There is something really (b2)big happening

- everything is simply moving into the browser and API’s- and there is no end to the change this will bring to the ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE business as we know it. (Know that we are all onFacebook).

Note: In my humble opinion most new SaaS products you see – is just an idea of putting an existing piece of server-side software or a client application – like Salesforce :)

SaaS

Nothing wrong with that – but its ALL ABOUT THE SOFT PROCESSES. Think of FACEBOOK as the global educator in “stream experience”. Facebook (Twitter) will make demand of change in business software: How-come you are much more updated on your remote friends weekendtrips – then you are updated  on your company and colleagues last efforts – well the answer is simple – the is NO INFORMATION STREAM in you company.

Change an Industry that has been locked down by legacy and time

First Everbread

(Im CEO)- is a VERY deep play in the basic simple idea of redoing something that is so old and important – that time has madde it look impossible to change. But with a team of 35 superbrains and a strategic leader who can really direct a vision into reality – then time and technology has really proven ready to CHANGE. Everbread is in sales dialogue and has signed deal – with all to key players in the travel industry. Why: Because its GOOD – well done – disruptive – and the new managers in the travel sector wants to use technology – not just be in a “thats how we have always done this” job. Everbread only lack the appstore play – until now – other then that its the biggest play I have even been close to understanding.

Second Tradeshift

Every government or Fortune 5000 company in the world can save min 50mio$ pr year – in one days work of setting Tradeshift up – because the long tail of suppliers - 60% are on paper (it costs 16$ for a Gov or Large Company to recieve a paper invoice (KMPG report states)) suddenly can deliver instantly digitally – with seemless integration to existing processes. And basicly no one has to spend their day opening paper invoices and/or retype PDF documents into their ERP system.

Tradeshift has 60.000 hours of code under the hood – and rocks a paradigm (EDI) in its purest form – and maybe even the fundamental idea of how to do accounting. Mr Lanng (speaking at NEXT10 about this very subject!) – the co-founder said something I wonder about nearly every day: “When I was in government – we always tried to jumped the idea of selfservice and go directly to AUTOMATING processes without user intervention.” Think about it – accounting and payment can be done automatically if you setup the right parameters and infrastructure. And the whole idea of a lot of these messages like a credit note – is just legacy – why dont we just do a collaborative draft and agree on it – then the rest is just a process that can be automated when agreed on (the hard part is security and soft processes). This is the real revolution for small business, they can start seeing their business as a network and not as a bunch of administrative processes (they run in the background).

But this doesn’t stop here, imagine that all those processes are wrapped into a cloud platform with open API’s (not like the closed EDI and bank networks of today) there is even endless amount of applications to be be build by third parties – and ecosystem that can evolve - a crowd-sourced movement of impact. OK – Im fired up – but Im pretty sure you can see that something big is coming here – off course you have to be hyper optimistic – but there is no lack of that on the team.

Third Hoist (my bizz stream)

Im not involved – but Im a fan – and its not funded – but Im pushing them a bit to take a hard-hitter CEO and then some smart Do$. Here you have a Danish startup with an amassing collaboration system. Oh shit that sounds like the 90′ies – but here is a smart piece of software that can create a STREAM for groups of coworkers. And its done in a amazingly simple and smart way / so that project and companies automatically! creates a stream by putting their – meetings, tasks, events, brainstorms in here… This is so much bigger

Both in Tradeshift and EVERBREAD something is upside down

When 2-5bio§ revenue companies cold call us or contacts us from the webform – despite our very very silent existence – you can feel winds of change – or is it just wind from the CloudService centers airconditioning? :)

MARTIN SCHAEDEL INTERNSHIP SCHOLARSHIP

When I landed in Paris 3 weeks after my bankruptcy I got a facebook message from a stranger – “your friend (my student in entrepreneurship since he was 18) has died in a plane crash pls call me”. Today is a BIG DAY – but I only got through all of this to show @Martin that I meant it when I said persistence is everything in entrepreneurship. Therefore TODAY IS DEDICATED TO the launch of MARTIN SCHAEDEL INTERNSHIP SCHOLARSHIP

UPDATE from a Bankrupt To My Dear: Fam. & Backers & Valuable Readers

(This will be my last post about bankruptcy and how it feels).

Its been a silly tough time since I realized that I had to close my newspaper 19months ago. Being insolvent and bankrupt is no real fun. Personally is has meant that I have been out of cash (as in NO credit card no nothing) – everything i controlled was taken by the government appointed lawyers.

Ive been loaded since i was 26

- when I sold Neo Ideo – with Lars, Jimmy and Thomas. But – let me tell you something. It has been a huge relief and friend$perience*. I had accumulated way to much crap (why the fuck did I have more art than I could have on my walls: wanna be artsy hip’ass) – out of desire to show the world (my mum and my high-school friends?) how smart and fast and brilliant I was. Well now you think – he has to say so. But this is true to everything I have ever done – and true I have been (mostly) :) – putting my money where my mouth was – and ALL OF IT.

REALITY ALERT: Dont even think about feeling sorry for me. I could have had a badly paid job at a restaurant and been fired – with nowhere to go!!!

After the shellshock – and some crap from a couple of people here end there (something that was a dot in the story but was filling 99% of the picture) – I can say now: I’m so happy to have seen whats supposed to be the button. The self pity vanished fast – and I just started charging for what I do (instead of being Santa Claus handing out money to every kind guy with half a good idea. I now had to get involved and charge for my time/network/ideas – (I know it sounds absolutely wacked) – but it was actually much less lonely and now I knew that no one was hanging out just because I had the biggest bag of candy. I had no candy tied to my leg – and a few guys (and girls) stopped calling :)

Note: My Mum was as ever cool: “Morten, dont worry – you got yourself into this stiff – and ofcourse you can get yourself out…” – and yes Im lucky to be born with good genes and such fine psychology.

