Great Hill Partners recently hosted its annual CEO Summit, bringing together 23 CEOs from across the firm’s portfolio for three days of networking, candid conversation, and strategic insight.
This year’s summit focused on three core themes: navigating the current volatile economic environment, leveraging GenAI to deliver business impact, and strategies for accelerating growth. Joining our CEOs were senior members of the Great Hill investment team, the Growth Team, and a group of distinguished speakers, including business leaders, industry experts, academics, and other executives with a track record of multiple successful business exits.
The program kicked off with an economic outlook from J.P. Morgan’s Dr. David Kelly, who outlined the implications of a “post-cycle” world shaped by tariffs, immigration, and fiscal policy. The following sessions challenged CEOs to think critically about the road ahead. Mike Thompson, Managing Director and Head of Great Hill’s Growth Team, led a session on how to align teams to long-term outcomes – sharing lessons learned from over 25 years of working with high-growth businesses.
Key sessions included:
- Building a Scalable, Predictable Sales Machine: Harvard’s Mark Roberge explored the science of repeatable revenue, emphasizing the importance of data, hiring, and customer success alignment.
- GenAI – Productivity, Growth, and Strategic Implications: A panel featuring senior tech executives and investors, CPOs, and CTOs shared their views on where GenAI is having real business impact.
- Identifying Top Talent: Talent experts Jordan Burton and Matt Walsh offered practical frameworks for assessing and closing top candidates.
- Preparing an Exit Strategy: Great Hill portfolio CEOs who recently navigated exits, including leaders from BigChange, Mission Cloud, EDB, and Reward Gateway offered insight into what they got right and what they’d do differently when it comes to exit strategies.
On the final morning, CEOs participated in peer-led small group discussions where they set the agenda and tackled topics like wellness, managing growth, leadership, and working with Great Hill. The summit closed with a fireside chat featuring Amy Porter, founder of AffiniPay, who shared reflections on leadership, culture, customer relations, and scaling with intention.
Our annual CEO summit reflects Great Hill’s commitment to supporting the leaders who drive our portfolio companies. As a founder-friendly partner, we’re proud to provide not just capital, but practical support, strategic guidance, and a collaborative approach.
