Rolling Up Professional Networks: Dan Serfaty, CEO of Viadeo (Part 2)

Sramana: What did you do once you graduated from HEC?

Dan Serfaty: I graduated in 1987. I worked for two years in Italy, which is where I met my wife. I worked in marketing. In France, military service was mandatory at the time, and a way to avoid doing it was for the best students to work for a French company outside of France. It was supposed to help France have internationally-minded high level managers. In that case, you could elect to work in another country for two years in place of a year of military service. We worked with the company for no benefits. It was a good way for these companies to attract young talent early.

I had the choice between Japan and Milan, so I became the assistant manager of marketing for DANNON water. I had a marketing manager who did not want to work too much, so I was basically coasting for those 18 months. I have never actually been an employee of any company, other than that experience, but I would not consider myself an employee there.

I was fixed on the idea of becoming an entrepreneur. I had that desire from a very young age. My father was a high-level manager in a big French operation, and he was the CFO. I did not want to have a boss. I did not want to be told what to do. That was the first reason. I also think there is something genetic about my decision. Deep inside my father always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but he could not afford it. He had to leave Morocco early on and he had a family to support, so he could not afford it.

Sramana: Was your family in Morocco entrepreneurial?

Dan Serfaty: Absolutely. My grandparents and great-grandparents were all entrepreneurs.

Sramana: What did you do when you left DANNON?

Dan Serfaty: There was a small business that was family related. It was a bit famous in France because it was at all of the tourist stops. If you put in a euro, you could see through the binoculars to see some sights. There were 1,000 machines installed throughout France. My uncle had inherited it but was making plenty of money from real estate and did not care about the business. When I came back from Italy, I talked to my uncle and he told me about the company. It was making a turnover of 1.5 million euros and losing a third of that every year.

For the first year it made a big loss, primarily because he did not take care of it. The people who took care of the machines were taking advantage of him. We made a deal where I acquired 50% of the company for one euro, and I then gave a personnel guarantee to a bank. However, my personal goods were nothing at the time. I really did not care! I had an old car that I brought back from the HEC campus, and I would have let them take that easily. That guarantee was for 250,000 euros.

The deal was that I would take care of the company. Two years later, I restructured the company. That was very interesting because there were problems of cost and control. Two years after that, the company broke even. I cut machines where it was not profitable. I then sold the company to a German company. That was my first deal, and my uncle was happy. I sold the company for 1.5 million euros, and I kept 750,000. Not bad since I was only 23 years old.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Rolling Up Professional Networks: Dan Serfaty, CEO of Viadeo
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