Building A Software Company From Toulouse, France: Jacques Soumeillan, CEO Of Cameleon Software (Part 3)

Sramana: What were you charging initially for your per-seat user license?

Jacques Soumeillan: It was around €2,000 per user. We were able to develop a strong business on that model. We started some international enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors outside of France primarily because of that success. Our international work started in Montreal and Chicago. Our business went as far as Australia and New Zealand.

Sramana: Were you completely self-financed?

Jacques Soumeillan: We took limited VC funding in the very beginning. We did go public with less than €1 million in funding. We did not go public until the end of the 1990s. We funded the growth and development of the company from profits only.

Sramana: What were the terms of the early VC deal?

Jacques Soumeillan: We took on a limited number of funds for 20% of the company. At that time our valuation was very high, but we took only a limited number of funds. The company did not have a customer at that point and really was not validated.

Sramana: In the 1990s when you were focusing on Europe, were you selling directly or did you sell through channel partners?

Jacques Soumeillan: The technology was very new, even for manufacturers. It was very difficult to do it through resellers or partners. We were the only people who were capable of doing those sales.

Sramana: What was the revenue growth rate like during that time?

Jacques Soumeillan: We did €1 million our first year and had grown to €10 million by the end of the 1990s.

Sramana: Is that when you started forging international partnerships?

Jacques Soumeillan: We started working international partnerships in 1998. We started with customers like Schlumberger in Europe and we met other groups through them. The first project we did was in Australia.

Sramana: How was the deal structured? Did you OEM your software into their products?

Jacques Soumeillan: We were selling ERPs for the SMB market. In this market, we face the issue of a product that has several buyer options. The first project in Australia is Sybil which was manufacturing equipment for Olympic stadiums. We started just before the Olympics to enable manufacturers to get all the chairs in the right configurations for the Olympics. We were pointed to that deal through our partnership with Trinity, which we met through Schlmberger. Trinity was the first North American partner we had.

Sramana: How much business did Trinity develop for you?

Jacques Soumeillan: The deal was not a very big deal in terms of dollar figures. It was around €100,000 in licenses and something comparable for services. It was not a huge deal, but it was the right deal because it was very important for our reputation. We quickly had dozens of shared customers with Trinity worldwide.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Building A Software Company From Toulouse, France: Jacques Soumeillan, CEO Of Cameleon Software
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