One man wants to "advance the core platforms of the Democratic and progressive vision." His name is Scott Brighton and he is CEO of NGPVAN. Scott shared his goal of:
"transforming NGP VAN’s product portfolio into a core technology platform that we, you, and our partners can continue to build upon. Our own innovation on top of that platform will focus on leveraging data and using new technology to enable more effective targeting, organizing, and fundraising. Our vision is to reassert NGP VAN’s core CRM as a “platform for Democracy” that the entire ecosystem can use to drive faster innovation that results in consistent election and policy victories."NGPVAN is part of Bonterra, a social good software platform. Bonterra is owned by Apax Partners, a private equity underwriter (PEU).
What is known about Scott Brighton? Forbes stated:
In May 2017, Scott Brighton, chief executive of Aurea, an ESW portfolio company, walked into the Portland, Oregon, offices of intranet-collaboration software maker Jive Software. ESW had just agreed to buy Jive for $462 million in cash and fold it into Aurea. Brighton was there to give senior management a message: Jive’s work environment was about to change drastically.
“They were pretty clear their model was to reduce costs as much as possible, and with the engineers they said their goal was within a year everyone working at global competitive rates, which is like Bangladesh or Egypt rates,” says Sid Bos, vice president of engineering and one of 250 employees in Jive’s Portland office.
According to Bos, ESW viewed employee perks and benefits as excessive, including the free weekly bagels in Jive’s offices. “They were proud of their model and tools, like their WorkSmart key-logging tool,” he says.
This fall ESW closed Jive’s main Portland office, and after a mixture of buyouts, layoffs and voluntary exits, nearly all its 250 employees are gone. Less than a dozen remain as contract employees working from home.
“Almost everybody is a foreign contractor,” says Jim Janicki, who was CEO of Dallas-based Ignite Technologies when it was purchased by ESW in 2013. “They keep some and they let most go, and those they keep they turn into contractors.”
So the man who trashed a professional workplace, harming many people and their families, wants to offer a "platform for democracy?"
Brighton's NGPVAN letter states:
This will, regrettably, involve a workforce reduction across Bonterra.
Such a surprise...
Scott tries to recover with:
We are committed, long-term partners in ensuring this country continues to uphold democratic values from a position of global leadership. We understand, with the deepest possible moral conviction, the vital importance of our role as your partner.
A PEU affiliate is not capable of the "deepest possible moral conviction." Greed does not allow it. Scott's history shows the lowest common denominator of global leadership. The bar lowers and lowers and lowers to where providing free bagels is excessive.
Political and corporate insiders have the challenge of doing something with the gobs of money they throw at one another. Politico reported:
Democrats up and down the ballot have long relied on NGP VAN to run their campaigns. Now, consultants and former employees are concerned that repeated layoffs will lead to problems with the party’s most vaunted tech tools.
Why not reform a democratic platform to improve margins while digesting more insider money? Unless, their PEU owners want to tilt the election playing field?
CEO Brighton can hire foreign contractors in nondemocratic countries to build and maintain the new platform. Someplace where they don't have perks or benefits.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, they are one and the same.
Update 10-8-23: Apax Partners got its name from PEU Alan Patricof. He co-founded Primetime Partners in 2019 which invests in companies serving the over 60 population. Patricof is 88. His earthly gains will remain on this plane.
