Dotcom CEO: US Investors Value Failure, While in Europe, It’s a Professional Death Sentence

Dan Wagner, a prominent English tech entrepreneur known for his colorful career and significant successes, recently shared his perspective on the differences between the US and European investment landscapes. Wagner, who started his journey as a hi-fi salesman in London, went on to establish several successful ventures, including Maid, one of the first online information companies, which he founded in 1984 and floated in 1994, becoming the youngest CEO of a London-listed company. He also founded Venda, an e-commerce services company that he sold for around $50 million.

However, not all of Wagner's ventures have been smooth sailing. His mobile e-commerce company, Powa Technologies, which was once hailed as a British unicorn and praised by former Prime Minister David Cameron, collapsed in 2016. Reflecting on this experience, Wagner highlighted a key cultural difference between the US and Europe regarding business failure.

In Wagner's view, US investors often regard business failure as a "badge of honour," recognizing that it offers valuable lessons and experience. In contrast, he feels that in Europe, failure can lead to an entrepreneur being written off, particularly as they get older. He noted, “The level of capital that is available in the US is of a material nature greater, the level of understanding in the United States is of a material nature more sophisticated. And entrepreneurs, who have had a failure like I did are given actually a kind of badge of honour, it’s almost like ‘you’ve failed so you have learnt a lot of lessons Dan’. Whereas here I think if you have had a failure, particularly when you are in your mid-50s, I am toast. You are good for nothing, put you on the scrapheap kind of thing.”

Wagner’s latest venture, Rezolve, is a mobile commerce business focused on enhancing how merchants engage with customers. The company offers a suite of products, including Brain Commerce, which uses generative AI to provide human-like advice and recommendations to online shoppers. Other products in Rezolve's portfolio include Brain Checkout, a checkout technology, and Brain Assistant, a generative AI-powered support function for handling post-purchase inquiries. Rezolve’s proprietary generative AI technology is at the core of these offerings, which primarily target the US and European markets.

Despite Rezolve's ambitions and the recent listing on Nasdaq via a SPAC, the company has faced its share of challenges. Founded in 2016, Rezolve had to demerge its Chinese business after its partnership with China UnionPay, a state-owned financial services firm, was impacted by the ongoing trade tensions between the US and China. Wagner explained that the decision to demerge was driven by the necessity to list on Nasdaq, as maintaining significant revenue ties to China could have jeopardized the listing.

Wagner remains optimistic about Rezolve's future, particularly in the US and Europe, and is leveraging partnerships with distribution channels like Adobe Magento, ACI Worldwide, and Fiserv to promote its technology to merchants. However, it’s worth noting that Tech.eu was unable to find these distribution partners actively promoting Rezolve on their websites, raising questions about the visibility and reach of these partnerships.

Wagner's journey exemplifies the resilience and adaptability required to navigate the volatile world of tech entrepreneurship, where cultural and market dynamics play a crucial role in shaping the success of innovative ventures.