Romain Gauthier On Getting The Backing From A $102 Billion Company To Empower SaaS Startups

Romain Gauthier is using intrapreneurship and the backing of a $107B multinational software powerhouse to fuel the next-generation hypergrowth companies. His venture is Grow by SAP.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to innovate in a larger enterprise
• An intrapreneur being born
• Pitching ideas at larger companies
• The essence of hyper growth companies

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Moreover, I also provided a commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400 million (see it here).

Remember to unlock for free the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.

About Romain Gauthier:

Romain Gauthier is curious and passionate about Tech & Digital. He is eager to create and develop disruptive methods. Romain is currently working at @SAP, a world-leading tech company focusing on innovative solutions for companies in the Service Industries.

Connect with Romain Gauthier:

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Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: Um, already hello everyone and welcome to the deal maker show. So super exciting guests today. We’re going to be talking about intreship. So let we see a different way. You know a different flavor of what we’re used to but you know nonetheless deal and entrepreneurship. But in this case under an organization that has a market cut. Of a $12,0,0,0 I mean it’s a it’s easy to say that but they a lot has gone into that to be able to company like thatt so I guess without further ado. Let’s welcome our guest today roma go tear welcome up to the show.

Romain Gauthier: Thank you I handle thanks and re stuck to be to be on a cold today with you.

Alejandro Cremades: So give us a letter of how walked through memory lane because you were born in southeast of friends in a family with 4 sisters. That’s a lot of sisters.

Romain Gauthier: It’s a lot of sisters and you know like Sa sister friends was born in this you know like in the French of your beautiful place like really really comfortable, but for sisters and you said it right for sisters is’s straight away like you need to make a room for yourself and it’s something where you know if you want to be heard. You need to be here. You need to make some noise you need to take some room and I think it’s been like an amazing you know, like time growing up in this family and just like making sure that like you can forge your character and you need to express yourself read to be heard.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, and what? what?? what?? how? how does that look like when you’re trying to find you know your road now in in in the family because I mean with all with so many systems I mean I see it myself. You know I’m I’m the father of of. 3 girls so is only girls ands only with me in my house So I kind of like understand what you’re saying but way you are young and you’re developing your personality and all that stuff I mean is I can see that That’s a pretty big Deal. So How do how do you go about you know fighting your role.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah, well you know I would say it’s like of like a ah lot of trial and error right? Um, at first you try to get your personality Out. You know in some different ways and so usually like I would say the easiest ways just like to shout and to you know, kind of like take that room. But then all of a sudden you realize you know that like it’s not necessarily the way you should work and it works and like you know it’s It’s about the people around and so starting to understand the way my sister would would ah you know like think the way they would act and also like the rest of the family all of a sudden you start finding yours. But you know like what is. The place that you have and like how you should play it and it’s a lot of so of Compromise right? You just can’t just like have this mindset and like do whatever you want so lot of compromise and like how do I actually be part of like something bigger than just me, but it was interesting like I mean it told me so many things in life even though I have to say sometimes like. Really frustrating.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, and I hear you now now being borning Knees I mean Niece is Beautiful. You know you’d say you got the beach you got like the good life. So How do you get into computers because I mean you’ve studied computer science I mean being you know under. You know the roof you know in front of your computer is not the type of stuff that you would think you know to do when you have those beautiful beaches.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah I mean I think you know the like a few things first like I come from family of like a lot of people who studied computer sense that she brief anding but like 2 of my sisters my parents my uncle and aunt I’ve all done computer science studies like same place than me right? So I knew the teacher they had my parents before. So. We come from this family where it was always kind of like part of of you know discussion and like what we study and what we learn but very on the technical side of things. Um, for me, you know like I saw computer science kind of like as a way to see the world a way to change myself and a way to kind of like take my own paths right. And and you know I I quickly like thought about like computer science as like you know the the tech industry is something that I was always being like very passionate about but like how do I bring this into like the people world because I was very much interested into like meeting people not just the technical side of things. So you know like for me I saw this as like kind of like a past to actually get out of this comfort zone and change myself and See New Horizons and you know like I’m pretty happy I took that road.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, and obviously choices you know, lead you in different directions and you made the choice of going to China and not only it change. You know your perspective. Also it changed your life because you came back with with a girlfriend that is now your wife right? So big decision in your life too. Ah, but but in this case, you know for you.

