Vertus is in the business of creating enduring value. Our approach is built on three foundational pillars, known as the Vertus ABCs:

1)       Autonomy

2)       Buy and Hold Forever

3)       Culture of Sharing Best Practices

These principles define our mission and are what guide the efforts of our Vertus team. We recently sat down with leaders from across the portfolio to have them share the impact the ABCs have in our day-to-day, and in our vision for the future. Through this collection of interviews, conversations, and roundtable discussions, learn what the Vertus ABCs mean to us.

Autonomy: Empowering leaders to lead

We believe that the people closest to the business are best equipped to lead it. That’s why we maintain a decentralized structure, giving our companies the freedom to run their operations without interference.

“We present a strategic plan, but it’s up to the business leaders themselves to drive it,” explained Club Division President John Corley. This trust in leadership allows each company to preserve its unique culture, customer relationships, and operational style. It also fosters innovation, as leaders are empowered to make decisions quickly and confidently.

And when challenges arise, autonomy doesn’t mean isolation. Vertus provides a supportive network that leaders can tap into when needed. As Corporate Development Director Urvashi Kadam put it, “You continue running the day-to-day aspects of the business, but what’s different is that now, if you run into a problem, there’s always someone you can call.” This ties directly into the commitment to share our best practices, but also reflects how autonomy can be made productive within the environment of forever ownership.

Buy-and-Hold Forever: A permanent home for your software company

“What makes us different is our buy-and-hold forever strategy,” said Club Caddie CEO Jason Pearsall. “We’re playing the long-game and looking to make our clients happy 10 years from now, 20 years from now.”

In the world of software acquisition, many companies operate on a transactional model: buy, restructure, and sell. At Vertus, our “Software for Life” promise means we’ve never sold a company we’ve acquired, and we never intend to. This isn’t just a business strategy, but a commitment to the long-term prosperity of our companies, their employees, and their customers.

M&A Director Zachary Plener emphasized that “we don’t go and shift the business or shift responsibilities, we go in with the mindset of how we can help, how we can support, and how we can grow the business.” This long-term mentality is what makes Vertus a true permanent home, not just for software, but for the people and communities behind it. It allows our companies to invest confidently in their people, products, and customers, without fear of being flipped or restructured.

“Constellation has never sold a business in 30 years… customers look at that, they know that it’s on solid foundation, and it brings them a lot of comfort,” noted Jonas Club President Ryan Watt.

Culture of Sharing Best Practices: Learning together, growing together

With over 30 vertical market software companies in our portfolio, Vertus fosters a collaborative environment where knowledge flows freely across teams. Aptech President Jill Wilder described it as “getting adopted into a family that’s much bigger, and you all get along.” Laurent Cardot, CEO of Ariane, echoed this: “We felt a lot of support, and that to me was the gamechanger; at no point did I hear, ‘you did this, you did that’, I always heard, ‘we are in this position, we are doing this, what can we do to change’…”

Many of our companies operate in niche markets, but they often face similar challenges. By creating intentional spaces for collaboration, Vertus helps leaders tap into the collective experience of their peers. “Our teams work cross collaboratively; we want to be a partner, not just a provider,” reflected Jonas Club CXO Trevor Coughlan.

This open exchange of ideas and experiences helps our companies solve problems faster, adopt proven strategies, and continuously improve, together. Urvashi continued her previous comments by expressing how “Vertus is built on this repository of knowledge and information that’s just waiting to be shared. There’s never a problem or a question that’s left unanswered… someone’s already faced that problem before.”

Why the ABCs matter

The Vertus ABCs aren’t just principles. They are a reflection of how we operate, how we lead, and how we grow. They distinguish Vertus as a company that values trust over control, commitment over transactions, and collaboration over competition. In an industry full of change, Vertus offers something rare: stability, empowerment, and shared success.