TIPS TO GET TROUGH SHIT

1) Use your MUM – family and friends
2) Get (stay) in shape
3) Change yourself (u where probably on a wrong track)
4) Blame only yourself*
5) Reject (politely) all the people who want to share problems
6) Remember you started with nothing – so its like coming home

*Morten Nissen Nielsen and Svenn Dam (Chairman and CEO) – whom I trusted in my newspaper venture should take this medicine. I owe them everything – I love them for having me declared bankrupt – otherwise I would have been under management from banks and THEM (I offered them a seat in my board to manage this ship trough the crisis – so they could get the money that I really would have loved to give them). Now they have been blaming ME and EVERYONE around them for all kinds of crap – instead of creating value. But unfortunately I had a call with the Media Mogul number one in Denmark (Jørgen Eibøl) too late. He told me that these guys are driven by revenge and hate – and never kept one single budget in their lives. They dont even care about building value Svenn is on his second 200mioEUR burn with Dansk Bredbånd (a hopeless case) – just crash and burn and blaming everyone around him. Today they get 1mioDKR for the sad job they did at the paper – and the keep blaming EVERYONE – according the them even the official receiver is now a fool… But from my heart – I love them (“Its all about luck” – and maybe some Mental Tai Chi and a good psychologist)- and they where fucking amassing at keeping the agressivness and spirit high. And they found the most amasing journalists (and sales team and logistics team) all people I still admire (and talk to a lot) for producing a FANTASTIC PRODUCT. And if it would have been legal I would have paid them every single € i promised them – EVERY SINGLE ONE. And still today they collected 1mioDKR – whats consideren a LOTTERY WIN in Denmark.

Morten Nissen Nielsen got the special watch I give to super-talents - and I still think he can become a superstar – . I will never talk about this again – its out of my system and I love them.

Its a Rollercoaster – “faster faster”

If you have had the insane luck that I’ve been surrounded by – and consider yourself a human aggressive curious Joe from the countryside – not overly impressed with how things work. And you dare to take a shot at even the biggest structures – then I have ONE VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF ADVICE. Be sure that the roller-coaster has a lot of speed when you go down – that might take you up faster :). I’m bullshitting – but

*friend$pirience – its UN FUCKING REAL

This is NOT AN Oscars thank you list – I just want to show how many people it takes to try to make a survival. You need quite an army of helpers and people – and since every rule and legal opinion has to be from experts – its not cheap.  And trying to raise funds to buy myself free has also been a WONDERFULL EXPERIENCE. Here is an anonymous list of favours that came in from a circle of close friends and people I nearly dont know (you all know who you are):

C: My lawyer has been unreal
D: My other lawyer – offered free advise
X: An expert lawyer I did not know came by and told me to just use him

S: has given me accounting and financial advise (despite his partners resitance)

S: got me 6months free at the gym

m: for hiring me instantly as a consultant
m: who I used in boards – helped with pocket money loan
j: old friend – just made a cash commitment if I would get a chance to buy myself out
r: showed up with pocket money at my door and a kondi vand
m: sendt me pocket money from Miami
g: whom i met 4 times – just made a cash commitment if I would get a chance to buy myself out
k: whom I met 2 times – made a bailout account in 7h when an oppertunity came
m: who’m a met 4 times – just made a cash commitment if I would get a chance to buy myself out
t: my close friend – just made a cash commitment if I would get a chance to buy myself out
m: austrian drinking buddy – just made a cash commitment if I would get a chance to buy myself out
p: who’m I never met – got me a place to work and live from

l: who bailed out the accountants to do the books for the holdings to stay alive
p: who I owe a lot of money… after today
m: who I owe a lot of money… after today
j: who I owe a lot of money… after today
visby: who I owe a lot of money… after today
m: for giving me 1000DKR without mentioning that day when my card was taken.

m: who sent me 6 bottles of wine

BMW: for transferring the car to another company and not taking everything down so that my xwife has had a car.
Henrik E. – Forstadernes Bank: who trust in me coming back one day. Thanx Henrik!

Alexander the COO of my life: (former BullGuard): Who stepped in (12 months ago) and has been my wingman and survival manager when it comes to paperwork, contracts and my new job – I cant say thank you enough.

Speaking gigs: Lots of companies and organisations have been hiring me to tell my story – and its been a good way to keep up the spirit. And who could say no to go to: Milan, Zurich, Paris, NYC, Tokyo… and talk about they ego and get everything paid for + having lots of inspirering people sending hundreds of emails… (I do have to say that the speech/show is getting GOOD and FUNNY).

As you can read out of this – all these people gave me the the chance to buy myself free via loans – but I will not be out of dept for the next 10years – mentally nor personally. I still kick my self over the small business owners who lost money from the paper and the employees who lost their jobs – the big ones (Companies and top2 management) collected together 150mio+EUR in revenue. And the VAT we paid was an insane number…

Do I regret personally

NOPE – I have more experience than ANYONE I KNOW in my age  - and I have learned a lot about friendships and see the world even more positive than before. And now my kids now the price of taking the train – and THEY LOVE IT. You could also call it the worlds most expensive MBA :)

Will I go all in again – hmm – hope not. But as one of my backers said yesterday: “Im also here next time my friend..” Im out…!