Daniel Boulud
Pairing chefs and cooks in technology
In the food industry there is a clear distinction between a chef and a cook. A chef invents new dishes from scratch through experimentation, deep knowledge and experience. A cook takes a few successful recipes, adapts them to his beliefs and serves them up to a large audience. Both are fundable business models, but they rely on different factors to become successful.
In technology this distinction is not often thought about when funding companies. It would be very easy to judge that a chef is always a better innovator to invest in, but I find the opposite to be true in many scenarios I've run into. Different investment and growth scenarios are to be expected from investing in Daniel Boulud's new restaurant in China versus the growing chain of Fleming's restaurants, even though they taylor to roughly the same price points successfully.
Research institutes spin out great chefs, but struggle with scale and mass adoption. Great sales, marketing and business founders in technology usually depend on the continuous innovation only the chefs can provide. The workings of VC funds forces us to combine the chefs with cooks so that the ecosystem provides both continuous innovation and mass adoption at an early stage.
As a CEO, we provide the leadership and direction that pairs the chef and cooks, all you need to do is: do what you do well. Just like Remy in Ratatouille, we will pull your hair to ensure the right dishes are produced - on time.