Introduction
When you hear “venture capital,” you might picture flashy tech startups, billion-dollar valuations, and overnight success stories. But as Tom Henriksson, General Partner at OpenOcean, explains in this candid interview with Inside Success CEO David Sonowo, the reality is a lot more complex and a lot more human.
Tom’s journey from management consulting and Nokia executive roles to founding venture capital firms and investing in companies like MySQL and Truecaller offers a rare window into the world of high-risk, high-reward investing. It’s a story of bold bets, massive wins, and equally tough failures, all driven by a passion for helping startups scale beyond the impossible.
Explaining Venture Capital
David: What exactly is venture capital? What does it mean and how does it work?
Tom: Venture capital is money invested at risk into early-stage startups. We raise funds from institutions, families, and ourselves, then invest equity in promising companies. We support them to grow, aiming for a “positive exit” and selling our shares when the company goes public or is bought. The main goal is helping startups mature and make money.
David: How did you get into venture capital?
Tom: It wasn’t planned. I started in management consulting, then did an MBA aiming for strategy consulting. But during my MBA, I worked with startups and got hooked. I also connected with a Finnish venture capitalist, did some market research for them, and that experience brought me into VC.
Tom’s Biggest wins and Toughest lessons
David: Which startup investment has been your biggest success or passion project?
Tom: Two stand out. Early on, we invested in MySQL, an open source database company, which sold for over $1 billion to Sun Microsystems. That was a major win. Later, at OpenOcean, we backed Truecaller, a Swedish app that grew to 100 million revenue and went public in 2021 in Stockholm’s largest IPO that year, worth over 2 billion euros. Both were incredible journeys.
David: Sounds great, but what’s been your toughest lesson in this business?
Tom: Toughest truth? Half your investments will fail, even if you’re the best VC. Startups look amazing on paper but many don’t take off. It’s heartbreaking because you believe in the people and the ideas, but often they just don’t work out. It’s sad for both the founders and investors. You have to be strong, and remember it’s the big wins that keep you going.
David: So you have to be really strong to deal with that?
Tom: Yes. You have to remember it’s the big wins that matter more. But it’s still sad when strong ideas with ambitious people don’t succeed.
Reflecting on his Journey
David: What advice would you give your younger self?
Tom: In investing: Take more risks. Sometimes you have to back those crazy, bold ideas to achieve really big things.
In life: I probably should’ve saved more and made long-term investments earlier. It took me until my 50s to become financially stable.
David: What business do you wish you invested in? Since you mentioned taking more risks, what’s one you didn’t take and now regret?
Tom: Definitely UiPath. It was a company from Romania, and in 2015 we saw they were building software robots to automate business processes. But at the time, no major software startup had come out of Romania yet, so we hesitated. The team didn’t yet look like your typical global business founders, but they had amazing tech. I wish I had dared to invest then. UiPath ended up becoming the fastest-growing enterprise software company at the time.
David: Wow.
Tom: When we first saw them, they had zero recurring revenue, just some consulting income in the hundreds of thousands. The next year? $5 million in monthly subscriptions. Then $30 million. Then $150 million. Their valuation went from a few million euros to tens of billions in just four years.
David: That’s incredible. As a VC, what’s your main passion, the business, the founder, or the financial return?
Tom: The financial return comes as a result of backing the right people and the right ideas. What really drives me is the chance to work with brilliant founders and support innovations that can genuinely improve industries and lives.
