In a recent virtual interview, Ingrid Alongi, general partner at Stage and founding member of the Stage Fund, spoke about working with Stage’s portfolio companies, her background in the services industry, and how Stage is positioned to fill an urgent need in the current market.

Interviewer: So Ingrid, tell us a little about yourself and how you got started with Stage.

Well, my journey to Stage has been unique in many ways. I grew up in Boulder and as a typical “Boulder kid,” I started bike racing when I was 12 years old. I eventually made it to the US Junior National Cycling team. I went on to compete for CU where I studied Philosophy and Women’s Studies. I graduated and went on to San Diego State University for a master’s degree in Women’s Studies.

Grad school is where I became more interested in Computer Science. CS was a very popular major at the time, so it was hard to get into the Computer Science classes. However, as a graduate student, I was able to sign up earlier than the undergraduate students. This allowed me to cultivate my interest in software engineering and start my career as a web developer in the late 90s. I went to work at an interactive agency, where I gained a lot of experience in understanding what the customer actually wanted, rather than just building something I thought was cool.

“My experience starting and running Quick Left gave me a deep understanding of what technology solutions were really about—solving business problems… a lot of the questions that I ask our portfolio companies about business and technology are the same kinds of conversations I’ve been having throughout my career.”

I moved back to Colorado to work for a venture-backed startup in the mid-2000s. I later ended up leaving that to follow one of my coworkers who started Gnip, so I was an early employee at Gnip which was acquired by Twitter later on. When the economy tanked and Gnip hit a snag in funding, all of the engineers had to look for new jobs. I started Quick Left, which was a software services company focused on building custom web and mobile applications. We built the business from scratch to over 50 employees in two cities in 5 years. In addition to building the company, we underwent a merger and later got acquired.

My experience starting and running Quick Left gave me a deep understanding of what technology solutions were really about—solving business problems. That experience taught me a lot of important lessons about the full trajectory of starting, running, growing, and selling a company. I learned about the different kinds of employees and roles needed at various stages. I also learned a lot about the other business problems our customers were challenged with. This allows me to understand, on a deeper level, the portfolio companies I work with.

Another thing Quick Left taught me was that running a service and product business at the same time is very challenging—it always pays to stay focused. We sold the company to Cognizant where I worked for the next four years. Cognizant was where I got some great experience working in an enterprise organization. We built an internal product accelerator for them (modeled after Techstars) here in Boulder, which was really fun and exciting. When the pandemic hit there were a lot of changes at Cognizant and it was time for me to move on. That’s when I joined Dan and Krista at Stage.

“When a company transitions from venture-backed to Stage, there’s a shift in how the business should be viewed and the speed at which it needs to react to these changes… It takes a lot of collaboration to ensure that the company stays focused.”

People often ask me how I got into investing or what makes me good at it. It’s funny because my experience at Quick Left and in that services environment really gave me the tools to dig deep into another person’s business. I gained a deep understanding of other people’s companies and business challenges. People would come in thinking they wanted a web application or feature built and the conversation would go from what they wanted built to evaluating why they should build it.

So a lot of the questions that I ask our portfolio companies about business and technology are the same kinds of conversations I’ve been having throughout my career. It’s a fun realization to see that I’ve been training for this role for a while without realizing it! It is true that my curiosity and need to understand how things work has helped me in my career.

Interviewer: What part of the process are you typically more involved with, and what might an average day look like?

Right now I take the lead on the M&A process which includes onboarding companies into our process and setting up their initial 100-Day plans and goals. So, once we sign a term sheet, I take the lead on running the deal through, getting the logistics tied off with other members of the shared services team, whether it’s HR, finance, or marketing.

What I’m really looking for during the onboarding process is tidbits and information to put into the 100-day plan. What is the company really challenged with? What do we need to give them in terms of runway, time, and resources? Synthesizing that is the first step. Then depending on where the company is in the process I’ll spend a lot of time with them implementing their goals. We have a portfolio company right now that’s midway through their 100-day plan, and I’m spending a lot of time just making sure they’re staying on target and on track.

When a company transitions from venture-backed to Stage, there’s a shift in how the business should be viewed and the speed at which it needs to react to these changes. They may have had the luxury of not thinking about the money they spend to grow the business, and now they do have to think about cash flow, profitability, and the time it takes to test out a new product directory or theory. It takes a lot of collaboration to ensure that the company stays focused.

Other than that, I focus on analyzing new deals and working with my partners to shepherd the overall portfolio strategy.

Interviewer: You mentioned Stage’s 100-day plan being a key focus for you. Talk a little more about that and why that’s a key benefit of working with Stage.

The 100-day plan is really our secret sauce. It’s our differentiator. I think as we’ve gone through and acquired a bunch of different companies, what we’ve realized is we really needed some process to help these leaders change the way they think about running their business.

When running a services business before, I didn’t have venture funding. I always operated on a cash-based business, so my challenges were very different, and getting new customers had a different kind of urgency. That’s a pretty big shift for people who aren’t accustomed to operating that way. So having a structured approach to that first 100 days I think gets people into this mindset where they are looking at how preserving cash can buy them time as we restructure the business and understand where the growth opportunities really are. Once identified, we can move quickly in the strategic direction and place more investment into those efforts.

