Your first work experience during your high school years was on construction sites. Was this the reason you studied civil engineering?

Yes, but it was more than that. I just wanted to make money in the first place. I did not expect that working on construction sites would turn into an invaluable school-of-life experience for me. I learned to get up early and get things done even though they were hard. I had to gain respect from people of different ages and backgrounds and enjoyed the camaraderie you find in this environment. It was tough, but it turned me from a boy into a man.

You founded Olmero with Oliver Behnen while you two were still Ph.D. students. What gave you the impetus to try out entrepreneurship instead of presumably safer career options?

Back then, in 2000, the internet was still quite new and in a hype phase. Our idea came from leveraging new technology to address one of the big pain points of the construction industry. For every construction project, a multitude of different companies need to work together. Finding the right partners by tendering parts of a construction project was an inefficient and intransparent process. It created mountains of paperwork. Olmero was born with the ambition to digitize this process. Our approach was a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service model before these terms were even known. The market potential was big, obviously, but the defining moment was the McKinsey Venture 2000 competition when, out of 136 teams, Olmero won the second prize. This recognition fueled our enthusiasm. The visibility also allowed us to raise capital with the support from people from the construction industry.

What was the biggest challenge to building Olmero into a successful company?

We had the software and the funding sorted out, but the biggest challenge was to change people’s behavior. At that time, it was common in the construction industry to take pride in being traditional and doing things the old way. Additionally, we were in our early 30ies, trying to persuade 50-something year olds with an uncommon idea. There were countless occasions when we encountered substantial resistance to change. More than once we thought that we would never overcome it.

How did you do it?

We truly believed in the foundational idea of Olmero and had passion for it. The latter helped us encounter multiple business angels – people in management positions who supported us in driving adoption where they could. And after a while, the perception changed. It became obvious to almost everyone that digitalization was the future, and it was seen as a sign of lacking vision and perspective to be against it.

This paid off eventually, as Olmero became the market leader. You had a successful exit by selling your Olmero shares to TX Group. Yet, you remained CEO for over a decade and still are, instead of leaving after an earn-out period like many other founders. Why did you stay?

Because there have always been new and interesting challenges. Becoming part of a big group has downsides, such as additional reporting requirements, but they are manageable. The upside was that suddenly I had peers who built and ran successful marketplaces, which was quite interesting. Years later, it became apparent that Olmero wasn’t in TX’s strategic focus anymore. But this wasn’t a dead end either. The sale of Olmero to Byggfakta, which is mainly owned by the private equity firms Stirling Square Capital and TA Associates, added a new international dimension to my work, now we were the ones acquiring companies. On top of that, over the years Olmero’s team became like a family to me. These are people I enjoy working with. In the position of CEO, I can continue to do so and support them in advancing their careers.

The founder has his wealth concentrated in one firm and enjoys a large influence over the company. The investor takes a passive role and diversifies his holdings. The move from one mindset to the other is a tricky one. How did you go about it?

I have always been fascinated by capital markets and investment topics. I bought my first stocks when I was 14. Today, I spend only what I earn, which means that I can invest with a long-term investment horizon. In the beginning, after the exit, I started slowly, investing in stocks, managing part of my holdings myself, and employing an asset manager for the other part. Over the years, my fascination with private equity and venture capital has grown substantially. Compared to a traditional asset allocation, which would assign these two topics only a few percent, I’m heavily overexposed to these asset classes. They make up more than 50% of my portfolio and 100% of my passion as an investor.

Why this concentration in illiquid asset classes?

Olmero’s success was possible only because people did the same, believed in and invested in us. Venture capital advances society. There needs to be an older generation of entrepreneurs that supports the next. Direct investments in startups give people with a vision the chance to develop them. Smaller companies are more agile and innovative than large bureaucratic companies. With startups, one can invest in companies that address some of the world’s biggest challenges. With private equity, I can shape the fortunes of already established smaller companies and put my entrepreneurial experience to work.

Why did you choose to join Verve Ventures’ investor network?

Because I get access to a unique deal flow. The access to information, pitches, and business plans is stimulating. It improves my cognitive abilities and understanding of innovation and provides me with access to new ideas and approaches that support innovative thinking in my role as a CEO. I love the dynamism of the companies Verve invests in, I am genuinely interested following their development, and having a front seat in experiencing how far they can go with little money in a short time frame. I often share with the business leaders within my network how this flow of interesting information and stimulating ideas has a positive influence on my work life in general.

With your background as a successful entrepreneur, you could also have opted to become a business angel and do this work yourself.

As a CEO, I already work more than 100%. Venture capital investments have to be diversified over various targets and I don’t have the time to handle many investment processes or even to go through hundreds of pitch decks myself. I’m happy to delegate that part and also like the objectivity and context given by Verve’s investment team. These are professionals who deal with startups every day. Verve also protects me from engaging into investments I would otherwise pursue largely driven by my mentorship and support intentions. In private equity, I invest through funds and follow some promising direct investments together with friends.

You’re also contributing your PropTech and B2B SaaS know-how to the advisory board of Verve’s Constructive Venture Fund.

Yes. There are still enormous opportunities for disruptive innovation in how cities are built and operated, and I can leverage my investment experience, perspective and professional network for the fund. One big challenge many investors underestimate is that the construction industry still thinks in projects. This slows the adoption of new tools and lengthens sales cycles. In terms of what has already happened, we have seen two big innovation pushes already. The first one was the general digitalization of planning and project management. The second wave was mobile which put digital tools in the hands of foremen on construction sites. The next wave will make insights from the production process itself available and make comparisons across projects easier. Artificial intelligence will have a role to play in this. But again, I’d rather be close to what this means by looking at startups that develop specific applications instead of just reading about AI trends in a newspaper. This way, I contribute various aspects of my industry knowledge and experience, while seizing the opportunity to stay on top of the developments and innovations that startup exposure offers.

This sounds promising, but the environment is tough. Capital for startups has been difficult to come by in 2023.

The broader market environment is what it is. I see it more as a chance than as a challenge. Young companies will always need capital, and when the supply of capital is scarce, I see it as an environment that makes it easier for smart investors to deploy capital and do so at reasonable valuations.