Revolution in the Danish VC world, hopefully!
I typically don’t talk a lot about DK specific issues on this blog, since it is not really super relevant for the overall well being of Just-Eat, or for that matter of general interest to the international internet community, but I will make an exception. The last week, the always present discussion of the quality of the Danish VC scene flaired up, and I pitched in with the below blog post on Comon, a Danish tech newssite. It is not translated, so feel free to learn Danish – awesome language!
Article on Comon here.
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Overskrift: Engle søges!
I de sidste par uger er en gammel diskussion brudt ud i lys lue med flere offentlige indlæg i aviser, blogs, etc.: er der tilstrækkelig med finansiel støtte til danske internet iværksættere? Det er en problemstilling, der ofte er oppe at vende, når personer med tilknytning til det danske tech/internet iværksættermiljø snakker sammen på tværs af projekter og faggrænser. Senest har Mr. Hype, Morten Lund, på sin egen charmerende måde gjort klart at han ikke har meget til overs for den danske VC scene. Kritikken er hård og der er mange, der giver ham ret. Jeg vil i store dele af substansen også gerne støtte kritikken af mulighederne for kvalificeret iværksætterfinansiering – men den del af debatten jeg har set (og det er nok ikke alt, hvad der er blevet skrevet og sagt) syntes jeg ikke har været helt nuanceret.
Debatten er en del af en større evaluering af styrken af det danske “tech/internet økosystem”. Det kan der skrives en hel afhandling om, men generelt må man konstatere, at selvom tingene er blevet bedre den sidste håndfuld år, så er vi bare ikke gode nok endnu. Er det nu også så vigtigt? Ja, for det drejer sig om en branche, der om 10-20 år er en meget væsentlig del af den samlede samfundsøkonomi, og dermed skal lægge grundstenen til titusindvis af jobs i en verden der bliver stadig mere konkurrencebetonet og integreret.
Jeg vil gerne sætte fokus på to problemer, der er relaterede til hinanden, men dog lidt forskellige af natur.
1. VC selskabernes mix af erfarne entreprenører og finansfolk.
De danske VC’er er ikke dygtige nok! Her må jeg give Morten Lund et al ret, men jeg mener kritikken skal modificeres. Det bliver nævnt, at alle VC’erne blot er en flok finansfolk, der kan fedte med regneark og intet andet – der skal entreprenører til lyder det. Sandheden som jeg ser ser det er, at der gælder samme regel for en god VC investor, som der gør for en stærk vækstvirksomhed: der skal et team til, der repræsenterer forskellige vinkler på at få succes. Der er absolut brug for folk med en stærk bankbaggrund i et VC firma. Der er brug for folk, der kan modellere økonomiske modeller og diverse “metrics”. Men der skal også folk på banen, der har prøvet at etablere, drive og udvikle virksomheder (både med fiasko og succes til følge). Den slags mennesker jeg snakker om her, er både dem der kan starte virksomheder såvel som dem der kan skalere virksomheder fra småt til stort, dvs. den brede definition af en entreprenører. Denne professionelle baggrund mangler i høj grad hos danske VC’er. Jeg lavede en hurtig og ikke helt videnskabelig undersøgelse af baggrunden for de internet investeringsansvarlige medarbejdere hos seks af de største danske VC firmaer med fokus på internetprojekter, og jeg syntes ikke det så godt ud. I mine øjne, så skal de erfarne entreprenører/ex-topchefer udgøre en tredjedel eller måske mere af et godt VC team. Det siger jeg dels på baggrund af min egen erfaring med de største VC’er i Europa og USA, men også ved at lave en (igen) ikke helt videnskabelig baggrundsundersøgelse af en række af de bedste VC teams der findes internationalt (tre jeg arbejder med i det daglige samt tre jeg kender godt). I min semi-videnskabelige benchmarksundersøgelse dumper fire af seks danske VC firmaer! Selvfølgelig er dette mix af kompetancer langt fra den eneste parameter for om et VC firma kan yde god støtte til et firma, der har brug for kapital og støtte, men jeg må fra personlig erfaring indrømme at det er vigtigt, og det er også den tilbagemelding jeg får fra andre, der har været igennem VC møllen uanset om det har været på den lille eller store klinge. Mere vigtigt end om der er 40% eller 25% entreprenører i et VC firma er dog den reelle erfaring, som de pågældende entreprenører/ex-chef bringer til bordet, og her er min største bekymring, derfor videre til punkt 2.
