00:00Hello everyone and welcome back to VivaTech. If you're joining us right now, my name is Asha Sampat and I
00:06am your host this afternoon.
00:08So we are about to start our third session on scaling up entitled From Startup to Grown-Up, The Worst
00:16and Best Mistakes to Make.
00:17And we will have the great opportunity to welcome one of the tech's greatest leaders, thinkers and investors, Mr. John
00:25Chambers.
00:25That will be in a couple of minutes. But before we welcome John today, I would like to introduce Anne
00:30Cotegiano, who is the Director of External Affairs and Engagement at Roland-Berger.
00:36Anne will kick off this session with an exclusive report before we get into our fireside chat. So Anne, you're
00:43ready?
00:44Yes, I am. Thank you.
00:45The floor is yours. I'll see you later.
00:47All right. See ya.
00:48So hi, everyone. I'm very happy to be here with you today.
00:52Okay. So when it comes to fundraising, we can say that 2021 was a record-breaking year for Europe.
01:05But lately, and as we know, the slowdown in venture capital activity has been brutal.
01:12So in this newly uncertain context, I think it's fair to say, and I'm afraid to say, that only the
01:20best startups will stay alive.
01:24Roland-Berger has been working with the tech ecosystem for years now.
01:28But lately, and regarding what's at stake, we wanted to go one step further.
01:35This time, we wanted to find out what it takes to scale well, to scale in the long run.
01:41And we wanted to find out if we could get best practices out of it, so we could figure out
01:48how to help CEOs to get their companies through dizzying and unpredictable growth phases.
01:58So over the last few months, we spent more than 50 hours talking to more than 40 CEOs of the
02:05European tech system, so we could have a genuine, a unique, and a very special exchange with all of them.
02:15What we did there is that we went looking for the truth, not numbers.
02:20And I'm glad to say that I think I found it.
02:25So all CEOs I talk to make me converge on one major idea.
02:32And this idea may actually sound counterintuitive at first, because it's very different from the agility talk we hear about
02:41all the time.
02:43This one idea is that when it comes to scaling, the one thing you have to do is to stay
02:51true to yourself.
02:54And this stay true to yourself feeling came up consistently on every interview and on every topic.
03:04Because scaling appears to be, above anything else, a matter of identity.
03:10An identity in business is actually way more than a logo.
03:14It's also way more than a slogan.
03:16It's the original mindset of a company.
03:19It's its creativity and it's also its ability to innovate.
03:25It's also the company's own entrepreneurial spirit.
03:30And this spirit is the most important thing to preserve when it comes to scaling.
03:36Because it is what will help you strive for greatness.
03:42So what we've learned throughout this journey is that to scale well, you have to stay true to four things.
03:50One, you have to stay true to your values.
03:55Because that will help you allow to gather the most relevant, diverse, and inspire a team of talents around one
04:05core ambition.
04:07In the words of Bastian O'Jerry, who's the CEO of InnovaFeed,
04:12it's better to recruit the right talents than the right skill.
04:16Because the thing is, the right skill can actually be learned as opposed to the right attitude.
04:24So to stay true to your values, you better surround yourself with people who are aligned with them.
04:29And more clearly, these values are embedded in your key recruiting processes,
04:34the easier it will be for you to start launching a virtual circle of talents.
04:42So two, you have to stay true to your customers.
04:48Because that will allow you to align your company with the customers' needs you want to fix.
04:55I had the great opportunity to talk to Hennie Zakariasen, who's the CEO and the founder of Vivino.
05:03And it was really a light bulb moment for me.
05:05Because what he told me, I really wasn't expecting.
05:09Hennie said, it's not about having a good product.
05:14It's about having the best product.
05:18Because to stay relevant in the fast-paced world of tech,
05:23Vivino listens to their users' feedbacks and interprets them into the app twice a month.
05:31And many greetings of their customers have been driving Vivino for the past 12 years.
05:36And today, they have more than 50 million users all over the world,
05:40making Vivino the largest wine app ever.
05:45Three, you have to stay true to your vision.
05:50Because this will help you shape your company closer to your ambition.
05:58Screw the org chart.
06:00It's what Nicholas Frid from Canton Square told me.
06:04That doesn't mean there is no organization at all at Canton Square.
06:08It just means it's different from any usual company.
06:13It also means that the best idea wins, no matter where it comes from.
06:19It could come from an assistant.
06:21It could come from an intern.
06:23It could also come from the CEO.
06:25It just doesn't matter as long as it's the best.
06:29You know, no company is destined to fit or grow in a pre-made box.
06:35So what matters is that you stay true to who you are and you know where you want your company
06:45to go
06:46and you know where you don't want it to go.
06:50Four, and this is my last point, you have to stay true to your beliefs.
06:55And especially when looking for fundings.
06:59Because that will make you go for investors that are close to your heart rather than go for the easy
07:05money.
07:07I'm not sure you know, but prior to its introduction on Euronext,
07:12OVH Cloud had the opportunity to be listed on Nasdaq.
07:16All investors thought it was the best thing to do.
07:19But OVH Cloud refused that.
07:23Because they believe in digital European sovereignty.
07:29When I talked to Michel Polin, who is the CEO of OVH Cloud,
07:33I realized how impossible it was for him to compromise his ideals
07:38and give up control to foreign investors.
07:43And this belief brought OVH Cloud pride from their employees.
07:49It also brought trust from European people investors.
07:54And it also reinforced the company's purpose and its position as a European tech leader.
08:01So if you ask me, that was definitely the best thing to do.
08:06So to conclude, I'd like to say that identity is what gives the company its age.
08:15It's what drives the leaders and all the team behind the project to go the extra mile.
08:21It is what leads them.
08:23It is what gives them purpose.
08:27Identity is the company's biggest asset to reach not only milestones of growth,
08:33but most importantly, greatness.
08:37So I'd like to make a call to action today.
08:43Entrepreneurs, stay aligned with who you are, no matter what.
08:49Investors, acknowledge and integrate this asset that is the identity of an entrepreneur.
08:57And finally, consultants and advisors value the singularity of entrepreneurs
09:04and extract yourselves from ready-made recipes in order to consider a project in all its truth.
09:13From the bottom of my heart, I'd like to thank all the brilliant CEOs that talked to us
09:18and helped us bring this study to life.
09:19We've had an amazing time with you.
09:21And thank you all for listening.
09:28Thank you, Anne.
09:29Brilliant.
09:30Brilliant.
09:30Thank you so much for sharing.
09:32So, and now, I think we are ready to welcome our next guest, Siddik.
09:37Right.
09:39Okay, so we'll be back in two minutes.
09:42This is what you were saying, Siddik.
09:44Right.
09:44We're back in two minutes for scaling up,
09:46and we are going to be having on the set John Chambers.
09:51Don't move.
09:51We'll be right back.
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