Romain Gauthier: Yet.

Alejandro Cremades: You know I guess that getting out of needs being able to explore the world. You know I’m sure that also that gave you a different worldview and in a different perspective.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah, completely you know like I think there was probably like 1 of the best things that happened to me and I wonder there because I just want it to be changed I just wanted to wake up in the morning and not knowing what was going to happen. Which was the exact opposite in nice I knew was going to happen I was very happy and you know like got you friends you got a beautiful place and like it’s amazing there but I was like you know what now is the time to really see like what I got and and to really see you know like explore the world and of my mind and and China was for that was like just like the best thing. And that I could do and as you said right? He not only opened my mind. He not only like really made who I am as of today and revealed some aspects of my person to that I didn’t know of but also like yeah like I found you know like my girlfriend fiancee and some to be wifes you know and it’s these kind of like situations where. Don’t really know why you’re doing these things you are just going with the flow and believing in your like instinct and gut- fitting and then of a sudden like things start to line up and planets are aligned and all obviously make sense right? And that’s what happened at that time and everyone was telling you like why are you going to China like you’re very well where you are or like aren’t you going to the us I was like. You know what I can tell you why but I feel like it’s the right thing to do and at the end of the day you know can be happier than that.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, so what would you say was they before Roman and then the after Roman you know you know right? after that experience with China because you’re you’re talking about like this road you know to discovery and and and opening your mind in in different ways. So so what was that after. But before and after.

Romain Gauthier: I think he kind of like ignited a fitting of um, wanting to know more somehow like I think for me the the after China was like I realized that there’s so much more to it than like what I knew or what I thought it was. And that from that point on you know, like it’s just realizing that you start understanding that like you don’t know so many things and so it creates like curiosity. It creates like challenge. It creates like objectives in the long term in the mean term but it creates like a lot of things where like you just get out into you right? And for me, it was it was really. You know the realization that like I have no clue I have no clue and when you get that when you realize that you’re like gez like I can learn so much right? and versus knowing that like I had my nice little life organized and it was kind of like easy and out of sudden just like where am I right. And that was for me like a changing point and I tried to keep having this kind of like you know mindset and like to be in that situation again is like allow yourself to be surprised I didn’t know today. That’s what it is right.

Alejandro Cremades: Um I like that you don’t know. Ah you don’t know as well right? So I think that really getting to that point is is is really incredible now in your case you you came back, you traveled a little bit and so you went to copenhagen you you keep studying there. You did your masters to and and you land in Paris.

Romain Gauthier: Exactly.

Alejandro Cremades: And entering. You know the corporate world. So so s a B So how do you land in essay. What was that process like.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah I mean it was. It was mostly like a you know like circumstances I met a guy who you know was very interesting and like we got a coffee then we got a few drinks and like at the end of today. It was kind of like all right? Well you know I’m working at Scp I’m looking for someone you know. Your profile. What what’t you look into it and and join the team. Um I you know at that point I was like large corporation. It’s going to make my parents happy. You know they’re to be able to sleep easy. They look into the market cab and I was thinking for me, it was like I’m going to learn from like the top right? I’m going to be in that environment where. The products are strong. The teams are so strong and like the values and like I’m going to be part of that. Um, you know, like quite quickly. It kind of like became a also a big challenge because you’re right with like sparkling eyes you know from your studies and you’re ready to change the world and then we put case. Because that’s what it is as well, right? You’re here to execute and deliver on on kind of like the job desk and it was so you know like it helped me understand a bit who I am and like how I can deliver on this. You also created even more need to. Bark and create something different. So.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, so in in in this sense I mean you intrigu here like a really big company. You know over a 1,0 employees. So I mean there’s obviously like all this type of complex processes internal and all that stuff. But 1 thing that you really can’t process is. The importance ah of creating relationships from scratch. So how do you get to that to that point.

