How to Build a Billion-Dollar European Software Company

Bernard-Liautaud
Photo: Bernard Liautaud in the mid-90s

Courtesy of London Business School, here’s a great presentation by Bernard Liautaud, founder and eighteen-year CEO of BusinessObjects, explaining how he and his team created the first “European silicon valley startup”, growing the company from zero to a billion dollars in revenue, and then selling to SAP for $6.7bn. Bernard is now a General Partner of Balderton Capital, one of the largest venture capital funds in Europe.

Bernard Liautaud at LBS from Raj Kotecha on Vimeo.


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7 responses to “How to Build a Billion-Dollar European Software Company”

  1. […] English-educated Hubert shrugs off the potential challenges, and reminds me of lot of a young Bernard Liautaud, the founder of Business Objects, one of the first and most successful “Silicon-Valley-style” […]

  2. […] English-educated Hubert shrugs off the potential challenges, and reminds me of lot of a young Bernard Liautaud, the founder of Business Objects, one of the first and most successful “Silicon-Valley-style” […]

  3. […] English-educated Hubert shrugs off the potential challenges, and reminds me of lot of a young Bernard Liautaud, the founder of Business Objects, one of the first and most successful “Silicon-Valley-style” […]

  4. Tony Lusk Avatar
    Tony Lusk

    Great video. It is always interesting to get some perspective on happens at strategic levels. Thanks for posting.

  5. Varik Torsteinsen Avatar

    Having been with BOBJ since 2000 and now at SAP, this represents over 3/4 of my working life spent in this space. It’s an investment in an incredible journey that I feel proud to be part of. I always wondered what the back story of Jean-Michel Cambot was in relation to BOBJ, and now I know. A really interesting watch – thanks Timo.

  6. David Taylor Avatar

    Fascinating video Timo. Thanks for sharing. It’s great to finally hear a few of the behind the scenes stories of what was happening during key moments in the companies history.