Meet Arne Mombers, who after 3.5 years in private practice (Competition, Capital Markets and M&A) joined Amsterdam-based Tiqets in October 2017 as its first in-house counsel. Now, he’s the group’s General Counsel (even though that title doesn’t quite cover it). In a couple years in, he’s seen the company skyrocket from a team of 50 to 200+ (with Corona temporarily stabilising the FTE growth) and with Tiqets he continues connecting millions of travelers with instant, last-minute, mobile tickets to remarkable top museums and attractions all over the world.
1. To kick things off: Would you rather be an Olympic gold medalist or an astronaut? I’d pick being an astronaut -- although “space tourist” would be a more suitable description. I enjoy moments that put everything in perspective, and I can’t think of anything more humbling than seeing the Earth from space. I’d say I’m pretty driven so being an Olympian would certainly be appealing, but being skyrocketed into space means I’d have to give up full control and just observe...
2. Imagine someone who knows you incredibly well has to write an introduction about you for a moderator to share ahead of your talk on a topic (work related or otherwise) you’re passionate about. Please give us that introduction.
If this someone would describe me, they’d say I’m an optimistic and thoughtful person who ensures people around him are heard and seen, and are triggered to participate. I consider personal connections incredibly important and believe that if you put the right people together and get them aligned and energised, results will improve drastically. I’m also pragmatic and down to earth, and a great admirer of leaders who use plain language to explain complex issues (without using any corporate fluff or boasting).
3. People want a solid understanding of what your work and day-to-day looks like. What are you going to tell them?
I work at a tech scale-up that removes the (traditionally high) barriers to cultural experiences in all its shapes and forms. We facilitate these experiences on behalf of venues for travelers and provide great deals in the process. The information on our platform is accurate and accessible, and the payment process and ticket collection is smooth, carefree and trustworthy. Millions of people have used our platform with highest customer satisfaction rates in the market.
With my team, we’re the oil that keeps the business engine running smoothly. I make sure that the Legal, Compliance, Corporate Development and Secretary functions of the company are mature in areas where it should be, and “agile” where we need to be quick on our feet, involving external counsels but only if and when necessary. Other Business Support at Tiqets includes typical office functions like Finance and HR, but also Data and IT. Together we enable our multidisciplinary business pillar departments to achieve their KPIs, such as connecting and optimising the very best venues worldwide, or to make sure that we drive as much value from our partnerships with affiliates.
As to the legal part of my job: it’s mainly about adding sustainable value and radiating trustworthiness. We’re a tech platform and we have a huge amount of processes in place to make it run smoothly, which also means legal and compliance elements are incorporated into the platform’s code base. Making sure that these fundamental processes are automated, accurate and up-to-date means that fewer ad hoc issues arise and we can focus on longer-term strategy, especially with respect to European and national rules and regulations that apply to platforms.
As to my day-to-day, this really varies between larger responsibilities and projects (board meetings, investment rounds, negotiations and integration with strategic partners, setting up compliance frameworks) and ad hoc surprises. Although it’s part of the job, I don’t find myself reviewing and marking-up too many contracts. Again: most is automated or laid down in processes which promote ownership by other departments. The same goes for our legal service desk (JIRA), via which department owners can efficiently reach us for input.
Working at Tiqets has so far been a dynamic and adventurous MBA-on-the-job, experiencing dozens of growth stages in quick succession (which would take many more years at traditional companies) and with new multi-disciplinary cases to tackle almost every day.
4. What makes your job great and what makes it a little less great?
In my position, I’m fully integrated with the company as a whole, with touch points to every other department and position. Being involved in the company’s decision making process requires understanding both the bigger picture and the practical operational implications of what the company aims to achieve. This means being sensitive to both the external stakeholder landscape, the company’s culture and internal processes.
Less great (and fortunately rare at Tiqets) is that the legal function is sometimes viewed as the final obstacle before sign-off on a project. For those exceptions, we are usually involved too late in the process and we may be perceived to stonewall the process when we are asked for an opinion. Having to convince someone that his or her lack of planning does not make something our priority, is not the most rewarding part of the legal function.
