Grow Smart. Maximize Value. Sleep Easy.
Services
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Running a growth business is full of firsts. First fund raise. First international expansion. First debt facility. First VC/PE investor. First acquisition. First cyber audit. First times can be scary, add millions of dollars to the mix, and the stress can become overwhelming.
Adding an Optimarrow seat to your Board or Advisory Board can give you confidence that when big firsts happen, a growth-tested professional is there by your side.
Go-Public / Exits
Corporate Governance
Committees
Strategic Company Oversight
Crisis Management
Management Development
M&A
Succession Planning
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The time to mature isn’t right before exit, but the reality is, growth companies undergo continuous change and must often be reactive rather than proactive.
Optimarrow works with stakeholders to develop a maturation plan, that Optimarrow, not busy leadership, drives forward.
Maturation Plans can range in complexity and duration, from highly targeted initiatives to multi-year rollouts.
Metrics & KPI development
Go-to-market Strategy & Execution
Organizational Objective & Key Results
Corporate Function Development
Management & Employee Training and Development
Devise, Develop, and Implement Policy, Procedure, and Controls across the Organization
Vendor Reviews and Project Management/Rollouts
Deal & Strategic Matter Reviews, Execution, and Support
Crisis Management
Succession Planning
Ongoing Executive Advisory
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It can be lonely at the top. Your board and investors can be great subject matter resources, but their role isn’t to run your business. Similarly, disclosing insecurities or pushing issues down to your employees can have a serious negative impact on culture. Sometimes you just need a sanity check or an experienced peer to bounce thoughts or concerns off of. Other times, you need someone close to you that can help you maneuver through complex situations (think global pandemic).
Optimarrow’s Founder provides a peer-to-peer mentor-advisor support model designed to create a safe space for founders & CEOs that meets them where they are along their growth journey.
Senior Leadership Strategy, Support, and Development
Independent Thinking and Support
Crisis Management
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Portfolio Company Executive Advisory
Help your portfolio company leadership through their growth journies. From executive training and mentoring to participating in regular management meetings to big event support, Optimarrow creates tailored programs designed to promote sustainable growth.
Portfolio Company Director Services
Investing in management development and establishing proper governance practices, structures, and controls is valuable. Investors get better insights into their investments and are confident their portfolio companies are being run properly.
Helping your portfolio companies mature early in your investment by establishing an Optimarrow seat, can drastically improve management experience, reduce turnover, improve morale, and increase exit-preparedness; which, ultimately reduces lifetime cost of an investment. That is, mature organizations and leadership have more predictability and less volatility, leading to improved performance.
Investment Committee & Advisory Board
Smart growth isn’t limited to your portfolio companies. Optimarrow can help your management company as it makes, develops, and exits investments by sitting on (or helping develop) your investment committee or advisory board.
Ad Hoc Deal Support
Every deal has its quirks. Optimarrow can help form operational due diligence strategy, conduct management interviews, and work with your deal team and advisors to analyze and overcome or mitigate deal related issues.
Get Deliberate.
High growth doesn’t have to be scary. High growth doesn’t have to be chaotic. By getting deliberate about your growth earlier in your company’s maturation, you can improve insights, improve consistency, reduce organizational stress, bolster morale, and eliminate “institutional knowledge” dependencies, leading to sustainable growth and maximized value.
Meet the Founder
Optimarrow grew out of a a simple idea.
Find great companies with founders or leadership whose vision I admire. Then use my experience & perspective to help them recognize their goals.
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Blake Nielsen, J.D. is an esteemed executive and legal professional that can bring a unique perspective to a company's executive leadership team and board of directors.
As an early joiner, sitting in dual Legal/GRC (GC & Secretary) and operations (VP Operations) decision-making roles, Blake was able to lead Enfusion (NYSE: ENFN) through nearly every stage of growth, including international expansion (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Brazil, Ireland, and Australia), multiple private equity investments (highest private valuation $1.5Bn), multiple debt facilities (largest being $100mm), corporate reorganizations (including an Up-C re-organization), the development of benefits & compensation programs, risk programs, data security and data management programs, business continuity and other systems designed for scale and sustainable growth; culminating in a traditional IPO ($367mm offering, Morgan Stanley & Goldman Sachs led), where Blake was a Deal Team leader and responsible for building and managing the public company governance and reporting structures, including identifying company directors, obtaining public company D&O insurance, and leading the Form S-1 drafting effort.
Following the IPO, Blake managed the public company board as ENFN's General Counsel, Corp Secretary, and Compliance Officer, before deciding to step away. During his transition period, Blake acted as the firm's Managing Director of Corporate Development, in that role, Blake was given the opportunity to strategically address any issues he felt important to the firm's continued success.
TODAY, Blake has an advisory firm (Optimarrow LLC), where he takes a hands-on approach to building scale into organizations, effectively decentralizing leadership and creating sustainable growth, while reducing key-person risk.
Blake recognizes the practical realities of high growth and the distractions it can carry. By acting as an extension of the CEO in Optimarrow's model, the CEO is able to focus on day-to-day responsibilities, while Blake is able to strategically mature the organization. As an independent director, Blake is keen to help develop company management, identify and manage "around the corner" risk, and build systems and structures to ensure sound corporate governance.
Is Optimarrow right for you?
The idea was simple. Find great companies with founders or leadership whose vision I admire. Then use my experience to help them recognize their goals.
Optimarrow selectively works with growth companies of different sizes, maturity, and industry. If there is a mutual fit, Optimarrow works with its customers to create highly tailored enterprise maturation programs, open-ended executive advisory engagements, independent director services, and beyond.
PLEASE NOTE: OPTIMARROW‘S SERVICES ARE PERSONAL IN NATURE AND THEREFORE, ITS CUSTOMER SELECTION PROCESS IS HIGHLY SELECTIVE. ONLY A WRITTEN AGREEMENT BETWEEN OPTIMARROW AND A CUSTOMER WILL CREATE A CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP.