Category Archives: videos

Jörgen Eriksson on International Entrepreneurship and Disruptive Finance

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On June 13 we had the pleasure to welcome Jörgen Eriksson who spoke about international entrepreneurship in a disruptive environment, and particularly in finance. Jorgen also spoke captivatingly about his experiences of building business all around the world.

“Jörgen has 30 years experience from executive and advisory work on four continents with both the public and private sectors. As a tech executive in the 1990s, he was overall responsible for delivery of the systems that powers the ECB and the introduction of the Euro. As a management consultant, he has been involved in regional startup eco-systems from United States to South Africa, and public sector projects such as strategy for new cities from China to Egypt.”

Jörgen on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorgen-eriksson/

Here’s our video interview with Jorgen:

Some pictures from the event:

Jorgen Eriksson and Per Karlsson at Lunch at the Circle

Jorgen Eriksson and Per Karlsson at Lunch at the Circle

Jorgen Eriksson and guests at Lunch at the Circle

Jorgen Eriksson and guests at Lunch at the Circle

Jorgen Eriksson and guests at Lunch at the Circle

Jorgen Eriksson and guests at Lunch at the Circle

Per Karlsson and guests at the Jorgen Eriksson Lunch at the Circle

Per Karlsson and guests at the Jorgen Eriksson Lunch at the Circle

Martin McCourt on Mergers & Acquisitions

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On June 17 Martin McCourt shared his experience about how mergers and acquisitions can play a role in corporate development with the guests at the Lunch at the Circle lunch.

Watch the video interview with Martin below.

Martin was Executive Vice President M&A and on the management board at Gemalto for around a decade and involved in a number of acquisitions, from some 10s of M€ to 890 M USD with SafeNet (in 2014).

Gemalto is a world leading digital security company providing software applications, secure personal devices such as smart cards and tokens, and managed services. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of SIM cards. (source:Wikipedia) Gemalto is now part of the Thales group.

Organised by Lunch at the Circle:
https://www.lunchatthecircle.com/

With Per Karlsson, BKWine:
https://www.bkwine.com/

Martin McCourt speaks at Lunch at the Circle

Martin McCourt speaks at Lunch at the Circle, copyright BKWine Photography

Martin McCourt speaks at Lunch at the Circle

Martin McCourt speaks at Lunch at the Circle, copyright BKWine Photography

Martin McCourt speaks at Lunch at the Circle

Martin McCourt speaks at Lunch at the Circle, copyright BKWine Photography

 

L@C TV: “How I created Lauritz.com and made it Scandinavia’s biggest auction house”

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“How I created Lauritz.com and made it Scandinavia’s biggest auction house”, with Bengt Sundstrøm, founder, owner and president of Lauritz.com

We recently had an exciting Lunch at the Circle event with Bengt Sundstrøm, owner and president of Lauritz.com.

Over lunch Bengt told us about how he raised the money to start his business in three hours with a quick phone call to his banker, how he does not waste money on Google Ads (but instead use them effectively), what his next strategic moves will be and what the key difficulties are in creating an online auction house. But he did not tell us why he still does not have any serious competition in his business. Because, he says, it is a puzzle to him too.

Here’s a short video interview:

Bengt Sundstrøm is the owner and president of Lauritz, Scandinavia’s biggest auction house. In 1998 Bengt bought the small auction house of Lauritz Christensen Auctions, founded in 1885. One year later Bengt launched the online auctions on lauritz.com. It has since grown to a business with a turn-over of around 100 million euros. The business model is very different from other well-known internet auction houses (e.g. eBay). All bidding on Lauritz is done online but they also have brick-and-mortar viewing locations across Scandinavia where you can go and look at the items on sale. They also have a staff of over one hundred valuation experts. This mix of online auctions, valuation expertise and physical presence has been the key to Laurtiz’ success, says Bengt.

More information: http://www.lauritz.com/

Bengt also (accidentally) became the owner of a vineyard, Chateau Vignelaure, in Provence a few years ago, so he will also tell the story of life as a winegrower. As well as let us taste some of his wines of course. More information:http://www.vignelaure.com/ and on BKWine Magazine: Château Vignelaure – Cabernet sauvignon meets Provence.

And here are some more videos and images from the event!

