#Interview – Philippe Gluntz on his experience as an investor at Seed4soft
Could you tell me a few words about your current job?
At the moment I am a business angel in around thirty companies. I am also a member and board director of several business angel associations: Paris Business Angels, which I founded and chaired 12 years ago, as well as France Angels, and Business Angels Europe, of which I am the current president. As for my professional background, I was COO of the Alcatel group for 6 years, Group VP International at Cap Gemini for 4 years, and I founded GSI, a company in payroll and HR digitalisation that I sold to the world leader ADP, where I then became president for Europe for 7 years.
What were the key lessons learnt over your professional life?
I have always taken a very participative approach to management within very small, very close-knit teams. Training and learning are fundamental to a team's success, which is why you have to keep training your teams and take an interest in new management methods. Stability and involvement within a team are essential and, above all, profitable, because turnover is expensive. The same logic applies to customers, incidentally: a well-developed customer service that meets their expectations and a first-rate sales team are very strong points of differentiation, and ones startups often neglect despite the high cost of acquiring customers.
What do you make of the current environment for software startups in France?
My impression is that competition is getting tougher and tougher and that differentiation is becoming harder and harder. Good ideas are becoming conventional and very few are disruptive. I often regret that startups do not analyse the competition enough. At the same time there is a glut of resources, funding and programmes, and startups no longer know which way to turn. You have to be careful not to lose too much time in this ecosystem and stay focused on your business.
What are the two or three critical success factors in software?
I think one of the keys to success is first knowing your market and your competition well. That is a point startups would do well to go deeper into. Then it is the angle of attack and the execution of the idea that count. Finally you have to master the technology, of course, by surrounding yourself with the right technical people, while bearing in mind that the first problem for a software startup is not technique but innovation.
As a mentor, how and on what subjects can you help a young startup?
I mostly bring startups my management expertise; I act as a mirror for them ahead of any strategic decision. In practical terms, I am there to react before a decision is taken, so as to help them in their choices. I advise them in particular on recruiting key people, on the strategic pivots they need, and on partnership, acquisition, disposal and merger strategies.
https://www.maddyness.com/entrepreneurs/2017/09/25/interview-philippe-gluntz-investisseur-seed4soft/