Gael de Kerdanet
Business Law graduate from Paris II Assas, with MBA from City University. Currently working at Sparkbox Ltd as CEO & Director.
| Headline: | Entrepreneur |
| Industries: | Computing, Entertainment, Gaming, Information Technology, Internet |
| Skills: | Business, English, French, Languages, Law, Management, Marketing, Spanish |
| Location: | Sydney - Australia |
| Groups: | Australian Entrepreneurs, International Network of Social Entrepreneurs (INSE) |
| Visas: | Europe, Australasia |
| Interested in: | Advising startups, Brainstorming, Consulting opportunities, Employment opportunities, Finding business partners, Finding cofounders, Finding team mates, Giving back, Helping friends, Joining a startup, Meeting new people, Mentoring, Offering Expertise, Professional opportunities, Promoting my startups, Providing services to startups, Raising money, Recruiting for my startup, Shadowing, Starting a company, Trading services |
| Tags: | bdm, entrepreneur, europe. new product development, marketing strategy. sydney, new software, software launch, start-up, Strategy, strategy consultant |
| Schools: | City University, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) |
FULL BIO
A passionate CEO / marketing & business strategist, with 25 years successful track record launching or re-launching offerings and companies within the software, tourism and communication industries within small, medium and large business environments in EU, USA and Australasian markets; possessing strong leadership, analytical and lateral thinking skills honed within a multi-cultural environment.
Looking for a progressive role within a fast moving company with an international presence / outlook.
WORK EXPERIENCE
| Employer: | Hedgehog Consulting |
| Position: | Principal |
| Time period: | January 2009 - Present |
| Description: | I moved to Sydney in January 2009, where I set-up a Business Development / Marketing Strategy Consultancy, specialized in helping start-ups. Currently involved with 2 exciting companies (Txt2Get – www.txt2get.co.nz and still Calcium Software – www.calcium.co.nz) I have some free time and am always looking for new challenges! So, if I can help in any way, do not hesitate to contact me! |
| Employer: | Sparkbox Ltd, Auckland, NZ |
| Position: | CEO |
| Time period: | June 2003 - September 2006 |
| Description: | Sparkbox was the first professional Angel investment company in NZ in 1993. I was offered to helm it in October 03 following my initial involvement with two of its investment portfolio companies (First Rate and Virtual Katy). My responsibilities covered recommending and implementing strategies for companies within Sparkbox’s portfolio; identify, analyse and recommend new investment opportunities; raise the overall profile of Sparkbox as well as that of the Angel segment in NZ; act as a trouble shooter if/when required. I left Sparkbox in October 2006 to concentrate fully on Calcium.
Results: • Instrumental in raising the profile of Angel investment in NZ, and helping the NZ government create “SCIF” (Small Company Investment Fund), NZ government’s investment co-funding Angel vehicle; • Sparkbox has become the de facto “Angel Capital” leader in NZ (first member of NZVCA “Angel Capital” category), and one of the 5 initial “SCIF” partner; • Sparkbox was a founding Board member of The Icehouse’s Angel club; • Investment portfolio grew from 2 to 7 companies, with an overall portfolio ROI of 20% year on year in 2006; • Raised $2,7m for Virtual Katy whilst First-Rate successfully sold in 2006 for $8m. |
| Employer: | Calcium Software Ltd, Auckland, NZ - 12 staff |
| Position: | CEO & Director |
| Time period: | April 2003 - December 2008 |
| Description: | In May of 2003 I accepted a position as CEO of Calcium Software Ltd from Sparkbox Ltd, reporting to Sparkbox’s chairman. The brief was straightforward: either close or relaunch the company and its offering (Emailhead, a “daily email template” proof of concept). Following an extensive market research, we decided to go ahead and I spent the following 2 years redeveloping Emailhead. During that time I also negotiated a merger with another start-up, NexsysDev, to acquire both a CTO and a tracking technology (Imprint, a web analytics offering). We eventually launched two products (a daily email solution - mailPrimer 121, and an email newsletter engine - Hot Prospect) in March 05 and June 06 respectively. Responsible for the overall strategy and product road-map, I have also been in charge of the funding and day to day management of Calcium.
