Matthieu Vaxelaire van Mention

Jeroen: Hi Matthieu, it’s great to have you on Founder Coffee.

Matthieu: Hey, thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure.

Jeroen: You are the founder of Mention. For those who don’t know Mention yet, what does your company do?

Matthieu: Vermelding. We noemen onszelf een Google Alert op crack. In principe helpen we bedrijven om in realtime te weten wat er over hen wordt gezegd op het web en in sociale media.

Jeroen: Wat voor soort use cases heeft dit?

Matthieu: The first use case is for a company, let’s take Coca Cola and they launch a new product. They want to know everything being said about that product and to manage their brand awareness on that product. Then, a secondary use case is a question about what your competitors are doing, so you can get some insight into what’s working, what’s not working.

Jeroen: Ja. Ook om bij te houden wat je klanten zeggen? In de zin dat je je merken kunt monitoren.

Matthieu: Ja, natuurlijk. Het heeft te maken met wat ik beschreef als de eerste use case.

Jeroen: De eerste.

Matthieu: It’s to know what people are saying about your brand, whether your customers, or not.

Jeroen: Gaaf. Hoe is dit ontstaan? Komt dit voort uit een persoonlijke pijn die je had, of is het bedrijf op een andere manier ontstaan? Wat is de achtergrond?

Matthieu: A bit of the backstory is that it is not a usual story. We first built a company called PressKing, that was a press release distribution company. What we realized is people that were using the service were super interested in the monitoring part. You would send your press release to a couple of journalists, and they were willing to track what was being said online, after those journalists potentially shared those press releases. That’s how we got to the idea of building Mention, a stand-alone product that would focus only on that part of the money trail.

Matthieu: That’s how we got the idea.

Jeroen: Wanneer kwam dat idee ongeveer en hoe is dat tot stand gekomen?

Matthieu: Dat was in 2012, en het bijzondere is dat dit allemaal gebeurde binnen de eFounder-startupstudio. Eigenlijk is eFounders een startup-studio die B2B SaaS-bedrijven bouwt. Meestal voor het MKB. PressKing was een van de bedrijven die in 2012 door eFounders werd gelanceerd en we ontdekten al vrij vroeg in het PressKing-traject de behoefte aan monitoring. In 2013 lanceerden we officieel Mention.

Jeroen: Dus je maakte deel uit van eFounders toen het begon.

Matthieu: Ik kwam bij eFounders in 2012. eFounders werd een jaar daarvoor opgericht door twee Belgische jongens, Quentin en Thibaud. Maar de meeste startups die worden opgericht, worden gelanceerd vanuit Parijs.

Jeroen: Oh, waarom is dat?

Matthieu: It’s a good question. The reason I think, both in terms of talent and network. Thibaud, as the founder of Fotolia, built a huge network of talents around him and good visibility. It’s much easier for eFounders to get those talents in France. But, now they are launching companies in Belgium as well.

Jeroen: Oh ja? Wat is het model van eFounders? Is het het moederbedrijf dat een belang neemt, en zijn er dan mensen die er ook in werken?

Matthieu: Yeah. It’s a bit of an in between a VC fund and an incubator. In a sense. The particularity is the eFounders, they have their own startup ideas that they want to develop. They basically pick their ideas that they want to develop, then they build a team around it by looking for a CEO and a CTO to launch it. Of course, they put the financing, they put the ideas, and this is reflected in the equity of the company, in the sense that eFounders is a strong shareholder in those companies. Of course, they give ownership and equity to other company-founders, the CEO and the CTO.

Matthieu: Het stelt hen in staat om drie tot vier startups per jaar te lanceren. Daar zijn ze erg succesvol in geweest.

Jeroen: Ja, moet ik me voorstellen dat ze een minderheids- of meerderheidsbelang hebben in het begin?

Matthieu: I’m not an eFounders partner anymore, so I’m not the right person to answer this. But, frankly, they understand and it is their vision, that to make a company successful, founders needs to be at stake. They give away a strong stake for the co-founding team.

Jeroen: Hoe ben je eigenlijk bij eFounders terechtgekomen in dit soort B2B-ruimte?