At a Lunch at the Circle event with Bengt Sundstrom, Lauritz.com

At a Lunch at the Circle event with Bengt Sundstrom, Lauritz.com

At a Lunch at the Circle event with Bengt Sundstrom, Lauritz.com

At a Lunch at the Circle event with Bengt Sundstrom, Lauritz.com

At a Lunch at the Circle event with Bengt Sundstrom, Lauritz.com

At a Lunch at the Circle event with Bengt Sundstrom, Lauritz.com

L@C TV: Growing your business on unknown markets, with Tom Thorelli

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Growing your business outside your home country without burning your fingers, with Tom Thorelli, founder of Thorelli & Associates

Earlier this spring (what spring?) we had a lunch with Tom Thorelli, an american lawyer based in Paris. Tom is a specialist in helping companies develop new business in unknown markets, in particular to open up new business in the US, without falling into one of the many legal traps there are. Legal questions are of vital importance in the US and it is not easy to understand for an outsider. It may concern contracts, intellectual property (IP), patents and a host of other things. Tom explains:

The US market in particular, but also other foreign markets, are a challenge. It is easy to make mistakes, to think that things work as “at home” when you do business there. Many business that try and penetrate the US market, or other foreign markets, make simple and silly mistakes that can be avoided. Tom Thorelli has worked with many French (and European) companies to help them get established and win business in the US – without getting fingers burned – by taking the market and the competition seriously, by understanding contracts and legal issues, by knowing how to negotiate, and how to protect one’s interests. Tom will explain do:s and don’t:s based on his practical experiences from helping many foreign companies to success in the US.

Tom Thorelli is founder and managing partner of the Thorelli & Associates Law Firm in Chicago (Illinois). Tom is of Swedish origin (yes, again; I don’t do this on purpose!) and currently lives in Paris. And two days after this Lunch at the Circle event he will try to run the Paris marathon.

More info on: www.thorelli.com. “The law firm has five lawyers, four of which are located in Chicago. The focus of the firm is in protecting intellectual property rights; negotiating contracts; structuring companies; providing a full array of immigration service; and dispute resolution.”

Next L@C: “How I created Lauritz.com and made it Scandinavia’s biggest auction house”

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“How I created Lauritz.com and made it Scandinavia’s biggest auction house”, with Bengt Sundstrøm, founder, owner and president of Lauritz.com

Next Lunch at the Circle event is on Thursday May 31, with Bengt Sundstrøm, owner and president of Lauritz.com. Register for this event now!

Bengt Sundstrøm is the owner and president of Lauritz, Scandinavia’s biggest auction house. In 1998 Bengt bought the small auction house of Lauritz Christensen Auctions, founded in 1885. One year later Bengt launched the online auctions on lauritz.com. It has since grown to a business with a turn-over of around 100 million euros. The business model is very different from other well-known internet auction houses (e.g. eBay). All bidding on Lauritz is done online but they also have brick-and-mortar viewing locations across Scandinavia where you can go and look at the items on sale. They also have a staff of over one hundred valuation experts. This mix of online auctions, valuation expertise and physical presence has been the key to Laurtiz’ success, says Bengt.

More information: http://www.lauritz.com/

Bengt also (accidentally) became the owner of a vineyard, Chateau Vignelaure, in Provence a few years ago, so he will also tell the story of life as a winegrower. As well as let us taste some of his wines of course. More information:http://www.vignelaure.com/ and on BKWine Magazine: Château Vignelaure – Cabernet sauvignon meets Provence.

When, where & How

  • Time: Thursday May 31, 2012
  • Location: Participation is on invitation only

 

 

L@C TV: Emilie Gobin, a design and web entrepreneur on l’Usine @ Design

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The Lunch at the Circle event on February 16 was with Emilie Gobin, CEO and co-founder of Usine á Design.

A design and web entrepreneur: “how I created l’Usine @ Design”

Emilie Gobin is co-founder and CEO of Usine-à-Désign, an e-shop that sells custom made designer furniture directly to consumers at affordable prices. She will tell us her story: from how she started the company, over the challenges of raising over a million euros in capital to get it off the ground, to dealing with designers (you know!). In short, the story of how a young and successful French entrepreneur manages to survive! Emilie will speak in French.