Results: • Gained 250+ customers since launch dates, including ALC Legal, AJ Park, Datamail, Direct Broking, iStart, Konica Minolta, Facilitate Digital, Finance Direct, Hafele NZ / AU, Formway, Hell Pizza, NZIM, Red Balloon Days, Strategic Finance, Skills4Work, Snowplanet, Telecom, Unlimited Magazine, Warehouse Stationary, Wellington Chamber of Commerce… • mailPrimer 121 and Hot Prospects have become technical leaders within their respective segments; • Following extensive competitive research and in-house testing, Datamail (50% DM market in NZ) has selected Calcium as the sole provider of its electronic invoicing platform, mailPost (a combination of mailPrimer and Hot Prospect) – a $2m / year income potential. Part of the agreement was also for Calcium to become Datamail’s partner in the email marketing segment; • Raised $1.5m funding and $700k government grants to date; • T/o 2007-08 - $1m, directly responsible for ½ of T/o (NZ and AU customers). |
| Employer: | Canon Inc - Criterion Software Ltd (CSL) |
| Position: | General Manager, IB Group, Derby, UK - 7 staff |
| Time period: | December 2001 - March 2003 |
| Description: | Promoted to take full P&L responsibility of Criterion Software’s new division, Industrial and Business Group, created to manage a loss making real-time 3D business acquired in 2001. I was directly responsible for IB Group’s overall strategy definition & implementation, R&D and sales.
Results: • Re-positioned and re-launched the technology as a real-time 3D offering, mantra4D, aimed at the digital factory management market (real-time visualisation) within the Automotive, Manufacturing, Plant & Retail industries; • Identified and recruited distribution channels in Germany, France and UK; • Negotiated strategic alliances with Bentley, iQvolution, Technomatix; • Acquired blue chip customers included Audi, DaimlerChrysler and VW; Daimler Chrysler standardised its Digital Factory strategy on mantra4D in 2003; • IB Group became profitable in 2004 with a T/o of UKP1.5m. |
| Employer: | Canon Inc - Criterion Software Ltd (CSL) |
| Position: | Head of Marketing, Guildford, UK - 8 staff |
| Time period: | September 2000 - November 2001 |
| Description: | Promoted to create and oversee a worldwide marketing strategy for Renderware - a multi-platform game engine. My target was to make Renderware the de-facto leader in the game industry, WW. Responsibilities included market research; product lifecycle management (market analysis, offering definition, positioning and launching; sales collaterals and training; exhibitions ( GDC & E3 – USA / ECTS – EU / Milia - FR); and strategic marketing (value chain, competitor and customers needs analysis).
Results: • Successfully extended RenderWare as a “platform” (RenderWare Graphics), including three new products (RenderWare Audio, RenderWare Physics and RenderWare Studio); • RenderWare Graphics became worldwide market leader in 2002 from the ground up with 75% market share; • T/o reached US$8m in 2001 and customers list included all key market players - Activision, Electronic Arts, Midway, Sierra, Sony Computers Entertainment America, THQ (U.S.); Konami (JP); Creations, DMA Design, Eidos, Rage (UK); Cryo, Infogrames, Titus, Ubisoft (FR); • (EA purchased CSL in 2004 for US$80m). |
| Employer: | Canon Inc - Criterion Software Ltd (CSL) |
| Position: | Business Development Manager, Guildford, UK - 15 staff |
| Time period: | December 1999 - August 2000 |
| Description: | Initially seconded to CSL (Canon Research Europe’s sister company, responsible for commercialising technologies developed at CRE) for three months to launch UCanTalk, CRE’s new Speech Recognition offering. Subsequently invited to take worldwide responsibility for the business development of CSL’s own troubled flagship 3D offering, RenderWare Graphics. Responsible for US and EMEA sales.