Romain Gauthier: So I started to work for like a few you know like massive corporations. You know like fortune 5 companies I was helping them in terms of like technical support oil and gas and like big manufacturing companies and you know like I kind of started to realize that like the the. Relationship we had with these customers. You know sometimes it was really good. Sometimes it was very bad but it was like an existing relationship with a lot of bagage and my really like my my interest was into saying like what don’t I start from scratch like this is the most beautiful thing you can do is like to create that relationship with a new partner and your customer right. And and this kind of like idea of like I’m going to make sure that like the relationship that we’re going to create is going to be nurtured from the get-go is going to be. You know, like based on like very strong foundation that can further down the line. You know, avoid sometimes some mishaps objectives they’re going to be ups and down but like just to make sure that you start. And a good way was for me like the most you know, um, satisfying thing I could do and and a lot of what I’ve done in my first years at icp was that right? it was like really like seeing at what point you go from I might be a surprise to you to actually like let’s plan the future together. And that was for me like the turning point and like the most very same thing we could do.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, and it seems also that sappm and typically and in those super big organizations. You know you you really feel and and and in this case, it was not your case at all. Yeah, you know in other big companies. It’s like more you’re like just 1 more play but 1 thing that I’m very impressed.

Romain Gauthier: On.

Alejandro Cremades: You know with your experience and also way that say B is that they gave you that sense of belonging and that sense of ownership. So what do you think Sap has gotten right around that.

Romain Gauthier: You know I think I think the sense of belonging it comes down to like people right? It comes down to leadership vision that people have I mean can share throughout the the corporation and I would say I’ve been very fortunate there because I’ve had the chance to meet to write people the ones that. Motivate me the ones that inspire me the ones that like also like protect me and coach me and for me that sense of belonging comes from that and obviously like you look at the value of a company and you want to follow and like you look at the strategy and that’s something that like puts you kind of like a guiding principle gives you gudding principle. But. At the end of the day like the way you feel like you know, deep inside or the way I feel deep inside is due to the people that I see and that I meet and that like give me you know like their vision and I’ve been very fortunate there. You know I’ve met you know the right people I had the perfect absolute bus at some point that like really. Help me discover myself challenge me a lot gave me the freedom as well to you know, kind of like look into you know all disc scars things that I had in mind and and yeah like that for me was like the biggest thing in terms of belonging. It’s about people and it’s about like leadership.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, it is always about people and talking about people one day you are supposed to be meeting other people and you know hyper growthth a type of company and you show up there with your student time and that you know created or spar. It. I Mean it was a big realization for you that came out of that meeting. But I’m sure you felt a little bit out of place showing up with a suit. So what?? what? What happened there.

Romain Gauthier: Completely and well it’s kind of like a it’s it’s a real turning point actually mine life I would say um and your study with like an a of his believe it or not but it was very funny. It was a yeah you know like a prospect we were talking to super hot scaleup in in the baltics and um. And the first mail we got from from that cfo that we were going to meet was an adofis sorry i’vehan surfing I I’ll catch I’ll catch up later and just like this out of Afi for me was just like wow like we are so structured and we are like this mindset which is like very. Coopers and all of a sudden here. You see a cfo is like a person and in is out out of e. He saying like yeah I have personal interest and I’m going there and and this was just a realization of like we think different right? and when you have passion when you have like people like incorporating like mission and values then all of a sudden like you see. Like a different way to engage a different way to work and and so when we went to to visit that prospects in in the baltics. You know it was it was like a realization that like we were not speaking the same language they were speaking with their guts you know and they were speaking with like vision and you know like there was a company dog and we had out freaking suits and. We didn’t have the right value prop. We didn’t have the right understanding of like the challenges ah of this prospect and it was kind of like a realization that all of a sudden there was a blank somewhere. There was a hole in the racket and that hole like I mean it became obvious that like it was it was my role to feel.

Romain Gauthier: Right? And it was you know the thing that would really make myself be the best version of myself right? So that was that was like the very big turning point and that’s when like we created this entrepreneurship program. So.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, So what happened next after you have that right? that realization because you make it they you know sound very simple but when you are under you know such a big organization I mean you really need to to present this. You know at a higher level so that they’re able to really give you the green light I mean this is. Ultimately, what entrepreneurship is all about you know is able to have a vision as well yourself, but but then also being able to enrom the largerr you know organization to really you know, get behind it. So So what happened next after you got this realization.

