Eleven Software
In 2022, two first-time entrepreneurs, Hannah Greenberg and Alex Lopez, acquired Eleven Software, a Portland-based provider of cloud platforms that managed guest Wi-Fi for major hospitality brands such as Hilton and Marriott. The pair had met during their executive MBA studies at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and launched Ven Capital Partners, a search fund designed to acquire and grow a single business in a “critical technology” sector. Eleven fit their thesis perfectly: recurring revenue, loyal enterprise customers, and expansion potential into multi-family housing and international markets.
Soon after the acquisition, Greenberg and Lopez discovered that Eleven’s sales organization was underperforming and misaligned with customer needs. The case presents the founders’ options for rebuilding the team—from replacing the sales leader to dismantling the department altogether—and the tradeoffs of each path as they balanced growth goals with cultural stability.
Within months, a second challenge emerged: a U.K.-based competitor, Airangel, approached them about a possible sale. The potential acquisition offered geographic expansion and complementary technology but also significant integration risk. Greenberg and Lopez had to decide whether to absorb Airangel quickly to create a unified global platform or operate it as a separate subsidiary until both organizations matured.
By 2025, Eleven had stabilized and grown, yet Greenberg and Lopez faced a new strategic question: how to evolve their board of directors to match the company’s next stage. With investor representatives and a seasoned software executive at the table, they sought to add a true operator—someone who had scaled a SaaS business from $20 million to $100 million in recurring revenue. The case invites students to consider how search-fund entrepreneurs navigate operational restructuring, acquisition strategy, and board governance as they transform from first-time CEOs into seasoned leaders.
Learning Objective
The Eleven Software case is designed to help students understand the operational and leadership challenges that arise after a search-fund acquisition. It illustrates how first-time CEOs transition from deal making to company building, balancing strategic focus with day-to-day execution. The case encourages analysis along three main dimensions:
- Post-acquisition management: Evaluating inherited teams and systems, diagnosing root causes of underperformance, and deciding when—and how aggressively—to make organizational changes.
- Growth strategy and integration: Assessing the risks and rewards of pursuing an early follow-on acquisition, including integration timing, resource allocation, and the impact on core momentum.
- Governance and board composition: Exploring how board structure evolves as a company scales, what skills and perspectives add value at different stages, and how founders can manage board politics while pursuing new capabilities.