entrepreneurs in The solo are today increasingly rare. Does it necessarily create with a(e) associé (e) ? Sandra, The Grand has experienced the two formulas.

the “Create alone(e) or with(e) associé(e) ?”. The question is one of the most clivantes and decisive. I had the opportunity to test the two options.

I created my first company in 2000, at a time when the business world discovered the terms start-up, business angels, risk capital, where the phenomenon of business creation still was very new, where adventure was very risky (it still is !). Especially, at this time, “setting up his start-up” or “be an entrepreneur” was not taught on the benches of the schools.

I was a manager in a large corporation (Coca Cola), I had a good job, a social status, envious, a good salary, stock options, a nice car… in short, everything was rolling for me. And yet, I chose to leave everything and to create my box.

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Initiate-only, the price of freedom

The decision to launch a start-up is first taken while dining with good friends in front of the emission Capital M6, which created the trigger. Being with these friends, I naturally decided to start the project with them, but very quickly, it did not work. Our ambitions were different. From my side, I wanted to create a company that becomes a leader in its sector, form a team, raise funds to invest in, and I saw large, straight away ! My friends, them, imagined, rather a web site with a development over water, in an apartment … Now in order to succeed with partners it is necessary to be aligned on the objective.

In reality, I hadn’t really asked the question if I was to start with a(e) associé(e), and for what good reasons. When it came time to enter in the hard (raise funds, find partners, build the team), I seriously questioned : “who can I set up this business ?”. My model was clear : I would to works councils by providing them with a platform for leisure products at discount prices. My ambition was clear : I wanted to develop a leader on the market and my desire was stronger than everything !

However, when I imagined talking to my friends, they were all engaged in major companies – L’oréal, Danone, Motorola, they had children at a young age (like me, incidentally), and credits …

I suddenly said that to invite them to follow me was make them run a high risk. For my part, I was willing to take this risk (with the guarantor of my spouse), dropping both hands what I had. It is, therefore, more “no opportunity” that I went alone, by choice. And with a share of unconsciousness, certainly.

I’ve never looked back. I had the freedom to take my decisions alone, manage my time, my accelerations, my energy but also my moments of doubts, my questions, my risk-taking. I assumed these different situations.

One thing is for sure : even without a partner, there are still people in check – its business angels, bankers… but these are people outside so it’s not the same relationship of confidence or “letting go” that one can have with a(e) related to(e).

With the benefit of hindsight, I think my husband has played this role… may be a little too well … This was not the best idea !

In the same way, to share with its employees on sensitive topics such as a hole for cash, or a repurchase of company is not recommended.

Of the usefulness of counter-powers

So yes, there are advantages to building only(e) and one experiences a true freedom, that we imagined well when making this choice. On the other hand, there has been little moments of respite, very little vacation, we are always on the bridge… same for the bridges ! And most importantly, one encounters little or no opposition in the decision-making process. Today, I think that I have definitely missed.

In 2008, when new investors entered the capital of CanalCE, they have asked me to surround myself with a director-general. It is their role to “dérisquer” by not letting it rest on a single head, mine ! To be honest, me being seated in the posture of chief of independent business, I was a little surprised…

I accepted the idea by telling me that it could be a “substitute partner”, a relay of confidence that would allow me to share the burden and the challenges of very many who were with the growth of the company. So I recruited a ceo, Jérôme, on the values common to mine but with a real complementarity in terms of profile and skills. We have done a very nice road together, even if the last year before the assignment was a little chaotic with a few misalignments. Overall, the experience was very successful and I’m grateful for that.

Has two, complicity and complementarity

In 2017, sixteen years after the launch of my first company, I decided to create a new business, this time with Valerie Falala, who for thirty years my friend and my confidante. Chance, coincidence or a sign of destiny, she had accompanied at the beginning and at theat the end of the adventure Canalce/Kalidea. Together, we have mounted Yapuka, the 1st platform of the relationship of coaches-a coach with young people to prepare for their interviews, oral (contest entry schools, internships, jobs).

I recognize that sharing this responsibility with a partner is very nice. First of all, because we decide all the strategic choices (raise funds, establish the business model, to pivot, to make budget cuts…) but also because we divide the workload by two !

We are complicit, often phase on our values and our vision, but very different and complementary in the running thanks to the skills that are specific to each : Valerie in human resources, the recruitment of coaches, the BtoC … me in finance, the numbers, the negotiations BtoB, communication.

But above all, what motivates us every morning, it is fun to spend the day together, to share moments of emotion (success of our youth, the words of the parents, signing of a big contract) and also say that at the end of the day or weekends (for salons students), we can and have the right to be tired ! Is to say, to confess and relax together with a crazy laugh or a look of amused about ourselves, two fifty-on-energized, is an opportunity that we relish every day.

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I don’t know (even if I’m at the bottom of me believes that yes) if this cohesion, this good agreement and this atmosphere will continue (it has already been two years !) but the rule that we set is to take pleasure in daily life and to always say things, nice or not, painful or not, to never lose the opportunity to succeed together.