Matthieu: The startup seemed to be pretty small in Brussels. Pretty early on I was in contact with Quentin and Thibaud, while I was launching my own startup with one of my friends. We were doing an incubator in London. We decided again, to kill the startup, and then I was looking for my next opportunity, and I fell in love a bit with the mother. The energy and the vision of eFounders. That’s why I joined in 2012. So, I’ve been a partner there for two years. Then, that’s where I co-founded a couple of companies. At one point in time, we were looking for a new CEO for Mention, and that’s where I decided to leave the partnership to become the CEO of Mention.

Jeroen: Dus er was iemand en jij hebt hem vervangen?

Matthieu: Correct.

Jeroen: Wat was de startup die je voor Mention deed?

Matthieu: Briefly I did two. The first one nothing to do with technology. I created a shoe brand, from scratch. I lived in Brazil for four months to build and produce shoes that we sold in Belgium and France. Worked well, but definitely discovered that you need to be in love with your market to do this for the long run, and it was not the case for me. I’m not a fashion guy, nor a shoe guy. So, we decided to stop after one or two years.

Matthieu: Then, I launched another startup, it was called Kick Table. The idea was a marketplace of experiences but, we did not find the right way to execute on that idea. That’s why we decided to stop. That’s when I joined eFounders.

Jeroen: That’s actually an interesting point you just made. One that probably, a lot of startup founders overlook. The fact that when you start something you need to really be in love with the idea. Not only that, but also with the customers and the market and all that to be able to keep pushing on the project.

Matthieu: Yeah. It’s a bit of a counter argument here, when I reflect on my mention journey. We sold the company, just four or five months ago. When I reflect on those four years when I was the CEO, honestly, I’m not extremely passionate about the social media space. I’m definitely super interested. For example, I killed my Facebook account, I killed my Instagram account. I’m interested by the dynamic of the market, but I’m not a heavy user in some sense.

Matthieu: I think if you don’t have the strong market passion, you need another passion somewhere else. And for me, what kept me going is definitely on one side the passion of building a business. I’m basically, passionate about building what I think is a good business, or sustainable business where I need proof of every operational aspect. As well, a passion for building great teams that can deliver amazing things. Those two things more than potentially, my interests in the social media market, made me go in. Even during the hard times.

Jeroen: Yeah, and you didn’t have that same thing when you were doing the shoe business.

Matthieu: Correct. Shoe business was the early days, and my interest there was basically no interest in the market. I’m interested on social media, I’m not gonna say I’m passionate. I’m interested, not passionate, but in the shoe business, I disliked the market. It was not a good idea to stay there.

Jeroen: Ja, dat kan ik me voorstellen. Je lijkt me nogal ondernemend. Waar komt dat vandaan? Heb je op een bepaalde manier gestudeerd, of ben je beïnvloed door je ouders of je vrienden?

Matthieu: Good question. I’m a bit of a boring guy. I studied economics, I studied finance. Worked in investment banking for one year. Then I quickly realized that it was not fulfilling for me. I could not see myself doing this for my entire career. I’m coming from an entrepreneurial family where my parents, my grandparents, every generation has been entrepreneurs. To me it’s very normal to take the entrepreneurship path. Very naturally, I left the investment banking world to launch my first company, and I’m super happy I have done so.

Jeroen: Je vertelde dat Mention vier of vijf maanden geleden verkocht is. Wat zijn de ambities die jullie nu hebben met Mention en hoe functioneert dit onder de nieuwe eigenaar?

Matthieu: Het was niet de bedoeling om het bedrijf afgelopen zomer te verkopen. We waren eigenlijk van plan om geld in te zamelen, maar we hadden contact met de nieuwe eigenaren. Hoe meer we met hen bespraken, hoe meer we ontdekten dat we op één lijn zaten. Hun doelstellingen lagen super op één lijn met die van ons, in principe voor het volgende hoofdstuk van Mention. In de eerste vier jaar dat ik CEO van Mention was, zijn we van nul naar zes miljoen omzet gegaan. We bouwden een kernteam van 50 mensen met kantoren in New York en Parijs.

Matthieu: Now, the next chapter is about accelerating our growth with new acquisition channels, being more aggressive on the product and expanding. That’s where our acquirer, which is Mynewsdesk and their holding company were looking for a global player with global ambition to keep their brand. We keep Mention, and keep their product very aligned with us. That’s why we decided, at the end of the day, to go with this option instead.

