INTERVIEW: GROWTH STRATEGY
Analysis and Opinion section sponsored by
New facilities in Vilnius have been a significant investment for the organisation, led by CEO Antanas Laurutis
number of employees. Each step in our growth has brought about changes in the rules of the game and a different set of problems about how we should operate and move forward. Adjusting to these changes has been challenging for me and everyone else in the company, but what’s really helped is that we’ve been able to build up a strong team who have the skills and motivation to help navigate us through the difficult times. On a personal level, when I became CEO, I realised that I would need to strengthen my management skill and, to this end, I studied a two-year executive MBA. This was a great experience as it gave me a new perspective of the company and how to grow it, and it also enabled me to become part of a wider network of people and professionals from both within and outside photonics.
How do you see the future? Our main goal is to become the go-to solution for the optics industry – not by having a large portfolio of products, but
42 Electro Optics March 2024
“When you’re developing technology, it’s essential to regularly talk and listen to potential customers so you can update and fine-tune your solutions”
by providing solutions for the big OEMs who need serialised production in large volumes. In the next five years, we plan to triple our revenue via a growth strategy that’s partly organic and partly through further acquisitions, and to help those companies realise their full potential and grow. We will continue to focus on medical, semicon, defence, and OEM industrial applications, as well as new areas such as quantum computing. However, what we’re seeing increasingly is that OEMs need more than just optics-alone solutions. What they need are optics plus mechanics in the form of modules and accessories. As a
result, our aim is now to be able to provide more turnkey opto- mechanical solutions, which will probably require some strategic acquisitions in the near future.
How do you see yourself five to 10 years from now? My future is closely linked to that of the company. My job will be to push the organisation to make sure that our vision for the future becomes a reality and, as we expand our horizons, I sense that I will definitely need to get to another level, both as a manager and a leader.
If you started again, what would you do differently? In general, I’m pleased with the way things have gone here at Altechna. But I suppose the one thing I’d do differently, is to do the things we’ve done well, faster. For example, if we’d invested the €8 million in our own clean room and coating chambers and acquired Alpine Research Optics three or four years earlier, it would probably have benefited us even more. On the other hand, if we’d have been more agile in pushing
our investment ideas forward, I would have had the responsibility to make them work earlier, which would probably have been a much bigger challenge!
What’s your advice for the next generation of entrepreneurs? Be confident and believe in yourself. But more importantly, always listen to the market. A lot of scientists who become entrepreneurs have amazing ideas, but it’s crucial to develop something that the market actually needs. The world is rapidly changing, so don’t spend time closed off in a basement developing what you think is an ideal product, only to discover a year later that the market has moved on and you need something different. When you’re developing
technology, it’s essential to regularly talk and listen to potential customers so you can update and fine-tune your solutions and create something that meets your customers’ real requirements. EO
www.electrooptics.com
Altechna
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