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00:00:00
00:00:01
“Vanity, definitely my favorite sin”
151 Plays1 year ago
“And remember, it’s not a judgement of your performance, it’s just we don’t need this position anymore.”
After selling the chain of clinics business twice, I got fired from day 1 to day 2 with the typical capitalist view, you put your things in a box and leave the premises in 2 hours type of thing. This put me in a very difficult position of trying to redefine myself as a business person, so I took a step back.
20 YEARS IN PERSPECTIVE:
5 years ago I joined one of my most recent investments, because I felt it has the potential to become something big. I raised about 120 mn in financing for our firm and it’s going well, fingers crossed.
You need a very tall building or a very slow elevator for this [elevator pitch]
I went into pharma, initially in Austria and then Switzerland. And Switzerland was so boring, I needed to go back home.
Joined a chain of clinics in Romania, sold the business to PE twice, made a little bit of money from ESOP. So this turned out very well and I had a little bit of money. So I decided why invest it prudently in real estate and stuff, when I can invest it similarly in small companies that will grow big.
I have the same 2 kids and the same wife I had at INSEAD, so that’s quite a success.
Nowadays I am teaching strategy, entrepreneurial growth to MBA students, I am teaching a fintech course as well.
On topic: Fintech, start-ups, fund raising, entrepreneurial endeavours
B2C, crypto, blockchain which are not in very good shape, and then the more traditional SaaS, B2B – the only thing that has changed is the multiple you get in the valuation. It just takes a little bit of time to adjust to the current reality.
Everything is pending on the bigger markets resuming tech IPOs for fast growing, loss making companies.
The base scenario is that we will be able to converge to breakeven with the money that we have and we would do it by the end of 2024. We’ve moved from 80% growth with significant loss, to 50% growth with very clear convergence to B/E.
We need to grow 5 to 10x more to even be considered for an IPO.
I don’t think it’s difficult frankly [being an entrepreneur] – it is so much fun.
The younger students and graduates are much smarter than we were and I think they’ve realised that our prudent way of joining a company is just a path to some sort of plateau, that is kind of convenient, but is just that.
My advise to everyone is not to get trapped in some sort of cosy job that pays the money and gives you no more thrills. We could build things that are meaningful. And every time I failed, it proved to be a kick in the butt that makes you leap forward. So don’t worry that much about the potential failures in the process, it is more about enjoying the opportunity to build something that is going to impact people in some way.
Our security net is pretty high and is given by what we know and how the CV looks like, and how employable you are if eventually the sh*t hits the fan. And you can aways jump in a secure job, maybe slightly less attractive that the one you would optimise for if that was your target.
All THINGS INSEAD AND GIVING BACK
INSEAD – kind of detached me from the imposter syndrome.
INSEAD brainwashed me in a very efficient manner, a person [me] came out that was willing to do things that are new and different and trusting himself a lot more.
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Transcript
Introduction to Republic of INSEAD Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
This is Republic of Insead, the 20 years later O3D podcast edition. I am Milena Ivanova and will be your host in this limited series. So, here we are, 20 years later, hopefully all the wiser, naturally smarter and as charming as ever. There were 432 of us in the O3D vintage.
00:00:25
Speaker
And certainly there are 432 unique and very interesting personal and professional stories to tell. While I cannot physically cover all, I have tried to make a selection of stories that will keep you interested and curious and will hopefully convince you to join us on campus for reunion. Welcome to the Republic of Insead Podcast Edition and enjoy the show.
Introducing the Guest: A Journey from Romania
00:00:51
Speaker
Imagine that, once upon a time, being a computer engineer didn't trade that highly, and my guest today, a computer science engineer by education, started his career in the commodities trade and steel industry. Post in Seattle, life initially took him into the field of healthcare, but today, ladies and gentlemen,
00:01:12
Speaker
He is a full-blown entrepreneur in the tech field, an investor and a part-time professor too. So, the Master of Science degree did come in handy eventually. Before I let him tell it all, let me quote from the 20-year-old entry on him in the Republic of Inciado 3D yearbook. A blue-eyed Romanian forged in the fires of steel trading, he taught us the virtue of not judging by the appearance.
00:01:42
Speaker
Apparently calm and reserved to the point of emphatically saying no when he meant yes and vice versa, he became the heart and soul of our group, masterfully organizing Romanian dinners and challenging us in Twika drinking contests. Among his multiple talents, we remember his swing dancing ability while chasing after his kids.
Leadership and Generosity at INSEAD
00:02:06
Speaker
is the ultimate family man able to solve ACF cases while running after his son Theo. He was always there to help whenever there was a need. We will always be grateful for his generosity with his car, apartment, and even clothes for those in need. But most of all, he is a sincere friend who made us understand how to balance work, family, and parties. End of quotation. So welcome, welcome.
00:02:35
Speaker
Thank you for your time. And first off the bat, you're still organizing Suika drinking contests? Well, it's the first time I hear this in like 20 years. So I barely recognize myself, but I do recognize myself in many of these things. I still organize parties, not that much. There is always some Suika around, but unfortunately, we don't drink it that much. There's other options available, I would say.
00:03:03
Speaker
champagne, wine. All right. And I used to do any good at balancing work, family and parties or? I'm not sure that I've ever been good at it. I've been trying to get them all as much as I could. And you know, you must have parties, otherwise life is boring. You have a family. That's it. I mean, you're responsible to it. And yeah, I think it doesn't kind of work without work.
00:03:34
Speaker
Yeah. All right. So I will let you tell the story from here. The last 20 years of your life in a nutshell, how would you tell us all and keep it? You are very good with pitches. So the elevator pitch of your life, five minutes max. I turn on the timer. So the floor
Career Shift: Healthcare to Tech Entrepreneurship
00:03:59
Speaker
is yours. That's cool. Because it's, you know,
00:04:02
Speaker
You need a very tall building or a very, very slow elevator for this. Okay, let's try it. I've been a computer engineer, actually, at the very beginning, and then I switched to trading prior to use ads because it just paid better. And then I gave up on that because that's what I did. I use ads to change everything. So I went into pharma and did project management in international expansion.
00:04:27
Speaker
for a big pharma firm, initially from Austria, then from Switzerland. And I got so bored in Switzerland that I thought I needed to get back home in Romania to help, you know, grow the economy and do something a bit more meaningful. And I switched from pharma to healthcare, joined
00:04:48
Speaker
an emerging entrepreneurial firm that eventually with me as number two, number one being the founder, we managed to grow it into the largest chain of private clinics in Romania, sold it to private equity twice, made a bit of money out of the ESOP.
00:05:03
Speaker
uh which i learned from i learned about in exact so uh because i i had to do a one pager with my boss just to bridge between the gap between my salary expectations and his salary expectations for me so okay this turned out very well after the company was sold um and um you know i had a little bit of money and i decided hey why invested it prudently in like real estate and stuff when i can invest it
00:05:29
Speaker
similarly into you know small equity in small companies that would grow big and eventually would turn out as you know the next I don't know the next the next market leader in some in some thing and I was I was counting then that there are about
00:05:47
Speaker
seven firms that I joined and where I had something that looked like an exit and this is out of a portfolio of nine firms so I think it's quite good in terms of ratios. About five years ago
00:06:01
Speaker
I joined one of my most recent investments in a full-time capacity because I felt that has the potential to become really big.
Building FinTechOS: Growth and Success
00:06:11
Speaker
And that is called FinTechOS. It's a technology firm. It's software for the financial sector, obviously FinTechOS. And well, it grows. I raised about $120 million in financing for
00:06:26
Speaker
our firm, my co-founder and my firm, in the last five years and it's going well. Fingers crossed considering the VC market and the VC industry nowadays.
00:06:42
Speaker
What did you say? And personally, the kids are obviously, if you are running after them, I think I had, I have the same two kids in the same life that I had when I, when I was, it's sad. So that's, that's quite a success, except that the kids are obviously adults in the meantime. So, uh, you know, uh, one is in the Netherlands, uh, studying engineering. The other one is in UK studying graphic design. There you go. I remember seeing one of them on the beach in Bulgaria. And at the time.
00:07:12
Speaker
It was purple hair and all sorts of the teenage stage, but they graduated from
Overcoming Challenges: Being Fired and Moving Forward
00:07:21
Speaker
it now.
00:07:22
Speaker
Great. All right. So fundraising and business as an entrepreneur, what would you say have been the biggest challenges actually for you in these 20 years or the last 10 years, whichever period you want to choose? Frankly, the worst challenge that I had or actually the biggest challenge that I had is that I, you know, I told you I joined this
00:07:50
Speaker
chain of clinics and I joined it passionately and I identified it with it and never since coming back to Romania my identity has been stuck to it and after selling the company twice I got fired. I got fired without notice from day one to day two and with a very you know like typical capitalist view you put your things in a box and you leave the premises in two hours.
00:08:13
Speaker
which was their fear rather than me being a threat of any kind. And it was something that we wouldn't have done in the past except if we caught people stealing or something like that, something horrible. And it was definitely not my case. So this kind of put me in a very, very difficult position of trying to redefine myself as a business person. What's my business? Where do I come from? What's on my business card? Remember, there were business cards in the past.
00:08:43
Speaker
So.
00:08:45
Speaker
All that thing was actually challenging. So I kind of took a step back, took a deep breath, took a bit of self irony and said, hey, Seb June, now what do we do? Well, let's see if you're good at anything. Try to do that. And that's how I started to, you know, mentor and help young entrepreneurs grow their businesses and put a bit of money where my mouth were and try to make something out of it.
00:09:16
Speaker
What type of fund was it that fired you? Sorry, I'm second the investor who that fired you. What type of fund was it?
Teaching and Mentorship: Sharing Knowledge
00:09:25
Speaker
I'm just curious It was it was a pretty large well-known private equity fund. Okay European and they hired they hired someone that was basically coming from from elsewhere who stayed basically only for about six months to restructure but the thing is
00:09:43
Speaker
They really, really wanted to get rid of the previous owner, my boss, and I was loyal to him. So the only way for them to really take over the firm and take over from the management point of view was to get rid of us to fire me and to put him in a non-exact position.
00:10:09
Speaker
I remember it's not a judgment upon your performance. It's we don't need this position anymore. There you go. There are a million ways to
00:10:21
Speaker
tell someone why they're fired. But when it graduates to you getting further up in your development, your personal development, then it's precious, right? Priceless. So teaching. So that's what you said you started teaching. What do you teach and your mentoring coaching teaching what what's there?
00:10:44
Speaker
Look, I think it was at the time when I was still in healthcare in Switzerland. And I think we had visitors from an executive MBA in the States doing company visits.
00:11:01
Speaker
And my boss was not at all into teaching and stuff like that. So delegated me, you go there and see, you know, you are an MBA, see these MBA students, tell them something. I taught them something about I think the cultural differences in Europe, in Eastern Europe, actually.
00:11:16
Speaker
And I enjoyed it so much. And I started to make presentations and speeches and so on. And when I came back to Romania, I realized that people are asking me to come and join in conferences and give speeches. And I was trying to share all my knowledge as fast as I could. And after a while, a local MBA school, actually, a global MBA school, having a local franchise, has approached me to, why don't you
00:11:43
Speaker
come on our advisory board and later on, why don't you teach something and why don't you? And I ended up teaching strategy. And nowadays I'm teaching strategy. I'm teaching entrepreneurial growth, typically to MBA students. And I'm also teaching, hey, but this is because of my current specialty. I'm teaching a FinTech course to a broader audience from many countries and doing it
00:12:11
Speaker
again next month in the Netherlands.
Insights into the FinTech Industry
00:12:15
Speaker
So that's a nice actually transition to the main part of the conversation where I want to talk about startups, venture funding, FinTech. So let's start with FinTech briefly. What do you teach your students? Where is FinTech now? It was very hot. I used to sit on the board of a fund which invests in FinTech in emerging markets. So I have an idea, although the last couple of years, I haven't followed this closely. We know the tech industry is in a
00:12:53
Speaker
Look, I think there are quite different flavors of FinTech. And of course you have the B2C and you have the crypto and to some extent the blockchain that are not in very good shape because they lost a lot of glamour and they lost a lot of attraction. And then you have the very traditional, I wouldn't say very traditional, the more traditional SaaS, B2B,
00:13:10
Speaker
cyclical downturn should I put it but
00:13:20
Speaker
where you're selling something to some people that are paying money for it. And the only thing that has changed is perhaps the multiple of revenue that you get as valuation and obviously as a consequence as an investment. And I think this part of the business is just going to be business as usual. It just takes a bit of time to readjust to the current market reality. However,
00:13:47
Speaker
Everything is pending like everything else in the venture capital finance world. Everything is pending on you know, the bigger markets Resuming tech IPOs for fast-growing loss making companies, which we haven't seen yet Fast-growing loss making I love this loss making the companies All
Raising Capital: Navigating the VC Landscape
00:14:09
Speaker
right. So you raised 120 million over what period?
00:14:14
Speaker
It's been five years. And how, can you walk us through the journey? I remember us, again, it was at the beach, talking about it in the very beginning, and you were thinking where to go and who to talk to. So how has this evolved to get to 120, which is a serious number, right?
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah, you start actually talking to the people that you know from the industry. And you realize that, you know, the people that you know and the people that, you know, and obviously I use my INSEAD network to reach out to the, our, you know, indirect colleagues that were working in venture capital firms in London. And, you know, I had a number of questions and meetings and it was around, can you give me some advice? Because I was not in a position to ask for money at the very beginning.
00:15:05
Speaker
And, you know, I've put my money first about 100 K and then there was there were a number of.
00:15:16
Speaker
let's say small VCs in the making back in Romania and I was talking to them but they weren't structured yet, they hadn't started yet and their timeline was moving and my timeline was moving so finally I managed to get one of them to create their fund and that was like the first investment a week after or something like that and then you know we were still trying to get to position ourselves for Series A in London
00:15:40
Speaker
And I think after about three meetings or something, I heard again and again the name, but why don't you go back to your country, to Bulgaria, and raise some money from a local VC that is a very good launch hub. And I started, OK, look, that must be serious. So then I talked to the guy, went to Seoul, and got an extra seed.
00:16:08
Speaker
from LaunchUp, which seemed to have been a very good idea because they helped us a great deal. And then later on, it was, again, through connections that we kept in touch with some people that we were pitching from the very beginning, basically to get advice. And when we got in a position to ask for Series A, someone preempted the round before we were ready.
00:16:32
Speaker
And then we went with that offer and got a better deal, did not get a better deal, but we got a broader deal by including someone that was a much more visible fund. So we got with Series A, we got OTP and we got Early Bird, and Early Bird having had a certain, let's say,
00:16:55
Speaker
reputation in the market allowed us to go fast and look for a series B that came quite soon. It was led by Mould and Draper Esprit at the time with some people that really know FinTech market and really know financial services market.
00:17:11
Speaker
And we've been with them since then, and everybody from all the investment rounds have continued to invest in us throughout it, including the most recent time when obviously it's not the best time to raise a round, but you do go well with some convertible loan that is taken from the existing investors, pending either the market revival or why not break even.
00:17:40
Speaker
So you have money in the bank now for how long? Yes. Thank you very much.
00:17:48
Speaker
All right. We do have money. The base scenario is that we would be able to converge to break even with the amount of money that we have and we would do it by the end of 2024. It's not the ideal scenario. I must say it's not the ideal scenario. We can grow a lot better and we can have a more balanced growth if we manage to delay this a bit and use some extra funding.
00:18:15
Speaker
And where's your business actually in terms of actual client base? Well, we have about 45 clients, the majority of them being banks, most of them in Europe.
00:18:30
Speaker
In Europe, our largest markets in terms of dynamics now are UK and France. And we have started US with an office last year and we got our first six American logos.
00:18:46
Speaker
And it's, it's growing, you know, if I want to give just some random names, Societe Generale is probably one of our largest clients right now. Admiral in insurance in the UK, Royal Bank of Canada, and I can, you know, throw names if needed. And in an ideal world, your end game is IPO or?
