Fabien Pinckaers
Founder & CEO, Odoo. On 2 shows, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderexecutiveengineer@fpodoo ↗LinkedIn ↗odoo.com ↗
Fabien Pinckaers is the founder and CEO of Odoo, an open-core business software suite originally launched as TinyERP. He bootstrapped and scaled the Belgian company into a profitable global tech enterprise.
2shows
2appearances
107statements
15resolved
11supported
1contradicted
73%fully supported
Everything Fabien Pinckaers said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Rejecting the MVP model drove Odoo's ultimate success
“It was very risky, because it took time to monetize and get to something that I could sell and everything, but now that I am looking back, it's probably what Medo do today. It's because I thought about the big picture, everything's smooth together, and it's no…”
Management software will commoditize into standardized horizontal tools across industries
“And I think as part of, for my vision is to commoditize the management software market. When you see that as a commoditization, I think everybody will use the same CRM, the same accounting, the same website builder. It doesn't have to be dedicated to one indus…”
Odoo's product is years ahead of Microsoft and SAP
“I think our product is years ahead of the competition. There is no way they can do what we do.”
Engineering managers must be the best developer on their team
“There is no way you can Make a team of developers become a better developer if you are not the best developer of the team yourself.”
Giving budgets to employees encourages irresponsible spending
“If you give budget to people, they will just spend the budget. They won't have any responsibility or whatever. If you don't give them budget, they will have to spend responsibly.”
IQ tests are the second best predictor of job performance
“One thing I noticed is that we also do an IQ test, and it's the second best predictive KPI on the performance of the person.”
Odoo bans recurring meetings to avoid traditional managers
“I forbid the recurring meeting at the company. They can do meetings. But on the job, or for specific tasks, or trainings, but not recurring meeting. I mean, recurring meeting is a way to manage people, and we try to avoid managers. We want team leaders that wo…”
SAP and Microsoft enterprise software is shitty, slow, and expensive
“On the market, you have two types of market. You have the large players, like SAP and Microsoft. They do several applications, but it's shitty, it's slow, it's expensive. And people are not happy using it.”
Universal software adoption requires low pricing
“If you want to commoditize the market and have every company own your software, you have to have a very small price.”
Odoo will displace SAP within 10 to 20 years
“First, I think it's just a matter of time. I think I don't know how they can survive to what's coming in from them. We have so much advance, years in our head, we are stealing so much clients to them, that it's just a matter of time for me. But it's gonna take…”
SAP's S/4HANA ERP product is a disaster, says Odoo CEO
“Thanks for Sapphorana, which is a disaster. Nobody wants to go. So that opens the door to new entrants like us.”
In slow markets like ERPs, superior product always beats marketing
“You can save time with marketing, you can save two or three years, you can grow the company, but at some point you cannot, the product matters. I am on a market that is very slow, you know, ERPs are very slow, LCPs is still shitty after two years, Microsoft Dy…”
Scaling is easier by training young talent than hiring VPs
“I think it's easier to scale when you don't need to get the top people. I mean, you just recruit young people, a lot of them, and train them and make them evolve. It's easier than always looking at the best VP of X, the best managers of X.”
Odoo ignores resumes and evaluates candidates strictly on practical tests
“So we don't look at resumes, we just make them do some practice and look at it.”
Hiring well-rounded candidates yields average talent
“If you look for people that are perfect in everything, you will get people that are average in everything. I mean, if you want people who speak multiple languages, who is a good developer, who is a good communicator, Probably it's gonna be average. So if you d…”
Odoo never hires managers or directors externally
“Yes, we never recruit managers and directors. Never ever, even when we reopen a subsidiary in a different country.”
Opening Odoo's San Francisco office was a mistake
“Retrospectively, if I would have opened it elsewhere, I would have preferred, yes.”
Meeting VCs outside active deal cycles is a waste of time
“Waste of time. I meet them when we have an operation, so once every three years we get a transaction, then I'm happy to meet everybody, but .”
Odoo will never sell to an industrial buyer
“We will never sell. At least industrial exit. So it's clear.”
Good product UX is often more efficient than AI agents
“So in a lot of ways, UX having a very, very good product is more efficient than AI, but there are also a lot of use cases where AI is good.”
Traditional education destroys personal responsibility in young people
“And young people, they are not responsible by default. School, the education system killed that.”
Reinvesting personal funds in Odoo because it reliably returns 50% yearly
“I still if I have money, I don't have a lot of money in my bank account, but if I have money, I will buy or do shares. Even more. I mean, it's the best investment I can do, so. It's purely financial. I don't know another company that can give me 50% year after…”
Management software market will consolidate to two or three players
“I do believe that management software will follow the same trends. Today, there are plenty of factors. But in the future, such technology will be so will be a commodity, like so much mature that there will be one, two, or three players that will have the world…”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Fabien's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 20VCLEDGER | Founder & CEO, Odoo | 1 | 87 | 69% 9/13 | full record on 20VC → |
 TOP FOUNDERSLEDGER | Founder & CEO, Odoo | 1 | 20 | 100% 2/2 | full record on Top Founders → |