Bob’s Corner: On to the Next Chapter

Published 4/4/24

Fifteen years ago, InvoiceCloud started with just five employees and one ethos: paying your bills shouldn’t be so hard. What started as a difficult experience paying my credit card bill would launch the concept of InvoiceCloud, a frictionless solution that makes it easy to pay a variety of bills whenever and however you prefer.

Six years later, we had 28 people and accepted private equity to add more great people and solutions to the family. Over the next four years, we grew to over 600 people and added the teams from HealthPay24, SimplePractice, DonorDrive, IVR Technology Group, MCC, and PSN. By 2021, with about 800 people, we created a parent company and I got to ring the bell on the New York Stock Exchange as we went public under the ESMT symbol. I’m proud to say that we consistently hit our numbers and traded well (top 10%) when compared to our technology peers. Twelve years of hard work by a great team of people flew by.

In a “full circle” moment, we were taken private by a large Private Equity firm and InvoiceCloud, which has always maintained its own identity, is now “stand alone” again. This is great news for our customers, as it enables our teams to focus their time and resources on the needs of InvoiceCloud users.

There have been a lot of highs in this journey, with too few regrets to mention. We’ve experienced unbelievable growth as an organization, and one of the immense benefits of that is all the brilliant people I’ve gotten to work with as a result. From the Customer Success Managers and Client Services professionals that you all know and love, to the folks in product, sales, marketing, HR, IT, and beyond. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to recruit a squad of “A players” who have challenged me and made InvoiceCloud the thriving company it is today. I’ve enjoyed incredible successes on my journey with InvoiceCloud, but it’s the people (customers, partners, and teammates) that have made the last 15 years the best of my 47-year career.

One of those teammates is a newer—and incredibly valuable —addition to the team, Kevin O’Brien. I was talking to a friend about finding someone who could step in to lead InvoiceCloud when I retired, and he introduced me to Kevin. Within an hour at a breakfast meeting, I could sense the intelligence, customer-centricity, and genuine humility in Kevin that we would need to take InvoiceCloud to the next level. In his third year now as InvoiceCloud’s leader, Kevin has made me very proud of that decision.

Stepping away now, from this group of great, fun-loving people is difficult — but I will still be around, and in touch. I am confident that what we’ve created in fifteen years is built to last, and that the new leadership will continue the legacy of InvoiceCloud as we imagined it back in 2009: a tool, built for you, to improve your day-to-day and give your team back the all-important gift of time.

It’s been an honor talking with you all in Bob’s Corner (and Ramble) over the last several years. Keep an eye out for Kevin’s thoughts here in the future!

Signing off with deep gratitude for your support all these years,

Bob