SBC News SBC Leader Profile - Ebbe Groes - EveryMatrix - Expanding Times
Ebbe Groes, EveryMatrix

SBC Leader Profile – Ebbe Groes – EveryMatrix – Expanding Times

ebbegroesq
Ebbe Groes

Continuing its series of leader profiles, SBC caught up with EveryMatrix CEO  Ebbe Groes, to discuss how EveryMatrix has evolved as a technology and platform provider for the igaming industry during his 13 year leadership tenure of the independent  company.

An industry veteran with a background in economic research and development, Ebbe Groes gives insight into building and developing optimal teams for the igaming industry and the challenges that his company has met, as EveryMatrix now enters a new phase of international development and expansion in the coming months.

_________________________

SBC: Hi Ebbe thanks for letting SBC profile you. Can you summarise for our readers your journey as CEO of Everymatrix and how your company has evolved?

EG: What’s slightly special about EveryMatrix is that we’ve never had external investors. Instead we’ve followed a path of organic growth. This is of course slower and can be less disciplined but allows control and allows me and others in the company to not grow faster than we’re able to learn ourselves as we go along.

This approach has also meant that it’s been a quite harmonious growth, most certainly full of pitfalls, bad decisions, unexpected losses of revenue and all that, but rarely with the kind of internal power struggles that are so prevalent in many companies. Even when we did errors in EveryMatrix we agreed about the path in the management and that itself is worth a lot for me as a person. It’s simply more fun to go to work when we’re all pulling in the same direction.

SBC: In the 13 years you have led EveryMatrix and its services and technology, what has been your biggest challenge?

EG: Tough one but I’ll go with human resource angle. I don’t think I have an amazing track record in hiring managers, nor have we as a company devoted enough resources and attention to recruitment and growth of staff.  We’re getting better at this, more conscious, but it’s hard to balance high demands to new staff with high growth and need for staff.

SBC: You have a strong background in Economics, focusing on research and development how do you feel that this insight has helped you navigate EveryMatrix through the complexities of the online gambling market?

EG: I do, yes. And while very little of the work I did at University is directly relevant, it’s clear to me that it gives a disciplined way of thinking and an ability to absorb new concepts rather easily. I can see how some people don’t trust their ability to master some new area, preferring to leave it to “experts” in that field, whether it’s marketing, legal, finance, development, operations. I don’t suffer from that and I think it’s useful with such multi-able people in leading positions, people who can grasp all aspects of a problem.

SBC: You are in the process of expanding EveryMatrix services internationally, how do you and your management look to build a team to service this expansion. What skills, characteristics and knowledge do you seek to build upon?

EG: We’re gradually finding the way that works best for us. This is bringing a combination of young, smart, ambitious internal staff with industry veterans that we look to incorporate into our operations, they may not be strong in our products and company culture but  have a proven network combined with experience and proven skills and track records. This combination outperforms either of the two approaches on their own.

SBC: What factors and competencies should online gambling operators look to build upon, in order to make their products more accessible and enjoyable to the general public?

EG:  I’d like to see more innovation and more experimenting. There’s a growing tendency to run multi site operations and I welcome this very much. Seek to reduce the cost of new sites, new approaches, take less time and money to do, mutate, and evolve. So to do this, operators should have platforms that allow it and staff that are more creative, make room for this creativity, and then let the market decide what works.

SBC: Finally…How do you think and feel that online gaming and sports betting will evolve in the years to come? What should future industry leaders be preparing for?

EG: Within sports betting I’m a firm believer in the decoupling of operations and marketing that my own OddsMatrix is one example of. Year after year the turnkey sports betting products keep improving and gain on the operations of the dedicated old school operators.

Between the turnkey providers it will then be a case of ability to adapt to the needs of the operator. What I hope to see from OddsMatrix – and what I expect to become the norm among the best providers, sports and in general, is to be able to move away from templates, skins, and rigidity, and fully embrace allowing the operator to create exactly the user experience desired, fast, swiftly, and easily controlled.

With this freedom everything is possible. And with this freedom industry leaders will thus be prepared for it all.

__________________________________

Check Also

SBC News EveryMatrix opens new eco-friendly HQ in Bucharest

EveryMatrix opens new eco-friendly HQ in Bucharest

EveryMatrix has announced the opening of its new development hub in Bucharest, Romania. In collaboration …

bet-at-home

Bet-at-home readies for EveryMatrix makeover as year losses mount to €1.5m

Bet-at-home AG has declared a consolidated net loss of €1.5m for its full-year 2023 results …

EveryMatrix

EveryMatrix smashes all commercial records in 2023

EveryMatrix has proclaimed its “best financial results in its 16-year history” as the igaming and …