2. Erfaringstyngde hos de involverede ex-chefer/entreprenører
På den danske investor scene er der simpelthen ikke tilstrækkeligt med rollemodeller og angel investorer, der har en kritisk tyngde af international erfaring. Hvor mange danskere har deltaget som medstifter af eller chef for en virksomhed, der er gået fra noget småt til at blive en stor, international tech/internet virksomhed, herunder måske endog ultimativt børsnoteret virksomheden med en værdi af DKK halve eller hele milliarder? Der er meget-meget få. Og det betyder rigtigt meget, for den slags personer kan bringe en ufattelig viden til bordet ift. teams af forholdsvis uprøvede entreprenører, der sidder med et lovende, men halvimplementeret koncept, masser af energi og et potentielt hav af fejlbeslutninger foran sig. Mit bedste råd til enhver der er i en opstartssituation er at finde en erfaren person (eller måske et par stykker) og få dem involveret på et eller andet niveau i virksomheden – helst som angel investor og bestyrelsesmedlem, så englen virkeligt er dedikeret til at investere et par timer om ugen på vejledning. Det er kollossalt hvilken værdi der kan komme ud af den kobling, men der er simpelthen ikke nok af den slags personer i Danmark. Flere af den slags profiler som aktive angelinvestorere vil både hjælpe på virksomhedernes tidlige faser, såvel som hjælpe VC’erne med at være bedre, herunder sikre at hvis de danske VC’er ikke er gode nok så ryger man direkte videre til London eller Silicon Valley!
Summa summarum: der er nok af kapital i Danmark, jeg tror også der er rigeligt med ideer og folk der er klar til at forfølge drømmen (kan dog blive bedre, mere om det om et par linjer) samt folk med klassisk investor baggrund, men der mangler virkeligt de folk der med egen entreprenør- og cheferfaring kan bygge broen mellem de unge iværksættere og finansdrengene. Det er også disse succesfulde iværksættere, der kan være rollemodeller for entreprenør spirer, der gerne vil, men måske ikke helt tør tænke ambitiøst: de kan få de nybagte entreprenørers øjne op for, at deres ide måske ikke bare er den næste dating.dk eller trendsales.dk, men snarere er den næste Zendesk.com eller Just-Eat.com.
Angel investorerne/de succesfulde entreprenører med rigtig, international storskalaerfaring er en super vigtig brik i ethvert økosystem. Det er dem der kan inspirere til at tænke større, det er dem der kan rådgive så tingene skalerer bedre, og det er dem der kan bygge bro til finansverdenen. Og det er den slags mennesker vi virkeligt mangler at få involveret, både som angel investorer i den tidlige fase såvel som VC’ere i vækstfasen.
Betyder det så, at hvis vi havde en snes af den slags engleprofiler aktive i det danske miljø, at vi så ville få et Silicon Valley i Danmark? Nej, selvfølgelig ikke. Vi kan ikke konkurrere en-til-en med det powerhouse, der findes i San Fransisco området, men med de rigtige personer, fokus og masser af flid så tror jeg på, at vi kan etablere en digital planet, der kan blive en vigtig og relevant del af det europæiske digitale øko-/solsystem, der i disse år er blevet markant stærkere. Og det europæiske økoystem uddyber ligeledes løbende sine relationer til Silicon Valley, hvormed jeg er overbevist om, at de rigtige mennesker godt kan etablere globale, digitale vindere med Danmark som base. Blandingen af en vis tyngde i Danmark og dybe relationer til Silicon Valley, London, Berlin og Bangalore er hvad der skal til!
Vejen til dette nirvana må være at gøre alt hvad vi kan for at få de få personer, der faktisk har denne ekspertise, bliver aktiveret i det danske økosystem. De har måske ikke lige tid, eller mener ikke rigtigt det er prestigefuldt at arbejde i Danmark, men vi må bruge alle finansielle, rationelle og emotionelle argumenter for at få dem aktiveret som angels eller som VC’er. Det ændrer ikke på, at verdensklasse start-ups skal sikre sig kanaler videre ud i den store verden, men hvis basen med mange af de vigtigste arbejdspladser og dertilhørende know-how kan blive i Danmark (læs “København”), så er målet nået, og snebolden vil rulle og sikre endnu flere verdensklassefirmaer med endnu mere tyngde i vores lille, danske idyl.
