#Interview: Jacques Sebag on his experience as an investor at Seed4soft
Could you tell me a few words about your current job?
In 2011, after holding responsibilities at several software publishers in France and in the United States, I took over the leadership of DenyAll, a spin-off of Société Générale, in order to grow its business through a strategy of organic and external growth. Aware that securing data and systems is a major challenge for the internet, I also contributed to the growth of the cybersecurity ecosystem in France by co-founding Hexatrust, which brings together 30 cybersecurity publishers, and Cloud Confidence, an association of 25 trusted cloud publishers and hosts. Finally, I am also a member of the board of TECH'IN France and an independent director of several software publishing companies.
What were the key lessons learnt over your professional life?
I would say you must never compromise on the quality of your people. It is vital to surround yourself with a hard core of competent, trustworthy people, because it is those few colleagues who attract the other talent and grow the company: "A people hire A people, B people hire C people." Then you have to think big, always aim higher and know how to take decisions, sometimes difficult ones, in order to move faster. In a word: have ambition for the company and the team.
What do you make of the current environment for software startups in France?
I am very impressed by the creativity and talent of young people today. I admire their capacity to start businesses, to listen, to take advice, and the speed at which they execute in order to grow. The tax framework, with the research tax credit, is ideal for starting a company in France, provided international expansion is squarely in your sights from the outset. I think one of the best scenarios is to locate R&D in France and to build sales and marketing at scale. One way to do that is to look for your first funding in France and then turn quickly to funding in the USA and a local presence there.
What are the two or three critical success factors in software?
In software, it is not necessarily the best product that succeeds. A startup's success rests mainly on understanding the problem you are addressing and on product-market fit. For me, sales and marketing execution make the difference, provided you have a defined angle, a genuine commercial focus, and move fast.
As a mentor, how and on what subjects can you help a young startup?
I bring startups my expertise in 3 areas: strategy and the critical analysis of the business plan; coaching founders, who are often alone in the face of problems, and advising them on growing their teams; and finally strategies for growing sales and partnerships (first and second tier, alliances, OEM) worldwide.
https://www.maddyness.com/entrepreneurs/2017/10/12/maddyrex-vital-noyau-personnes-competentes/