Visma's secret to 20 years of growth: culture and innovation

“What’s the secret to two decades of consistent growth?”   I recently joined John Gilligan at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford to discuss Visma, as I do each year alongside Øystein Moan, for their Advanced Private Equity course.   It’s a remarkable case study and I always enjoy the chance to reflect on what’s made the business so successful, talking to students about long term compounding success stories.   Visma has grown its revenue every quarter, without fail, for over two decades. And it’s growing twice as fast today as it did when Hg first invested in 2006.   The key thing - even as Visma has grown to become one of the largest software companies in Europe - the business has maintained a relentless focus on entrepreneurship and innovation.   You can see this in their incredible track record of acquiring businesses and retaining the entrepreneurs who run them.   This is unusual, because founders often crave independence and can struggle in big organisations. But Visma’s culture encourages them to maintain a start-up mentality while benefitting from its ecosystem.   And in a business packed with people thinking like entrepreneurs, it’s much easier to continue developing new, best-in-class products, which they’ve done consistently.   It's a reminder that culture is often just as important as capital when it comes to building enduring value.