Technology doesn’t kill companies – people do. Hermann Hauser on the lessons of over 100 technology investments.
June 16, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood
Hermann Hauser is simply one of the most experienced and influential venture capitalists in Europe. He co-founded Amadeus Capital Partners in 1997 with Anne Glover and Peter Wynn. In his long career as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he has founded or co-founded companies in a wide range of technology sectors. These include Acorn Computers, Active Book Company, Virata, Net Products, NetChannel, and Cambridge Network Limited. He was a founder director of IQ (Bio), IXI Limited, Vocalis, SynGenix, Advanced Displays Limited, Electronic Share Information Limited and E*Trade UK.
We asked him to speak at last year’s BLN Growth Forum about the lessons that he has learned by investing in over 100 technology businesses making him, alongside Jon Moulton the most prolific technology investors in the UK.
This is the 20 minute video of his talk and he shares his thoughts on the secret to successful investing.
- The secret to what makes a successful investments is… it is random.
- The random component is by far the most important in any successful business but some things can increase your chances of success.
- Technology is almost NEVER the reason a company fails. In all of Hermann’s investments, only one business failed because the technology didn’t work.
- People and business models are the two most important factors in indicating whether a business will fail or fly.
- The ‘fifth wave’ of computing will be dominated by new and innovative business models that usually come from entrepreneurial businesses not the existing industry giants. Only IBM has dominated the market in more than one of the five waves of computing.
In this brilliant talk, Hermann explains, with some great case studies, the importance of people and business models to a successful technology business.
Please note, some browsers are having trouble viewing Blip.tv at the moment. If you get an error message, you can link direct HERE.
Please note, some browsers are having trouble viewing Blip.tv at the moment. If you get an error message, you can link direct HERE.
The second BLN Growth Forum takes place on 5th July in Cambridge.
Join 140 leaders of the UK’s fastest growing technology businesses, along with a who’ who of the investment community, will gather
