Why Is Europe’s Youngest Billionaire Living In India? | The 1% Club Show | Ep. 16

Summary

The video features an interview with Fabien, the CEO of a Belgium-based tech company valued at $4 billion. He discusses his journey building the company over 20 years, starting with just $6,000 in savings. Key topics include the challenges of scaling from 1 to 10 employees versus 100 to 1,000, transitioning from a services model to product licensing, lessons learned from over-hiring and burning through $3 million in funding, the importance of managing expectations for happiness, and why he chooses to forego vacations and fancy cars to focus everything on growing the business and buying back company shares.

Takeaways

• 😊 Fabian is the founder and CEO of a Belgian unicorn company valued at $4 billion
• 💰 The company had $400 million in revenue last year
• 🏫 Fabian started his first business at age 13 and became a billionaire by age 35-37
• 🚀 It took 5 years to grow to 4 employees, doubling every year after that to 4000 employees now
• 💡 The idea for the business came from seeing small companies lacking proper tools and software
• 👨‍💻 The product is an integrated suite of business applications - CRM, accounting etc.
• 🌎 The business expanded internationally before addressing the Indian market
• 😣 It was very difficult growing from 1 to 10 employees compared to 100 to 1000 employees
• 💸 Fabian lives a simple life, focused on growing the business rather than material possessions
• 🔮 With only 0.1% market share, Fabian feels he's just getting started and has more to accomplish

Q & A

How much revenue did Fabian's company generate last year?

The company generated $400 million in revenue last year.

What is the current valuation of Fabian's company?

The current valuation of the company is around $4 billion.

At what age did Fabian become a billionaire?

Fabian became a billionaire around the age of 35-37 years old.

Why did Fabian move his company's operations to India?

Fabian moved part of his company's operations to India because of the fast growth, open market, and abundant tech talent there. He wanted to build products for the local Indian market.

How does Fabian explain what his company Odoo does?

Fabian explains that Odoo provides a suite of integrated business applications, like CRM, accounting, inventory etc, to help small and medium companies run efficiently, like providing tools for a mechanic.

How much did it cost Fabian to start his first company?

It cost Fabian 6000 Euros to start his first company in Belgium, which was the minimum amount required at that time.

How long did it take for Fabian's company to reach 100 employees?

It took 8 years for Fabian's company to reach 100 employees.

What mistakes did Fabian make after raising 3 million Euros in funding?

Fabian made the mistake of hiring too fast without corresponding revenue growth, burning through the 3 million Euros in funding in just 2 years.

What is Fabian's current salary?

Fabian has a gross salary of 1000 Euros per day, out of which he takes home 400 Euros after taxes.

What percent of the market does Fabian's company Odoo currently have?

Odoo has only 0.1% of the market share currently, so there is still a lot of room for growth according to Fabian.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Introducing Fabian, Founder of a Multi-Billion Dollar Company

The first paragraph introduces Fabian, the founder and CEO of a Belgium-based unicorn company valued at over $4 billion. It provides some key details about the company's revenue, valuation, Fabian's recognition as the next Bill Gates, and his recent move to India.

05:03

😃 Explaining the Company's Offerings Using a Mechanic Analogy

Fabian explains his company's suite of integrated business applications using an analogy of a mechanic without proper tools, unable to work efficiently. He contrasts his company's all-in-one platform for small businesses against complex and expensive ERPs from big tech and fragmented singular apps from small companies.

10:06

😊 Recounting the Early Bootstrapping Phase

The third paragraph focuses on the early and solo bootstrapping phase of Fabian's journey, including starting with no salary for 10 years. He reflects on the hiring challenges and evolution from 1 to 10 employees being more difficult than 100 to 1000, requiring communication and training.

15:07

😉 Prioritizing Company Growth Over Personal Assets

In the final paragraph, Fabian shares that he prioritizes buying back company shares over personal assets, revealed his high salary and taxes, and asserts that making impact matters more than money to him personally.

Keywords

💡Entrepreneurship

The video focuses on entrepreneurship, as it profiles the journey of Fabian, who started his own company from scratch and grew it into a multi-billion dollar business over 20 years. Examples of entrepreneurship discussed include bootstrapping the business, going through highs and lows, evolving from services to product business.

