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French-born and self-confessed “Gadgetologist,” Olivier Carnohan is currently the CEO of InnoVentures, which is a joint venture between a Singapore telco Singtel and Japanese internet company SoftBank. Innoventures aims to invest and work together with telecom companies to create larger stake of active mobile internet users in the market.
Olivier discusses his experiences with entrepreneurship and his lessons learned working in the USA, Europe, and Asia in an ever-changing industry. As a former product manager, entrepreneur, and consultant in the telecoms industry for over 15 years, he shares experiences that may help some of you who wish to embark on an entrepreneurial journey.
So what brought you to Asia?
By 2001 I was eager to embark on new challenges both personally and professionally. I also realized that most of my work experience and contacts were based on the east coast of the US. The internet industry had been financing its unsustainable growth on the back of irrational and overly exuberant investors. I decided to take a year off. A new beginning, a new chapter in my life, needed to be written before I settle down.
I applied and got accepted into the INSEAD MBA. I only applied to the Singapore campus. Frankly I was fed up with the Boston winters. That year changed everything. I fell in love with Singapore right away. I also fell in love with my neighbor, whom I married in 2004. I am French, you see!
You’ve been in the Telecoms-Internet industry all your career. Why that sector?
Close your eyes and remember a time when you took a life-changing decision. Remember the jubilation, the impatience, the confidence? I mean it, close your eyes. Done? Now you know the feelings I experienced in 1993 after I discovered the internet via a 14Kbps modem attached to my Intel 486DX. I finished my associate degree in law, packed-up my apartment and moved to Boston.
In 2000, I decided to accept an unsolicited offer to work at Genuity, a $1 billion global provider of internet and web hosting, later bought by Level III, which hired me to act as a product manager for the flagship web-hosting product, Black Rocket. I was living in Boston, working on the Route 128 Tech corridor, driving a fast German car and with my pockets full of a pre-IPO stock options, worthless now… Every door at the office had a sticker on it saying “Push to change the world!” Working during the internet bubble was a great feeling that comes probably only once in a lifetime.
Do you have any tips for readers who might not be so sure of their career path?
Simple. First, let’s agree on one simple concept: People only do well that which they enjoy doing. If you concur, then you should agree with me to only work on topics you enjoy enough to do on weekends.
My hobby is to tinker with gadgets and technology. I call it “Gadgetology.” When I’m at the beach, while I’m relaxing I read technology blogs. If your passion is in sport, then do work for Nike or Equinox.
Second, travel, live, work or study on at least three continents, especially in your 20s. I left France more than 16 years ago. When people ask me what I have learned while away for so long, I answer that I learned more about myself than I ever thought I could. Experiencing different cultures has taught me what really mattered to me, what were the traits of character I agreed to alter to blend with the new culture and what were the defining attributes I was not ready to change under any circumstances. I also learned a great deal about flexibility. I regard my adaptable character as one of my greatest assets to succeed in my career and private life. Finally, when you live far from your loved ones, there’s a lot of emotional cost so you will make sure that every day away from your family counts.
Is entrepreneurship in your family?
I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My ancestors and every single one of my family members has had their own company, which in France in quite rare.
But I don’t think that you can call me a natural born entrepreneur. Because I’ve seen, growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, the hardships and pain caused by entrepreneurships. Every one of my family, except my uncle, failed, and started again. I decided to play safe, to pursue education and to follow the corporate route. I’m too risk-averse to be an entrepreneur, but I’m too independent to be a corporate guy. That’s why “intrapreneurship” suits me very well, I can focus on creating value, backed by solid partners.
Did you eventually start a company?
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Of course! It runs in the family. I started Tucker and VoIPLCR in London.
Tucker’s business model remains to this day a good idea. The aim of the business was to conduct telecommunications audits focusing on contractual compliance, voice and data network optimization, and use of emerging technologies. We got compensated on a third of the first year net savings. We signed-up our first client before Tucker was even incorporated and soon we had signed-up over twelve clients saving them on average 43% of their cost of calls.
With VoIPLCR, we attempted to evolve the business model to Voice Over IP minutes trading, trading voice calls over the exchanges, which proved to be a very time consuming endeavor, and not generating enough profits to be economically viable. I don’t know if your readers know this but there is a stock-exchange for voice minutes, where millions of minutes are bought and sold everyday.
What happened then?
Entrepreneurship is a risky activity and I was ill prepared for it. I learned a lot from this venture, especially about the relevance of Murphy’s Law as a “predictive science.”
Had we started the company a year earlier, and not in one of the most expensive cities in the world, I reckon that we could have survived the six months it took on average to generate revenues out of clients.
The lessons I learned are to raise enough capital to face delays in shipping your product and reaching critical mass, then manage your cash-flow like a hawk. Most importantly, don’t do it alone. Surround yourself with the brightest and the most experienced [people] your money or your motivational skills can afford.
My wife and I decided to move to Australia, where I joined Accenture as an experienced hire. I had to adapt my style to the rigor of a consultancy but I was practicing in a field that I really liked. I moved to the Singapore office after two years in Sydney.
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After 3.5 years at a Singapore telecom Singtel, where I built a small team of passionate eBusiness practioners, I co-founded !nnoVentures, which is a joint venture between SingTel and a leading Japan’s internet company SoftBank. We look for companies that need help building large active mobile internet users in Southeast Asia. We will provide capital, expertise, our combined assets but stay respectfully distant enough to let the entrepreneurs innovate and the customers choose the winners.
I heard you love a certain beach here in Indonesia. Can you share a bit about that?
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The most meaningful place on earth for my wife and I is here in Indonesia. The Mana Mana beach in Bintan is only 45 minutes away from Singapore. I can count so many fond memories on this beach. I proposed to my wife during a sunset on this beach, we got married on this beach, we learned we were going to be parents on this beach and I learned I was going to become the CEO of InnoVentures, on the same beach.
We selected the name of our boy on this beach before he was born, and three weeks ago we went back to select a name for our daughter who was born on August 2nd.
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