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Founder / Operator·Smart Water

Colby Manwaring

Senior Director, Water Industry; Former CEO Innovyze at Autodesk

Portland, OR

CM
LinkedIn
Why they matter

Architect of the $1B smart-water-software exit comp that defines valuation expectations for the category.

Background

Former CEO of Innovyze, the Portland-based smart-water infrastructure modeling and simulation company. Sold Innovyze to Autodesk for $1B in April 2021. Has remained at Autodesk in a senior water-industry role with his management team, advancing Autodesk's digital-twin strategy for water utilities globally. Innovyze served approximately 3,000 customers worldwide pre-acquisition.

Notable deals

  • 2021
    Sold Innovyze to Autodesk for $1B in cash, one of the largest pure-software water-infrastructure exits to date.
  • 2021
    Joined Autodesk as a senior leader of the water-industry business post-acquisition, bringing his Innovyze team with him.
  • 2024
    Continued to scale Autodesk's water-infrastructure modeling and digital-twin offering to global utility customers.

Call-prep brief

Background

Colby's Innovyze-to-Autodesk transaction (2021) is the reference $1B water-software exit. He stayed with the business post-acquisition, so he has both the entrepreneur perspective (built and sold) and the strategic-acquirer perspective (how Autodesk has integrated the platform).

What he cares about

  • Digital twins for water infrastructure as the next durable software category.
  • Build-or-buy decisions facing strategics with adjacent footprints.
  • Modeling and simulation as a moat against the AMI / billing vendors.

Sensitivities

  • Now an Autodesk insider with public-company IR constraints. Don't probe Autodesk strategy.
  • Reference his exit politely; deal teams sometimes lean too hard on the $1B number.

Questions to ask

  1. What categories of water-infrastructure modeling are still unconsolidated and most likely to scale next?
  2. How does he see strategics (Autodesk, Bentley, Schneider) competing with utility-AMI vendors (Itron, Xylem, Badger) on the software layer?
  3. Which $50-200M water-tech businesses today look most like Innovyze did in 2018?

Outreach draft

Subject
Smart-water-software comps and next platforms
Hi Colby, I lead infrastructure investing at [Firm]. The Innovyze exit is the reference comp for our smart-water-software thesis, and your dual perspective from both the founder seat and Autodesk insider role is uniquely valuable. Would you have 30 minutes for a category-level conversation in the next month? Best regards, [Your name] [Your firm]

Linked companies

Sources