At this year’s edition of the Start Up Festival Malta, Alexandre Dreyfus had the honour of presenting us with the first keynote speech of the festival. Alexandre’s journey as an entrepreneur started around the age of six, when he received his first computer. Dreyfus grew up alongside the rapid evolution of technology, where he was labelled as a geek and found his passion for business development and entrepreneurship.
In 1995, Dreyfus co-founded a website- building company with a stranger, who later became his business partner where they operated on a 50/50 share structure. However, Dreyfus believed that a successful company is led by a single leader, not shared equally among partners and so after 2 years he sold his shares and kept 25% of the company in his name.
His second venture started in 1997, where Dreyfus raised €10 million from traditional venture capital, but the company launched too early on the market and went bankrupt in 2001 which led to the company losing their investment.
Dreyfus moved to Malta at 24 which ignited his next venture. Malta was one of the first European companies to regulate online gambling, which prompted Alexandre to release his second online company, Chili Poker, which grew to 40 employees and was sold in 2012. After selling Chili Poker, he turned his attention to sports, blockchain and cryptocurrency.
In 2016 he founded the Global Poker League, this project aimed at “sportifying” poker. He created 12 different sports teams for this niche sport and raised $4.5 Million in investments. This however failed due to the specificity of the sport.
Dreyfus pivoted from this failure to the monetization of sports. In 2017 he created Chilliz and Socios.com , a mobile app designed to engage fans through tokens for sports teams. In early 2018 he successfully managed to raise $60 million. The main focus of this project was football, thus establishing several partnerships with some of the biggest teams in the world including Paris Saint Germain, Roma & Juventus. The company spent around $500-600 million in the sports industry, where they spoke to football teams and signed them on with the company.
Dreyfus’s journey has taught him that being an entrepreneur often means being a slave to one’s business. Every employee in the company is able to quit at any moment, however the entrepreneur carries the constant weight of their venture. An entrepreneur has free time however he does not have a free mind. Every single moment they are thinking about their business and how to survive. Having a management team complementary to what your business is about will help you grow. Dreyfus’s business lost $80 million trying to expand to the United States but because of regulations, politics and licensing in the industry, they were not able to launch. Chilliz gave millions of dollars into sports teams because he had a fear of missing out, which ended up failing and costing the business millions.
Alexandre Dreyfus’s journey conveys the determination and resilience it takes to be an entrepreneur. From his early start in tech to online gambling and sports, he has learned valuable lessons from both successes and failures. His story highlights the importance of having a clear vision, being open to change, and focusing on meaningful impact rather than just money.
Dreyfus’ advice for aspiring entrepreneurs was to;
Avoid FOMO: Due to his fear of missing out and wanting to be the first in everything. He made the mistake of losing $80 million while trying to expand into the U.S. market.
Know When to Stop: He stresses the importance of finding the balance between the two opposing concepts to be successful. You must know when to quit or hold back, however you cannot beat someone that never quits.
Money is the reward not the goal: For Dreyfus, money is a reward, not the ultimate goal; the true aim is to build something that makes a change. People who build to make money think only about the short term problems and solutions.
Be a slave of your ambition: Alexandre believes entrepreneurs must accept the reality, maintaining a commitment to their company whilst also balancing their personal lives because your company is with you forever unless it is sold.
Don’t wait for perfection: When trying to build your product perfectly before it’s launch, this builds more hesitation and anxiousness to launch your product, thus someone with the same idea can seize the opportunity.
Accept to change your point of view: Accept to learn and educate yourself about the industry and the technology that you are working in.
