Popping into Kombo in Kreuzberg
When a VC visits a portfolio company....
I popped by Kombo in trendy Berlin Kreuzberg today. I attended the weekly all-hands, the GTM review, had a few discussions on SAP and Workday integrations and lunch with Alexander Kuebel, the CEO and co-founder. At the all hands I talked briefly about why we invested, how pleased we are with the company's progress, and our thoughts on the market generally.
Kombo is solving the massive and urgent problem of integrations between niche applications and suite vendors. As end user organizations get more savvy, integration becomes a more important differentiator for niche vendors positioning and time to value. Kombo can deliver that time to value faster and more robustly than self-build can. We believe that HR integrations require specialist expertise. I get very excited and really boring when talking integrations.
My assumption: In 5 years, most HR departments will have at least 30% more applications than they have today. The idea that one vendor will deliver the vast majority of functionality has been disproven time and time again, whether in the enterprise or SME. I expect to see new vendors solving new and old problems in innovative ways that incumbents can't predict or build. This will drive demand for better, faster, deeper, cleaner integrations- hence why we are so bullish on Kombo.
It is fascinating to see how working with Kombo is increasing our connectivity with startups we haven't yet seen through our normal dealflow. We have had founders contact us because we are investors in Kombo, as they use Kombo. This is what economists call a positive externality.
A bit of Acadian pitching, if I may.
When competing for investments, we face the question how do we add value to portfolio companies beyond the cash. At Acadian, we like to think we add value in a couple of ways.
1. It is not just what we know, it is who we know. Over decades we have built relationships with the leaders in many of the market leading HR Tech companies, corporates and we know lots of startups. We can smooth and accelerate relationships in ways that most VCs can't. Of all our portfolio companies, Kombo has been the most active in leveraging our network, and Jason Corsello and I love that. Well played Madalina
2. We have strong opinions about our space. These opinions are the culmination of what we have learnt throughout our careers in HR tech, but we are constantly unlearning too.
3. All our portfolio companies are in the same broad space, but they don't overlap. This means that they can collaborate and learn from each other. We saw this in person at our summit last week, but there is so much of this going on. We are building an Acadian Ventures community. Our founders mentor each other. This is gold.
I try hard not to play product manager in these interactions when I visit portfolio companies. I was one for many years, so it is easy to slip back into that mode, but that isn't my job anymore. My role now in product discussions is to suggest and encourage. The founding team are the ones that make the tough decisions.
The metaphor I use is one from golf, I'm a caddy. I get to wear the swag (schwag auf Deutsch) but the founders and their team are the ones playing the game.
Thanks Alex and the team for having me over. Keep doing what you are doing. You are building a remarkable business.
If you want to read more about why we invested in Kombo, see below