00:19:08
Speaker
Strategic sale in an ideal world. Yes. But you know, the world is not ideal. So yeah, technically, of course, an IPO is something that I think every technology startup or dreams of.
00:19:26
Speaker
It's pretty far in the future. I mean, we need to grow five to 10 times more in order to even consider or be considered for that. And it's something in the making. But hey, you always get the scenario where someone that is a more traditional player in the industry might preempt you going that route with a takeover, especially if the financing market becomes less attractive.
00:19:54
Speaker
How many people are working? We're about 300 now and not growing anymore in terms of the size of the team still growing in terms of revenue and clients and so on. We've moved from a sort of 80% growth with a significant loss into a sort of 50% growth with
00:20:23
Speaker
very clear convergence to break even. So what do you say is the most difficult aspect of being an entrepreneur?
The Entrepreneurial Journey: Highs and Lows
00:20:36
Speaker
difficult. I don't think it's difficult, frankly. I think it's so fun that everything that you can look at as being difficult is also just different from being a corporate employee. So probably, I think, to some extent, if you're
00:20:57
Speaker
very young is the uncertainty of your revenues, I think. If you're still indebted and you still have no assets that you own and stuff, it's probably the most difficult thing is the uncertainty of your future revenues. But as you grow older and you have some assets for the God forbid case where you absolutely need to sell them,
00:21:22
Speaker
Okay, then I think this thing of the uncertainty of revenues is just a feature of the job. It's not something that is stressful. I think the stressful part for an entrepreneur is business as usual. Where do I find my next client? Where do I find my next investor? Where do I find my next shining stars within the team? And I think that's pretty much it.
00:21:51
Speaker
Yeah, and the most rewarding part of being an entrepreneur
00:21:58
Speaker
I found the most rewarding part to the feeling of accomplishment. It's also dull, sorry. You kind of get together, you see some tens, hundreds of people, and it's also because of you that you got there. And people ask you like this one to talk about yourself.
00:22:26
Speaker
It's a bit embarrassing, but it feels, you know, it comes with a certain level of accomplishment that you feel. And it's, you know, there was this famous line in a movie, vanity, definitely my favorite sin. So yeah, I suppose it's a sort of vanity that it feeds into. All right. So,
00:22:58
Speaker
What advice you may have for students? You said the income side or the revenue side is stressful, but for students, because at INSEAD, in fact, you know, when we're at INSEAD, they gave us the statistics that 20 years after INSEAD, some huge percentage of us are going to be entrepreneurs. And I was like, bullshit, I don't buy this.
00:23:18
Speaker
And actually, looking at our class and looking at the profiles, so many people have graduated to entrepreneurial paths, which I absolutely did not buy into and did not believe is going to happen. So what would be your advice to current students and to recent alumni about choosing entrepreneurship as a path in life?
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
00:23:43
Speaker
I think the younger students and graduates are much smarter than we were. And I think they've realized that
00:23:56
Speaker
our prudent way of doing things by joining a corporate, getting a salary, getting a higher bonus, and the higher bonus, and the higher salary, and the higher bonus, and the higher salary is just a path for some sort of plateau that is kind of convenient, but is just that. It becomes the same thing again and again after a while. So I think I have my advice, I think, to everyone, and it's not
00:24:25
Speaker
only the youngsters. I think it's even, you know, or even more so people that are approaching our
00:24:35
Speaker
a level of experience, is not to get trapped in some sort of cozy job that pays the money and gives you no thrills anymore. Because with the things that we know, with things that we have learned, with people that we have met and so on, we can build things that are meaningful. And if sometimes we fail,
00:25:01
Speaker
every time that when I failed, it kind of proved to be the kind of kick in the butt that makes you leap forward. So don't worry that much about the potential failures in the process. I think it's more about enjoy the opportunity to build something that is, hey, it's going to impact people in some way.
