Mark Leonard Quotes

“We like managers who think out of the box and make decisions that only fit in the 'Shareholder Value Creation' framework.”

“One of our directors has been calling me irresponsible for years...”

“Constellation Software is the best serial acquirer in the world.”

“When you would have invested $10,000 in Constellation Software at the IPO in 2006, your investment would be worth $2 million today.”

“We are focused on acquiring niche software companies with loyal customer bases and strong market positions.”

“The power of compounding is often underestimated in the business world.”

“Our goal is to create long-term value for our shareholders through disciplined capital allocation.”

“We believe in the importance of a decentralized management structure.”

“Success in business is about making the right decisions at the right time.”

“We prioritize companies that have a strong competitive advantage.”

“The best investments are often those that are not obvious.”

“Our approach is to be patient and disciplined in our acquisitions.”

“Constellation's objective is to be a perpetual owner of inherently attractive software businesses.”

“Our favorite and most frequent acquisitions are the businesses that we buy from founders. When a founder invests the better part of a lifetime building a business, a long-term orientation tends to permeate all aspects of the enterprise.”

“The longer we have owned a small software business, the larger and better it has become.”

“We continue to seek longer-term capital to defuse the fundamental mismatch inherent in buying permanent assets with short-term debt.”

“If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you're competing against a lot of people.”

“The best businesses are those that can be held indefinitely.”

“We believe that the best way to create value is to focus on the long term.”

“Our approach is to build a decentralized organization where managers have ownership.”

“Patience and continuous improvement can unlock significant value in an acquired business over time.”

“We look for businesses that have a strong culture and a commitment to their customers.”

“Acquisitions should be about finding businesses that fit well with our existing operations.”

“The key to success is understanding the unique characteristics of each business we acquire.”

“We believe that small businesses should stay small. While other purchasers of business seek economies of scale through centralization, we have taken the opposite approach. We believe that potential is maximized when teams are allowed to remain small.”

“Hurdle rates are magnetic in nature.”

“There's this inside joke in Harris: "We work at Harris, but we get paid like McDonald's.”

“The high ROIC achieved over the last decade suggests that we have very good businesses. If ROIC starts to erode significantly, then either we've damaged our existing businesses, or our new acquisitions are less attractive than those that we have made in the past. ROIC isn't one of those metrics that is necessarily subject to "reversion to the mean." Some businesses seem to be able to widen their moats at reasonable cost.”

“An ad-hoc analysis done to understand a problem or opportunity is more likely to translate into action than a quarterly report that gets generated because "we've always done it that way." The former requires curiosity and intelligence, the latter bureaucracy and compliance.”

“If our stock price strays too far (either high or low) from intrinsic value, then the business may suffer: Too low, and we may end up with the barbarians at the gate; too high, and we may lose previously loyal shareholders and shareholder-employees to more attractive opportunities.”

“Far too many owners mistake themselves for great operators.”

“They didn't want their legacy disappearing into the craw of an omnivorous conglomerate.”