Personligt gør det ondt i mig, at Just-Eat Group blev nød til at etablere sig med London som base for nogle år siden. Det kunne være blevet undgået, hvis Just-Eat på et tidligere tidspunkt havde fået rådgivere ombord med den tilstrækkelige erfaring. Så kunne den egentlige internationalisering af firmaet være startet tidligere, og dermed havde vi fået et længere forløb, der havde gjort København kunne være en base for os. Men sådan gik det ikke, og jeg håber vi kan undgå den slags udflytninger i fremtiden. Hvis ikke vi i Danmark formår at få forbedret vores evne til at etablere og fastholde de digitale virksomheder, der skal følge i kølvandet på industrugiganter som Carlsberg, Danfoss, Grundfoss, og Vestas, så er mulighederne for at fastholde den danske velfærd anno 2025 væsentligt forringet. Kom nu, glem alt det sludder om at gode koncepter og ambitiøse mennesker bliver nød til at flytte til Californien – hvis viljen og ambitionen er der, så kan vi godt!
What a great story Jesper Buch
On this blog, I have a couple of times dived down in the exciting and at times dramatic Just-Eat history, and as we all know, Jesper Buch has been an important part of our heritage. Jesper was one of the co-founders of FoodZoom who merged with Just-Eat in 2001, but his real achievement was the energy he put behind our company when he became CEO in 2002. Those were the days with no money and even less sleep. But the team with Jesper-what-ever-it-takes-Buch in the lead started earning money in 2005, which proved the model and paved the way for the scaling of the company which started a couple of years later.
It is no secret that the relationship between me and Jesper has been rocky at times. Our personalities are not only very different, but we are also different in a, hmm, different way. Jesper and I had the best of intentions when we started working together back in the spring of 2008, but quickly realised that our compatibility was not that great, so we had to part. That was difficult for me, because it would have been a good help, especially in the beginning, to have had Jesper by my side with all his detailed knowledge of our operations. But it was also very difficult for Jesper, and probably even more for him because he at the time had spend so many years together with Just-Eat. He had to migrate from running this company hands-on to a new life, where he is an angel investor working out of Spain.
But Jesper is no quitter, so he has fought his way back, and his transformation is now being completed. Jesper has a nice portfolio of investments, where especially Miinto is an interesting company, and he is getting into his new role. And in typical, creative Jesper Buch style he recently went trekking, or rather he walked on the ancient pilgrimage trail, El Camino de Santiago, spending most of a month walking through some of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe, where he finally placed a stone at Cruce de Ferro. And what stone was that? Well, check out the small, yellow stone at the centre of this picture that has a red inscription:
What a story Jesper Buch!
The Just-Eat delivery team August 2011
A few of us were out testing a delivery scooter in London yesterday. If any of these men are delivering your pizza, sushi or curry it has happened with a lot of love and care!
Just-Eat is apparently a super star
According to some, Just-Eat is one of a handfull of European internet companies that can be described as superstars! “Superstar” is a very big word, and personally I don’t think we are quite there yet, but with a bit of luck we will do pretty well. The positive thing for me is not so much whether we can use the label “superstar” or not, because that is partly a subjective thing, i.e. Wonga is the only company on that list that I will truly call a superstar based on how quickly they have build a massive, disruptive company that brings real value to people.
The real deal for me is that over the last 12 months the European internet community in general has given us a lot of recognition for what we have achieved as part of our internationalisation, where we morphed from being a Danish business into becoming a world leader based in London. It has been hard, difficult etc., etc. and we are not done yet, the steady flow of progress makes it all worth it – times 10! We will stay focused and energetic for another 10-20 years, and then we might end up being a real superstar.
