The Importance Of Company Culture & Partnerships With John Swanciger Of Toast

Episode Summary:
In episode 7, we speak with John Swanciger, who runs strategic alliances at Toast.  John shares the unique path that brought him to corporate development after many years working in tech as a C-level executive, and his advice for others who are considering corporate development. He discusses what it has been like joining Toast after its first acquisition, and how the team thinks about staying true to Toast’s culture with the partnerships they pursue.  

 What is Uncovered: 

• John’s path to Toast and why he became interested in corporate development 
• The 3 buckets to corporate development: corporate development strategy, deal execution, and integration  
• How Toast thinks about corporate development and the bucket they spend most of their time in these days 
• Inbound vs Outbound and how Toast thinks about building relationships 
• The lessons John has learned thus far at Toast and being part of the post-integration process 
• John’s thoughts on how COVID-19 has impacted the restaurant business and if there have been changes to the way acquisitions are looked at within their market 
• Advice to listeners looking to pursue a career in corporate development 

Learn More About:

John Swanciger
John Swanciger leads Business and Corporate Development at Toast. He is a proven results-driven executive with over 20 years of experience building and growing innovative businesses globally. Recognized as a creative thought leader skilled in structuring and managing high-value partnerships from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Previously, John was CEO of Manta (acquired in 2018) and held leadership positions at Starwood Hotels, Hotwire, and Switchfly. He holds a BS in Finance from Boston College.

Toast
Launched in 2013, Toast powers successful restaurants of all sizes with a technology platform that combines restaurant POS, front of house, back of house and guest-facing technology with a diverse marketplace of third-party applications. By pairing technology with an unrivaled commitment to customer success, Toast helps restaurants streamline operations, increase revenue and deliver amazing guest experiences. Toast was named to the 2019 Forbes Fintech 50, 2019 SXSW Interactive Innovation Finals, 2018 Forbes Cloud 100, and recognized as the third fastest-growing technology company in North America on the 2017 Deloitte Fast 500. Learn more at www.toasttab.com.

Quotes from John: 

• In regards to the Integration process:“Most importantly we haven’t changed our culture and values with serving the customer first.  If an issue arises and requires more support we have always followed through on that promise to deliver.” 
• In regards to COVID-19:  “The Big question here is what does it look like post-vaccine and post-vaccine plus 6 months.  It used to be a multi-year plan and now I view it as “in COVID” and “after COVID.”  Nobody knows what that may look like. I don’t think we are any different than a lot of the businesses and that whatever the next phase of this looks like, we need to be prepared for it.” 
• On a career in corporate development: “In corporate development a lot of us have banking, consulting or finance backgrounds. There are also a lot of product people who are coming into corporate development because they are often involved in diligence process, which is how it started for me” 

This episode was recorded on September 23, 2020.