InnoVentures’ Olivier Carnohan and His Entrepreneurial Journey

French-born and self-confessed “Gadgetologist,” Olivier Carnohan is currently the CEO of InnoVentures, which is a collaborated venture with the Singaporean telco Singtel. Innoventures aims to invest and work together with telecom companies to create larger stake of active mobile internet users in the market.

Olivier discusses his experiences with entrepreneurship and his lessons learned working in the USA, Europe, and Asia in an ever-changing industry. As a former product manager, entrepreneur, and consultant in the telecoms industry for over 15 years, he shares experiences that may help some of you who wish to embark on an entrepreneurial journey.

So what brought you to Asia?

By 2001 I was eager to embark on new challenges both personally and professionally. I also realized that most of my work experience and contacts were based on the east coast of the US. The internet industry had been financing its unsustainable growth on the back of irrational and overly exuberant investors. I decided to take a year off. A new beginning, a new chapter in my life, needed to be written before I settle down.

I applied and got accepted into the INSEAD MBA. I only applied to the Singapore campus. Frankly I was fed up with the Boston winters. That year changed everything. I fell in love with Singapore right away. I also fell in love with my neighbor, whom I married in 2004. I am French, you see!

You’ve been in the Telecoms-Internet industry all your career. Why that sector?

Close your eyes and remember a time when you took a life-changing decision. Remember the jubilation, the impatience, the confidence? I mean it, close your eyes. Done? Now you know the feelings I experienced in 1993 after I discovered the internet via a 14Kbps modem attached to my Intel 486DX. I finished my associate degree in law, packed-up my apartment and moved to Boston.

In 2000, I decided to accept an unsolicited offer to work at Genuity, a $1 billion global provider of internet and web hosting, later bought by Level III, which hired me to act as a product manager for the flagship web-hosting product, Black Rocket. I was living in Boston, working on the Route 128 Tech corridor, driving a fast German car and with my pockets full of a pre-IPO stock options, worthless now… Every door at the office had a sticker on it saying “Push to change the world!” Working during the internet bubble was a great feeling that comes probably only once in a lifetime.

Do you have any tips for readers who might not be so sure of their career path?

Simple. First, let’s agree on one simple concept: People only do well that which they enjoy doing. If you concur, then you should agree with me to only work on topics you enjoy enough to do on weekends.