Raising Money From Eighty Investors and Steering to a Successful Exit: Ludovic Huraux, CEO of Attractive World (Part 4)

Ludovic Huraux:The US VCs said, “You have a very interesting model. It’s profitable but it doesn’t mean that it will succeed in the US.” They were scared to invest in a French startup. I was very frustrated. I decided to focus on the French market. I explained to my shareholder that I wasn’t the best manager to take care of the operation in France. I told them that I wanted to build a startup in the US.

I hired a new CEO the day-to-day operations in France. It was a new cycle for the company. We kept building momentum in France. I was still the main shareholder and the Chairman but I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day operations. I had, maybe, one weekly meeting with the new General Manager. I moved to the US in 2014 to launch a new startup. I told my shareholders that we will distribute dividends, which is not usual for startups. From 2014 to 2016, we distributed more than $4 million in dividends.

A German group went to see me and said, “Your business is very profitable in France, but you are only in France.” The market in France is only 2% to 3% of the dating market in the world. They said, “We would like to buy your company and launch Attractive World in different countries including the US.” This group is called Affinitas. They are in 28 different countries. They bought the company in September to extend the Attractive World brand and concept to other countries including the US, Canada, and UK. They want to do it very soon.

Sramana Mitra: Very interesting. You were not part of the transaction? You just sold the business but you were doing a different startup in the US.

Ludovic Huraux: Yes. I hired a General Manager. I started a new startup. I was the main shareholder, but they didn’t ask me to remain in the company, which was a little bit emotional for me. On the closing day, I just resigned from my position and the adventure was finished. It was a nine-year adventure that ended like this.

Sramana Mitra: It ended well. You got a good exit. By all measures, this is a great success.

Ludovic Huraux: Now I’m very happy. I’m happy because I closed the loop. All my friends tell me that I should be very happy. Just before closing at 9:30 in the morning. I woke up at 7 and I cried for an hour. It was very good news, but I was crying for an hour.

Sramana Mitra: Congratulations. You stayed with the project for a long time and made it all work. You’re still very young so you’re going to do it again and again probably.

Ludovic Huraux: A lot of people see that when you get the money, you succeed. For a long time, I understood that the journey is more important than the destination. I have a lot of investors who’ve got a lot of money. Of course, money is important. It’s a source of freedom and comfort but it’s not what makes you happy at the end of the day.

What makes you really fulfilled is the project that you have and the people who surround you. I have met a lot of entrepreneurs who sold their companies thinking that once they have the money, they will be happy. At the end of the day, they’re not happy because they really don’t know what they’re going to do.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Raising Money From Eighty Investors and Steering to a Successful Exit: Ludovic Huraux, CEO of Attractive World
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