Ludovic Copéré

Ho! Ho! Ho! marketing

As it is "this time of the year" once again, one can but pay some respect to the red-clad Santa, who has been sucessfully running his Christmas present business for quite a long time now. I was therefore delighted to read Sean D'Souza's article on Why Santa's Marketing Works Better than Yours!, a witty and well-writen foray on how Santa Claus Inc. jingles all the way  with its great customer-centered philosophy.

"The reason why Santa's marketing works is because he intimately knows your individual needs. If you want a drum kit, you get one. If you want a Barbie, you don't ending up sulking with a xylophone".

Enjoy the reading under the holly, and merry Christmas (alternatively, Happy Holidays, to remain politically correct)!

Is Venture Capital a bubble in Sweden?

I was reading Dagens Industri yesterday on the plane back from Paris, and on the front page stood this dramatic statement: Venture Capital is a bubble (Riskkapitalitet är en bubbla). A very pessimistic article indeed, as it predicts that venture capital firms are "at the brink of becoming the millennium’s first financial bubble". Journalistic sensationalism apart, the situation seems quite serious indeed: as of today, the value of the equity funds Swedish controlled in Sweden almost reaches the overall value of the Stockholm Stock Exchange!

As the article underlines, The Swedish Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (Svenska Riskkapital Föreningen) explains this situation by the difficulty of VCs to find proper exits for their portfolio companies in the "ice-cold" stock exchange (around 180 companies would be in this situation), which instead undergo exchanges and over-valuations between VC and equity firms.

While the article stresses on the political involvement to regulate the situation, its conclusion especially drew my attention, as it defines VCs as "talented young guys who don't want to be in the 'old boys network'". I'm not convinced that such description gives justice to the work they do, but at least it shows the importance of a good balance between them and the "old boys", i.e. industrial buyers.