Q: Hi Alexeï! Since you left Startup42 a lot happened to Motion Lead. But before we go over that, please tell us about how it started.

Alexeï: Everything began with Meme Reader. Meme Reader is a mobile app that Arthur and Louis, my co-founders, created before Motion Lead. Meme Reader was quite a success at the time and reached 2 million downloads. They actually built it before I was part of the team. I met Arthur and Louis at our school, EPITA, because we shared a common interest in Apple products. They were searching for a third guy to help them with their app, as they were soon starting the acceleration at Startup42. I officially joined the team one week after the acceleration started.

Q: Right, Motion Lead was born during Startup42 and not before. How did you switch from Meme Reader to Motion Lead?

Alexeï: Well, at first Arthur and Louis were searching for a better business model for Meme Reader. But we Startup42 pushed us to think bigger. So they found another product by brainstorming, going to conferences and networking. And one day, Arthur came back from an advertising conference with an insight on the market: there was a need for truly mobile friendly ads. From that moment on, we used Meme Reader as a sandbox to test many different types of ads and improve the conversion rates as much as possible during a year. When we did our first test with an advertiser, we improved the click rates of his ad fifty times. It was a total success. Motion Lead was born.

Q: So what are your takeouts from Startup42?

Alexeï: The network: journalists, partners, future customers, mentors. The brainstorming sessions with the team. And finally, the visibility and deadline of the Prototype Fiesta [note: the Prototype Fiesta is the equivalent of the “Demo Day” at Startup42, but where everyone can come, not only investors]. It was a kickstart into the real business world, the one where you actually make products and money.

Q: Awesome, now tell us a bit about your challenges, what were your first hires and how did they go?

Alexeï: At Motion Lead, we identified two big challenges: continue to innovate and improve our technology, and increase our customer base. That’s of course where we wanted our first hires. Hiring an engineer was quite simple for us, because it was our field of expertise. We knew exactly who we wanted in term of skills and how to test them. Our little trick was to ask the person “how would you have engineered the technology we already released?” and wait for impressive answers. We were lucky to find Mathieu relatively quickly. However, hiring a business guy was totally different. Because we were all young — and this would make it hard to open the doors to the big players in the market — we wanted someone senior and we needed him fast. And we definitely wanted someone who can think out of the box, and “enter through the window when the door is closed”. But how do you know if that someone is good at selling in general or just good at selling his own person? How could we judge him on something we had little knowledge about? Our solution was to take our future hire first as an advisor, and later full-time, after almost one year of collaboration. We took our time, but it was worth it.

Q: That’s really interesting. Now can you tell us how it was to be accelerated by the most renowned accelerator in the world: Y Combinator?

Alexeï: It’s not how you imagine it. First, it’s a discreet room in a discreet building. Nothing glamorous. However, a huge “Y” welcomes you as you enter and you sense a special… Karma! Everyone there is smart as hell, building interesting startups, but that do not look, at first, as impressive as Dropbox. We felt very little there, being amongst the first french startups, with Docker and Algolia, accelerated at YC. I think the most impressive part were the people there: startups and mentors. For instance I’ve never seen anyone brainstorming like Sam Altman. Whenever you talk to him, he gets an extremely relevant solution in, like, no time. Another very interesting thing at YC, was how they taught us to track every single metrics. How many customers did you talk to? How many signed? How long is your sales cycle ? These were the questions we were asked on a day-to-day basis. It was never about what we could do in the future, but about what we had done that day.

Q: It must have been a interesting time! You stayed in the US even after Y Combinator, can you explain us why?

Alexei: At the end of the acceleration, Arthur and Louis went back to France to develop our European network, while I was strengthening our bonds with the US gaming-industry locally. San Francisco is a great hub for the gaming industry. It was easier for me to stay there since I have an american passport. However, I’d like to demystify the so called “visa issue”. I saw many of my friends there coming 3 months twice a year, which is the legal limit, and still doing a great job in the US. Half a year is plenty of time to develop a business network. Oh, and by the way, a meeting with an potential investor is covered by the tourist visa, since it’s “just a meeting” and not considered as a business meeting yet. And there are many other tips like that.

Q: That’s really encouraging for all the other french startups here. Now, if you could start over, what would you do differently?

Alexeï: Well, I actually think I wouldn’t work remotely. It is one thing to acquire customers, and for that we did a great job, in the US and in France while being separated by a 9h time difference. But it’s another thing to work on a strategy, in these conditions, as a founding team. Right now, I’m back in France for a little while so we can catch up on that. Another thing is that we were so focused on the technology and the business, that we forgot to communicate on our brand. A long term marketing strategy would have helped us scaling.

Q: Now let’s move on to your recommendations to our readers. Books are a great source of inspiration for the entrepreneurs, what is the one you would recommend?

Alexeï: Viral Loop by Adam L. Penenberg. It’s a series of case studies on how startups went viral, and survived it. It’s really practical and inspirational, as you can understand the concepts through the examples. I strongly recommend it!

Q: It’s a really interesting pick! And do you have a tool you could not live without?

Alexeï: My huge paper sheet, always placed under my computer, where I write down all my tasks. It can seem silly at first. But it allows you to write down an idea super quickly (faster than any app!), forget it for a while, and focus on your current task. When you’re done, the next task is always under your nose. There is also a social aspect of it, since anyone can read it. It greatly increased my productivity from the moment I started doing that.

Q: We’ll have to try! Last question, do you have any advice for the newcomers at Startup42?

Alexeï: They have to consider these 4 months as a sprint and a huge opportunity to build a network, get some help, and see some mentors. And in the end you should have only one goal: build a product and sell it.

StartUp42: Thank you so much Alexeï. We are proud to have you and your team among our alumni, and we can only hope you keep growing that fast! See you soon.

Originally published at startup42.org on May 7, 2015.

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