As I mentioned in my previous post, I was entrusted to be part of the team that would embark on a growth journey with the company Infotheek. The new owners at the beginning of the journey were the company’s CEO Jordy Kool and the capital-rich and acquisition-savvy partner, Altor.
One of the first measures that the owners took was to strengthen the board of directors by inviting people with strong expertise from various important perspectives. The new board came to consist of:
- CEO Jordy Kool. Strong entrepreneur with deep business insights
- Two people from the Altor team under the leadership of partner Stefan Linder
- Eric Cador. A legend in the PC industry with experience from top positions in both HP and Lenovo
- Quintin Schevernelse, a specialist in the field of innovation and growth
- Myself – at that time 25 years of experience in the system integration and reseller business in the Nordics, being part of ATEA for many years
This meant that the owners had created interesting conditions for a new and ambitious chapter for themselves and their company. Now the company had a large portion of capital ready to be used for offensive measures, an ambitious and knowledgeable CEO who knew the industry and then a board of experienced people ready to support.
I would like us to pause for a moment and reflect on what fantastic conditions are created when all these ingredients are in place.
It creates such opportunities to act with all the leadership tools when the financial capacity is in place. It is a great advantage to be able to make active and ambitious decisions and to know that you have the people and the resources to implement them.
At this time I was CEO of the security company Nexus. A company with many talented people and high quality products. But we had a weak financial position and we were constantly struggling with poor liquidity. Switching between these two assignments was developing but sometimes also painful. Being able to use all the tools in the manager’s toolbox, as we could do with Infotheek and make offensive acquisitions one day. And the other day to come back to Sweden, to have a long experience of acquisitions and consolidations, to see great opportunities for consolidation and investment for Nexus, but then not to have the financial muscle to make it happen.
I therefore feel great sympathy for all struggling leaders who are in companies that are underfunded.
In my current everyday life, I meet many fine companies that cannot reach their full potential due to too few financial resources. It is sad, but a reality for many leaders today.
(Picture showing Jordy Kool and Stefan Linder)