Romain Gauthier: So after after that it’s a lot of ah, very like quick but intense like thinking and you know like what happened is like are putting like people that are really trusted to come in like full brandaming mode with me and think about like what is that we’re going to do like what is the value and. It’s very hard because when you start doing entrepreneurship or of sudden you have like a few different stakeholders and obviously you want to keep you know your prospect and customers in mind for everything that you do, but you’re so like some of your customers will be your boss right? and it’ll be like the company that you belong to that you want to explain like That’s why we’re doing this and that’s why that’s what’s in there for you. So it’s kind of like bimodal kind of like mindset that you need to have is like what is relevant for my customers. But what is relevant internally as well and what does it bring there so it was a lot of like you know, internal brainstorming in terms of like really thinking through right? What is this How does he have value and we knew he had value. We knew there was potential but like how do I translate that into like a corporate strategy that can be heard where we’re actually going to put like you know money budgets and mandates and that was the most important so like for like probably like three weeks to amounts we just change ourselves really hard to kind of like. Dust it off and like no crazy idea like clearly completely speaking like what’s in it for the customer is watching’s in it for scp and um and then it was all about like getting that spark right? appearing differently and the the chance and the value of like being at scp 4 at at that time it was like more than 7 years is like.

Romain Gauthier: You start to know the company you start to know the people on the mindset and you also start to know how to puck the bear around you know and like what is kind of like um I would say like the the kind of like the ignition on the spark where you can come from So At that point it was like we need to pitch it to the top and we need to make sure that they’re onboard and fortunately you know. We’ve had to write audience. We’ve had the right mindset that people were very very interested straight away and you know sometimes it makes you realize as well like it’s just a matter of like people taking this and saying like I’m going to be accountable I’m going to own that topic and I’m going to bring that to the top right? And and.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: You know when they saw that passion when they saw that a lot of people were rallying behind. They realized that like hey there’s something to do let’s start and let’s start small right? It’s always the case. It’s always like let me show you a little bit. Let me bring you some wins and then we can expand.

Alejandro Cremades: So then in this case, you know like when we’re now you know finally you know it’s it’s coming to fruition and then you know this is more tangible you know and it really becomes sap grow you know now I mean for the people that are listening to really get it I mean what ended it up. Becoming the same big world I mean what is Sap World do they for the people that are listening together. It.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah, so I said pgro is like ah it’s you know an engagement model. It’s the program for ipogross companies within Sapp right? So when we talk about ipogross companies. It’s huge companies that you know have been around for a bit. We don’t talk this through about startup but more about scalups. Um, and that are truly experiencing ipogrows whether opening like 15 countries in a year like starting to create new business models or like just like accelerating in terms of like the number of transactions to reach a certain stage. So usually we see companies around series a but more b accelerating all the way towards the iq. And so what we do as part of that is like we offer a program for these companies that are based on 2 piots right? So the first pir is the run. How do we have a software that makes sense for them and that literally burst every myth that you can have about icp the fact that it’s expensive. We have incentive the fact that it’s like very long. We can make like a four weeks implementation for Karajap today. The fact you know that you don’t have any support we have like the necessary customers, success, Etc, Etc, Etc you can find all the information I’m not here for that. But it’s more about like what is it that make a cp relevance when it comes to you know running software and then the second thing is. How can you leverage ap and here is something that’s very close to my hurt is we’re sitting on a gold mine. We have more than 420,0 customers. You know we run you know in the finance and like the operations of like 95% of the fortune 5 and as part of that is like how can I leverage this and bring this.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Alejandro Cremades: Um.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: To this getup system and and this kind of like business Catalyst role is something that’s very close to my heart because I do believe that’s where the future is going right? It’s creating value together versus’s just changing that mindset of like it’s just a supplier relationship. It’s much more than that right. And here it’s about bringing opportunities and helping nurture that growth to make like biggest customers of tomorrow and the biggest companies of tomorrow.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, because I mean some of the areas where you can plug in and have access to like also the bigger umbrella of a I mean it say now you know being able to help with financials. You know when you’re going into an appeal That’s very difficult right? to really get everything you know from the out of it and make sure that you have everything in compliance The Ah hr.

Romain Gauthier: Correct.

Alejandro Cremades: Manufacturing the distribution I mean it’s really a ah lot of stuff that really comes into place So I’m sure that you know they value you know by really plugging yourself into an organization with over a hundred thousand employees I mean it must. It must be explosive.