Results: • Initiated a 3 years / US$2.4m worldwide license agreement of UCanTalk to IBM; • Launched Successfully RenderWare Graphics worldwide; • Initiated and negotiated a $400k license of Renderware to QNX (RTOS – Canada); • Instigated a 3 years / US$2m distribution agreement of Metrowerks’ IDE product range (CodeWarrior, CATS and ATtaCKS for PlayStation 2 and GAMECUBE) in our EMEA sales channels; • Recruited and managed sales channels in US, UK and EU leading to US$2.1m sales “from-the-ground-up” (100% above target) for RenderWare Graphics in first year of trading; • RenderWare Graphics awarded “British Game Design Innovation Award.” |
| Employer: | Canon Inc - Canon Research Europe Ltd (CRE), Guildford, UK |
| Position: | Strategic Marketing Manager |
| Time period: | April 1998 - November 1999 |
| Description: | Promoted to take full product management responsibility for UCanTalk (SR) and overall Strategic Marketing responsibility for CRE. Responsible for:
• Strategy & positioning recommendation (segment growth / attractiveness / competition); • All branding, pricing structure, USP and sales collaterals; • Identification and follow-up of prospective customers worldwide; • Trend analysis, including Internet’s future impact on Canon’s Value-chain; • Introduced Added Value (CFROI and NPV) and portfolio theories as an unbiased way of evaluating research themes within CRE. Result: • Canon Inc. agrees for CRE to launch UCanTalk as an independent offering through its business arm, Criterion Software Ltd. |
| Employer: | Canon Inc - Canon Research Europe Ltd (CRE), Guildford, UK |
| Position: | Strategic Market Planner |
| Time period: | March 1997 - March 1998 |
| Description: | Invited to join CRE (Canon Inc’s first research and development laboratory outside Japan, founded by Dr Nagashi-san, inventor of the bubble jet printing process) to help define Canon’s strategy in the Speech Recognition (SR) field. Responsible for:
• Analysing PEST trends for next 10 years; • Market segmentation, customers needs/wants and CSFs analysis for each segment; • Full competitors analysis (strategy, financial and SWOT) of all key SR players; • Defining and implementing competitive intelligence & benchmarking resource. Result: • Identified a new segment in the SR market (Command and Control) and drove R&D to deliver a technology that met this segment’s drivers |
| Employer: | Centre d’Echanges Internationaux, - France’s “Youth Tourism” leader, London, UK |
| Position: | Various positions |
| Time period: | December 1991 - November 1997 |
| Description: | • Deputy General Manager - 1994 to 1997 (US$2m T/o - 33 staff)
Created 5 profit centres, doubled UK division T/o and posted 3 per cent net profit in 1996. • Marketing & IT Manager - 1992 to 1994 Marketed UK services and developed IT strategy. |
| Employer: | Agence Piranhas sarl- first French “Events Creation” company, Paris, France |
| Position: | Managing Director |
| Time period: | December 1989 - November 1992 |
| Description: | Redefined company strategy, developed customer base and re-established
profitability. “New clients” portfolio included L’Oreal and Siemens-Nixdorf. |
| Employer: | Alliance Française, Wellington, NZ |
| Position: | General Manager |
| Time period: | December 1987 - November 1990 |
| Description: | In lieu of military service, seconded to reorganise local Alliance. Tripled
T/o, eliminated losses and established Wellington as leading NZ Alliance. |
| Employer: | Agence Piranhas sarl, Paris, France |
| Position: | BDM & Producer |
| Time period: | December 1981 - November 1988 |
| Description: | Many events, inc. Trophee Lancôme & Fauchon’s 100th anniversary. |
EDUCATION
| University: | City University |
| Time period: | 1994 - 1996 |
| Degree: | MBA |
| University: | Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) |
| Time period: | 1981 - 1988 |
| Degree: | Business Law, BA |
INFORMATION
| Hobbies: | Sailing, Squash, Skiing, Riding, Bridge, Reading, Photography, Music |
| Memberships: | AMBA, FSPS, FRSA, MA, MiMgt, MIOD, SMINZ |
