Bjørn´s War Story: Turning copper into gold
Olav Stokke and a few team members first presented broadband to consumers to me back in 2000.
Olav had put together convincing arguments why consumers over time would not be happy with dial up for their internet needs. He also explained why using "copper is gold" and how a DSL network could be built to serve consumers cost effectively.
At that time many still chuckled at people believing a majority of consumers would watch streaming video over internet. One must keep in mind that this was the same people that just some months earlier had feared the "Y2K effect". Olav and Bjørn, however, believed that dial-up would not suffice in the future, and that the first to bring broadband to the consumers at an affordable price would be in a great position.
Olav worked with Northzone to define the correct scope for NextGenTel, and everything from a regional play to deployment in multiple countries was considered. Together they concluded that a full build-out of DSL in Norway was the right scope for the company.
Bjørn linked up with an American VC to bring experience from the US broadband market to the company - and together the consortium put up 8 million Euro in the first round to enable the NextGenTel team to invest in DSLAMs and other telco hardware. NextGenTel launched the service in 2001 - ahead the encumbent Telenor. Similar US DSL companies all struggled and many went bankrupt through 2001/2002, but Olav kept burn rate low, and found creative ways to fund huge infrastructure investments.
NextGenTel went public in 2004 at OSE, and was acquired by TeliaSonera in 2006 - and Northzone having backed the company all the way from business plan, via IPO to trade sale - earned a handsome investment multiple.
Simple as that.