00:25:29
Speaker
Well, that's fine, but I can challenge you back because you did say you did build up some assets before you went crazy and say, okay, I'm going to start risking it as opposed to playing it safe. So when students come out of university or MBA, the debts, I mean, and some or many want to start families. So, and then there's the psychology, not everyone is a risk taker. So, I mean,
00:25:57
Speaker
I can push back here. I hear you and definitely when you have a large debt that has been originated by having to pay for your MBA tuition and if you have at the same time the responsibilities to start a family, your risk appetite in terms of making more or nothing in terms of revenue is
00:26:25
Speaker
crunching. But even in that circumstance, I think we have to be aware that, especially in this world, because the world has changed in the last few years, but especially in this world, our, let's say, security net is pretty high and is given by what we know and what the CV looks like and how employable you are should
00:26:54
Speaker
ship hit the fan. And eventually, yes, the ship does hit the fan. But then you can always jump in a secure job, maybe slightly less attractive than the one that you would optimize for if this was your main target. But
00:27:13
Speaker
It's such a difference between trying to create something new and something that hasn't been built before and trying to orchestrate the, let's say, the energies, things that everybody around you can contribute to and just doing a job.
00:27:34
Speaker
that my advice is do go for something that is entrepreneurial. Sometimes, and I've been there, sometimes you can have a very entrepreneurial job working for others. I'd call it entrepreneur as a service.
00:27:54
Speaker
You don't own it. It doesn't pay you the money all full. It just pays you in installments or something like that. You get a tiny portion of participation as an ESOP or something in a bigger firm. But it is entrepreneurship because you have the freedom to build stuff. You have the freedom to create, you have the freedom to invest budgets and to raise money against those budgets. So it is entrepreneurial. Take it as a training.
00:28:20
Speaker
All right, and INSEAD in that picture, what do you think you, what did you take away from INSEAD that has helped you in being an entrepreneur, that has helped you in raising money, etc., etc.
00:28:36
Speaker
Look, I think it it kind of detached me from the imposter syndrome that you have when you start managing Businesses and people look at you as you should have the answers and you obviously know deep in yours it deep inside you that you have absolutely no answers and therefore everything is kind of made up and the beauty within said is that It allowed me not
00:29:01
Speaker
perhaps not to completely clear off that imposter syndrome, but to kind of make me aware that I'm probably, upon graduating, one of the best imposters in the world.
00:29:16
Speaker
So, you know, getting that imposter syndrome to be, you know, that at the very best. So you can actually, we've done those business cases with all the big companies, you know, playing the role of the big shots, making huge decisions. So every other thing that we come across in the normal world is just another business case, obviously simpler.
00:29:38
Speaker
And I think with that thing, I used to say that Insiad brainwashed me in a very efficient manner and took a Sergio in and got a Sergio out that was quite different.
00:29:56
Speaker
a bit more willing to do things that are new and different and trusting himself a lot more about what he would touch and turn and transform as a business person. Turn into gold. And in a funny way, he did also do it without necessarily inflicting arrogance only.
00:30:22
Speaker
It added a certain human kindness and care for the others. And I'm very grateful for that.
00:30:34
Speaker
That's an INSEAD special, no? I remember the Dean at the time, however, we need telling us on day one, you're here to learn to be humble, which is not the message you typically get at the top MBA program. And I never forgot it because then I experienced a few times the opposite from students from other schools. I was like, aha, remember what they told us on day one. So yeah.
00:31:01
Speaker
And since we are talking INSEAD, let's talk giving back. And I have this fun story with you. I'm very proud. You're one of my big conversions. So right after INSEAD, you and I both ended up in Vienna.
00:31:18
Speaker
And from time to time we would meet and have the famous Viennese coffee.
From Skeptic to Supporter: Giving Back to INSEAD
00:31:23
Speaker
And I remember once we were strolling, literally, I remember it, I visualized it. We were near the opera and I was telling you, Sergio, it must have been one year after and I was raising money. And I'm like, Sergio,
00:31:37
Speaker
how about you give 100 euro and you're like I'll never give money to insert because blah blah blah and I don't remember what the blah blah blah was but I remember that and I said okay I'm not you are so firm woman that I will not
00:31:51
Speaker
poach him in the future because he clearly doesn't. That's not a cause for you. And then a few years later, you act a few, maybe it was a decade later, you actually wrote to me and you said, actually, I've changed my mind. And here is a check for some small amount. And then later, during COVID, actually,
00:32:12
Speaker
I got copied on an email from you and I really, really want to quote it because I was so desperate. It was COVID. We were in lockdown. We were all going through our God knows what in our heads. And then I get copied on this email. And it said, please be informed. I have transferred 8,000 euro today marked as donation for MBA or 3D scholarship. Please confirm, receive and write allocation.