5. What triggered you to make the career move you made?
Top-tier company-focused law firms (like the one I worked at) are highly specialised, laser-focused problem solvers and need output to always be of the highest attainable standards. While this mentality shaped me into the professional I am today, I was increasingly curious about the practical impact of our advice. Also looking at my personality type -- I’m a pragmatic generalist -- a multidisciplinary, more culturally diverse and faster-paced environment just suits me better. Tiqets’ growth demands an entrepreneurial mindset where, to quote Sheryl Sandberg, “done is better than perfect”. Not to say this quote is set in stone: Especially tech platforms, where fundamental decisions are automated for scale, need to be ruthless and spend considerable time in getting fundamentals right from the outset -- something which platforms like Facebook Meta may continue having issues with throughout their existence.
6. How were you able to make the transition out of private practice? What do you consider the top 3 best tips or strategies for others looking to make a similar move?
Three pointers that (with hindsight) helped me:
1. Decide first on the environment you want to work in. While at Tiqets, I’ve talked to quite a few legal professionals who were considering leaving law practice. A start-up culture appealed to most, but some did not realise a start-up required a mindset that can cope with a state of continuous chaos growth. So first explore what you would need from a professional environment before that allows you to be the best version of yourself.
2. Get rid of the preconception that having a legal background means you can only consider legal roles as a next step. As a lawyer, you’re a highly-trained professional who can easily adapt to different business environments. This means you can also adopt another role within another organisation if such role suits your personal and professional strengths. My current role, for example, is much closer to a general manager who happens to be responsible for the legal and corporate development domain than to a typical in-house lawyer with neatly allocated responsibilities. If you’re not sure what role characteristics you’d gain most energy from, it helps to find a mentor outside your current legal bubble, just as a pair of fresh eyes and ears.
3. For people looking to embark on a career in the start-up and scale-up world, I’d recommend looking for companies who have just raised a Series A or B and connect with these investors directly. These investors will need people with a strong sense of responsibility to watch over their investment, and companies who raised money will soon want to expand their business support functions -- alongside the ambition to achieve world domination with their product of course…
7. What were the most valuable things that you learned working as a corporate lawyer that you still use in your work today?
I have good memories of how I began my career together with a great group of junior lawyers. Growing into a professional in a demanding but inspiring environment boosted my self confidence and made me realise what I’m good at and where I can improve, something I can fall back on in the rest of my career. Being a corporate lawyer also allowed me to observe and interact with C-level executives of a wide variety of companies from day one, which now helps me better identify the interests of Tiqets’ stakeholders.
8. What were you trained to do as a corporate lawyer working at a law firm, that did not / does not serve you well in your current job? What did you have to “unlearn”? And what skills did you have to pick up on quickly?
In a scale-up, you quickly unlearn writing emails like memos and adding disclaimers. Instead, when asked to advise I add value by asking the right questions and offering a practical -- sometimes commercially more favourable than expected -- solution. Training colleagues in adopting a more legal-savvy line of reasoning avoids many future issues.
What I had to learn was becoming more tech-and-business-savvy. Every colleague at a tech scale-up needs to know about platform structure (back office), traffic connections (widgets, links, APIs), analytics (GA, Looker, or equivalent), and needs to be comfortable leaving the MS Office safe-zone (welcome endless Google Workspace features, Slack humour and a plethora of other programmes / apps). This took some months, especially for someone who was trained organising documents in neat folder structures. Another eye-opener was that the effort (and costs) involved in building, running and optimising a bespoke platform environment are just immense, with a gazillion of dependencies between individual platform features. Finally, as I took on more corporate development responsibilities I had to adopt corporate finance and business analytics skills (which I mostly picked up along the way).
9. If you weren’t doing what you’re doing, what would be your dream job?
Carpenter… or musician! I have neglected some of these passions for some time… I see myself having more than one job, but for now I’m happy being involved in Tiqets’ growth and by sharing experiences with other professionals. Oh, and I’m currently building on some MVPs at the moment, stay tuned.
10. What advice would you give practicing corporate lawyers considering staying put or taking on a new challenge outside of private practice?
Invest in connecting with a diverse group of leaders you find inspiring before deciding on your next step. Get a sense of what they’re doing, why they are doing this, and see whether this resonates with your own ambitions. And call me or shoot me a message if you want to brainstorm, always happy to help!
*Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the interviewee alone and not their employer.
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