Romain Gauthier: It is it is explosive. Um, but you know it’s kind of like a very good balance to have between like you’re just my si corporations with a lot of power right? but and a lot of customers in this massive ecosystem I think like more than 1 people will touch an ap every day that’s huge, but. What is important also so is like to come with like this very humbled approach and the truth is you know we’ve never been very present for hypogross companies right? We’ve never been a main actor for in the skedup community and so with that comes you know like a big re responsibility ability to engage and to arrive on this market and say look guys I’m here.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, I mean.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: You know, like to become credible and to become leg Legitimateim for you and and that mindset shift is very important because you might be you know one of the world leader in application when you come onto this market. You need to prove? you know what you can do and that’s why we’re like arriving with like this really like I would say like.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: And this approach very you know like humble where we want to show you the value of the basics and that’s why we start with financial truth but most of the time is like let us take the pain away from you of something that’s not going to be a competitive Advantage. You’re not going to reinvent the will. But it might become a prem down theline if you don’t anticipate and and the idea for us is really to say like we’re going to do something very small where we think we know what we’re Doing. We know what we’re Doing. We’ve been doing that for 50 years but it needs to show value to your company and then we’ll be you know, legitimate and credible enough to say.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Alejandro Cremades: Are. Are.

Romain Gauthier: Let’s do something like more strategy. Let’s talk about your operations. Let’s talk about you know like your 10 n-on techcquisition. Let’s talk about other stuff but before you show that to a company in a brand New Market. You know you know one even if it’s called Asap like you need to adapt your your engagement model and that’s I think what this entrepreneurship adventure is all about. Is the way you appear and the mindset shifts and the people How do they think and like how do I they understand you know what could be a partnership with Thisp. That’s all about it.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, and how how do you go about? you know, making sure that because I mean all these companies Hypergrowth companies and it’s all about building something that is repeatable and scalable. But when you are plugging in you know, such a massive. Organization and the resources of this organization to really help let’s say top line whether it’s customers or investors or additional distribution. Whatever that is how do you plug that in a way in which you’re not going to make a lot of things break if that makes sense.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah, so I think it’s a lot of um, it’s a lot of trust from the beginning right? What we work a lot on is to say you are the right time or you’re not right and a lot of the time when we start engaging with customers. We tell them guys like this this a be too early for instance, right? um.

Alejandro Cremades: Oh.

Romain Gauthier: If we come in. We’re going to put a structure in place. We’re going to put processes in place and best practices from the best right from like all the customers that we have and from 50 years of experience. But at that point is too much for you right? You still need to have the flexibility and energy to do something else. So. I think it comes from that at first right and and the fact that like we’re like in a true saas world where like you can’t have any customer unhappy is helping there because you need to create that trust from the beginning and then it’s all about like stunning small right? and we iterate and we we grow as we show credibility. But we start small.

Alejandro Cremades: Oh.

Romain Gauthier: And it’s kind of like the opposite of like what Sapp has been doing in the past which was always like showing the value end-to end right? fully just tree specific vertical. You know every single thing that we can help you and here’s about saying actually it’s the opposite. We’re going to show what we can do in a very small manner. But once you trust us.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Then we’ll be able to have that you know. Ah, yeah that that credibility to say like why don’t we bring you into something else right? Why don’t we look into another process, etc, etc.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, so right now mean you guys have been able to do a board I believe he’s over 1 started so a hundred and five to be more precise and I’m sure that you have some really cool stories. Why don’t you tell us the story of that thing bank. You know that now that we call up bank that you know the time where they came knocking. They were.

Romain Gauthier: Um, yeah, you know so that was so so interesting like one day someone reached out to us I think it was like a Gmail address and it was like.

Alejandro Cremades: Be individuals.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah, like I have a crazy idea I want to create a bank I Want to talk to you guys about it and you know I’ve been starting to like leverage my network and I looked into potential investors I think I can get backed but what’s going to be important for me is that I have a very strong tech backbone that can get me get that license.

Alejandro Cremades: Um.

Romain Gauthier: And you’re in that country like I think a license for new bank has’t been given for like 78 years and and it was so interesting because you know when you think about it and then and think about any kind of like big corporation and like a sales merchant. It just doesn’t work right? like this mail would go straight to whether you know like the the spam. Folder or like fold it to someone that doesn’t understand um and here was kind of like saying like hey like let’s try to do something around that right, it’s going to be also way for us to understand like what is expected in the future and it’s going to show if we’re flexible or not. And we started to work with them and you know the company was not even registered and from 3 they became 5 and we started to create the plan altogether you know and I think we signed you know our our contract with them to like be the true core banking operations today they register the company and now they’re more than a thousand employees like a year and a half later or something.

