Shortly after I took over as Bisnode‘s new CEO, I was asked to meet Jeff Stibel from the USA…
Jeff, now a partner in the VC firm Bryant Stibel , is an entrepreneur who has founded many companies. He was once one of the youngest CEOs on the NASDAQ. He also has a strong academic background.
Since I am so interested in meeting smart people, I was naturally very positive about arranging such a meeting. I also realized early on, that many of the most innovative IT companies are located in the US, so I was keen to see how I could ensure that we at Bisnode were more closely linked to the expertise and intelligence that exists there.
I will never forget my first meeting with Jeff – I immediately felt a strong community of values and sympathy!
We discussed the market- and the credit information industry, we compared the conditions for running these businesses in the US with the situation in Europe and Nordics, we discussed and compared ideas on how to build winning businesses – and we quickly found that we agreed on most things.
I also described to Jeff the enormous complexity of Bisnode and how I was considering drastically simplifying our structure and offering by creating “one Bisnode”.
Jeff looked at me and said, “Let’s do it. You have to rip the plaster off! Boom!”
If you have read my previous story about Bisnode, you know that’s exactly what we did. We went from 276 brands to 1 in six months (Thanks Jeff for your support!).
That meeting with Jeff was the beginning of a long journey together with many interactions with him and his amazing team. We had many exciting thoughts about how to combine the best of American and European data collection. And from there to create smart products to help our customers make smarter decisions.
At the time, Jeff was CEO of his own company, Dun&Bradstreet Credibility Corp. which was later acquired by Dun & Bradstreet. A few years later, Dun & Bradstreet also acquired Bisnode, so you could say that our vision became reality …
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Below is a picture of Jeff Stibel of today. He had a little less beard when we played together …
“Lars, you have to rip the plaster off!”
