From start-up to acquisition, the last five years have been a roller-coaster for Red Planet CFO, Claire Fitzpatrick.
First of all, how did you come to be involved with Red Planet?
I had been working in Telefonica Ireland (O2 Ireland), leading and executing on large strategic initiatives, the last of which was the sale of Telefonica Ireland to Three Ireland in 2014 – a challenging but exhilarating learning experience. Wayra, a digital accelerator funded by Telefonica, opened in 2012 and I was immediately interested. I visited Wayra and became a mentor to one of the investee companies. One of my colleagues from O2 had joined one of the start-ups and was loving it and when Wayra was seeking a CFO, I jumped at the chance.
Some of my peers were more than sceptical as it wasn’t a conventional move, but I loved it from day one. It was all completely new – the environment, the people, the cutting-edge technologies and, the best part, a chance to use my experience to help build new businesses while on a steep learning curve. I was amazed at how quickly and cost-effectively digital businesses were being created and launched into the market.
Despite Wayra’s success, it was closed in 2015 due to Telefonica withdrawing from the Irish market. My Wayra colleagues and I immediately started to talk about the next chapter. Corporates were engaging with start-ups, but not in a structured way that would lead to revenue growth. With our combined experience in corporate innovation, start-up curation and acceleration, Red Planet set about providing structured access to digital start-up innovations, delivering revenue growth for both start-ups and corporates.
At a high level, what services does Red Planet provide?
Red Planet delivers revenue-focused start-up engagement for corporates who understand that the internet and digital technology is creating a new world where traditional corporate strengths can become weaknesses. We call it ‘outside-in, start-up-driven’ innovation. Our aim is to create new value for corporates struggling to resonate in a digital world and the young start-ups with the customer-centric solutions but a weak channel to market.
What can the world of accountancy learn from Red Planet’s ‘stability versus agility’ philosophy?
The internet, digital technology and new human behaviours are enabling new business models with the power to disrupt all industries and markets. Airbnb is a great example. It has access to more rooms in New York than the largest hotel chain, but it doesn’t pay for cleaning or security and it delivers a unique experience to every customer. This disruption applies to accountancy too. The outcome is unknown, but the certainty is that the profession must embrace change to take advantage of opportunity.
As CFO of Red Planet, which was recently acquired by Deloitte, what was the hardest part of the acquisition process?
Being part of the sale of Telefonica Ireland made me well prepared for the process, but this time it was a more emotional journey. As a founder, you have started and built the company so you care deeply about the outcome. The most challenging part was keeping the day-to-day going, continuing to develop a pipeline of clients and meet existing clients’ briefs. It would have been very easy to get distracted by the acquisition, but you have to remember that without clients or a pipeline, there would be no acquisition.
Do you have any pieces of wisdom to share with other CFOs who might be facing acquisition?
Anticipate the information requests from the acquirer and their advisors. Accept that you cannot control the outcome or the process, but you can be prepared and influence it. And as I already mentioned, don’t forget about the day job because as soon as you take your eye off that, the wheels come off.
On both personal and professional levels, where do you go from here?
On a personal level, I am really excited to join Deloitte and to see where we can take Red Planet. In a short time, I have already seen the value Deloitte put on their people and the investment they are prepared to make in their career development. With Red Planet, I have seen the real demand from corporates for start-up-driven innovation and Deloitte recognised this opportunity, so combining their channel and resources with our ‘outside-in’ innovation process will be an exciting new chapter for
the future.
Claire Fitzpatrick FCA is Chief Financial Officer at Red Planet, which was recently acquired by Deloitte.