Yet2com Blog

We started yet2.com ten years ago this month. Since so much of our business is about people, I thought I’d thank ten people without whom we could not have built this business. Unfortunately, I don’t have room for more than ten — and there are a lot more.

But first, some context.

I remember meeting Phil Stern for the first time at a fish restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware in July of 1999. In the early days, it seemed that all the key meetings were dinners. We raised $48 million, and I gained 24 pounds… which led to Ben’s Law (not quite as famous as Moore’s Law): If you are not careful, you will gain a half-pound per million dollars raised.

We raised a lot of money… and we spent most of it figuring out how to build a product, and then a business. We opened offices in Tokyo, Japan and Manchester, England (we’re now in Liverpool). We were bought by Scipher (a public company in the UK) in 2002 — and no more than twelve months later, Phil, Tim Bernstein, and I bought it back.

Then the fun really started.

Over the years, we’ve matured and figured out how to service our clients, grow our business — and most importantly close deals — and bring great new technology to market.

At first, we started out helping companies sell their underutilized technologies. Then it made sense to help companies scout for technology that we did not already have in inventory. After that, we added patents to the mix, and most recently we’ve added venture capital to “fund the gap.” The biggest challenge always is listening to the market, listening to all the great ideas to help us improve. This is where having a lot of smart friends matters.

It has been a hell of an adventure, and I’ve loved every minute. I’m sure that the next ten years will be even more fun.

Now for the thank-yous to some of the smart people who’ve helped us and asked us tough questions along the way.

• Bob Hirsch — applied physics from Harvard, 30+ years with DuPont managing about every interesting business there. We could not have built yet2.com without him.
• John Sculley — former CEO of Apple and Pepsi. I really worked hard to convince him to speak at our conference a few years back. He’s been a great friend ever since and a source of solid advice.
• Ruud Peters — CEO of Philips IP. He is the Walter Cronkite of IP, one of the most trusted men in the industry.
• Luc Vanmaele — AGFA. I know that Phil has hosted his children when they visited America. He’s been an enormous help.
• Mehmet Oz — America knows him on television as “Doctor Oz.” For us, he’s been more than an advisor, and for me more than a friend.
• Rob Van Leen — CIO of DSM. He’s been a good friend… and a remarkably good bowler.
• Ralf Dujardin — Bayer Innovations. I can’t even remember when I first met Ralf. I feel like I’ve always known him. He’s a real friend, plus I just love his accent.
• Susumu Koike — Vice President of Panasonic Koike-san is one of the smartest people I’ve met and I’m grateful for his friendship.
• Shinji Ina — General Manager, Sony. Ina-san has been a consistent source of sound advice and counsel
• Jeff Weedman — P&G. For all of the ten years, Jeff has been a visionary and a friend. We could not have built yet2 without him.

Thank you for the first 10 years…..and here is to the next 10

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 8:34 pm and is filed under commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.