The Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström has many similarities with Silicon Valley tech billionaires. He amassed a life-changing fortune before the age of 40, he evangelizes about how start-ups can make a significant impact on the world, and he enjoys spending time on extravagant yachts. However, Zennström also stands out from the crowd in several ways, confusing the typical pattern-matching algorithm for tech bros.
A unique aspect of Zennström’s story is his time as a fugitive from US legal process. He believes that success should not be measured solely by money and as a prominent European venture capital investor, he aims to disrupt Silicon Valley and create a more purpose-driven capitalism. Zennström is also a philanthropist, supporting various human rights and environmental campaigns. While he is proud to share his nationality with Greta Thunberg, he may not agree with all of her views on green activism. Additionally, Zennström is a passionate sailor and has won the Fastnet race twice aboard his yacht Rán, named after the Viking goddess of the sea.
Zennström made his fortune by building and selling the internet telecommunications company Skype Technologies in the early 2000s. Now, at 57 years old, he runs Atomico, one of Europe’s leading venture capital funds with over $5 billion under management. He believes that Europe has the potential to create more companies like Skype, and he aims to break Silicon Valley’s monopoly by building even better companies in Europe.
For our lunch meeting, Zennström chooses Roka, a Japanese robatayaki restaurant in central London. It holds nostalgic value as it opened around the same time as the London office of Skype, which was just a short distance away. Zennström takes control of the menu, ordering a variety of Roka’s signature dishes. Instead of alcohol, he decides to stick with sparkling water.
Zennström’s reputation as a “mythical presence” in his native Sweden piqued my interest. I ask him about his upbringing, wondering how such an individualist could emerge from a collectivist society. Zennström opens up about being raised by two idealistic left-wing teachers who met at art school. His family’s habit of sailing around the Swedish archipelago during the summer months instilled in him a love for the sea. He learned empathy and solidarity from his parents, but he also admired his friends’ parents who wore suits, made good money, and worked in business. Zennström’s father urged him to focus on education, telling him that good grades would provide more opportunities in the future. Zennström followed this advice, ultimately graduating from Uppsala university and having an eye-opening experience studying abroad at the University of Michigan.
As we continue conversing, various dishes from Roka’s menu arrive at our table. Zennström shares his thoughts on each dish and enthusiastically enjoys the meal. He fondly reminisces about the excitement surrounding technology during his graduation and how he naturally gravitated towards the industry. After failing to secure a job at McKinsey, he began working for the telecoms company Tele2 in Copenhagen, realizing his passion for challenging Europe’s monopolies. Inspired by the dotcom boom, Zennström resigned from Tele2 during the peak of the dotcom mania to start his own business.
Zennström and his business partner Janus Friis closely followed the rise and fall of Napster and came up with the idea for their own peer-to-peer sharing company called Kazaa. They naively approached record companies hoping for collaboration, but instead found themselves declared “public enemy number one” for copyright infringement. Fearing legal consequences, they became fugitives and stayed on the move to avoid detection. These years of litigation prevented Zennström from pursuing opportunities in Silicon Valley but eventually came to a resolution.
In the midst of searching for a new venture, Zennström and Friis recognized the exorbitant costs of international mobile phone calls and the prevalence of WiFi networks. They saw an opportunity to disrupt the global telecoms industry by developing Skype, an internet telephony service that allowed for inexpensive international calls. Despite facing competition from big US corporations, Skype experienced exponential growth and Zennström questioned whether they had what it took to survive in the market. Ultimately, Skype found success and provided Zennström with the foundation for his future endeavors.
Zennström’s lunch at Roka draws to a close, and the restaurant’s lively atmosphere adds to the enjoyable experience. Flames occasionally shoot up from the robata grill in the open kitchen, and Zennström reacts humorously to the shouts and rituals of the chefs. As we part ways, Zennström’s story serves as a reminder of the unique journeys entrepreneurs can take and the impact they can have on the world.
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