James Tucker, CEO of GovNet, recently led a management buyout (MBO) of the business, marking a significant milestone in the company’s history. In this Q&A, Adam Parry speaks with James to delve deeper into the MBO, the challenges he has faced since joining the business five years ago, and how this move will facilitate further growth in the future.
Hi James. GovNet has recently completed a management buyout. Can you give us a quick overview of what’s happened?
Hi Adam. Yes, of course. At the end of last year, I completed the purchase of the business from its founder Jo Walsh. For the past 27 years, GovNet has been supporting those private sector companies wanting to win government business, whilst simultaneously training the underappreciated public sector to deliver more effective public services. Since joining GovNet five years ago, we have certainly changed a lot as a business – and this ownership transition is probably the final hurdle to cement that change, and we are very proud of that.
This new chapter will open up many exciting opportunities for our brilliant colleagues, as well as all of the stakeholders that work with us. From a day-to-day perspective, I’ve been running the business for five years now, so not much will change in that respect, but it’s nice validation of all the effort that’s gone in.
What were the biggest challenges during the MBO?
It was an interesting process for us. Coming into 2024, I wanted to transition the majority ownership of the business. My initial plan was actually to bring on a private equity firm to take a majority position in the business and support us with the follow-on capital to pursue the buy-and-build plan we have. Through various twists and turns, and even after receiving offers from PE firms, we decided an MBO was the right thing for us. It gives me 100% ownership of the business. Luckily, we worked with some very good partners and advisors, like Collingwood, during the process. They helped us secure the relationships and external capital we needed, but on our terms. This allows us to pull the trigger on our acquisition strategy when the timing suits us and not just because of an ownership transition, which is now complete, I’m delighted to say.
There’s a personal aspect to this story, as the founder, who you acquired the business from, is your mother. Has this led to questions about nepotism?
From an external perspective, it probably looks like that, and to a certain extent, it is. For those of you who’ve been following what we do, and are familiar with GovNet, you’ll know the way it played out was a little bit different!
I’ll be very honest. Initially, I never wanted to join GovNet, and Jo never wanted me to join GovNet either. I’m actually from a fund management background, and we come from a working-class family where you just go and work your arse off.
The only reason I joined the business was because Jo had failed with a couple of CEO transitions in a row. In fact, at that time, I was about to do an MBA in the US. I did spend considerable time weighing up my decision, however, as much as I loved fund management, I wanted to get more hands-on experience running a business.
I was fascinated by the challenge, but, continuing with my honesty, I didn’t realise how unsophisticated the business was or how poor the culture was. My mother and I clashed a lot about that to the point where it became clear after months that, if I was going to keep going, she would have to take a significant step back. That was quite a painful process for both of us, but she left. I’ve been solely running the business for five years, and this is the final validation of that change after everything we’ve been through.
I would say there’s an element of nepotism in that I probably wouldn’t have been left alone as much as I was if we weren’t related. At the same time, I’ve had to push through a lot of resistance – not just from her but from many places – to make those necessary changes. I think I’ve earned the opportunity to lead the business through this MBO.
Could you go into a little more detail about the specific challenges upon your arrival?
Sure. It became clear pretty quickly that I hadn’t been provided with the full picture, shall we say? I knew the business a little from the outside, but it’s only when you get “under the bonnet” do you realise how a company truly operates. I also think things had gotten a little worse in the year leading up to my arrival.
The two failed CEO transitions led to high staff turnover. Naturally, people would bring their own teams, and then those teams would quickly leave, which only adds to what was already a pretty combative culture between management and different teams, and even between teams themselves. GovNet had been built on internal competition, which can be useful, but I think they’d taken it too far. It didn’t feel like a business I’d be proud or comfortable to work in every day, so a lot had to change. I recognised that very quickly.
Through your own admission, GovNet is now almost unrecognisable from five years ago. What have been the key changes during your tenure?
We have always talked about three main pillars. Firstly, as you’d expect, we have focused heavily on culture. We’ve moved from a top-down approach where no one really knew how the business was performing to a culture of trust, empowerment, and collaboration. We support our teams with the tools they need, but largely, it’s about empowering them to take responsibility and run with it. We’re lucky to have amazing teams here, made up of great people – and when you give them that trust, they thrive.
Secondly, we have refined our approach to our products. GovNet used to be a “launch, launch, launch” business, throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. It was very focused on weekly sales volume rather than revenue or earnings quality. We’ve completely repositioned our product portfolio to focus on scale and long-term value. It’s refreshing to see teams turning up with most of their business done for the year ahead and building on that foundation each year.
Finally, it’s technology, which I’m sure will be relevant to you, Adam. We’ve transformed the way we use data and technology. It’s not just about internal processes and how we work, but also the way we see things and where we want to take the business in the future. I think we are pretty progressive compared to many other events businesses. Ultimately, we want to enhance outcomes for our customers. We are incredibly proud of the steps we have taken in this area. There might be moments, when I’m experimenting, where I take tech enablement too far, but I’m definitely not going to stop!
Fantastic. So, what does this new chapter mean for GovNet’s growth strategy?
Growth has always been our aim, but the MBO adds a new component. The funding relationships we now have mean we can begin our buy-and-build journey. We’ll be very selective about acquisitions and focus on opportunities that align with our vision. While we’re proud of GovNet’s organic growth story, we see opportunities to support and amplify other businesses. It’s not about acquiring for the sake of it; we have a clear idea of what we want this to look like in one or two cycles’ time, and we will be fairly rigid with that.
Finally, what’s your long-term vision for GovNet’s legacy and its role in shaping public services in the UK?
Part of the reason I wanted to move away from fund management, and into something like this, is the ability to take the long-term view. In fund management, particularly equity fund management, you’re always under pressure to cut losing decisions pretty quickly and realise gains to look good.
What really excites me is not what GovNet has become over the last five years, but what it could become over the next 25 years. We are not in this for any sort of quick win, we want to build something substantial and lasting. The goal is to create a business that supports effective public services, not just in the UK but globally. It’s a long-term journey, but one I’m incredibly enthusiastic about.
Thanks for your time, James – and good luck.
Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
