  • Innovation from competitors
• Capital Southwest often makes its initial investment to empower management to pursue a company’s initial growth opportunity.

Reinvent the Business

• "Organizations should assume that their present strategies will need to be replaced within 2 or 3 years and that product life cycles are shorter than they were" (Age of Paradox, John Handy).
• S-curve management requires that an organization embrace change and innovation.
• Great, enduring companies have multiple S-curves.
• We refer to the process of partnering with management to generate a series of innovation opportunities as "The Success Curve"™.

CSC – Catalyst for The Success Curve™

• Most private investors that fund a company at point "A" will be planning to exit at "B" or "C", not to reinvest in the next S-curve.
• This exit mindset often causes the interests of management and investors to diverge.
• We provide patient capital that is not tied to the typical pre-determined 5 to 7 year exit.
• We partner with management to help a company achieve its potential.
• Our interest is aligned with management teams that desire to build exceptional businesses over time.