💡Bootstrapping

Fabian started his business with only 6000 Euros that he had saved up through years of small side businesses. He then grew the business in a lean way in the initial years without any external funding or salaries for himself, which exemplifies the concept of bootstrapping.

💡Unicorn company

A unicorn company refers to a private startup company valued at over $1 billion. Fabian's company ODoo has attained unicorn status with a valuation of $4 billion currently.

💡Evolution of business

The video charts ODoo's evolution from initially being a services company for the first 8 years to transitioning to a productized software business. This evolution increasedrecurring revenues to 82% currently.

💡India opportunity

Fabian emphasizes the huge opportunity India represents thanks to rapid economic growth, English language skills, open democratic free markets in contrast with issues in alternative emerging economies.

💡Hiring challenges

Fabian outlines the hiring and human resource challenges faced while growing from 1 employee to over 4000 now, especially around aligning middle management.

💡Fundraising

The video discusses pros and cons around fundraising - while the $3M Euros raised allowed faster hiring, it also led to burning through the cash quickly when revenues did not catch up.

💡Lifestyle choice

Despite huge business success, Fabian explains why he maintains a simple lifestyle without expensive assets and still focuses on creating value and impact.

💡Management style

Fabian explains his hands-off management approach where he does not have a secretary and chooses how to spend his time without meetings filling up his calendar.

💡Vision

Even after building a billion-dollar company, Fabian believes he still has only 0.1% market share, indicating huge vision ahead for growth rather than resting on current success.

Highlights

Revenue last year was $400 million with a valuation around $4 billion

Called the new Bill Gates in 2009

Took 10 years to have a salary, went through 3 million Euro in 2 years by hiring too fast

Hardest part is going from 1 to 10 employees, then growth gets easier

First 8 years were a services business before transitioning to a product business

Went down to zero revenue when pivoting from services to product

Life in India is simple with low expectations for happiness

Owns 55% of company shares, ~$1300 gross salary per day

Doesn't own house or car, lives in wife's house

Company has 0.1% market share despite $4 billion valuation

Hardest days may come, have to take more risks to grow

From 0 to 10 employees, founder does everything which is good

10 to 100 employees is about communication and training people

100 to 1000 employees, CEO becomes chief explanatory officer

First year revenue selling services and time

Transcripts

Revenue last year was $400 million $400

million yes uh with a valuation around

$4 billion like 55% of the shares of Fu

um It also says here that in 2009 um you

were called the new Bill Gates yeah are

you comfortable sharing how much salary

you have uh what is India to it's not

Brazil it's not Russia it's not China

it's India and India and India the focus

should be there okay why have you

shifted Bas all the way from Belgium and

you're living in India but you know what

most people who wants to go work in the

US I think they do a

[Music]

mistake hey guys welcome back to another

episode of the one person Club show on

today's episode we have Mr Fabian the

founder and CEO of a unicorn company

here with us today it's a belgian-based

company valued at over

3.75 billion e so 20 years of being in

business can you talk about how the

numbers grew Revenue last year was uh

$400 million $400 million yes uh with a

valuation around $4 billion so when were

you at what age did you become a

billionaire uh I don't know maybe 35 35

No 37 maybe 35 37 because it also says

here that in

209 um you were called the new Bill

Gates yeah how did that feel I think

it's not for Bill

Gates I think I mean the guy did so much

that it's not even comparable have you

met him no never never never okay Odo is

present in a lot of countries you guys

are present in around 160 countries if

I'm not wrong so with Partners uh in

terms of companies we have companies in

San Francisco Mexico New York Dubai um

maybe something like 15 countries 15

countries and we have Partners in 160

countries you have recently moved to

India and you're living in Gujarat so

can you talk us a little bit about that

why have you shifted Bas all the way

from Belgium and you're living in India

when did you India was the first company

I opened really no you opened your first

thing in Belgium Belgium and then first

subsidiary was in India so OD is global

we have activities worldwide and or

Indian company used to deliver service

for the other countries development

service for America Europe and so on but

we were not addressing the local market

but the local market with is booming

India is incredible the GDP is growing

8% per year so for us it was a challenge

we wanted to start with our application

deliver something for the Indian

companies oh and the problem we have in

Europe is that if you need to recruit

four or five developers it takes six

months to recruit four or five

developers yes you need two three four

months to find them then there is a

three months time for them to leave

their old job so it could be sometimes

even N9 months so it's very slow um and

I needed to move faster than that in

India I could recruit like 10 developers

in just less than a month and how is

your life in Gujarat that's where you're

living right I love it because you know

a lot of Indians keep migrating outside

of India I mean I think last year the

number was almost 1 million people who

left India to settle in other Western

countries because the quality of life is

better yeah but you know what most

Indian people who wants to go work in

the US I think they do a mistake U not

all of them but in India usually like it

it developers they have a very good they

can afford a lot of things in India they

have people clean their hores Cooks

whatever you want and then they move to

the US they have a bigger salary but

rent is super high education is super

high housing is super high and they are

they have to do two or three work just

to pay the bills right and most of them

have a shitty life compared to what they

get in India before uh so sometimes the

trade-off is not that good so what like

everybody the whole world is talking

about India and its growth like what do

you think after India what country in

the world will be better so you know we

used to talk about brick I don't know if

we brick Brazil Russia India and China

big where people wanted to invest a few

years ago everyone wanted brick yeah

look at it today Brazil killed by big

inflation just just cre Russia is in war

the r the rubbles decre like

crazy China is closed even if you

succeed the government will will sees

your company it's going to be so there

is basically no way to to succeed in

China is not in China we have we have

tried I spend 1 million to do a joint

venture and it failed completely so the

only remaining one is India and India is

great it speaks English it grows fast

it's open market it's a democracy for

everything is green in one of the

hardest working people in the world yes

there is India number one there is no

second one to pick a second one it's

India 2 what is India 2 it's it's not

Brazil it's not Russia it's not China

it's India and India and India the focus

should be there okay so Fabian your

company is worth 3.75 billion so what

exactly does your company do so I I'll

explain you the same way I explain to my

kids okay imagine you are a mechanic

someone who fix cars and you're super

good you love your job you can give you

a shitty car you will fix it in two

hours or three hours because you love

your job and you are efficient now

Imaging the same mechanic and he doesn't

have tools no screwdriver nothing to

leave the cars the guy could be

passionated about his job if he doesn't

have the tool he will be totally

inefficient things he used to do in two

hours will take two days and this is

exactly what happens in small and

midsize companies a lot of them are

suffering because they don't have the

right tools you still have a lot of

people who do things record data

manually who don't have access to

statistics and this is what we do what

to do we do a suite of applications that

you can Lear to to run all your business

from CRM to accounting to inventory

build a website launch your social

marketing campaign and all those

application fully integrate to each

other and now I also have my own startup

you know there are 65 people now I have

a separate software for HR I have a

separate software for marketing separate

software for communications separate

software for produ product management

but udoo has somehow figured out how to

put everything in one right so why is it

so difficult to do that like why aren't

these other companies not doing

everything in one place yeah you're

right that's exactly what we want to

serve is to make things simple but cover

everything you need why we did it I

think it's not easy first took us 20

years to do it yeah um and some tried on

the market you have the big players who

would do a lot of things like SCP and

Microsoft which are what we call Erp but

they are complex and expensive in the

other side you have all the small player

but they only do one thing what you

don't have very simple do the job but do

everything you need in one platform and

this is what we do okay can you talk a

little bit about costing because you

said those big software companies like

you know your Microsoft Dynamics or sap

how much do they cost and how much does

uh uh these individual small players the

costing how would that look like and how

does Odo compare in terms of the

competition so large Erp they cost

Millions usually it's diff or millions

or it's very very expensive so only the

large companies use them so like setting

it up will cost millions millions uh

small and midsize they don't use CP and

orac it's too expensive this is what you

g meant by those example of the mechanic

like they don't have the tools because

it's so expensive it's to it's not

affordable enough for them the small

ones it range from

$10 to $50 per user in per months you're

talking about the likes of you know your

slack your Asana these kind of Stu

exactly okay the pricing of AO is uh

interesting for one application like you

want your website or e-commerce or you

want to replace slack or whatever or

your accounting software it's free but

if you need all the applications like

you need the big Erp that does

everything that integrate everything for

your company so that like the r through

is of the management that's 580 rupees

per month and per user okay we have 12

millions of users so even though the

price is small when you times 12 million

it's still big Revenue right now I'm in

a stage in my company where I have asked

all my department heads to you know

document data on Excel so that I get to

see what's happening uh week on week

with each department how are the numbers

moving how are the uh you know the kpis

is improving at some point you will

notice yourself that you will out grow

Excel and that's how businesses start

right in India everybody starts with

Exel but tell me about the early days of

your entrepreneurship as soon as you

graduated from college yeah I was alone

bootstrapped no money I started with

nothing 6,000 at the time okay uh which

is barely one month of salary uh in

Europe 6,000 EUR in Indian terms that's

like six lakh rupees in today it's in

Belgium at the time it was one or two

months of salary so where do you get

that money from um um I think it's money

I saved during years of doing small

businesses okay so basically since since

you started from 13 you were saving up

money here and there and that sort of

accumulated to €6,000 and the age of 23

you started but you were alone right so

what did you have to pay for um 6,000 is

the minimum to create a company in

Belgium it's the the initial fund you

have to put oh you have to pay the

government yeah you have to go to the

notary and incate the company and you

have to put some starting starting fund

and it was 6,000

okay um so I could do that with that I

had no salary for the first maybe 10

years 10 years no salary no salary but

what the people growth how many people

were there in year one year two year

three year one I was alone after 5 years

I think I had four employees or

something after five years four

employees yeah five fulltime after the

university so first year I was alone

second year I was alone third year we

were two and then two four seven and

then 15 and then times two every year

and then it started to grow now we are

4,000 4,000 employees today how many

years has it been since you began 20

years so I want to understand the

journey and and the challenges that a

company goes through how it has to

evolve from 0 to 10 10 to 100 100 to 500

like walk me through that Journey okay

from one to three is as difficult as 100

to 1,000 100 to 1,000 is actually easy

it's for me it was more difficult from 1

to 10 than 100 to 1,000 0er to 10 you do

everything yourself uh which is good

because the founder is probably the best

in selling his own product because he

has passion he knows everything so it's

good yeah that's 0o to 10 that's a good

point here because a lot of people

before starting business they assume

that I need to hire people for this this

this I don't know how to do this this

this but I think even when I started my

business when I had like four five

people I was doing everything right and

you cannot be hands off at that point of

time uh a good founder is somebody who

can take up any department at any given

point of time because he's so Hands-On

with everything because he needs to

improve and give guidance to the others

especially in the 0 to 10 employees 0 to

10 yeah and then when you start to grow

up you will need some more people you

have middle managers the culture is not

you anymore it's the middle manager the

way they bef so you have to invest more

about teaching

educating training your middle manager

your people uh this from the 10 to 100

employee Journey yes to 10 to 100 it's a

lot of communication and training so

when you grow from 100 to 1,000 things

change you are not the as a CEO for

instance you are not the chief executing

officer you become the chief explanatory

officer

okay a lot of the job is aligning

everyone to be sure that we all move

forward in the same direction that

people can decide and can you tell me

about the numbers like how did the when

when which year you made the first

Revenue first year because I was selling

service I was selling my time so the

beginning was easy from year one to year

eight I was a Service Company selling

services to everyone developing features

on demand so and first eight years you

were saying you were a Services Company

where you were a group of people

building features for other companies on

demand yes and at that point of time 8

years what kind of revenues were you

guys generating at the time we were 100

employees after 8 years and revenue uh

1.5 million euro um what's great in your

revenue is that 82% is recurring now