Alejandro Cremades: Um.

Alejandro Cremades: Are you.

Romain Gauthier: And they’re already like a unicorn and being part of that adventure was just insane because we learn so much from that and that’s also part of entrepreneurship and to come back to your point earlier is like what’s in it for the company. That’s what’s in it for a company like Acp is like learning how to handle these cases.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Ah, learning how to be flexible enough to be able to respond to this kind of demand.

Alejandro Cremades: And and obviously I mean 3 individuals I mean it’s a is that a lot of people. So why do do you think that it makes sense for you all to get involved with them and what do you think they got right. In order to go from 3 to a thousand employees in literally a year which is insane roof.

Romain Gauthier: I think it was like a very good combination of we are going to like completely change the mindset we’re going to disrupt everything that like you know thisindury has seen ah like crazy idea right? It was just like we are going to come with a crazy idea. Um. But we’re going to make this very tangible with the right actors right? and I think it was also part of the decision going with this api that point at that time was like you know iapp is the trusted leader when it comes to this industry and so you know it was like the spark on the 1 hand and like the vision that no one has even I say people were thinking like.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Can it pull that off. But yeah, like we got into it. You know we talked to the founders and we were like yeah like we believe in that and then on the other hand making sure that like you don’t reinvent something where it doesn’t bring any additional value like trust the partners you know that can bring that to you and I think it’s all about Actually it’s a good representation of icic row right? is.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: That mission that mission and the spark that we want to bring in but also like we don’t want to rev the wheel when we know that we have like a lot of best practices a lot of very expert people within the company that we can leverage. So it’s always this kind of like balance.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, now in this case, you know for for you guys I mean you have um, a big responsibility. You know you have? Um, yeah, you’re like 1 of the biggest companies you know they’re already in Europe and and obviously the really helping in building the ecosystem.

Romain Gauthier: So.

Alejandro Cremades: Ah, around the venture. The venture side of things and and really fostering those companies that would end up doing an exit then Angel investor vcs I mean it just forms the whole thing. How do you see yourselves you know playing in in in the ecosystem and then also. Having that big responsibility to to push you know and and and have that innovation. You know, continue to thrive.

Romain Gauthier: Yeah, yeah, I think it’s um, you know like we are the the largest tech operation in Europe and and with that comes like a lot of responsibilities and you know I think we’re fiting quite a few of that. But. When you look into the ipogross you know, kind of like ecosystem and and I would say like the entrepreneurship because we’ve been working quite a bit on these. We have an incubator you know like we have you know some phones helping as well. But I feel like we we had to think about like how do we take? you know.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: That duty to the next level because we do need to do something there and you know the concept of like european tech autonomy is something that’s very close to my heart as well and when you think about it. We’re the biggest in Europe they can you know be facing I would say the gafa right? at the end of the day. That’s what it is so it’s about like you know.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Um, I would say like creative competitiveness and making sure that we all go up and we all help that ecosystem and you know like as part of that we need to play a role and that role can be played in a lot of different manners right? It can be played in terms of like nurturing the ecosystem and making sure that like you know we can.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Bring up some voices as well. In terms of regulation in terms of where the industry is going but also like nurturing the the business itself right? and the ecosystem around that and and here we have like incredible value I mean we’re sitting on a goldmine we we have so many customers we work with so many different people and like we have.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: True impact in terms of like how do we see the world and here it’s about saying like why don’t we onboard these people with us. Why don’t we onboard these carups you know that have their vision as well. We listen to them and we collaboratively create the future there and and I think that’s the the duty that we need to play is to say we can’t go there.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: By ourselves. It can be like a strategy that we define by ourselves it. It has to be a strategy that is influenced by the up and going and the ones that are going to change and disrupt the world so that that mission I think is very important and you know it’s it’s incredible to see how it’s going right? and specifically in Europe.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Capital flowing. You know for the rest 2 years I mean as you see now we’re seeing like a little bit of tension. But it’s been like a real you know Testimony to the fact that like the attractive attractivity in Europe is higher and higher and the tenants you know are getting like more and more involved and also like we see you know this kind of like. Exo to the us to North America or sometimes to Asia that was very pregnant at some point we see that less and less because people are saying like yeah I do believe that I can create that community and that I can bring it up for the better. So this is what we want to do right? We want to be part of that we want to play and role in that.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, so to that end day from I imagine you were to sleep tonight and you wake up in a world where the vision of Ap grow is fully realized what does that world look like.

