meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: The $5BN Company Built from the Belgian Countryside | The Story of Odoo: The Company with No Plans to Sell, IPO & Their Billionaire Founder Who Does Not Care About Money with Fabien Pinckaers, Founder & CEO @ Odoo

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Business, Investing, Tech News, News

4.4693 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 76 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fabien Pinckaers is the Founder & CEO of Odoo, one of the most incredible businesses that you might not have heard of. Built from the countryside of Belgium, they do an astonishing $650M in ARR, they have over 5,000 employees and have over 50,000 companies as customers. Even better, Fabian openly does not ever want to sell the company, IPO, believes that titles in companies are total BS and most management is done completely wrong. 

In Today's Episode with Fabien We Discuss: 

1. Everything You Know About Management is Wrong:

  • Why is it BS to give people titles in a company?

  • How does Odoo hire people after only one interview? 

  • Why does Odoo prefer to hire really young people under 30?

  • Why does Fabien think it is the worst to build a team in Silicon Valley?

2. The Billionaire Who Does Not Care About Money:

  • Why does Fabien literally not care about money and does not even own a house?

  • Why does Fabien refuse to ever sell or IPO Odoo?

  • How does Fabien plan to offer liquidity to investors if he never wants to sell or IPO?

3. Why Did Every VC Turn Down the $5BN Odoo:

  • What are Fabien's biggest lessons from being rejected by every VC for Odoo?

  • What did they not see that they should have seen? 

  • Why did Fabien always want the price of the company on every funding round to be as low as possible? 

  • How does Fabien advise founders on pitching VCs today, knowing all he knows?

4. Scaling to $650M in ARR: The Biggest Lessons: 

  • Why does Fabien believe the biggest mistake companies make is they lose focus?

  • What did Fabien not do with Odoo that they should have done?

  • What did Fabien do and invest in, that with the benefit of hindsight they should not have done?

  • When did the business start to break with scale? What would Fabien have done differently knowing all he does know?

 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You have to be obsessed.

0:01.1

I don't think you can succeed if you are not obsessed.

0:03.2

I always wanted the price to be low.

0:05.5

Because in every transaction, I was purchasing shares.

0:08.4

All the managers are always buying shares that I do.

0:11.6

We never sold shares.

0:13.9

We will never sell.

0:15.3

No, there will never be an IPO.

0:17.0

When I was 26, I purchased the domain name, sorry, SCP.com.

0:21.6

Because I thought that one day I would be much bigger than them, and then I would use this domain name.

0:24.6

This is 20VC with me, Harry Stabbings, and I cannot tell you the joy.

0:28.6

It brings me to share this story today.

0:30.6

The world needs more entrepreneurs like this one.

0:33.6

Today, we tell you the story of the best company that you might not have heard of.

0:38.5

Odu, built from the countryside of Belgium.

0:41.3

They do an astonishing 650 million in ARR.

0:45.9

They have over 5,000 employees, and they have over 50,000 companies as customers.

0:51.5

As you heard in the intro, their founder does not ever want to sell the

0:55.4

company, IPO. He believes that titles in companies are total BS and most management is done

1:01.9

completely wrong. Everything you thought about management will be changed following this episode,

1:07.3

and I'm so excited to welcome Fabian Pinker's founder and CEO of Odu.

1:12.8

But before we dive in today, here are two fun facts about our newest brand sponsor,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Twenty Minute VC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Twenty Minute VC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.