FranConnect Blog Post by Gabby Wong

After nearly 10 years leading FranConnect, I’ve made the decision to begin a planned leadership transition that supports the company’s long-term success while allowing me to prepare for my next chapter. This transition comes at a moment of strength for FranConnect and reflects a thoughtful, forward-looking evolution for both the company and me.

As part of this transition, I will join the FranConnect Board of Directors and continue serving as CEO as we kick-off a focused search and onboard the company’s next leader. During this time, the Board and I will work in close partnership to support the business and maintain steady leadership, continuity, and momentum. Executive Chairman Wendell Jisa will be partnering with me and the executive leadership team to support the company during this critical time.

This transition marks an important milestone for me personally. I started at FranConnect nearly 10 years ago in 2016, completely new to franchising, but bursting with new ideas from my extended executive leadership career at other high-growth and well-known B2B SaaS companies. I found the prospect of working with and supporting other entrepreneurs like myself deeply compelling. Only magic can happen when your mission exactly aligns with your customer’s mission, a piece of advice that you’ll hear me give frequently in talks. It’s the hallmark of any successful company.

When I stepped into the CEO role at FranConnect in late 2018, the company was at a turning point. FranConnect had created the franchise management category 17 years earlier, but the business needed modernization, focus, and renewed momentum to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving market.

Alongside our incredible customers, partners, and employees, whom we affectionately refer to as FCians, we grew the company and expanded our impact, reinforcing FranConnect’s position as the most trusted technology partner for franchise and multi location brands. During my tenure as CEO, we achieved significant revenue growth and expanded profitability fivefold, enabling us to continue investing in innovation across our products and solutions to better serve our customers.

Over that time, we launched four new products and seven AI powered agents, completed three strategic acquisitions including FranchiseBlast, World Manager, and RizePoint, and expanded our reach to more than one million users across 1,500 brands worldwide. Today, we support customers across 165 countries, with teams and offices across four continents. We did all of this while modernizing FranConnect into a fully integrated, cloud based platform and, with foresight, continue to reinvent ourselves as a more data centric organization powered by agentic AI. We have transformed ourselves from a legacy brand to a heritage brand and are committed to continuing to evolve to the needs of the marketplace.

To the greater franchising community, I am incredibly grateful for your partnership, and your mentorship to me personally. The impact of the business model on the growth of the American economy is only matched by the impact every stakeholder has on the community. All of you care deeply about the business model and the greater community and it shows in the depth of your friendships.

To Serent Capital, including Kevin Frick, John Caselli, Prital Kadakia, thank you for your mentorship, support, and friendship over the last 10 years. I’ve been proud to serve as one of your CEOs and carry forward your mission to partner with founders to build enduring companies. To Amit Pamecha, FranConnect’s founder, you had an idea (many actually!) and seeded that idea into an enduring brand that drives impact for so many. Thank you for letting me steward it over the last decade. And to all my advisors and board members, including Wendell Jisa, Michael Collins, Dave Shirk and the late Bob Post. I carry forward all of what you’ve taught me into my next chapter.

Last, to our FCians, it’s you I am most proud of. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to bear witness to your achievements, countless promotions, weddings, babies, and the spirit that you bring to your work everyday. Watching you grow and thrive has been one of the most meaningful parts of this journey, and for that I am grateful and forever changed.

Never lose sight of the culture we built together. It’s something truly special, and I hope it remains part of FranConnect’s legacy. It’s our culture that will carry you through this transition period and beyond. It’s yours to champion forward. Amalgamate it, evolve it, make it even better–just make sure that you hold each other accountable to it, on behalf of, and for the success of our customers, our business, and the greater franchise community

— Gabby