Jeroen: Ja. Op wat voor manier helpen ze je nu om meer te internationaliseren?

Matthieu: Mynewsdesk is a leader in the field of the PR persona for the PR workflow, which is press release distribution, mostly. They’re a leader in the Nordic countries. They are number one there. Those guys definitely cracked one market. There are 200 people company, basically five times bigger than us, on the revenue side as well. They’re extremely experienced in how to scale something that is working. This is where were are now.

Matthieu: We have something that is working. We now need to accelerate. They have done so on the marketing side, on the sales side, and on the customer success side. This is where they bring value, in terms of experience that they can share with us. To make sure we don’t make too many mistakes, I would say. So, that’s a bit of a win-win situation, for them and for us, because for us, as well, they are now integrating the Mention product in their product. It delivers a needed value to their customers. Very positive as well, and we are definitely looking at how we can integrate more than two products together to make it a stronger product for our customers.

Jeroen: That’s cool. Are there any plans then to raise additional money for it? Or is everything going to be funded now through Mynewsdesk?

Matthieu: Yeah. On the funding side we are on this very high-gross journey, at the moment. So, yes it’s going to be funded by Mynewsdesk, and the owner behind Mynewsdesk, a holding company in Norway that’s called NHSD. That will be investing money in Mention.

Jeroen: Wat zijn voor jou als startup-oprichter je ambities op dit moment? Waar zie je de dingen naartoe gaan voor jezelf? Waarom ben je op deze reis?

Matthieu: I’m definitely on this journey. I’m super excited by this chapter that we are building with Mynewsdesk. For me, at a very individual level, what are my key challenges and objectives for the upcoming year? I would say, we are at a stage where we need to have this top management in place. Where we have key leaders in every part of the company, in every team, which is basically tech product, sales, marketing, and customer success. To drive this group more than everyone, which I was doing before. And, to execute on the strategy that we have.

Matthieu: It’s definitely a stage when you cross the 50 people in the company. We’ll be 70 by the end of the year. I need to have this strong management team that will help the company and myself better execute on the vision.

Jeroen: Juist. Hoe ziet jouw dag er op dit moment uit?

Matthieu: Mijn dagen. Zoals je je kunt voorstellen, ziet geen enkele dag er hetzelfde uit. Maar ik probeer nog steeds tijd door te brengen met het hoofd van elk team om regelmatig bijgepraat te worden om te zien of ik kan helpen en of de dingen de goede kant op gaan. Dit is aan de zeer operationele kant, dus dit is één deel. Het tweede deel van mijn dag/week is ervoor zorgen dat we op de lange termijn, de visie, de strategie en de grotere vragen up-to-date zijn en dat we dit heel duidelijk communiceren naar het team. Dat is superbelangrijk.

Matthieu: Tot slot wordt er natuurlijk veel tijd besteed aan rekrutering. Dat is belangrijk voor startups, en natuurlijk ook voor ons. Om ervoor te zorgen dat we het beste talent op onze reis hebben, om ervoor te zorgen dat we het goed uitvoeren.

Jeroen: In het kort, je doet één-op-één gesprekken, je zet de strategie uit, je communiceert en je besteedt tijd aan werving.

Matthieu: Correct.

Jeroen: Zijn er nog steeds een paar operationele dingen die je doet in het bedrijf? Bouw je bepaalde dingen die niet het team opbouwen?

Matthieu: Nee.

Jeroen: It’s because I hear different founders, and there are different opinions about this. Some people still prefer to keep some part of their work, a bit more of the initial work they love to do. And, some people just really delegate everything and completely grow with the business.

Matthieu: I try to make myself not like a piece on the running operation. I’m there in the sense that I’m following up. I’m always trying to be super proactive to discovering what could break when we do something like a marketing campaign. Or, when we launch new features. You have to be super proactive on what could break so we make sure to fix it before so we can execute on the deadlines that we communicate and that we commit on. But, I’m not part of the operations side.

Jeroen: Juist. Wat denk je dat jij, als oprichter, inbrengt in je bedrijf? De speciale vaardigheden waar je meer bekend om staat?

