Tag Archives: business

First trip to India, Chennai…

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via Wikipedia

In about one week, we will have the pleasure to go to India, and more precisely to Chennai, for a business trip. Wow :-)

Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai has an estimated population of 7.5 million (2007), making it the fourth largest metropolitan city in India and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world.

The city was established in the 17th century by the British, who developed it into a major urban centre and naval base. By the 20th century, it had become an important administrative centre, as the capital of the Madras Presidency.

Chennai’s economy has a broad industrial base in the automobile, technology, hardware manufacturing, and healthcare industries. The city is home to much of India’s automobile industry and is the country’s second-largest exporter of information technology (IT) and information-technology-enabled services (ITES), behind Bangalore. The city is served by an international airport and two major ports; it is connected to the rest of the country by five national highways and two railway terminals. Thirty-five countries have consulates in Chennai.

Absolutely impressive! This city has actually more inhabitants than Switzerland! The weather is also quite different as by us: 32°C during the day and a minimum of 20° at night. With 90% humidity…

Why MySQL sold out

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via 451 CAOS Theory and AlwaysOn

First time I am reading some explanations (apart from the $1bn deal ;-) coming directly from Marten Mickos, MySQL‘s CEO, concerning their decision to sold out to SUN, instead of going for an IPO.

The fact that it all happened so quickly makes it obvious that Sun’s and MySQL’s organizations have a cultural affinity that enables such fast convergence on a major strategic deal. What was it that justified the deal to start with?
Here is my entirely personal view of the factors that made the deal happen:

  1. Jonathan Schwartz is a brilliant CEO and he has a great team. Who wouldn’t want to work for him?
  2. Sun has always had the same focus as MySQL on the networked world. Focus and alignment!
  3. Sun has become the world’s strongest proponent of free and open source software. We are happy to be part of that!
  4. Sun has changed its strategy to include partnerships with former competitors. Hey, coopetition is what we always did!
  5. Sun has never stopped innovating or stopped investing in technology. Impressive!
  6. Sun has a huge field operation that can bring MySQL to more customers faster. Thank you!
  7. MySQL would be a great complementary fit in Sun’s product portfolio. We like being useful! We love being uniquely useful!
  8. Sun’s corporate culture is among the best a startup can ask for. We can work from home! We can innovate. We are thrilled!
  9. Sun is a bold and fun disruptor again, and we see a huge upside in its strategy. I am not saying that success is a given, but I am saying that Sun’s new strategy is one of the most exciting this industry has to offer. We are all in!
  10. Sun was really eager to get us on board and we were treated with the greatest respect from the start. (And I hope we did the same in return)

In light of the above, the decision ultimately was easy. Initially it was not easy at all, because we all had such a strong commitment to go public and continue life as an independent company. It was hard work to change our minds. But once we saw that within Sun we would get the same benefits as going public, but with more resources and operational backing, we realized that Sun was for us like an IPO, only better.

Comprehensive, pragmatic and courageous decision!

Seesmic founding and launch

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Very interesting insides about how Loic has launched and founded seesmic.

I like very much this way of making business, which has more something to do with trust, with support & help, and with commitment of people concerning a vision.

I understand also Loic who is saying that being in a positive environment – which knows the risks und doesn’t underestimate them – is great. I hope that this will be also the case at a time in Europe… It is still more or less a pain to found a new venture here, and mostly because of the negative spirit around new founding and the risks taken…

Thanks Loic for sharing this piece of business and, at the end, much more this piece of your life!

And good luck with seesmic!

Innoveo is strengthening its Team :-)

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Very good news today!

Innoveo will have one employee more in 2 months. And what for a new colleague!

First, we have won one nationality more, i.e. we will have 8 nationalities represented in the company (Swiss, French, German, Italian, Austrian, Indian, Slovenian, and Dutch!). Not bad.

Secondly, we have won a very very nice guy.

Thirdly, he is such a great professional, with a huge experience in Software Engineering and Architecture! Incredible :-)

We are extremely proud and honored that, among a vast spectrum of options, such an expert has his choice finally felt on Innoveo.

Thanks … and see you soon!

Paul Watzlawick’s hammer –

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Philippe and Nick reminded me about the hammer’s story of Paul Watzlawick, and Philippe just sent an email with this “hammer’s story” from the book The Situation is Hopeless, but not Serious.

Cool illustration….of quite a lot of real situations ;-)

a man wants to hang a painting. he has the nail, but not the hammer. therefore it occurs to him to go over to the neighbor and ask him to lend him his hammer.
but at this point, doubt sets in. what if he doesn’t want to lend me the hammer? yesterday he barely spoke to me. maybe he was in a hurry. or, perhaps, he holds something against me. but why? i didn’t do anything to him.
if he would ask me to lend him something, i would, at once. how can he refuse to lend me his hammer? people like him make other people’s life miserable. worst, he thinks that i need him because he has a hammer. this has got to stop!
and suddenly the guy runs to the neighbor’s door, rings, and before letting him say anything, he screams: “you can keep your hammer, you bastard!”

Reminds you something?