Bootstrapping to $100 Million Using Services from The Netherlands: Pierre and Fred Guelen, Planon Software (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Now what? You’re in 2016. How big is the company revenue-wise and what do yo want to do with it? Do you want to go public? Do you want to go public in the US market?

Fred Guelen: We definitely first want to secure further growth for the next three to five years. We see great opportunity worldwide, especially in the American market. We believe that we can achieve a dominant leading position in the US market.

The Asian market is growing really fast right now. There are still huge markets out there to conquer and to enter. For example, Korea, China, and Japan. We are still enthusiastic and we love what we are doing. It would be a great outcome to have an IPO five years from now after becoming the clear world leader in this area.

Pierre Guelen: You should also see that because of the internationalization over the last few years, we are able to become partners to multinational companies like Nike and Unilever. We roll out solutions for them in different countries.

We have specialized teams all over the world. I think that’s our strength. 70% of multinationals don’t have yet a global system for this market. We see a huge opportunity to grow worldwide in this market. We like doing this. This is not anymore about the money. This is really about building a company that is dominant in the world in this sector. That is what we’re trying to do.

Sramana Mitra: What is the current revenue and growth rate?

Pierre Guelen: We do not publicize our revenue but Gartner estimates us at $100 million. Last year, we grew at about 20%.

Fred Guelen: That is the global growth that we have. In the US and Asia, we have growth figures of far over 100% per year.

Sramana Mitra: Which company is your chief competitor? When you’re trying to win deals, which company shows up the most?

Pierre Guelen: First of all, in every country, we have local competitors. In the Gartner Magic Quadrant, we are one of the Top 4. The other three are Manhattan, IBM, and Archiverse. We meet them everywhere in the world.

Sramana Mitra: Good luck. It sounds like you have a very interesting company going. I see no reason why you would not continue to be successful for the next five years. Hopefully, I will have chance to talk to you in a while. Thank you very much.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Bootstrapping to $100 Million Using Services from The Netherlands: Pierre and Fred Guelen, Planon Software
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