1. As a child what job did you want to have when you grew up?
Astronaut or scientist. At least the second part worked out for the 10 years that I spent as a physics student and researcher.
2. If you had one business lesson to share with your younger self what would it be?
In 2000, I founded a network security company called Phion. At the time, one of our inexperienced venture capitalists insisted we should just follow the go-to-market strategy of one of his other portfolio companies. Back then, I did not have the energy and self-confidence to push back and it almost led to the bankruptcy of our business and eventually cost us more than a year from of our first-mover advantage. The lesson was not to simply copy and paste from others and it’s an experience I’ve certainly carried with me through my career.
3. Which Internet of Things (IoT) use case has recently fired your imagination?
The seemingly boring ones! Being a security guy, the possibility of a hacker taking over thousands of supermarket freezers and destroying the entire frozen pizza supply has always frightened me. When security people think about IoT use cases, we do not focus on those with the biggest gains, but those that could create the greatest complications. Thinking about it that way, I probably end up imagining a fleet of autonomous cars at the command of a cyber criminal.
4. What lessons have you learned from doing business in other countries or organisations?
Europe is so fascinating. Wherever you go, people tell you that their country is completely different from every other country and that they do business in their own unique way. In fact, it always turns out that what different countries perceive to be unique is actually exactly the same as everywhere else. Most of the time, it’s what people perceive as the perfectly normal things that leave you utterly flabbergasted.
