He Sold A Company For $555 Million And Now Advises PE Firms As A Board Member

Embarking on the entrepreneurial journey is like diving into a vast ocean of uncertainties, challenges, and opportunities. In a recent interview with Guy Willner, an experienced entrepreneur with a string of ventures spanning decades, we gleaned invaluable insights into surviving crises.

Guy also talked at length about raising funds, understanding private equity, maintaining work-life balance, and contemplating the future of AI. He also reveals his understanding of the role of private equity and venture capital firms.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

A Journey Shaped by Diversity and Learning

Guy is originally from Oxford, though his parents were not English. His mother is Norwegian, and his father is French-Austrian.

So, essentially a foreigner growing up in England, Guy went to Oxford Brookes University to study engineering. He had to choose to be a lawyer, a consultant, a doctor, or work a corporate job.

Guy’s schooling started far from the predictable paths of corporate life, evolving through diverse experiences from failed A-levels due to a passion for music to contemplating a career in the military or Air Force.

In Guy’s opinion, joining the military was advantageous since the military training could give him a complete education.

He ended up applying to the Air Force to be an engineer officer since engineers were kind of second class to the pilots in peace times. While pilots are still flying, engineers make sure that the air base runs smoothly and the toilets are clean.

Working in Paris and Hungary

Inspired by friends traveling to different parts of the world to pursue diverse careers. Guy resigned after two years and moved to Paris to join his older sister, who was a fashion designer in the city. His objective was to find a job and learn the language.

Guy spent five years in Paris and another three years in Hungary, where he worked with Vivendi, building telecom networks. Guy describes the experience as similar to running a startup for a very big company.

The venture world was not developed as yet and Guy’s transition into the corporate world is an interesting story. He remembers wanting to start a business at 35 and needing a chairman for the company.

Being naive became an advantage because, as Guy reveals, had he known the risks, he might not have ventured into entrepreneurship.

Raising Funding for and Building IXEurope

One of the first things Guy did was try to raise $2.5M or £2M to build a small data center, and had no takers. On the advice of a friend in banking, he instead applied for £20M or $25M in funding and instantly attracted investor interest. Guy was asked for a business plan, which he put together.

Eventually, Guy raised £10M with a PowerPoint presentation sometime in 1999. In June 1999, the dot-com bust hit the UK, but a year later, he successfully raised another £42M or $53M. A few months later, he and his co-founder, Christophe de Buchet, were on the road trying to float IXEurope.

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Sometime in October 2000, they took IXEurope public on the London Stock Exchange. Its product was basically a box to house computers. And Guy and his team were raising money to invest in data centers.

Gradually, the business plan iterated into four countries: the UK, France, Germany, and Switzerland.

JP Morgan had already invested in some businesses and had two data centers in Zurich and Frankfurt. The company invested in IXEurope but was acquired by Equinix during the dot-com bust for close to $555M.

The Learning Experience – From Zero to Exit

Guy remembers that challenging time and the team’s dedicated efforts toward cutting costs and keeping the company running. He talks about the transitions his first startup company went through and building it up from zero over nine years.

Even so, Guy considers it a win since they successfully floated the company on the secondary market in the UK. Within a period of nine months, the shares went up by about 4.5x.

However, for Guy, it was an incredible learning experience to go through the full lifecycle of a business from start to exit.

In retrospect, Guy got an understanding of his skills personally and what he could bring to the table. He also learned to laugh about his weaknesses and be humble and candid. Guy considers his co-founder, Christophe de Buchet, a blessing that saved him from a complete breakdown.

Joining Teraco Data Environments

After the exit, Guy joined the board at Teraco Data Environments, which gave him structure. Every month, he was traveling to South Africa or on video calls with the boards in the area.

Eventually, this company was also acquired for $125M, and Guy gained important lessons on how to run an effective board.

He also learned the importance of company culture, teamwork, and a positive, constructive environment. The acquirers of Teraco were positive and magnanimous to the management team, which was crucial in the early days of sales in data centers.

Building International Data Centre Group

Guy’s next vision was building a global club or platform for data centers, but he had little luck convincing people about his idea’s veracity. The concept was ahead of its time and beginning to fail.

Guy was working with a team of graduates and then was approached by a European Bank with an offer to run a project in Russia.

Guy got the offer to be the chairman, and when he went to Moscow, he met an Englishman who was trying to build a data center business in the city. Since the concept demonstrated potential, Guy connected with the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.