“What’s interesting and different about us is we don’t look at those problems as dealbreakers… We look at it more from the lens that this is an opportunity to have a lot of agency and impact and to solve some of those things, rather than writing off the company right away.”

Without the 100 day plan, we found that people end up just doing what they were doing before, when what really needs to happen is a radical change to the status quo. It’s about resetting expectations and behaviors right away because before you know it, 3 months of integration stagnation can go by without any progress toward company stability. We see far better results much faster from that approach.

Interviewer: What are some of the challenges that companies typically face when first onboarding with Stage, and how do you address that?

One thing I see a lot is resistance to change, especially when it comes to staffing. People get really worried that if they lose a bunch of people from the technical side of their business, for instance, the product won’t continue to be innovative. And so people hold on to expensive resources that they can’t support because they’re afraid, when in fact the product doesn’t need to continue to innovate until they have a stable customer base (or simply just more customers).

What we try to do is show them it’s actually okay and even wise to cut staff for a little bit and buy some time so they can really settle on their market, their product-market fit, their focus, and their marketing strategies. Then once we see traction, we can start to hire again and grow with a team.

“It’s about really being organized, because our deals move very, very quickly. We’ve never missed a payroll in a transition yet. That’s something I’m really proud of.”

By the time a company gets to us, it’s time to make that shift to say, “We’ve got to stabilize the business first, maybe get rid of some expensive staff for a while and focus on what the market is telling us that they want and what’s going to sell.” Our challenge becomes getting companies on board with buying more time and buying more runway, and not necessarily solving their problems by writing a check.

Interviewer: In addition to its 100-day plan, I know Stage also has a robust playbook, which you spent a lot of time building out. Talk a little bit about what’s in Stage’s playbook and the key components of that.

Well, it’s funny because I’m running two deals at the same time right now, and there’s no way I would have been able to do that with any bit of sanity if we didn’t have our playbook. Some of the really tactical elements are, for instance, our diligence process and our onboarding process. I’ve spent a lot of time with those two in particular lately. These are the main ingredients that go into our 100-day plan.

We ask, “Where are the customers? What’s the market? What are some of the risk areas? What are the problems we need to address?” What’s interesting and different about us is we don’t look at those problems as dealbreakers. Most acquirers will see these and think, “That’s not going to work. That’s more of a dealbreaker for us.”

“I really like spending time with the companies day-to-day and pushing people’s product assumptions. Are they really creating something that’s going to have an impact in the market? Working with the CEOs and coming up with their priorities and their strategies is just awesome.”

For us it’s about, “What are we getting? Where do we need to put our resources, and are these solvable problems?” We look at it more from the lens that this is an opportunity to have a lot of agency and impact and to solve some of those things, rather than writing off the company right away. So that’s that business diligence part of the playbook that bubbles up and informs the 100-day plan and helps us prioritize where we need to spend our time at the beginning of our relationship with the new company.

The other piece is the onboarding process. We have defined a process. Everyone has a checklist of things they need to do, and there are a lot of moving parts. You’ve got to set up entities. You’ve got to set up bank accounts. You need documents before you can do those things. You need payroll. It’s about really being organized, because our deals move very, very quickly. We’ve never missed a payroll in a transition yet. That’s something I’m really proud of.

We’re also far more hands-on with our companies than other firms. We’re very involved, and at any given moment we can be asked about something and we’ll know what’s going on.

Interviewer: After a company comes on board, how does Stage support them? What do those services look like?

That’s another key differentiator for us is that we have a services group that really takes over some of the back office so the company can focus on their products, their go-to-market plan, and their sales strategies. Because of my background running a services organization, I really enjoy that part of what we do.

Our shared services team gets involved right away through our onboarding process, and they take over all the finance, accounting, and HR. We really work quickly to come up with an initial budget. Our HR team gets employees transitioned with new offer letters on to payroll and answers questions. We take over the business insurance making sure they have the right liability insurance and D&O and things like that.

“We really win on the buy side. We get these companies at low cost and then our capital can go toward growth and figuring out how they’re going to exit… That’s how we add value and how we see returns for our investors.”

Then really it’s about the financial modeling and the goals and the measurables that we’re able to track. It also de-risks our investments in that we’re really tracking and controlling cash and cash spend. You’d be surprised at how many things people don’t even realize they’re spending money on that we can have a closer eye on and evaluate.

Interviewer: Talk a little bit about your collaboration with the other Stage general partners, Dan Frydenlund and Krista Morgan, and how you all work together.

One thing to note is that, while we work together very well, we all have a slightly different aspect of the process that we enjoy and that we’re good at. That’s really the ideal situation for a partnership I think. If you have people overlapping too much it can cause conflict. I think we are better together, and we are good at having these conversations.