Matthieu: My team would be the best to answer this question. Definitely, what comes to mind, I wrote a bit about this. Two things. First, I would say in this order, the most important. I bring, or at least I try to bring this constant energy and positivity in everything we do. It might sound obvious or nice to have, but I’m actually a big believer in setting the right environment, the right energy, the right drive to make things, and make things the right way. Something that I take very seriously. It costs me a lot of energy in what I need to put in. But, I think it’s definitely worth it, and when I hear back from my team, this is something they value a lot.

Matthieu: This is one, and the other thing is, of course, defining. As much as defining, it is also communicating the vision and where we are going. This is super important, because of course we’ll have ups and downs and we’ll have doubts, but as long as we can all remember why we are doing this we will keep on moving forward. So, this is super important.

Jeroen: Yep. Are there also things that you are less good at, where you’re looking for strong people to compensate in those parts?

Matthieu: Yeah. I’m definitely making tons of mistakes, and have tons of weaknesses. For sure, the one thing that I am very self-aware that I have it and I still make the mistake sometimes, is that I under invest in people and in culture. This is a mistake I did when I became the CEO of Mention, for the first year. I was very driven by hard work and execution, commitment and deadlines. I overlooked that yes, this is important, but it is equally as important for everyone to have a path to grow in their individual career, as well. So, this is something I’m paying particular attention to, because people need to work and grow together, alongside the company. This is super important.

Jeroen: Yeah. I understand that the energy you’re bringing is mostly an energy that we’re going forward and we’re doing stuff. But, you sometimes forget the individual needs of people.

Matthieu: Correct. That’s why pretty early on, when we were 15, I think in the company, we hired a talent acquisition person, and this person also took on responsibility of career development and employee finesse. This was one of the best, recruitment done for Mention. Something I am super happy to have done at that stage. I should have done it earlier. Something that really transformed the company.

Jeroen: Hoe stel je je de werkdagen bij Mention voor? Zijn het lange werkdagen, middellang, kort?

Matthieu: It depends. I would say it’s medium days. We are not looking at numbers of hours you spend in the office, more on delivering on what we commit that we will deliver. It’s pretty normal days. Of course, we have an office in New York. They have cultural differences, like working hours are also different. But, it’s something that people enjoy. We are a very international team, so we adapt on this. As well, of course on the determination, their commitment, and the deliveries are there.

Jeroen: Yeah. How do you manage your own work/life balance? Where do you set the limit for your work and your life? I know there’s work/life integration and all that, but how do you actually keep the two balanced?

Matthieu: That’s something I’m really not proud of, and something I’ve not been good at. Definitely I’ve put too much, in terms of effort, time and priority, into the company instead of my personal life. I’m super lucky I have a wife that understood this. But, for sure I need to re-adapt this, as it can work on short-term, even if the four year period here was not really short. I need to be better on this and not always making the company the number one priority on top of the family time and all that.

Matthieu: This is something I’m working on now. I also think it’s important to kind of include outdoor activities or some sport. I’m really trying to balance this, and I’m confident I’ll make progress in 2019. It’s actually one of my personal objectives.

Jeroen: Heb je al kinderen?

Matthieu: Ja, ik heb eigenlijk twee kinderen. Ik heb een tweeling. Dat maakt het hebben van een balans nog interessanter.

Jeroen: Heb je een manier waarop je mentaal en fysiek fit blijft voor jezelf?

Matthieu: I would say it’s nothing that I do on purpose. I don’t really drink. I guess not much, so I don’t usually drink during the week. I try to exercise. I love to have one physical challenge per year. Last year I did a marathon, this year I will do a triathlon. Having this as an objective, otherwise I don’t take the time to do it. Having a physical challenge once a year is definitely something that keeps me healthy.

Jeroen: What do you like to spend your time on, in general, when you’re not working?

Matthieu: Mijn kinderen en mijn familie. Ik wou dat ik wat meer tijd met mijn vrienden kon doorbrengen, maar nee. Mijn kinderen en mijn familie staan natuurlijk op nummer één.

Jeroen: Juist. Je bent gevestigd in Parijs, toch? Hoe ziet de startup scene in Parijs er op dit moment uit?

