Building a Global Enterprise Software Company from Belgium: Felix Van de Maele, CEO of Collibra (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: Where are you now revenue-wise?

Felix Van de Maele: We’re getting close to $20 million.

Sramana Mitra: You said you’re already profitable?

Felix Van de Maele: We were profitable over the last two years but then made the decision to grow the company. Profitability is not a goal right now. We are seen as the leader in our category. We really want to build a category-leading company. That’s the focus for now.

Sramana Mitra: What else do you want to share in terms of your manoeuvring through the challenges of building this company to a $20 million level? What else have you done right? What else have you done wrong that you wish you did differently that is worth sharing from a strategy point of view?

Felix Van de Maele: Our focus from the start was absolutely the right choice. It was easier to sell to the US, even from Belgium, than in Europe. It’s a homogeneous market, so it’s easier to get leads. That was a big advantage.

Something else that we did was to find the thought leaders in our space. Typically, they were independent consultants who spoke at a lot of events. We actually had a campaign around it where we met those people and built up relationships with them. We were lucky that they enjoyed what we were doing. They became our ambassadors. That was highly impactful for us.

The move of the founders to the US was necessary. I don’t think we could have really started to grow the way we did without the founders moving as well. Just hiring a sales person in US and you staying in Europe won’t work. There’s so much black magic as to the way you sell because everything is so new. You can’t just hire a sales person and expect them to be successful. That was critical.

Sramana Mitra: A lot of software companies, especially enterprise software companies, nowadays are getting started outside of the US. There’s a very big number of them that are starting in India. There are European companies as well. This is something that is happening quite frequently. You get some validation and then move to the US to scale. This is becoming a standard way of growing enterprise software companies.

Felix Van de Maele: Yes, that really worked out well for us. Salaries are lower. It’s easier to find talents. It’s cheaper to get started. Ultimately, you have to make that move to the US, which is not always easy, and having the founders move as well is important.

Sramana Mitra: Great! Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 7 in the series : Building a Global Enterprise Software Company from Belgium: Felix Van de Maele, CEO of Collibra
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