you've transitioned to a model where you

built this all in one comprehensive

product yeah which other people can use

it as on a licensing model yes so how do

you transition to that so it's very

difficult because from one day to

another I said I don't want to do

service anymore so I lost I lost all my

news and I said I will start to sell

maintenance because it was risky I did a

fundraising and I raised three millions

of Euro in capital so when you get three

millions of Euro you feel like I'm rich

I can do whatever I want recruit a lot

of people and you start going crazy to

to speed up the the development right

and uh but the revenue doesn't grow as

fast as you expect yeah so I was

recruiting like crazy and two years

after I burned the three millions of

Euro and we were still not really Rec in

two years you blew off the3 million EUR

yes that's a classic mistake where uh

people say that higher slow and Fire

fast but you hired fast because of the

sudden funding and that's a big problem

in India as well lot of startups would

get a lot of money there is a good

balance so you have to burn fast because

you want to go fast yeah but not too

much so you get below zero yeah and I

think I did it right at the end it has

not been easy but I just went three get

to zero and I stabilized that zero which

is the perfect things stabiliz the zero

means you sto burning money you stop

burning money you were making enough

money to pay for I to make difficult

decision the time which is fire a few

people okay I think that is the um most

difficult thing for any founder is will

I be able to make next month's payroll

right and that is sort of because that

is a non-negotiable right if a person is

not getting their salary it's sort of

like what do you do right right but if

you are not getting the revenue this

month you'll be like okay I'll figure it

out two months later I'll build

something right but payroll is something

which is like a non-negotiable so so can

you tell a little bit about your

personal finances right you own nothing

else everything is in Udo

uh yes my yes I have 55% of the shares

of foro um I have a salary but over the

past year I used this salary to buy back

shares of would you like are you

comfortable sharing how much salary you

have uh yes it's around 1,000 EUR per

day 1,000 per day yeah it's a groc

salary because I pay tax so in net I get

400 EUR per day so 600 goes into tax yes

that's the Belgium tax that's the

Belgium like you have two3 in tax okay

I'm so glad I'm in India but then we

have free education free free there

there are some advantages yeah of course

and I don't own things like I live in

the house of my wife I don't have a

house okay my car is the company car I

don't have a car personally so

everything I do is just trying to buy

the maximum of shares of so you're like

all in like in the casino I'm just all

whoo but how do you feel in India

everything is would be significantly

cheaper for you compared to your

previous uh residences so uh are you

able to like like how how is the

lifestyle changed um my life decreased a

lot um so I'm living in a very small

house and think but I think it's good

because the best way to be happy in life

is to lower your expectations when you

have low expectation you don't expect

anything it's easy to be happy and uh so

for me in Belgium I didn't have big cars

and big was nothing I don't even own a

house it's I I live in the one I mean as

a founder of a unicorn company uh you

could afford to do all of those things

if I'm not wrong so I could but money is

not important what matters is what you

do

what drives me is the impact we have in

all the companies where we deploy or do

to deliver good software to develop good

software like most people when they get

money they would like you know go at

least travel the world you know do a

little bit of vacations I'm not I'm not

able to understand why you don't want to

Vacation like how does how does that

because I get bought you know if I go to

a beach I get bought what I love and

what I do is to build things and um in

vacation for me really some most of the

time my wife goes in vacation without me

okay she goes and I still walking

because I love it so do you have like a

500 a.m. wake up routine like what most

billionaires have like what's your wake

up routin no no I just uh I have no

routine okay I no I my agenda one one

thing I like is to have my agenda clear

I have no meeting during the day so I

choose what I do you don't have no

meetings during the day uh maximum one

per day how is that possible teach me um

a lot of CEOs they are victim of their

agenda a lot of people book meeting for

them got I need this this this I don't

and because I don't work with clients I

don't want with say I don't want I I

want to own my agenda but I manage what

I want to do I don't have a secretary so

nobody's booking Mee for me I just

decide what I do and finally where you

plan to settle down for the rest of your

life oh I don't know you know what you

will do who me where I want to I'm

pretty sure you don't know it's

impossible but I've just started so I

don't know yeah I'm starting too you've

been doing it for 20 years no no no I

have zero 0.1% of the market the market

is so big that my company is just 0.1%

of the maret really so it's I'm only

starting I still have a lot of things to

do like you my God so and it's already

worth4 billion dollar yeah all right Mr

faban I think um that brings us to the

end of the show um I personally learned

a lot of things about U um what are the

difficult things that an entrepreneur

goes through uh in your 20-year Journey

it's been two years for me you've been

doing it for 20 years um looks like a

lot of hard days may or may not come but

if they come I hope I will watch this

video again and feel better about those

hard disc if they don't come it's

because you don't grow fast enough okay

you have take more risks got it I I get

it thank you so much and thank you guys

for watching till the end and I'll see

you in the next

one