More info here: http://www.usineadesign.com, and here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/emiliegobin

 

LAC TV: Marc Timmerman on talent management

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Marc Timmerman was the guest at Lunch at the Circle on October 3. Here is a short interview with Marc:

Marc talks about talent management in fast changing environments with a particular focus on the technology sector; on the challenges of identifying and developing top talent, the trends for the future and the increasing complexity for leaders, and which solutions are key in making an organization be more attractive as an employer of talent.

Before joining Axiom consulting Marc was Executive Director of the European Talent Management practice of Hudson Highland group. Previous to that he led the HR consulting practice of De Witte & Morel, and was a Partner at Ernst & Young in Belgium. More information on Marc and on Axiom here: http://www.axiomcp.com/

Information security in a world with both traditional IT and social networking: it’s all about people

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A previous Lunch at the Circle event was on “security” Joseph Graceffa, co-founder and CTO of Advens.

Information security in a world with both traditional IT and social networking: it’s all about people.

Today it is not enough with “IT security”, it is really a question of information security, both for companies and for individuals. Wikileaks, l’affaire Renault, a Dutch web site that collects information from Facebook and blogs to show which houses are empty (to burgle) since the inhabitants are on vacation, someone “looses” (really?) a smartphone with the company’s entire client list on it…

On one side you need to avoid unauthorised access to your systems and information by having proper protection. On the other side you need to give people good tools to work with, especially when everyone is travelling or working from a home office: smartphones, remote VPN access, webmail etc. And then you have the “social networking” aspects: Today business is more about sharing and collaborating than what it was a few decades ago. And also about using Facebook, blogs, Twitter and other tools for the benefit of your company. But all this leads to security risks.

Information security is about technology of course, but it is also, and increasingly so, about people, their behaviour and awareness of the issues.

The Economist recently ran a big feature article on the subject: The Leaky Corporation. Read it here: http://www.economist.com/node/18226961

Joseph Graceffa, co-founder and CTO of Advens, will give us an introduction and insight into these questions.

Joseph Graceffa is co-founder and CTO of Advens, an information security company. Advens provides a full range of security services to medium and large enterprises in France and across Europe. Before creating Advens some 10 years ago he was in charge of network security at Decathalon and a consultant with Bull. More info: http://www.advens.fr/

 

Talent management in technology, challenges and solutions, with Marc Timmerman

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The next Lunch at the Circle event will be on Monday October 3 on Talent Management:

Talent management in technology, challenges and solutions, with Marc Timmerman

Marc Timmerman is partner at Axiom Consulting.

Marc will talk about talent management in fast changing environments with a particular focus on the technology sector; on the challenges of identifying and developing top talent, the trends for the future and the increasing complexity for leaders, and which solutions are key in making an organization be more attractive as an employer of talent.

Before joining Axiom consulting Marc was Executive Director of the European Talent Management practice of Hudson Highland group. Previous to that he led the HR consulting practice of De Witte & Morel, and was a Partner at Ernst & Young in Belgium. More information on Marc and on Axiom here: http://www.axiomcp.com/

When & How

  • Time: Monday October 3, 12.15 (we will sit down for lunch at 12.30). Lunch ends at 14.00.
  • Location: only on invitation
  • Cost:  only on invitation/
    (Salade de canard confit, vinaigrette ‘poireax’ | Daurade sauvage poêlée, petit ragout Paimpol | Quetsches rôties & rafraichis, fine semoule au lait vanillé | bon vin | eaux pour ceux qui résistent | Café Balthazar – If you have “special dietary requirements” please inform me before/ the event.)

Participation limited to 30 persons

Strategic investments in technology and environment by the French sovereign wealth fund – an inside view

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Lunch at the Circle meeting February 24: ’Strategic investments in technology and environment by the French sovereign wealth fund – an inside view’

With Marc Julien, investment director at the Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI).

Marc Julien is director of investments at the Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI). FSI is the sovereign investment fund launched by the French government a few years ago to promote development and entrepreneurship in French companies. Marc is focusing on the FSI’s investments in the areas of technology and environment. Marc will talk both about the overall strategy of the FSI and specifically about investing in “his” sectors. Marc was previously SVP at Schneider Electric and a consultant at LEK and Estin & Co. Marc has an MBA from INSEAD. More on the FSI here: http://www.fonds-fsi.fr/