Romain Gauthier: So first it’s like a continuous like vision right? It keeps changing and it keeps evolving like that’s the beauty of entrepreneurship. It’s like we don’t have a 10 year strategy right? We have a failure to your um, kind of like you know mindset. But it’s always changing if tomorrow.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Things change completely. You know like for me Scp has a role to play in the scalr pecker stem. But it’s also learning from the scalr pickcker system and you know it’s about like evolving into like maybe new business model where it’s not like supply relationship or anything like this is like how do we create value together and we have like.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Ah, revenue model where like everyone can you know be part of that. That’s the first thing is creating value together and the second thing for me is you know and that’s the reason why we are an entrepreneurship program is bringing our customers and bringing our employees in that path in that journey. And and that’s for me like the most important is like everything that we do and everything that is successful. We want to replicate for the rest we want to replicate for the customers. We want to design the experiences of tomorrow forcp and not just the scarup right? So this market is so important for us because it’s the piouts. It’s the pil piece. Could bring us to you know the future and like the um, the experiences that we’re going to provide tomorrow and this is you know if I wake up and and Sapp grow is like fully executed. That’s what’s going to happen is like we’re going to onboard so many more people than just that segment.

Alejandro Cremades: Um, so now you’re on your way with sap grow to you know on your way to a third year anniversary in the third year birthday of sap grow and if I was able to put you into a time machine and bring you back in time to that moment where maybe you were. Coming you know out of that meeting like oh my god you know what’s going on. You know when you went with a shoot you know and you met with with that hyper growth. You know, ah company and you have the opportunity of having a chat with younger yourself and give that younger rama 1 piece of advice before launching sap why would that be and why doing what you know now.

Romain Gauthier: It’s a very good one. Um I think it would be something around. You need to make sure that this become much more than just you and your team right? I think there was a turning point in this program where.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: Become more than the sum of ourselves and we started to understand that like it was completely. Ah, you know like pushed by the ground pushed by the people around that you start seeing like people that were putting on Linkedin you know the fact they were working on grow and like I didn’t even know these people.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: And and that point like at first you know like you have a first reflex which is like I’m going to protect it because I don’t know where it’s going. It’s it’s not the right way to go and it’s it’s absolutely the worst way to go actually it’s about like saying the objective is to become more than a sum of yourself. But.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: That’s where you need to be smart about it and like bring that vision that’s going to onboard people to your thinking and you’re going to define your thinking as well based on that but you know like that realization that like don’t fight. It don’t try to control instead of that like fuel it you know and bring the vision bring people on board get like.

Alejandro Cremades: Are.

Romain Gauthier: 1 step ahead. That’s I think like the biggest difference and and that’s where we re saw like a true exponential growth in the way we act internally the you know the the way was recognized today from like just a program title to it’s going to be a true strategy of the company and also. Externally, that’s when it became very very successful. So successful at that time because then all of a sudden you have people that encompass your vision that encompass the mindset and then and you know like I think that would be the message to almost three years ago and maybe like you know do a bit more sports.

Alejandro Cremades: Um I Love my God That’s it. That’s it nothing like me healthy. That’s for sure I Love that now Now for the people that are listening. You know that want to reach out and say hi and and that perhaps want to learn more about how do get involved with this ap girl I mean what.

Romain Gauthier: Because I.

Alejandro Cremades: What’s the best way for them to get in touch.

Romain Gauthier: You know what? like I think you can reach us on our website set that ios grow. You can also reach out to me directly on Linkedin you can reach out I mean like just put ascp on Google and you’ll find a way to to get in touch with that story.

Alejandro Cremades: Um. Amazing. Well Rama thank you? So so much for being on the show today. It has been an honor to have you on the deal maker show with us.

Romain Gauthier: It was great. Thanks for asking me.

* * *
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