Oskar Hartmann is often called a venture investor. And he lives up to this title - he has invested in more than 75 different companies. Fourteen of them have reached a capitalization of more than $ 1 billion.
Investor Oscar Hartmann
As Oscar himself admits, investing for him is a way to learn about the world. Statistics show that the entrepreneur's priority is IT startups, but Oscar himself says that he considers all incoming proposals. The main thing is that these ideas transform the world for the better.
"I enjoy the unknown and the truemoney data package danger and I feel like Columbus sailing on a ship in search of America. The earth has been explored, and the only way to sail into the unknown is in business. Startups are the unknown and a new land. Once you feel the joy of victory, you will continue to search for it. My hobby is to discover new things."
Business Failures and How to Deal with Them
The story of Oskar Hartmann is not like a standard success story. The entrepreneur has experienced various difficult situations in his life, and dozens of companies have ended their lives before his eyes. About 20 out of 50 Oskar Hartmann projects have completely failed. But he has never retreated, never given up. On the contrary, each such failure was perceived as a need to move on.
"When you start doing business, after five years you stop reacting to many things. If I get some bad news now, my pulse doesn't even increase."
KupiVIP or the most expensive "child"
Online shopping club KupiVIP is the first major company that brought Oscar fame in the global business arena. The idea to organize an e-commerce platform came to Oscar back in the distant 2000s, and it was only realized in May 2008.
The company's business model was to buy clothes, shoes and accessories from famous brands and sell them at deep discounts online.
KupiVIP
Over the course of six years, the service’s annual revenue has exceeded $200 million, and the volume of attracted investments has reached $140 million.
Oscar believes that if a business is aimed at helping people, there will always be money and great employees.
"When a business angel came to me, I told him about my idea. And he asked me what was lying in my office. I answered that I bought a lot of furniture at once so as not to spend money later. Then he said that he wanted to invest in my company. For him, this was a signal that I believed in its success."
In 2014, Hartmann stepped down as CEO of KupiVIP. After Wildberries burst onto the market, KupiVIP found itself on the sidelines and lost the battle. Three years later, the company ceased to exist. The business model simply stopped working.
As Oscar says, it happens. And every company has its beginning and end. But KupiVIP was his dearest "child".
"It was a tough period. When you spend six or seven years building a company with full dedication, giving it 300% every day, t