For nearly a decade, Farzana Ahmed has been a driving force behind some of Volaris Group’s most strategic acquisitions, ranging from healthcare and human capital management to marketing technology. As Director of Mergers & Acquisitions, she brings a rare blend of intellectual curiosity, deal discipline, and founder empathy to the table. These qualities have helped her guide companies like ClickDimensions, Charity Dynamics, and Clarity Group into the Volaris ecosystem.
What drew Farzana to the world of M&A wasn’t just the thrill of dealmaking. It was the chance to learn from a company quietly outperforming others in its space. Since then, she has helped entrepreneurs navigate one of the most consequential decisions of their lives with clarity, patience, and a deep respect for what makes each business unique.
In this interview, Farzana reflects on what makes Volaris’ buy-and-hold approach so powerful, the kinds of founders she is most drawn to, and the distinct dynamics of working with private equity backed companies compared to founder-led businesses. Whether you are a founder considering next steps or a market observer curious about what makes a great acquisition story, her insights offer a rare look behind the curtain.
You’ve led several notable acquisitions over the past eight years at Volaris Group. What first drew you to the world of M&A and business development?
I’ve always had an avid interest in deal making and saw multiple Alumni from my university join the M&A team across CSI. At the time, CSI was not well-known nor advertised as a technology investor/acquirer, and when I dug a little deeper, I was very impressed by CSI’s share performance over the past decade when benchmarking against some of the largest technology companies such as Apple and Amazon.
I wanted to know what they were doing so differently, and like many of my predecessors, joined the firm to learn more.
Volaris is known for its unique ‘buy and hold forever’ approach. How do you explain that model to founders considering a sale?
“Marriage without a divorce” or to put it more eloquently, “True value compounds quietly. We grow with our businesses – year after year, challenge after challenge. And the longer we hold, the more we learn, and in learning, we build better businesses. Patience is our superpower”.
The sale of a business is a disruptive process and can destroy value as founders/employees exit leading to loss of domain expertise on product, market, customers, etc. This is a barrier to long-term value creation, and that’s why we are not in the business of “flipping” companies.
When speaking with founders, what are the key qualities or values you look for to assess cultural and strategic fit within Volaris?
The first and most important, are those founders who are long-term thinkers and prioritize sustainable, compounding value creation over short-term wins. The other would be founders who show operational discipline. This becomes apparent during due diligence when we learn more about their past record of investments in projects/initiatives.
All of them are unique but at the end of the day, we’ve succeeded in welcoming their businesses to the group because we were able to address their transaction considerations, such as valuation, speed to close and certainty along with post-close items such as business growth, longevity and employee talent development.
In your experience, what tends to surprise founders the most when they begin conversations with Volaris Group?
Essentially, how vast and decentralized our operations are. We are a global software operator with presence across 100+ countries and verticals.
How do you tailor your approach when working with private equity- or VC-backed companies compared to founder-led businesses?
PE & VC firms are less interested in what happens with the business post-close, and conversations are largely around deal parameters. We essentially work out what needs to be done to get their returns.
On the other hand, founders interested in what are our long-term intentions with the business, what happens to their staff, and whether the brands/culture will be persevered. For those founders who are open to staying with us, we discuss their role post-acquisition, support provided (capital, shared services, network of peers), and what success looks like within the organization.
ClickDimensions was a major acquisition in the MarTech space. What made it a compelling addition to the Volaris portfolio?
The acquisition was driven by strategic alignment and shared vision for long-term growth in the MarTech space. Our ethos has always been to acquire and scale mission-critical software platforms, and we were in search of a MarTech business that a plays central role in helping their customers achieve their strategic goals particularly around revenue generation, customer retention, and brand awareness.
The platform also fits well within our broader portfolio of software companies serving users the Microsoft Ecosystem such as WennSoft and Metafile.
You’ve navigated international deals, most notably Apdata in Brazil. What are some of the unique challenges and opportunities that come with cross-border acquisitions?
Cross-border acquisitions give us the opportunity to expand into new markets and technologies which may offer faster growth, risk diversification, and access to a larger pool of skilled employees.
However, it does come with its own set of challenges. Apdata was one of our first forays in Brazil and we had to educate ourselves on regulatory, legal, and tax compliance required for the transaction. We also retained local service providers/experts to get more transparency around labour laws, accounting standards, taxation systems, etc.
More importantly, we spent a significant amount of time building relationships with the management team on-site and working with them to finalize an integration plan. Our playbook, which consolidates benchmarks from our 1,200+ software businesses across 100+ countries, also helped us shape a formal strategy with vital input from the local management team members.
What does your typical first meeting with a founder look like? How do you build trust in those early conversations?
Building trust with founders in early conversations is critical to building a long-term relationship, and possibly a successful acquisition. Since Volaris uses a buy-and-hold forever strategy, founders are often more receptive than inquiries from private-equity buyers, but still remain cautious.
I try to be as transparent as possible about our permanent ownership model, and at the same time try to understand what they are really looking for? What is the vision for their business, what challenges are they facing today, and where do they see themselves down the road? And based on this, we figure out whether Volaris is the right home for their firm, employees, and themselves.
In your view, what makes Volaris Group a distinctive home for vertical market software companies compared to other acquirers?
Volaris is a permanent home for founders who want their company to thrive long after they leave or scale with the support of a publicly traded company with a large balance sheet. We value a driven, low-ego approach which makes it particularly compelling in an industry that often overlooks legacy in favor of leverage and prioritizes short-term results at the expense of long-term growth.
The acquisitions you’ve led continue to grow and evolve post-deal. What does long-term success look like to you in an acquisition?
Long-term success in an acquisition isn’t measured by what happens in the first 6 or 12 months. It’s measured in 5, 10, or even 20 years—because at Volaris, we acquire and hold forever. So, success means the business continues to thrive independently, its people are growing, and its customers remain loyal because the product is still solving real problems.
It also means the founder feels proud of the decision they made—that their legacy is intact, their team is in good hands, and the culture they built is respected, not dismantled.
Operationally, I’d call it a success when the business is sustainably profitable, reinvesting in innovation, and sharing best practices with its 1,200+ portfolio peers across the CSI ecosystem. That might mean launching new modules, improving retention, or helping a rising internal leader step into the CEO role.
“Ultimately, long-term success is when the company becomes better with us than it would have been on its own—but without losing what made it special in the first place.”
Looking ahead, what emerging trends or markets are you most excited to explore in your M&A work?
One of the areas I’m most excited about right now is the intersection of AI and vertical market software. At Volaris, we’ve always believed in the power of deeply specialized solutions, and now we’re seeing how AI can unlock entirely new layers of value in those verticals—whether it’s predictive analytics in healthcare, intelligent dispatch in public safety, or automated underwriting in insurance. What excites me is not just the buzz around AI, but the real, pragmatic applications—where founders embed AI into their workflows to make customers faster, smarter, and more efficient. Earlier this year, our Portfolio GM Summit held a panel with Volaris Business Unit leaders discussing the outcomes of AI experiments, and projects – what worked and what didn’t work. From an M&A perspective, I’m keen to work with founders who are focused less on trends and have figured out how to marry deep vertical knowledge with AI-driven innovation. That’s where we can be a long-term home and a scaling partner.
