Season B - Ep. 7: Francois Laborie, President at Cognite North America, on bringing a European SaaS to the US market

SaaShimi

Francois shared his experience of bringing the Norway-based Cognite to the US market, discussed the most significant challenges he has faced along the way, and compared corporate cultures in the US and Europe.

BIO

Dr. Francois Laborie is the President of Cognite North America, overseeing Cognite’s expansion and operations in the US, Canada, and Latin America. He has had an extensive career in the technology industry, serving in both research and executive roles. Francois has been at the heart of the transformation of the media industry through technology. He spent 11 years as COO and CCO of Vizrt, where he focused on disrupting journalism by empowering media content creators with visual storytelling tools. Before that, Francois managed research projects on collective decision-making and human-computer interfaces at the Airbus Group Corporate Research Center.

TIMESTAMPS

01:00 Francois and Cognite

06:15 Competition with internally built systems

08:40 Go-To-Market Strategy

11:40 Reception of Cognite by US and EU clients

15:35 Selecting sales personnel

19:30 Comparing corporate cultures in the US and Europe

20:20 Involvements of investors

23:30 Long-term vision for Cognite

Season B is Sponsored by CELIGO, IPaaS for Mid-Market companies.

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