Economica.net, 2022: choosing investors, passion and openness to mistakes

De la 0 la 100, an event on how Romanian entrepreneurial companies scale, organised with the support of Morphosis Capital, the Carol I Central University Library, FABIZ, Ulpia and the Dr. Leahu dental clinics. Report by Lidia Neagu, Economica.net, 26 June 2022. I spoke as co-founder of Tremend, after the sale of Tremend to Publicis Groupe. Topics: why we, the founders, stayed the only shareholders, choosing investors, what Romanian companies need to reach bigger markets, passion and product over governance, openness to mistakes, good and bad perfectionism.

The sale came “at the right moment” („la momentul potrivit”), shortly before stock markets fell.

In Romanian. The quotes are translated, with the original alongside.

§Choosing investors with care

“I think they have two sides, you have to choose very carefully, to fit culturally, for there to be chemistry.” („consider că sunt două fațete ale acestora, trebuie să alegi cu mare atenție, să te potrivești cultural, să existe chimie”)

At the time of the deal with Publicis, “only we were shareholders” („doar noi eram acționari”). Over time the founders evaluated minority investors: “It was not attractive” („Nu era atractiv.”). I admired the stories of working with bonds and investments.

§No pressure on a committed result

“We had an easy life being just us, with no pressure on a committed result.” („Am avut o viață ușoară fiind doar noi cu noi, fără presiune pe un rezultat asumat”)

The years before the transaction, when we, the founders, owned the company alone.

§Synergies and shared case studies

“We need better synergies and sharing of information and case studies, to grow the number of companies that successfully access much bigger markets, with a different level of capital.” („Ne trebuiesc sinergii mai bune și împărtășirea de informații și studii de caz pentru creșterea numărului de companii care accesează cu succes piețe cu mult mai mari și cu un alt nivel de capital”)

International expansion: not an easy process, even for an IT company, which can scale globally more easily than companies in other sectors. I would like to see more unicorn companies in Romania.

§Passion first, the product before the board

“Passion is the number one ingredient, from my point of view.” („Pasiunea este ingredientul numărul 1, din punctul meu de vedere.”)

Advice to founders at the start: focus on developing the product or service, less on governance. Among the younger generations I see an orientation toward starting with a board, “but, from my perspective, the obsession has to be on the product or service, not on governance” („dar, din perspectiva mea, obsesia trebuie să fie pe produs sau serviciu, nu pe guvernanță”). The sale came naturally, through a very good analysis of the context and the data: “Passion comes first, but numbers are numbers.” („Pasiunea este pe primul plan, însă numerele sunt numere.”)

§Open to mistakes

“I would stress the importance of being open to mistakes, the opposite of how we were taught. Making mistakes has positive sides.” („aș accentua importanța de a fi deschiși față de greșeli, opusul felului în care am fost noi învățați. A greși are valențe pozitive”)

One of my lessons as an entrepreneur, from over 16 years building Tremend.

Elsewhere. 20 Minute Leaders, 2021, on Tremend’s culture: “Admitting to the mistake, trying to fix and having a positive attitude instead of masking the error, tricking the customer.”

§Good perfectionism, bad perfectionism

“Also perfectionism: if you cultivate the good kind and treat the bad kind, you bring something important to the surface.” („de asemenea, și perfectionismul – dacă o cultivi pe aceea bună, iar pe cea rea o tratezi, minezi ceva important”)

The next lesson in the same list: like mistakes, perfectionism has positive sides, if the good kind is cultivated and the bad kind treated.