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| name = Mikkel Svane |
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| birth_date = 1971<ref name="Fortune 2016">{{Cite web |last=Clancy |first=Heather |date=June 29, 2016 |title=Why Zendesk CEO Mikkel Svane Obsesses Over Customer Service |url=https://fortune.com/2016/06/29/zendesk-mikkel-svane-customer-service/ |access-date=October 2, 2020 |website=Fortune}}</ref> |
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'''Mikkel Svane''' is an author and entrepreneur. He wrote a book called "Startupland" and currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of [[Zendesk]], which he cofounded in 2007. Svane was born in [[Copenhagen, Denmark]] in 1971. |
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== Early life and education == |
== Early life and education == |
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Svane was born in Copenhagen, Denmark<ref name="Locke 2014">{{Cite web |last=Locke |first=Laura |date=July 30, 2014 |title=The tech firm helping a tough area |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-28439832 |access-date=October 2, 2020 |website=BBC News}}</ref> in 1971.<ref name="Fortune 2016" /> He became interested in computer programming when he was 11 years-old.<ref name="Locke 2014" /> As a child, he created basic computer games.<ref name="book">{{Cite book |last=Svane |first=Mikkel |title=Startup Land |last2=Adler |first2=Carlye |date=2015 |publisher=Jossey-Bass}}</ref>{{RP|29}} He served in the Danish military<ref name="Money Inc 2018">{{Cite web |last=Parker |first=Garrett |date=January 17, 2018 |title=10 Things You Didn't Know about Zendesk CEO Mikkel Svane |url=https://moneyinc.com/10-things-didnt-know-zendesk-ceo-mikkel-svane/ |access-date=September 1, 2020 |website=Money Inc}}</ref> and earned a degree in economics in the early 1990s.<ref name="Locke 2014" /><ref name="book" />{{RP|8}} |
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== Career == |
== Career == |
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After college, Svane started a business creating [[stereograms]].<ref name="book" />{{RP|8}} He authored a book and created software to help others make stereograms themselves.<ref name="book" />{{RP|8-9}} Svane also created a website for free news and event listings called Forum.dk.<ref name="book" />{{RP|11}} Forum.dk was purchased by a newspaper, but Svane retained ownership of the software that ran it.<ref name="book" />{{RP|12-13}} |
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The Forum.dk software became the basis of Caput A/S, a startup Svane created in 1996 that sold software to run the websites of media companies.<ref name="book" />{{RP|12-13}}<ref name="Money Inc 2018" /> Caput went out of business as a result of the crash following the [[dot-com bubble]].<ref name="book" />{{RP|15}} In 2002, Svane got his first traditional job when he was recruited as General Manager at a German business consulting firm called Materna.<ref name="book" />{{RP|17}}<ref name="Money Inc 2018" /> He left that position in the Summer of 2005 and started doing his own freelance consulting work.<ref name="book" />{{RP|20}} |
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Svane was in his mid-30s when he founded Zendesk with two of his friends, Alexander Aghassipour and Morten Primdahl.<ref name="Locke 2014" /><ref name="Rao 2013">{{Cite web |last=Rao |first=Leena |date=November 16, 2013 |title=From its Beginnings in a Denmark Loft, Zendesk's Steady Rise to the Top of the Helpdesk Heap |url=https://social.techcrunch.com/2013/11/16/from-its-beginnings-in-a-denmark-loft-zendesks-steady-rise-to-the-top-of-the-helpdesk-heap/ |access-date=October 2, 2020 |website=TechCrunch}}</ref> Initially, the founders funded the company themselves, while working consulting gigs on the side.<ref name="Locke 2014" /><ref name="Rao 2013" /> They developed the software in Svane's apartment in Copenhagen, Denmark.<ref name="Kim 2014">{{Cite web |last=Kim |first=Eugene |date=December 16, 2014 |title=How This CEO Was Able To Take His Company Public When Everybody Else Was Panicking |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/zendesk-ceo-mikkel-svane-on-ipo-2014-12 |access-date=October 2, 2020 |website=Business Insider}}</ref> |
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Svane moved the company to California in 2009.<ref name="Money Inc 2018" /> Svane led the company's ongoing expansion<ref name="Locke 2014" /> and its [[initial public offering]] in 2014.<ref name="Money Inc 2018" /><ref name="Brown 2014">{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Kristen V. |date=December 25, 2014 |title=Zendesk CEO Mikkel Svane on being an outsider in 'Startupland' |url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Zendesk-CEO-Mikkel-Svane-on-being-an-outsider-in-5978521.php |access-date=October 2, 2020 |website=SFGate}}</ref> In 2014, Svane published a book about his life and starting Zendesk called "''Startupland: How Three Guys Risked Everything to Turn an Idea into a Global Business''."<ref name="Money Inc 2018" /><ref name="Brown 2014" /> The book details Svane's early work creating the company and raising venture capital.<ref name="book" /> As of 2017, Zendesk was a public company with a $2.1 billion market cap.<ref name="Yakowicz 2017">{{Cite web |last=Yakowicz |first=Will |date=January 25, 2017 |title=How Zendesk's Founders Built a $2.1 Billion Business by Ignoring Investors' Advice |url=https://www.inc.com/magazine/201702/will-yakowicz/zendesk-copenhagen-wall-street.html |access-date=October 2, 2020 |website=Inc.com}}</ref> |
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== Further reading == |
== Further reading == |
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* |
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* [https://fortune.com/2015/10/23/zendesk-ceo-this-is-where-big-data-is-heading/ Q&A Interview in Fortune] |
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* [http://allthingsd.com/20120912/enterprise-is-so-hot-right-now-zendesk-raises-60m-for-customer-service/ Video interview in AllThingsD] |
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* [https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/zendesk-ceo-mikkel-svane-transcends-with-simple-success/ Svane's Comments in Investor's Business Daily] |
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* [https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Zendesk-CEO-Mikkel-Svane-on-being-an-outsider-in-5978521.php Q&A interview in the San Francisco Chronicle] |
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== References == |
== References == |
Revision as of 20:07, 12 September 2022
Mikkel Svane |
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