Can you tell us about the history of the company and how you came across this opportunity?
"The company really started in 1981, founded by Dan Gibson. Originally called Solitudes, it was dedicated to producing the finest in nature recordings. In 1986 Gordon Gibson, a high school friend, joined his father's company. Gordon and I had remained in contact and in 1994 we decided to buy the company from his father, who was quite happy to sell as he was going through some distribution problems and needed to find someone who had professional management experience to run the company. We began to establish Solitudes as a marketer and distributor of music rather than a production company. In 1998 we acquired a US distributor and estabalished a sales office in Chicago. We also opened our offices in Essex, England as we wanted to have a base in Europe and England was tax effective and made sense logistically. In 2001 we changed our name to Somerset Entertainment to better reflect the diversity of our offerings."

Did you have outside investors to help fund the company and its activities?
"No, we made a commitment to Gordon's father to pay a minimum amount of royalties. Also, we invested a small amount to buy the inventory."

What were you doing before taking your MBA at INSEAD?
"I worked for McKinsey in New York and also held a position of Vice President, Strategic Planning for a manufacturing firm."

Why did you decide to go to INSEAD?
"I went to INSEAD because I had already been to an American University for my undergrad and wanted a different experience for my business school education. Also, I liked INSEAD's cooperative approach with the study groups. Finally, I was very interested in the one year programme." 

Why did you decide not to become a consultant or investment banker after INSEAD? Did INSEAD influence you to become an entrepreneur? Maybe it was the people at INSEAD that you met, the students, professors?
"I had already been a consultant and knew I didn't want to do that. However, I did enjoy my 'Managing a Growing Business' course, an elective offered by the Entrepreneurship programme. I was truly inspired by small businesses and realized that that was what I wanted to do professionally. So, when the opportunity came along, I was already aware that it would make sense for me to take the chance." 

The company has recently gone to IPO. What were the critical steps in bringing this company from €2m in revenues to IPO?
"Well, it did take over 10 years. We did a number of key things. First, we integrated forward from just being a label to also being a distributor, as explained above. This was very difficult because we started to compete with our former distributors overnight and we had very few customers. We were fortunate in the fact that we launched the product with a great display and the right offering for retailers. The next major step was new product lines. Over the last ten years we have developed over 5 different new product lines targeted at various retail segments. These product lines include Avalon, Reflections, Platinum Legends, Fisher-Price, Hallmark. Following this, we expanded into various international markets. Beginning with the United States and stretching into over 10 countries with a combination of rep and distribution agreements. Our most recent success has been a roll out with Woolworths in the UK where we are distributing our product to all stores." 

How do your employees feel about having gone to IPO?
"Employees and management are very excited. Gordon and I gave out $4 million in shares to our staff to recognize past efforts and to align our business objectives for the future."

What are the challenges in being a CEO of a public company?
"Well, it is early yet. I am only three weeks into it. I can say that it is difficult not checking the price every hour! Beyond that, I know that the challenge will be to make decisions for the long term viability of the business rather than for short term profit."   

Do you find your job still exciting today (after over 10 years in business)? What motivates you to get out of bed every morning?
"Yes, I still find it interesting. Strategically, the music industry has many opportunities. Our team has been able to exploit these opportunities and create new businesses. A recent example is the Hallmark music programme which we launched a year ago and now is being sold in over 2000 stores. I am definitely motivated as CEO by this stage in the company's evolution. Our stock price is a very visible form of measurement and offers a very real motivation to grow the business for my investors and myself."  

Do you plan to open new offices in more cities around the world? Will the company move to other products, other manners of distributing music? Other types of music?
"No more offices. We have just signed a deal that will allow us to get into the DVD business. We have acquired the music and video rights to Richard Simmons next project, that will certainly be fun and different".

What advice would you give to alumni who want to become entrepreneurs? Would you do this all over again in another area, another business sector or is once enough?
"Advice to entrepreneurs is to be wary of start-ups. I think buying an existing business can be as challenging but certainly the risks are mitigated. Once is enough! It was fun and now I am onto a new stage of life!"