IFC was an investor in Guy’s previous business, Teraco, so he was able to raise £350M or ~$444M for International Data Centre Group. Eventually, he also attracted funding from Goldman Sachs, PIMCO, Mubadala Development Company, and Tourmo Group.

Private Equity: Unraveling the Dynamics

In shedding light on private equity, Guy unravels the intricate dynamics that govern this sector. From the cyclical nature of fund-raising to the importance of delivering results within a fixed time interval.

As Guy explains, understanding the language and modus operandi of private equity firms becomes indispensable for entrepreneurs navigating this funding channel. While he speaks an operational and management language, PEs speak differently.

PE firms have a five to six-year cycle; every five to six years, they have to go and raise another fund, which is a really difficult and complicated process.

As a result, the business is not good for long play. Since data centers are typically 10-year plays, the relationship between PEs and the data center industry is very complex.

Having spent 10 to 11 years at the company, Guy was running an office in London with JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Brothers. The company floated on NASDAQ, and two weeks later, the war started.

Suddenly, Guy became redundant in the company and his equity in the business in Russia became zero. That was a challenging time, and he had to pick up the pieces and take care of his family. Luckily for him, Guy still had his business in Kenya, the IXAfrica Data Centre Nairobi.

Around that time, an investor approached Guy with the offer to advise a company across Africa. He joined as a senior advisor, and soon after, PIMCO in Europe reached out with a request for assistance in Western Europe. They offered to roll out big data centers there.

That’s how Guy ended up jet-setting across Russia and advising in Africa and Western Europe with two separate PE firms.

IXAfrica Data Centre Nairobi

Guy talks about his experiences with data centers in Kenya. As he explains, every country and culture is different, and Kenya is a young country with an average age of 21 years, compared to 49 years in Europe.

The head of HR was born in 1999 and is young, enthusiastic, and well-educated, which Guy found really exciting. When he built the data center, it was a $50M project, and local contractors were hired to work on it, without the assistance of expats–an indication of the dynamism of the continent.

One of the key differences that Guy notes about working in Africa and the Western world is that contracts are not transactional but driven primarily by trust. He advises entrepreneurs to look for people they can absolutely trust and demonstrate that they are there to build a relationship.

At the moment, Guy reveals that he is on the board of a Brazilian data center company with Goldman Sachs. Although he works with global companies, he no longer holds a full-time job but prefers to sit on boards and advise PE firms.

The Future of AI

Guy traces the evolution of the data center market, which started off with little telecom companies putting their telephone exchanges in buildings, which then morphed into the Internet. Next, everyone from Spotify to Meta wanted to put their equipment close to the end user, which grew quickly.

Then came the cloud, and companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon brought cloud computing, another type of data center and a big regional hub. Now, with AI entering the fray and people using it everywhere, people are beginning to run out of computing power across the planet.

As Guy opines, no one knows about AI’s future, but the more machines are integrated into systems, the more efficient products will get.

Work-Life Balance: Nurturing Relationships Amidst Entrepreneurial Pursuits

Guy’s thoughts on work-life balance highlight the importance of human connection in the midst of entrepreneurial passion. While entrepreneurship requires dedication, nurturing relationships and taking breaks are essential to maintain personal well-being and lasting connections.

Guy looks back at his life and sees it as a fascinating adventure. He reconnects with the people he partnered with in building his companies and focuses on relationships.

While building companies is addictive, he underscores the importance of pacing himself. With that aim, he rarely works weekends.

Parting Wisdom: Embracing Change and Seizing Opportunities

Guy’s parting wisdom emphasizes the importance of embracing change, seizing opportunities, and building resilience.

His journey showcases the power of diversity, resilience, and relationships in the world of entrepreneurship. His insights can guide aspiring founders to succeed in today’s dynamic business landscape.

Listen to the full podcast transcript to know more, including:

• Guy’s journey underscores the power of resilience in navigating challenges and turning setbacks into opportunities.
• From failed A-levels to founding startups, embracing adaptability is key to thriving in the entrepreneurial landscape.
• Entrepreneurs must grasp the cyclical nature and operational language of private equity firms to navigate fundraising and partnerships effectively.
• Maintaining a balance between professional pursuits and personal well-being is crucial for sustained success and meaningful relationships.
• Understanding the implications of AI on computing demands and technological trajectories is essential for businesses navigating the digital frontier.
• Lessons learned from the dot-com bubble emphasize the importance of strategic foresight, agility, and learning from past experiences.
• Embracing change, seizing opportunities, and fostering resilience are paramount for entrepreneurial success in an ever-evolving world.

 

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