It’s a complex challenge that requires an understanding of local and national labor laws, as well as technology that can bridge geographic gaps between an employer and overseas talent, without losing the “human” element of human capital management.

That experience became the seed of Velocity Global, now called Pebl, which Wright launched in 2014.

The platform facilitates compliant hiring and expansion across borders, onboarding, payroll, benefits management, and more. As its first CEO, Wright leaned heavily on the international network he had built across 107 countries. Growth in the business’s first years was “largely organic,” with Wright scaling its capabilities to support 185 countries across the globe.

“It really took off,” he said. “The challenge was getting people to understand that you could do something like this.” But for businesses operating internationally, cross-border HR was a well-known headache, making Velocity Global a no-brainer for many of its clients.

Wright noted that the company reinvested its profits to support that organic growth.

“It sounds like the critical thing was acquiring the right clients at the right time who had the need, and you had the capability to fulfill,” noted Baxter.

“That’s exactly right,” Wright said.

Building out the tech stack to support the company’s global expansion was the next step, making investment in artificial intelligence key to the tech-focused business. “We’ve made a transformational shift in the last year around AI,” Write stated, adding that AI is both native within the AI platform, and an effective tool for its own operations internally. “I used to have a single HR person in Romania to understand Romanian employment law. We don’t have to do that now.”

While many of the question marks found in cross-border HR can be answered via AI at the stroke of a few keys, Wright emphasized that the human-focused service component to Pebl remains essential. He offered the example of an employee with a sick relative in need of time off. “You want to have a human voice on the end of the phone” when those kinds of conversations happen. “But 90-95% of it can be handled through the platform and AI.”

An Unorthodox Investment Journey

Wright served as CEO to Velocity Global until 2023 and wouldn’t rejoin as chief revenue officer until 2025, soon after its rebrand to Pebl.

But before his brief departure, Wright led the company through its first funding rounds that earned it the coveted status of unicorn with a $1 billion valuation.

A peer from Wright’s college days connected him to private equity firm FFL Partners. As a principal at the firm, that peer provided Wright with a level of familiarity with the potential investor which, along with the firm’s “good fundamentals and core values,” made for a trusted partner.

FFL invested in the company in 2021, funding that was quickly used to capitalize on COVID-era disruption and acquire two industry players that same year. “Very quickly afterwards,” recounted Wright, “I realized it was time to throw the kitchen sink at growth, because from 2014-2022 we grew with little to no competition.”

But once others saw the company’s success, new rivals began to enter the scene. Assessing the state of the market, and where Velocity was in its own growth journey, Wright pushed for an unorthodox move.

Six months after the add-on acquisitions, he returned to FFL and requested that the initial growth plan they previously developed be reworked, proposing a growth capital round he likened to a VC funding round. “It’s such an odd journey,” Write acknowledged. “You just don’t see it out there. It really did confuse the investor community. Nobody bootstraps to nine figures of revenue, and then does a private equity transaction, and then does a growth equity round.”

Even so, the company raised $400 million to fuel what Write called “hyper-growth.” Today, the company now known as Pebl, which remains private, has exited that cash-burn phase and is now profitable and growing.

The Business of Baseball

Following his success at Pebl, Wright turned towards a lifelong passion for his next business venture: baseball. “I’ve never really been involved in the business of sport, and I’ve always been, as a fan, really curious about it.”

Stepping in as a minority owner of the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club began with establishing a relationship with its preexisting majority owner. Though it took a bit of convincing, the two eventually forged a partnership that’s now two years strong.

The process enlightened Wright to some of the ways sports can meaningfully impact communities, not least of all through its economic contributions as fans flock to local restaurants around stadiums for games, embrace local transportation options, and more. “It’s been a difficult journey, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” noted Wright.

Building Connections with ACG

Developing that connection with the club’s owner was essential to Wright’s eventual ownership, just as having that tie back to a college peer facilitated Velocity’s partnership with FFL.

Understanding the power of connections came early for Wright.

While in San Francisco and climbing the ranks at his former employer, he discovered and joined the city’s local ACG chapter. “That’s where I truly learned the importance and value of networking,” he said. “When I first got into sales, I thought it was about asking for the business. I neglected the whole giving part. A lot of asking, not a lot of giving. And what ACG taught me was how important to give.”

Supporting others on their own professional journeys to make meaningful connections will eventually lead to returns, he said.

Having relocated to Denver and on the hunt for mentorship, Write discovered ACG Denver’s emerging leader development program, Leadership 20. It was an experience Wright described as “transformational.”

Baxter highlighted Wright’s experience as exemplary of ACG’s mission to facilitate meaningful connections for its members. “You can talk about getting more efficient and connecting capital with opportunities and the use of AI, but at the bottom line, if you don’t have relationships, you don’t have the foundation for a transaction, a deal, or the future,” Baxter said.

Wright agreed, adding that the value in such connections goes both ways. “Authentically,” he said, “I’ve learned the joy in giving if my network can help someone else.”

Carolyn Vallejo is ACG’s Senior Editor.

ACG Insights is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit acg.org.