When we talk about whether we should acquire a company, we’re all coming with different points of view. I’m sure we probably annoy each other a little sometimes, because there are certain things that, for example, I tend to bring up every time. They’re probably thinking, “Here Ingrid goes again.” But in the end we do laugh and appreciate that about each other. You never want to have a situation where everyone agrees all the time because then you can miss things.

“Going from the kid who came in second to last in her first cycling race to competing at the national level taught me a lot about the power of perseverance and not giving up on something. I love getting to see our portfolio companies really start to find their footing and make progress toward their goals.”

For my part of things, I really like spending time with the companies day-to-day and pushing people’s product assumptions. Are they really creating something that’s going to have an impact in the market? Working with the CEOs and coming up with their priorities and their strategies is just awesome.

Interviewer: In your view, how is Stage positioned well to fill a need in the industry and capitalize on the current moment?

Well the venture model is set up to exclude a lot of good businesses. To make their investors whole again, a VC’s portfolio will need to have some big winners in the mix with huge exits. So they are understandably hyperfocused on unicorns, and not every company is going to fit in that category. There are great businesses that aren’t necessarily going to be unicorns and don’t need to be. And that’s where we fall in.

We really win on the buy side. We get these companies at low cost and then our capital can go toward growth and figuring out how they’re going to exit. So our strategy is basically to find undervalued companies and make them viable. That’s how we add value and how we see returns for our investors. It’s just a very different approach and one I think can do a lot of good in the industry, especially since funding is still so hard to come by.

On a personal note, I do find this process very rewarding and meaningful. Going from the kid who came in second to last in her first cycling race to competing at the national level taught me a lot about the power of perseverance and not giving up on something. I love getting to see our portfolio companies really start to find their footing and make progress toward their goals.

Interviewer: Where do you see Stage headed in the next 5 to 10 years?

I think we’ve done a really good job of getting our process down so that we can scale and grow. We’ve had a lot of time to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. We’ve got so much knowledge we can fall back on.

“A couple of years ago, I struggled through just one deal at a time, and now I’m able to participate in two and keep working closely with our portfolio companies even after they’ve onboarded. That to me means that we really achieved something in terms of process that’s really hard to do.”

I’m also really excited to see the Stage Restructuring side of our business grow. Just having this expertise and being able to step into other companies and help them out—it’s a way of doing things that we take for granted because we do it every day. But to other people, it’s a huge benefit to have somebody come in and show them that, yes, they can cut expenses or approach things a little differently.

So I’m excited to see our footprint grow with some of our different offerings that we’re talking about internally. Beyond that, it’s just really about growing our portfolio and growing our shared services team. Those are things I’m really excited about.

Interviewer: Are there any success stories you would like to highlight?

Everyone wants a success story to be sort of an outcome or a sale of a company. And we have plenty of those I could talk about. But I always try to say to my partners what we really need to do is focus on having a good day to day. We can’t have a terrible day-to-day experience just for the goal of selling a company. Our work has to be meaningful to us.

What I would call a success is just how we’ve been able to build and scale our team to a degree that I can have two deals going on at the same time. It’s a very small milestone in the grand scheme of things. But to me it’s a pretty big win. So the playbook and just the people in place are what I’m most proud of at this point.

“Because we have this diversity within our GPs, we really help each other see things a lot differently. As much as Dan’s helped me see things that I wouldn’t have necessarily seen, I think it’s reciprocal based on all of our backgrounds and experiences.”

A couple of years ago, I struggled through just one deal at a time, and now I’m able to participate in two and keep working closely with our portfolio companies even after they’ve onboarded. That to me means that we really achieved something in terms of process that’s really hard to do.

Interviewer: What’s your perspective on Stage being one of the few majority female-led firms in this industry?

Being a female-led fund is unique in this industry; it’s not something that you see very often. I tended to always be one of the few women in the room for most of my life and career. So it’s something I am used to, and I think because of that I might take it for granted.

When I was cycling, I trained with both men and women, so I’ve always had this sense of teamwork when working with men. I think it really helped me in my entire career and in software and just as an engineer in being part of the team and seeing the value in that. I think it’s given me a lot of advantages overall.

“I feel more ready now than I had in the past with the bigness that we want to undertake. I think we’ve got the right things in place, and we’ve learned the right lessons. I feel excited about and ready to grow into a larger fund model.”

Generally, I feel that people see me as an equal and collaborate with me. There are times that being a woman affects dynamics, but you move past that. Because we have this diversity within our GPs, we really help each other see things a lot differently. As much as Dan’s helped me see things that I wouldn’t have necessarily seen, I think it’s reciprocal based on all of our backgrounds and experiences.

Interviewer: Is there anything you’d like to leave people with?

I just feel lucky to have been able to really take my career in all these different directions and learn as I go. I’ve learned a lot, and it’s been hard, and I’ve made a million mistakes. But it’s just been really fun to go on this journey, and I feel good about where we’re going.

I feel more ready now than I had in the past with the bigness that we want to undertake. I think we’ve got the right things in place, and we’ve learned the right lessons. I feel excited about and ready to grow into a larger fund model.