Today I saw the article in Expansión about the Swedish investment fund Scope that have just invested 6.5 MEUR in Artificial Solutions. It is possible that the name of the investor does not mean anything for you but they were the first investor in the open source database company MySQL that Sun Microsystems recently acquired for 1.000.000.000 dollars!
I am a good friend of Johan Ahlund and I can testify that he is a "murri". I don´t know how to say "murri" in his language but he is more clever than the foxes - (as my grandmother said). If you look carefully in his eyes you will know what I mean.
This company is dedicated to some very interesting things - developing applications in natural language. Webs like IKEA, for which they have created "Ask Anna" in 23 languages, use these applications for their customer service. As a summary "You are chatting with a machine."
Johan is part of the generation "guiris" (in his own words ;-) -I would not dare to use this expression- ) that have established themselves in Barcelona in the search for something more than the climate and good food. More than anything they are looking for a place in the world from which they can work world-wide. A place where they can find people that have come from all over the world to work here and to bring their special and different background (in this case the language) to create different type of businesses. Our little country should be proud that people like Johan work amongst us and we should make sure that we make it easy for people like him to settle here and to do business here. Because they also make us open our eyes and improve our general self-esteem. Our little country needs more people like Johan, hard-working visionaries.
We got to know each other a few years back in EO together with a great group of entrepreneurs. Today I think it is very proper to recognize this very important success, that at the same time is only "one more success". I know him well and I know that he is unstoppable. Good luck!
Congratulations Johan!
Avui he vist la notícia a Expansión de que el fons suec Scope ha invertit 6,5 milions d’euros a Artificial Solutions. Potser el nom del fons no us diu res però va ser un dels primers accionistes de la base de dades MySQL (softwre lliure) i que ha estat venuda, finalment, a Sun Microsystems per 1000 milions de dolars.
Sóc amic d’en Johan Ahlund i us puc ben dir que és un murri nat. No se pas com es deu dir murri en la seva llengua però és més viu que les guilles (que deia la meva àvia). Si us hi fixeu, veureu el que us dic en els seus ulls.
Aquesta empresa es dedica a fer una cosa molt curiosa: desenvolupar aplicacions en llenguatge natural. Webs com IKEA, per a qui han creat l'anna (amb els seus 23 idiomes) ho utilitzen en el seu servei d’atenció a clients. Resumint, esteu xatejant amb una màquina.
En Johan pertany a la generació de “guiris” (en paraules seves ;-) –jo me’n guardaria prou-) que s’han establert a Barcelona buscant quelcom més que el clima i la gastronomia. Sobretot, cerquen un lloc al mon des d’on treballar per tot el mon. Un lloc on trobar gent que des de tot el mon ha vingut a viure i treballar aquí i que ens aporten la seva diferència (en aquest cas la llengua) per crear negocis diferents. El nostre petit País hauria d’estar orgullós de que gent com en Johan treballi entre nosaltres i hauríem de procurar facilitar-los les coses perquè també ens fan obrir els ulls i milloren la nostra autoestima i el nivell general. El nostre petit País necessita molts Johan, treballadors i visionaris. Hem de vigilar que notícies com aquesta no són gens bones.
El vaig conèixer fa uns anys a EO juntament amb una bona colla d’emprenedors. Avui, crec que és just reconèixer-li aquesta fita que serà molt important, avui, però que només és una més. El conec i se que no s’aturarà mai. Molta sort !
