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Tony
Rubin is a former British Telecom senior executive and
has worked in the ICT space for over 24 years. Immediately
before joining Ariadne Tony was part of small team managing
BT Retail's portfolio of new ventures that collectively
generate in excess of £100m revenue p.a. Tony
was on the board of several of these wholly-owned businesses.
Before joining BT Retail,
Tony spent two years as CEO of a start-up mobile data
venture - Rocking Frog - within Brightstar, BT Exact's
new technology incubator. Tony has a wide range international
business experiences during which time he has traveled
to 24 or more countries around the world. As a VP
in BT Wireless (the forerunner to O2) he ran 'mobilityleaders'
a global knowledge management programme linking 14
different mobile operators and all the world's leading
mobile suppliers including; Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia,
Lucent, Siemens.
Tony also spent two years
as Head of Business Development for Syncordia Europe
managing the systems implementation and contract management
of BT's most prestigious European clients. In the
early 1990's Tony lived and worked first in Singapore
and then Sydney, Australia running BT's Customer Service
Programmes in the Asia- Pacific region.
Q. What is one of
the more memorable and significant points in your
career?
In 1991 I was working for BT as a product portfolio
manager looking after BT's network management products,
when my ex-boss who had left to go and work for BT
Asia-Pac in Singapore called and asked me if I would
be interested in joining him in Singapore. I asked
for time to consider the offer and perhaps go and
visit the country first - a luxury I recall that he
had been afforded. I figured that, worst case, I was
going to get an all-expenses paid trip to Singapore.
Unfortunately, he rather bluntly told me I had 5 days
to decide and there would be no opportunity to let
me go visit first! After a couple of sleepless nights
my wife and I decided to take up the offer. It was
an ideal opportunity - our children were only 2 and
4 years old and were not yet at school, I worked out
that we could go out to Asia and return in time for
them to start their formal secondary education in
the UK.
We went to Singapore in October 1991 and after
18 months relocated to Sydney when BT moved its regional
customer service HQ to Australia. We spent 2 further
years based in Australia. As Director of Regional
Customer Service Programmes I had the opportunity
to work all across the region; Japan, Malaysia, India,
Hong Kong - I set up BT's two Asia-Pacific global
customer service centres in Sydney and Tokyo as well
building a common, linked, customer service system
capability in each country where BT had a presence.
The experiences those postings provided for both me
and my family were unique and irreplaceable - in so
many ways the decision to go and work overseas changed
our lives.
Q. What made you decide
to work with Ariadne Capital?
Whilst at BT I had employed Ariadne to help us look
for small but smart technology businesses that BT
might acquire in order to build its portfolio of new
wave services and revenues. From the first time I
met Ariadne people I seemed to hit it off with them
and really liked their style and approach. I made
a mental note, even then, that this is the sort of
business I could see myself working in if I ever chose
to leave BT. I remained in close contact with Julie
and Bundeep even after the mandate had ended, I introduced
them to Intamac and helped them win some other corporate
business. Over time we therefore got to know each
other quite well; eventually I got a chance to leave
BT on good terms, and it did not take too long for
me, Julie and Bundeep to conclude that I could usefully
bring a fresh set of ideas, contacts and experience
into Ariadne on a permanent basis. The second best
career decision I have ever made (see above for the
best)!
Q. What motivates
you?
Seeing an opportunity at an early stage and then turning
the theoretical opportunity into a concrete, well
executed deliverable. Ultimately I guess I get turned
on by seeing potential realised and the benefits that
brings to all interested parties. Winning business
or closing deals is important to me - for me it is
a quantitative way of affirming my value and contribution
to the business.
Q. How do you see
the future of communications and technology?
In a word - exciting! This is undoubtedly the fastest
moving and exciting sector to work in. I never cease
to be amazed by the pace of change and influence communications
and technology has on people's lives in so many ways.
The home is going digital and wireless, in the next
few years many of us will have wireless lans at home
and that will in turn drive new products and services.
The distinction between fixed and mobile phones will
become increasingly blurred until we all carry our
own sophisticated communications device and we don't
care how we are connected - GPRS, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,
fixed line - all that matters is the services we can
access and the fact that we are 'always on.' I also
see e-commerce and m-commerce blurring and more and
more of us managing more and more financial transactions
via our communications devices - paying for anything
with coins and notes will eventually become a rarity.
The other area that is fascinating is 'content repurposing'.
More and more people will be able to consume information
or content in a way that best suits them - on a device
of their choosing, at a time of their choosing and
through the medium of their choosing - some will want
to watch their favourite soap opera on their laptop
in a WI-Fi enabled coffee bar at 10:00am and some
people will want to have the latest newspaper articles
read out to them while they drive to work or sit on
the train. Still others want to download a movie for
later consumption or have their emails delivered in
their native language. Technology can just about repurpose
and deliver content in any and all of these ways today
- all that is needed is a viable commercial model
and somebody to connect the bits together - I predict
that we will not have to wait long.
Q. What or who has been the biggest influence on
your life?
What a difficult question! The 'who' has to be my
wife and family - much of my motivation comes from
making sure their needs, both spiritual and material,
are fully met and exceeded.
The 'what' is rationality. Call it science, call it
objectivity or call it logic - ultimately I have to
see and understand the rationale behind everything.
This does not mean I am insensitive or do not have
good business instincts but it does mean I have to
understand and buy into the rational arguments behind
an idea. I suppose that is why I love chess, theoretical
physics and Darwinism (amongst others) - all of them
have beautifully constructed, deeply layered and understandable
logic underpinning them.
Q. What would you
like to do if you weren't doing what you are doing
now?
Standing somewhere on a golf course! I took up golf
about 5 years ago and have become a bit obsessed with
the game. I am of limited ability but that does not
stop me spending some part of almost every weekend
hitting a golf ball. Since I could never make a living
from golf, in terms of work I would like to try my
hand at writing professionally. I have written a couple
of books and many articles, I still write occasionally
for a football website. I wouldn't mind trying to
get my novel written!
Q. Who would you most like to meet?
Another very tough question! I can't reduce this to
a single person so take your pick from the following:
Richard Dawkins, Martin Jol, Sam Torrance, Iain Banks,
Jamie Oliver, Martin Scorcese, James Dyson, Bill Bryson
and Julie Walters. An eclectic bunch - but what a
dinner party!
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Ariadne
Capital Journal - Through the Maze Volume
5, Edition 2
