Passendo CCO and Founder Anders Rasmussen started his first business when he was 12 and has been an entrepreneur since then. Today he is 43 and when he reflects upon his career his biggest mistake is that he didn’t follow up on the concepts he came up with.
How can you make some extra pocket money when you are a 12-year-old growing up in the affluent area Søllerød north of Copenhagen? For young Anders Rasmussen the answer was to pick up fresh bread from the bakery and deliver it. This was way before Just-Eat and even before the internet and every weekend Rasmussen would take orders and then deliver the bread. Reflecting on how he got started Rasmussen recalls having his father setting up the deal with the local bakery for receiving a discount when buying large amounts of bread, but him doing the rest of the work and running with it.
Next up was being a DJ and owning a mobile disco. A way of being the life of the party AND make money at the same time. The name of the disco was TMP – Total Music Power. If only Rasmussen would have registered www.totalmusicpower.com back then. After selling all his disco gear (and the name) to a local young gun Rasmussen did eventually make his move into the dot.com world.
All the way back in 2000 he founded Netcept developing online solutions and websites on behalf of clients like Krak that would then offer their customers websites. It was early internet days and in this period Rasmussen came up with concepts that would become a success for others later, which he views as one of his biggest mistakes in his career.
– We were perhaps a little bit ahead of our time. And even though I’m in a good place I can still regret they we didn’t follow up on some of the concepts we came up with back then. For example we had an early concept of online catalogues as well as solutions similar to Pricerunner and Downtown. Had I had the knowledge I have today I would have asked for advice in my network, taken in investments and – perhaps most importantly – on boarded knowledge, Rasmussen tells ARYZE
But Rasmussen also warns young entrepreneurs that they shouldn’t take in investments at any cost. You have to consider it. When asked for his best entrepreneur advice he focus on the idea.
– You need to have an idea, be passionate about it and have fun. And consider taking in investments. When other people give you their money they start to have all kinds of demands, haha. Try to avoid it as long as you can and take in the right money from smart people with knowledge and a passion within the field.
After Netcept Rasmussen worked his way up the ladder in ad pepper media and after co-founding pricecity.dk and amillionmails sales partnered with tech and he founded Passendo with Andreas Jürgensen. Today the company employs 12 people including their developers in Serbia. At the moment they are burning cash, but as Rasmussen states they could be cash positive in three months if they stopped hiring. Right now they are looking to hire a person for sales within international publishing.
You can connect with with Anders Rasmussen on LinkedIn and learn about Passendo on their website. PS: Rasmussen is inspired by Richard Branson because of his drive and many, many, many activities. For more interesting insights, please visit ARYZE’s blog and website.