An interesting observation when looking at the five “superstars” is that if you link their business to what the industry structure and culture is of their resident countries, then there are some very clear links to national industry clusters:
- Just-Eat: originally Danish, but during 2008-09 we moved the headquarter to London/UK, which is takeaway country no. 1 by far in Europe (e.g. 3 times bigger than Germany), and the big growth has been associated with this move
- Spotify: originally Swedish, but today mainly headquartered in UK/London, which is the music capital of Europe
- Vente Privee: well, the French know a thing or two about clothing
- Wonga: started by South Africans, but from the outset headquartered in the financial capital of Europe, and they of course work with money lending
- Rovio: Finnish company, the Finns are not as such known for being the leading gamers of this world, but Finland was world leader in mobile technology for many years, and still has a big industry cluster in the space – and that is initial angle Rovio had when they developed services and technologies before they started focusing on those very upset birds on mobile screens.
Ideas and success does in general not happen in a vaccum, there are often links back to industry clusters, also when new, exciting and disruptive services are being developed.
JE Tower in Bangalore
Just-Eat doing great in the Alps
A couple of weeks ago, I went to see the Eat.ch team in Zurich. It’s a great team with Reto, Lukas and Alexander at the core. Switzerland is not a huge market, and it was not even one of our strategically prioritized markets, but when we met the Eat.ch team we concluded success was not far away, so we decided opportunistically to skip the priority list and go for a partnership. Today we are very happy that we didn’t stick to our nice power point plans, CH will be great for us.
Here parts of the team is looking busy:
One of the benefits of operating in Switzerland, one of the most beatiful countries on the planet, is that we now have a great excuse to visit the Alps in the winter time to do a bit of skiing. I am sure we can sell a pizza or two at Davos.
Just-Eat cars forever and ever
One day robots will be doing the job, but for now cars with humans will be just fine.
Heja Norge
I love Norway, it is a beautiful country with a lot of positive and “hyggelige” people. This week I staid there for a couple of days to see the new office of our Norwegian online takeaway service and mingle with the Norwegian colleagues. As always it was a nice experience. After some serious start-up difficulties in the first half of 2010 the new team is in control and seeing very good growth and restaurant happiness – lots of hungry surfers becoming increasingly happy to access a much better choice of cuisine instead of only going to one of the few, big chains. It again shows it is all down to the team.
Here is part of the team (Morten, Lars and Alpha) at their desks.
Norwegians are a proud people, and they like to be a bit better than everybody else in an understated way – “no need to shout we are the best” is the philosophy. So it was a clear high five, when I asked Morten why they did not have a big map of the country and main cities just like all other Just-Eat offices do, and he with a big smile replied ” maps are very old fashioned”, pointed at a big screen on the wall with integrated projector and touch screen functionality, and continued “we go to Google maps and share it all on the big screen”. Yes, the Norwegians are a little bit smarter than the rest of us -;)
NB: and they stole our (Danish) oil … that’s an internal comment!
Finally: Just-Eat arrives in Italy, the land of the Pizza
Just-Eat offers all kinds of cuisines via the more than 17,000 restaurant partners we have in our network, but all in all the biggest menu of course is Pizza! The cuisine mix varies quite a lot from country to country due to underlying differences in food culture, but we can not escape the fact that pizza is the no. 1 volume item if we add the whole thing up. So, for a company like us we should put a bit of pride into serving hungry surfers in Italy, the mother country of the pizza – shouldn’t we?
Well now we are the leaders in Italy. Last month we acquired ClickEat.it which is the leading Italian portal for online takeaway ordering. ClickEat.it was launched in 2007 by two Italian entrepreneurs (Antonino Guarnaccia and Ivan Molella) who has done a good job at introducing this new form of food ordering. Now it is up to us to scale the business so all consumers and restaurants in Italy can enjoy the benefits of takeaway ordering the smart way.
Thanks to Anonino and Ivan for trusting Just-Eat to grow their baby to the next phase, we will take care of the company for many years to come.
And if you want to join the Milan based team within Sales, Marketing or Operations let us know!
Just-Eat World Party 2011 – Yehaa
This week was busy for me with exec meeting, board meeting, Group Management meeting, World Meeting, but the big prize was the final event: our annual World Party! Almost 300 full time colleagues flew in from all over the World to have a couple of days of socializing and party-party. No need to write up and down of what happened, but it was the best company event I have ever participated in – full stop. So many positive and fun people in a h… of an exciting company, absolutely amazing.
Here we are, more than double up compared to the same event last year:
NB: big thanks to all the people who planned this event, especially Amy.