 Hi, this is Corey Morris from Alhous University and we're here today at Mobile Think in Alhous, Denmark. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Lars Vestergaard. Lars is one of our alumni. Lars is going to tell us a little bit more about his company and what he does. Lars, thank you so very much for agreeing to be with us today. Why don't we just start with one of the basic questions. Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is, as you mentioned, Lars Vestergaard, and that is a Danish name. So I actually went to ASB and finished there in 1998. I graduated with a degree in international business, a Master of Science in international business. And right now I work for a Danish software company in the mobile business called Mobile Think, where I work as the managing director of a business unit. Can you tell us a little bit more about Mobile Think? For example, what do you guys do? Mobile Think is a mobile software company that works with a piece of software that is necessary for mobile operators around the world to control devices. It's a device management software that if you travel and buy a local SIM card and insert into your mobile phone, allows you to do data. So if you go anywhere and want to do something beyond voice and SMS, you need our solution to get it going. No end user ever knows about it or sees it. It's truly a business to business piece of kit. So you're the guys who do that? We do that. We ensure that your holiday is cheap and that you can get the information you want on your mobile. We like that. So Lars, in three words, how would you describe Mobile Think? Mobile Think is a very young, it's a very enthusiastic culture. And the three words that we would use is trust, freedom and then lack of resources. The first two relate to part of our mission because really employees who work here feel that they can be trusted, feel the freedom because you can come and go as you want and you really are in a situation which is well adjusted, I guess. It's well suited to the audience of new grads. When it comes to the lack of resources it's because we're a small company, we're 60 employees and we could always do better in terms of our software. So you're the managing director. What does a managing director at Mobile Think actually do? I was brought on as a managing director to build up a proposition that was almost in the market and yet it wasn't. So I was here to revise the product internally. I was here to do all the necessary bits when it came to the PR, to the marketing, to the building of a website and taking the proposition out to market. So really a selling managing director role. And how did you get the job? That's a great networking story but I know the chairman and have known him for ten years and I met him at a large industry trade fair a few years ago and six months later we were discussing a contract. Now Lars, I know you've made lots of good decisions to get to where you are today but what is probably the best decision you've ever made business wise? That was when I in 2001 was offered a job in London and made that move. That was really the best decision that I ever made. Let's flip that and talk about some of the most difficult decisions or maybe the most difficult decision you've ever had to make in business. I think the most difficult decision relates to the best decision so that was actually leaving London was really a hard decision. The other one, if anything, was to admit defeat. So I was working out in Singapore in 1998 and the currency crisis had killed the company that I was working for and I had really, really set my nose up to a career in Asia Pacific for a number of years and seeing the end to that that I wouldn't want to take a local position was quite the defeat and returning back home in shame back then was really tough. Let's go back and look at your role as managing director. In your opinion, what's the best way to motivate your team? I have dealt with many teams in the past where you can let it depend on who that person is. So some people are very driven by reward and that can be a tap on the shoulder. It can be an appraisal that says you've done a good job, we've made a difference and for others it's pure monetary. So it's about having the right paycheck, having the right annual increase in your salary and generally, even though in Denmark we do focus a lot on how we have a nice time here and we leave at four o'clock and forget about bonuses, it's not really part of it. Money does rock this world, money does matter. Okay, let's jump into a time capsule, dial back the dates and look back at your time at ASB. And I'd like for you to talk about how ASB prepared you for this jump into the business world. If anything really made a difference for me it was the fact that I was allowed to go in and compliment a very theoretical ASB education at that time with something more practical. So I actually chose to go and study abroad. I went on one of the relationships that ASB at the time had with the university in Melbourne, RMIT, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and I took a semester there that was very practically founded. So we had for example one course where a business leader a week came in and gave us an idea about his or her world and we had a chance to discuss that. So what was ASB like back in the 90s? I won't lie to you and say that it was an undisputed pleasure because it was hard work. It really needed a lot of focus. From seeing a large group of people in year one to realizing that at the end of it half would be sorted away was actually quite tough. I wouldn't say that you only survived if you used your elbows but you really had to apply a certain amount of emphasis on. It's not all about drinking, it's not all about having a great social life. This was serious. If you really wanted this you needed to read your books and do well in the exams. So from that point of view it was tough work. Can you talk a little bit more about what it was like actually living and working abroad? How has that been for you? The studying abroad started quite early because I went to high school when I was a teenager but those two semesters I ended up having because I took one semester of my Kent Mac my master degree in Australia and I actually wrote my dissertation in Singapore Institute of Management. There was a great start to actually see what international life was like. I've managed to live and work in several countries and the nine years that I was working out of London was an undisputed positive thing. The fact that you were at the centre of excellence among a lot of peers in your industry has really shaped where I am today. Lars, what does it mean to you to be an alum from the university? To be a form of student from the university. Being an alum at the university is a new concept that only came to mind or to play for me a few years ago. Right now I use it a lot. I didn't miss it when I left the university. Back in those days it wasn't a big issue. I guess it was a big American issue at the time but it wasn't something that I felt I was missing. But having seen what it has been developed to be and what you can do with it, how you can associate yourself with the university, you can with pride mention where you have studied and where you come from is actually a very important thing. And I have certainly used it a lot. Speaking of students, is there any advice that you'd like to offer current students or even prospective students? I think it's a matter of really having that focus. Allow part of you to get driven away with what it is you want to do but allow part of you to also stay open to suggestions, stay open to chance, stay open to coincidence because that is what life really brings you. You can plan and apply focus but keep an open mind on what is going on. But in the first instance, don't party too much. Don't drink all the beers that all the rest do necessarily on the Friday and the Thursday because studying, who are we kidding? It's a task, it's a job. You have one life. Don't let business people tell you that you have a family time and you have a family life and then you have a business life and you get yourself a blackberry mobile phone so you can manage to go between the two. No, you have one life. So if you don't like the business life, leave it. You can make the changes and find something that really works for you that you can associate yourself with that allows you to be you in a family context and allows you to be you in a business context. Lars, thanks so very much for all the time and for talking with us. We really do appreciate it. And best of luck to you. Thank you very much. Once again, I'm Corey Morris with Ohos University. This has been Lars Vestegor with Mobile Think and thanks for your time.