A few dots
This post is part of the onboarding process of Canal+. After a few months we’re asked to write about our experiences within the company. I’ve decided to use the exercise to do something I wanted to do for a long time and share a few things.
This is post #1, post #2 can be found here.
1
In the middle of 2014 after 3 years working in finance I was ready for something new. I made the decision to quit my job as soon as an opportunity would show up and I went on to learn how to code.
I was going to do what I always wanted: build something and work in the tech industry.
I started networking a lot. Went to events related to startups and programming. Participated in hackathons. Made horrible pitches and great friends.
And sure enough after a few months, there was an opportunity.
2
I met Matthieu Thieblin and augustin francis-boeuf through an event held in Numa, the french accelerator. I was immediately hooked by them and their idea, I quit my job and started working on OPUS right away.
I am proud of what we’ve quickly been able to accomplish despite the fact that we fell in every pit we read we had to avoid. Information is not knowledge. And so we learned, made and learned again. Code, design, UX, market research, marketing, pitch, resilience. Every fail and success allowed us to reflect on what went well, what went bad, and to assimilate key lessons. The rapid pace of iteration as well as the care and sense of ownership I had for the product made me the most productive I had ever been.
I didn’t really understand what it meant to work as a team before. In the risky environment that a startup is, this team and the trust we had in each other made me feel safe and calm.
I’m amazed at how much that year changed me. In the end it was obvious that I made the right choice and found the way I loved to work. I had to keep learning and making things.
3
“Software is eating the world” and I am working in the media industry. Not the tech industry anymore.
That’s because I deeply think that media has to embrace tech if it is to survive the massive shift it is facing.
Between the big networks such as Disney and HBO, the pure player such as Netflix and us, Canal+, I don’t think we are necessarily competing against each other on the technological side. Consumers want to watch high quality content and will make the effort to find them from multiple sources.
Some people will want their content live on their TV screen delivered via a traditional or broadband enabled connection, some will want to watch it at a different time, while others will increasingly look for it on the go and on demand on their mobile devices. — the nielsen report
We have great shows on Canal+. But we have to step up our game and offer our content the way consumers want it. Both in term of product and business models. We’re not there yet but I am hopeful things are moving in the right direction. That’s the reason I joined Canal+. I am in the heart of a fascinating evolution and I'm learning a lot watching it from the inside.
Regarding the way I work, coming from a team of three, I mostly feel a difference related to communication. It is still lightyears ahead from the banking industry but, working with new faces from different services for each project, I’ve lost the fluidity proximity provides. I also don’t get to see every email people send each other on matters I may be related to, or just interested in, the same way I could when jumping in a Slack channel and reading what was going on on any subject.
Yes, I miss Slack, I didn’t miss emails :)
Working on all things innovation and digital I keep looking for that deep sense of care and ownership on every feature I am involved in. I also aim at building trust amongst the people I work with. For me that’s key to keep growing. It is something that has been made possible by the fact that I am able to present every idea and prototype I come up with in a very open minded environment. Some will become projects, some will be discussed and forgotten but everything will be considered and trust will grow.
No is sometimes good, as Chris Dixon said: “If you aren’t getting rejected on a daily basis, your goals aren’t ambitious enough”. I’ve learned a lot here already and from time to time I’ll look back and connect the dots.