00:32:38
Speaker
at this point i wasn't even chasing you for a gift of course i was harassing everyone every year all the time but and um you know that was in the midst of the lockdown and it was a very hard time people were scared for their lives for their jobs for their life for everything and there was this
00:33:01
Speaker
white storm coming from you. So tell me, what changed your mind over the years? Obviously, it was a gradual process. I'm cutting the story very short. And why have you decided to be a big INSEAD supporter? You are a brown cell mander, so it means you've given more than 15,000 euros so far. What's your thinking? How did you go from our
00:33:28
Speaker
windy Viennese troll to this. When I graduated from INSEAD, I was looking in a different way at how people contribute. And I thought one important thing of the INSEAD community was to get mature business people that are able to understand funding, to understand money, and to understand how it works.
00:33:51
Speaker
And for that, I thought, especially after being an interviewer for his ad and, you know, maybe just visiting some candidates, I thought that there is a chance that
00:34:02
Speaker
if we give too much money in terms of scholarships, some people that should not get into INSEAD would get into INSEAD. Some people that are not focused on building businesses and so on. But in time, my view has changed. And perhaps it's because I drink better coffee now. But in time, I'm looking at lots of people that have the talent
00:34:28
Speaker
and have the motivation to change the world, perhaps in different ways than through money. Think of NGOs, think of conscious businesses, think of all the, you know, force for good thing that, you know, SEAT stands for. And I realized many of these people would basically go elsewhere or would not do an MBA unless they got a scholarship. So with that thinking in mind, I also started to consider
00:34:53
Speaker
and also consider this investing in a community. So the first part is if you want to do a good thing. But then is the practical thing. I realized I started to make more money in my career by having exits, whether it's ESOP, whether it's transactions, and so on. And I think the inception of that for me was inset. And it was the one pager that ESOP
00:35:21
Speaker
deal that I made with the owner of that healthcare chain that actually brought me the first money. And when I realized this is going to happen, I pledged in my mind a small percentage of the capital gains that I would get to Inciada. And that's why, you know, when the small capital gain happens, you get a small donation that ends up with
00:35:47
Speaker
ends up with INSEAD. It's not part of salary, A, but it is part of the, let's call it extraordinary revenue that wouldn't have been there or perhaps would have been there much later or in a different shape. But I tend to allocate part of the responsibility for that to INSEAD and INSEAD people. I love this story.
00:36:09
Speaker
And you did remind me now, I remember your argumentation back then. Back then, I had blocked it out. So, good. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, like everything that doesn't quite make sense. You can kind of, yeah, it doesn't make any sense. You forget it. Right.
00:36:23
Speaker
So yes, well, but it does go back to your profile in the yearbook where your teammates say you were generous. And I must note here last year when I was hosting a Ukrainian family, you did take them for one night as they were coming to get Canadian visas. So in fact, this INSEAD community and this INSEAD generosity manifests itself on so many levels. So it works wonders. Thank you.
00:36:50
Speaker
for everything there.
Quickfire Reflections: Achievements and Success
00:36:52
Speaker
Now the last section is a quick round of questions. So a bit of ping pong, tennis, whatever sport you prefer, squash. I'll ask questions and hopefully you can quickly get me the answers. Your proudest achievement. Hmm. It's been for a long time graduating in Seattle. Now my proudest achievement is a series of entrepreneurs that I helped get to their proudest achievements.
00:37:20
Speaker
All right. Success for you is? Oh, success is turning the world into something better. I think we're all destined to take the civilization forward. So taking the civilization forward, doing my part in taking the civilization forward. So working on it, Dana. Obviously. Happiness is? Didn't get quite there yet. Happiness is?
