Green Street | Inside The Deal – Transforming a Vertical Market Leading Data & Analytics Business

Inside The Deal is a series from the WCAS Investor team providing insight into our investments

New York, New York, August 12, 2022 - With the announced transaction to sell a majority interest in Green Street later this year, we take a step back to reflect on the initial investment thesis, and the transformation of Green Street over the last 3 years.

Green Street sits at the intersection of our sector focuses in Data & Analytics and PropTech, where we look to invest in businesses that are providing data and software to drive more informed decision-making, investing, and asset management for the commercial real estate industry. We believe this market has historically been opaque and slow to embrace technology relative to other industries, and thus is ripe for disruption.

Green Street fits squarely within that investment mandate, serving as a premier provider of commercial real estate intelligence and analytics across research, data and exclusive news. It has innovated consistently for nearly four decades to be the gold standard destination for participants in the commercial real estate ecosystem.

We saw in Green Street an opportunity to transform the business. In 2019, many saw Green Street as a narrow provider of research focused on the public real estate investment trust ecosystem, with a legacy transactional revenue model and significant regulatory oversight. Looking through these superficial considerations, we saw a company with:

• exceptional customer advocacy,
• valuable proprietary data,
• an extraordinarily talented employee base, and
• a large end market with significant unmet need.
  

The opportunity was immense, but it would require significant execution. We partnered closely with the management team including a new CEO we recruited, Jeff Stuek to implement a value maximization plan that would enable the Company to better serve clients and predictably grow revenue and profitability, while retaining the Company’s unique culture. This execution was focused around four key elements:

1. Shifted the Company from a transactional revenue approach (and associated trading desk) to a subscription model, which in turn reduced the Company’s regulatory burden.
   
2. Expanded the Company’s data and news capabilities in the US and Europe both organically and through two acquisitions.
3. Simplified the Company’s product bundling and enterprise pricing strategy and rebuilt the Company’s go-to-market motion.
   
4. Built a data engine and new SaaS platform earlier this year that allows Green Street to seamlessly deliver actionable, interconnected intelligence across news, research, and data/analytics.
   

These efforts accelerated organic growth, doubled the size of the business, expanded the addressable market opportunity, and further enhanced Green Street’s industry-leading customer satisfaction.

As proud as we are of the Company’s accomplishments to date, we are equally excited about the future. We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the leadership group and new investors, TA Associates.

Looking for insight on more WCAS deals? Come back regularly to the Inside The Deal blog to learn about our most recent deals, and historic insight on some of our deals from the last decade.

WCAS Team Supporting Green Street

Chris Hooper
General Partner
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Sidney Ouyang
Principal
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George Mashini
Operating Partner
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Brian Kasser
Talent Operating Partner
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Jeff Stuek
Chief Executive Officer
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For additional information about Green Street, visit the firm’s website and LinkedIn.