The Cross Border Playbook: Recent Episodes
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Welcome to the Cross Border Playbook, where we look at the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs face in scaling their businesses globally. We look at formulas for success, and identify winning strategies that startups can implement when they leave their home turf, and expand across borders to access global markets.
In this episode, BGV’s Sarah Benhamou speaks with Graham Steel, CEO and Co-founder of Cryptosense, a quantum computing, cryptography and cybersecurity startup. Graham completed his PhD in Cryptography from the University of Edinburgh, and previously concluded his Masters at Cambridge University. He has decades of research and expertise in cryptographic hardware, software and research. Cryptosense was recently acquired by Sandbox AQ, who was looking to deploy their quantum cryptography products to corporations and governments worldwide. In this episode, Graham shares how international founders can navigate acquisitions by international companies.
This episode of the Cross Border Playbook, "A Passion for Venture Capital and Technology Across Cultures," is republished from "Experiences" with the express written consent of Julien Rigal-Dupont. This special french language episode delves into the personal and professional journey of BGV General Partner Eric Buatois.
Eric has 19 years of active venture capital experience with BGV since 2013, and with Sofinnova Ventures as a General Partner from 2001 till 2013. He is a lead investor who truly enjoys building global companies and has demonstrated experience in executing spin-offs from large companies. He serves on the boards of several companies such NGD Systems, Scalefast, Onymos, Madkudu and Platform.sh. He recently served on the board of Profitect (acquired by Zebra Technology), Intellivision (acquired by Nortek), and Identity Mind Global (merged with Acuant). Eric served as Chairman of the Board of Upek from inception until 2009 including IPO filing in 2006 (and ultimate acquisition by Apple, Nasdaq: AAPL). Eric was instrumental in raising Sofinnova Ventures VI fund ($250M) in 2003, and Sofinnova Ventures VII fund ($375M) especially with international Limited Partners. As a venture investor, Eric Buatois participated in several M&A transactions, 2 IPO filings, and helped raise $1B of venture funds.
Eric Buatois has extensive experience as a private company director, having served 3 times as Chairman of the Board and participated in 4 corporate spinouts.
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, he spent over 20 years in the Computer and Telecommunications industry. He held several senior management and operational roles at Texas Instruments, Hewlett-Packard and Ericsson. He also negotiated, created, and managed a joint venture in Sweden between HP and Ericsson. In his corporate roles, Eric pioneered and led the development of several very successful products such as Texas Instruments’ digital signal processors for the cellular market, Hewlett- Packard’s telecommunications products Opencall and Openview, as well as Ericsson’s operational support systems for telecom networks.
Eric Buatois is a French citizen and resides in the Bay Area with his wife and 4 children. He enjoys outdoor activities, such as fly fishing, scuba diving, hiking, skiing and golfing. Eric led BGV to be a founding member of the Extreme Tech Challenge (extremetechchallenge.org). It is a non-profit devoted to elevating next generation entrepreneurs creating new technologies and innovations to benefit human kind in line with the United Nations 17 sustainable development goals.
Eric received his MSc In Computer Science and Communications Engineering from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris in 1982 and graduated from INSEAD Advanced Management Program in 1991.
His past investments include Profitect (ZBRA), Intellivision(NSC), Identity Mind Global (Acuant) UPEK(AAPL), Cortina Systems(INPHI), Hellosoft(IMG), Laszlo Systems (Critical Path) and Scalefast (ESW).
In this episode, BGV’s Sarah Benhamou speaks with Matthew Howard, General Partner at Norwest Venture Partners about fundraising strategies for growth stage CEOs reaching the Series B stages and beyond. Matt brings 30 plus years of experience in marketing, product mgmt, engineering, biz dev & sales. He has appeared on the Forbes Midas List as a top 100 investor for 3 years & was recognized by Business Insider as one of the "19 Best Enterprise Tech Venture Capitalists." Matt was a former operator at leading technology companies like BBN Communications, one of the investors of TCP/IP, he also has a background in defense and serves on the Technical Advisory Board for In-Q-Tel's Lab41 initiative.
In this episode, BGV’s Sarah Benhamou shares legal frameworks which startup founders and entrepreneurs can use to protect their intellectual property, navigate global regulations, and leverage their data to increase their company's value. Sarah is joined by Scalefast Chief Legal Officer David Masson who brings over 20 years of legal experience in the realms of intellectual property and information technology. Prior to joining Scalefast, Masson practiced as a Partner at Dentons, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious law-firms.
Continuing in our French-US series, Sarah Benhamou meets with CEO and Founder of Platform.Sh Frederic Plais to discuss recruitment and talent hiring. Does the founder have to be in the US to make this market work? Who should you hire first? What roles matter most to establish culture fit? And how do you build effective global teams that can operate efficiently in a cross-border environment? Plais shares insights from his own experience moving from France to California to build a global company with 320 employees spanning 35+ countries and 200+ cities around the world. Tune in to hear lessons learned on his journey…
In this episode, launching our French-US Series, BGV’s Sarah Benhamou sits down with Zelros Founder and COO Damien Philippon to discuss “Where should we relocate, when looking at the American market?” Most European entrepreneurs naturally gravitate to New York or Silicon Valley, depending on a number of considerations. But Damien and his team chose the oft-overlooked Canadian tech hub of Montreal to anchor their North American operations. He’s not alone either, as Ubisoft, Quantic Dream, Technicolor, and a number of others decided to make Montreal their home away from home. Tune in to learn why, and to hear how their journey has unfolded since…