00:37:49
Speaker
Happiness is good time with friends with a glass of wine or water and sunshine or rain or it doesn't matter but it's time with people that we care about. Biggest regret? Not having done some things that I've done a lot earlier like starting entrepreneurship. What keeps you awake at night?
00:38:09
Speaker
Unfortunately, like for many other people, when I keep being awake at night, it's for mundane day-to-day businesses because you wake up at 3am and you have that awkward thought about the business and it doesn't let you sleep. What keeps me awake in the day is perhaps
00:38:32
Speaker
a better thing to argue about because what keeps me awake in the day, that's perhaps more about what we can do different and how we can make the business that we do less dull and more fun and get more people to participate enthusiastically in it. Wish you had known or someone had told you? Once again, sorry?
Career Reflections and Future Plans
00:38:56
Speaker
Wish you had known or that someone had told you? What do you wish you had known?
00:39:03
Speaker
earlier sooner. I wish, frankly, I wish I would have learned some finance prior to INSEAD. It's so non-aspirational, but it's really the thing. And to understand that finance is about life and not just about money. If you had to do it all over again, what would you change? I'd probably have
00:39:32
Speaker
gone for undergrad in finance, I'd probably have left Romania earlier and returned to Romania earlier. Retirement ever or never? Never. I can't imagine myself retiring and doing nothing on a beach.
00:39:59
Speaker
If you had to pick one book that everyone should read, what's your pick?
00:40:06
Speaker
It's very complicated with the books, because I keep having 10 books that I really care about, and it's even worse. It's like 10 business books and 10 science fiction books. And it depends on the timing and so on. But I'd say that my favorite author, and I can't really pinpoint a book in the area of
00:40:31
Speaker
business is Clayton Christensen. So I've tried this innovation, disruptive innovation in all businesses in different ways and it kind of works. And it's kind of reasonably easy to make it happen if you get to read it. And then there are some things about life
00:40:53
Speaker
And our destiny and stuff like that, where I think a serious science fiction book can help. And all serious science fiction books are very serious science fiction books. So anything in the, and I'm not quoting you nor the foundation or stuff like that. There's a Van Vogt guy and the world of null A, that's probably a book worth reading. Okay.
00:41:24
Speaker
Most admired public person. I tend not to have the most admired public person. I tend to look at people at different features of different people that I admired at different moments in time. If I were to get one person that I really think is impressive and public and huge and so on, probably that would be Bill Gates.
00:41:53
Speaker
And most despised public person? Milena, we are Eastern Europeans and something is happening nearby. So I can't think, can anyone today answer anything else in our region other than Putin? There you go. Last one. Are you coming to Reunion? Coming.
00:42:15
Speaker
Coming. Definitely. All right. Well, October 6th, 2023, Fontainebleau. There is a gala dinner at the Chateau on the Saturday, and we are working on all things in the background. So that's it, ladies and gentlemen. And this was a conversation with Sergio Negut, co-founder, CEO of FinTechOS, serial entrepreneur, a teacher, and so much more. Thank you for your generosity, Sergio. And see you in Fonti very soon.
00:42:44
Speaker
Well, maybe see you at the beach in the summer before that. Very good chances that we would see each other again before the reunion. Very good. Thank you. See you at the reunion. Thank you. You were listening to the Republic of India 20 years later, O3D podcast edition. It is my hope to remind everyone what an interesting and dare I say colorful bunch of people we are and how much we can contribute to each other, be it through ideas, knowledge or mere inspiration.
00:43:14
Speaker
The podcast is inspired by the original Republic of India, the yearbook produced on paper 20 years ago by Oliver Bradley and team. Thank you all and team for this contribution to our classes memory and for letting me continue in the tradition, title and inspiration included. Creator and author of the Republic of India, 20 years later, all three deep podcast edition. Am I Milena Ivanova, original music by Peter Dondakov with help from their films productions.
00:43:43
Speaker
Stay tuned for more and remember to book your tickets for the 20-year reunion in Fontainebleau October 6th, 8th, 2023. Thank you for listening.