Matthieu: I guess as everywhere, it’s booming. Or, at least it’s growing. I’m super impressed with the companies and the growth rate we are seeing on some very unusual but very successful companies here. It’s definitely growing, it’s very exciting, a lot of stuff happening. I think all the ingredients are there to make it a strong startup place worldwide. For sure, at least on the European scene.

Matthieu: It’s something I miss a bit when I come to Brussels. I’ve been out of Brussels for the past four years. Now that I’m doing a bit of remote and working from Brussels, I’m still trying to see what is the startup scene in Brussels today. But, I can for sure feel a lot of energy on the Paris side.

Jeroen: Coincidentally, I used to live in Brussels, as well. I remember Brussels being a sort of vibrant, small community that seems to be very promising. But it has been kind of quiet compared to the rest of Belgium, over the last five to ten years, I would say. Where Antwerp and Ghent have really flourished, Brussels still seems kid of the same. A bit more, perhaps, but it doesn’t seem to boom really.

Matthieu: Ja.

Jeroen: Heb jij hetzelfde gevoel?

Matthieu: Yeah, a bit of the same feeling. I’m not back in Brussels, but my wife and my kids did move back to Brussels. I’m spending a bit more time there, so it’s too early to say. My first impression is yes, it’s definitely less activity than in Paris, but it’s growing as everywhere else.

Jeroen: Ja. Zijn er nog andere coole startups uit Parijs waar we naar uit moeten kijken?

Matthieu: There are tons. There are tons, and the one thing that I did when I was in the first chapter of Mention, I tried …, potentially too much. I think sometimes people forget this. You need focus, you need to be on your business, so I was super focused on Mention. I did not really participate in meet-ups, or spend too much time reading stuff online. I’ve been too excessive in this attitude. But I’m now starting again to take a bit more time to look at what’s happening, the trends, and meeting other great stuff. I’m definitely seeing some cool stuff.

Jeroen: Ja. Eentje die je misschien kunt noemen?

Matthieu: Een bedrijf dat ik kan noemen aan de Parijse kant? Er is een bedrijf dat ik erg leuk vind en dat we veel gebruiken bij Mention. Een bedrijf genaamd Hull.io.

Matthieu: It’s sort of a second Segment. Similar to Segment in some ways, but they offer you much more flexibility on how to manipulate, or transform your data. We rely a lot on it in Mention. I’m a big fan of the solution.

Jeroen: Het lijkt een beetje op iets tussen Segment en Zapier in.

Matthieu: Exactly. You’re right.

Jeroen: Cool. Wrapping up slowly. What’s the latest good book you’ve read, and why did you choose to read it?

Matthieu: Not complaining, but my wife kept saying I was reading only business books. So I decided to start reading other types of books. Nothing related to the business. The first one, actually I just finished it, an audiobook from George Orwell, the famous ‘1984’ book. It’s a book, I don’t know, I’ve heard so much about it in the sense that it was visionary, a lot of things. I really appreciated it. Definitely a great book that I recommend.

Jeroen: Is er iets dat je had willen weten toen je begon met Mention, of met andere startups in het algemeen?

Matthieu: What I wish I’d known. The biggest mistake I made at Mention is what I already discussed or shared. Definitely that people that are part of your journey are also part for their individual self and so you need to take care of this and to make sure that those people will develop and grow alongside the company. Finding the right balance between people and the business. This is something I wish that I’d known when I started, so I would have taken different decisions, invested more into this. In training, in career growth and in building all this. This is definitely something I made mistakes on, and I wish I had known before.

Jeroen: Definitely. Finally, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever got?

Matthieu: The best piece of advice I ever got? It’s actually something I got when I studied in Belgium, at Vlerick Business School in Ghent. This sentence resonates a lot with me. It sounds super obvious. “High expectation will lead to high results”. If you start with too low expectation, the effect of the result will be lower. Never be afraid to have too big an ambition and expectation. Even if you don’t reach it, you will aim high and you will end up somewhere higher than if you had started with lower expectations.

Jeroen: That’s some interesting advice. Thank you again for being on Founder Coffee, Matthieu. It was really great to have you.

Matthieu: Met plezier.