Demystifying Entrepreneurship

In Startup Scene by Sébastien FluryLeave a Comment

Last week, I was invited to take part to a panel with 5 other startup founders (Ivan Orlov, Eric Lucien, Vincent Renevey, Alejandro Salcedo and Tommy Stefanelli) of Western Switzerland. The panel was part of a 2-days workshop (Rencontre Romande de Formation et Entrepreneuriat) where startup coaches and mentors of the Western Switzerland region were present to discuss how to best support entrepreneurs. As I’ve been on their side (I used to be a “startup coach” formerly), it was quite interesting to me to be asked how they can best help us.

But first of all, we had the chance to listen to Mr. Benoit Leleux, who is in charge of the startup program at the prestigious IMD school of business since more than 15 years. He hold a keynote about the stereotypes regarding entrepreneurship and how to demystify it. You can find the slides here (mostly in French, sorry for my non French-speaking readers).

It’s quite strange to see how many stereotypes still persist. Like “the entrepreneur works for himself”. Or “earns ways more than its friends in the corporate world”. Benoit did a good job destructing these clichés and why they are wrong. For the ones who jumped into the entrepreneurship, it resonated well. However, I hope it wasn’t too much of a discovery for the attendees who are supporting entrepreneurs on a daily basis. Otherwise, there’s a problem!

After his keynote, we had the chance to listen to Eric Lucien, founder of the successful startup PicoDrill (which was sold 5 years ago after a very interesting journey). Eric shared a lot of interesting experiences, but I’ve kept something particularly in mind, regarding the commitment of employees. You have to understand what is in the agenda of your employees, what they are up to. In a startup, you cannot afford to have people distracted by their own, independent agenda. It’s true with scientists, it’s true with every kind of employee. If they are starting their own business or another project alongside without telling you, likelihood can be high they don’t commit fully in your venture. Startups are hard, so you need to have everyone on board!

In the panel, we were asked 3 questions:

  1. Are you entrepreneur in heart or did you become an entrepreneur because you had a business opportunity in your hands? Most of us answered with the entrepreneur in heart (maybe there is a bias, as the 2 founders with hard technology and long term R&D answered the 2nd one).
  2. What is the hardest thing in your entrepreneurial journey so far? I particularly liked the answer of Vincent Renevey (from Hmonster), who answered that there is no hardest thing, as everything is hard! It’s true! My response was a bit different, as what I’ve found the most difficult is to preserve your private/familial sphere. If you’re like me, you’re open to share almost everything you live. When you’re telling your wife (or husband) almost everything happening in your day as an entrepreneur, you make her/him live the up’s and down’s in an accelerated time. So she/he lives the same as you without the time to digest. It’s stressful. Extremely stressful. So don’t. I’m not arguing you shouldn’t share what you’re living, but protect your family. Try to separate the 2 worlds (even if you’re never completely OFF as an entrepreneur)!
  3. Last question was about what they (the startup coaches) can do to better help entrepreneurs. Two elements to keep here: train us to learn how to better negotiate and be more proactive with opening doors!
Unfortunately, I hadn’t the opportunity to challenge the audience on this last point about better networking, so here we go! If you want to help an entrepreneur:
Every time you’re meeting an entrepreneur, try to introduce him/her to at least one relevant person! 
It doesn’t have to be an investor. But everyone who is serious about coaching startups should have a wide (or at least growing!) network (well, IMHO, it’s a networking job!). Be proactive, know your network and try to connect the dots!