We started The Mobile-First Company with one idea: build beautiful, fast, AI-powered tools that any small team can afford.

No hidden fees. No setup. No 30-person sales calls.

We proved it with Allô, our first product, a business phone system where AI takes notes, updates your CRM, and costs 3× less than legacy players.

Now it’s time for the next step.

We just raised $12M from Base10, Lightspeed, and Emblem to:
– Launch three new products.
– Move our HQ to Miami.
– Build the best product team in the US and Argentina.

Huge thanks to Adeyemi (Base10), Antoine (LSVP), and Emblem for betting on us, again.

Miami, have you seen our billboard yet? 👀☀️

This is just the beginning.

I spent all my energy this year to change, ensuring I have an ambitious project, making bold investments, and taking personal risks to reach my ambitions.

The plan "Happy in 2025" is launched.

I stopped being a Solopreneur and raised money to build my new startup: The Mobile-First Company.

I invested most of my savings inside a 250m² Coliving in Medellin.

I made the decision to move back to Paris full-time until I reach profitability in my new startup.

Last but not least, we invested in 10 African startups with Kara Venture.

Every year, I write a letter to my future self, which helps me connect the dots. I made it public since 2021 to ensure I have social pressure to continue to achieve my goals and dreams.

This update will be different from the previous years, more synthetic, with a direct style, focusing on my professional project, leaving the personal on the side.

So what do I decide to include in this review?

• 🙌 What I'm proud to have accomplished this year!

  Switching from Solopreneur to building a startup, I achieved unique milestone in 2023.

• 🤩 A list of unbelievable experiences I lived
  Remember to offer you a unique experience and personal Gift. This year I authorize myself to invest more in my happiness.

• 📱 Zoom on my new startup: The Mobile-First Company
  What is a TMFC, and how we made it? Let me present to you the vision and where we’re.

• 😠 Life is also challenging; here are my bad and frustrations during 2023

  2023 was an weird year, and I have plenty of frustrations. It's very important to share them.

• 🎯 What are my goals for 2024?
  Don’t tell people what you will do. Show them what you did! Ok, few pillars for next year.

Have a good reading 📚…

🙌 What I’m proud to have accomplished in 2023

Yes, it was a difficult transition year. I finished the year at the opposite of how it started. I learned a lot, and those learnings came with a lot of stress and risks. Looking backward, I'm proud of it.

• Creating a startup, building a team, and raising Money

  Unfortunately, I can't be fully transparent about it for the moment. After 24 months (the date of departure of Spendesk), I'm back in the Startup Nation, in the most difficult position: founder.

  I'm doing a deep dive about it below.

• Transforming a 250m² apartment into a Coliving in Medellin

  Investing in Real Estate in Colombia is not easy; yes, profitability is attractive, but the system is 200% different, nothing works the same. You need to learn everything. The project that was planned to finish on the 16th Dec is 1 month delayed and will be officially open early next year.

• The rise of Kara Venture

  We finished the year with +10 investments in African Startups. The quality of the startups we back is improving. We entered more selective rounds earlier.

  The key to a great VC is to invest in the best deal at the lowest valuation. We also continue to boost the brand and the community. We organized our first event in Paris.

  Have a look at the Kara Venture Website and Portfolio.

• Building the most advanced Database of Startups in Africa : AfricaX

  On the side of Kara Ventures, we started to collect a massive amount of data and do a lot of enrichment, automation, and manual calibration. This tool, which has more than 6,000 startups, allows us to make data-driven decisions and connect with African Entrepreneurs earlier.

• Mastering the Growth Advisor : Hyperline success story

  I decided to go back to my first love: Growth. Before building The Mobile-First Company, I decided to accept a Growth Advisor position or “VP Growth Part-time” for Lucas (previous VP Eng @ Spendesk), who built Hyperline, the best Billing Solution. He was the only one to convince me to come back.

  We worked on the launch of the company and released a Side Product (SaaS Pricing Explorer) that finished Product of the Day on Product Hunt with +1200 votes. 👏🏽

• Scalability, the example that Growth can be externalized ?

  As you may know, I'm a Board Member of Scalability, one of the best Growth Agencies specialized in Outbound. I've been helping them since 2020, and I'm amazed by how fast they are growing. This year, the team grew to 12 Growth Managers, and the average ROI per customer continues to grow. Ben & Vic are the only ones to make me think that Growth can be externalized.

• The Second Edition of the Growth Awards 🏆

  After the first edition last year with 300 people, I decided to change the format and make something more premium and exclusive. I invited 120 of the best VP Growth and Senior Growth profiles in Paris for a unique experience. We had Thibault (ex VP Growth Adobe and Github) as the main speaker, followed by a hypnosis experience.

  Check out the After Movie of the evening !

• AI is changing so much my way of working

  2023 is the year where I switched my ways of working using ChatGPT, from Cleaning datasheets to producing strategies and content. My job is not the same! Focusing more on the strategy rather than the form, I will be more productive. I believe we're just at the beginning of how our jobs are changing, and in 10 years from now, our meetings, tasks, and types of work will be so different from the ones today.

This year has been intense on the personal side:

• Spent 6 months in Colombia and 6 months in France

  During this year of transition, I succeeded in splitting my time between Europe and Latam. I continue to love the advantages of Europe while having a healthy and comfortable lifestyle in Medellin.

  We also made the decision with Maria to relocate full-time to Paris for the next 2 years (at least). By the way, Maria is looking for an International Customer Success Position in Paris, can you help her?

• Travel Less, Learn More : Cuba & Egypt

  2023 is also the end of the remote lifestyle. I spent less time traveling and decided to focus on countries with strong historical cultures. I celebrated my 28th birthday in La Havana and visited my 12th African country, Egypt.

  Egypt was the most productive Kara Venture Trip, and the first one done together with Réna; we invested in 3 startups: Swypex, Axis, and Gameball.

• Bringing my family to Colombia

  I finally got the chance to show my second home to my brother, who came two times in 2023 to Colombia. Lucky guy. The first trip was in February with my mom; we took 3 weeks off to travel across the country, the 2nd time was for Christmas and New Years.

  If you are interested, we made a guide about traveling/living in Colombia for your next trip: https://colombiawithus.guide/

• I’ve done more sport, with my new addiction to Padel 🎾

  I played my first game in September, and since then, I’ve been addicted; I play almost 3 times a week (5 hours of game) and have a personal coach to help me progress. I never played racket sports, so starting from 0 it’s not easy. I hope to find a way to success.

• Continuing to renovate my flat in Paris

  I worked hard with my dad during the summer to renovate the bedroom of the flat in Paris. After 2 years, the flat is almost 100% renovated. We still need to change the showers in 2024 and maybe build a terrace.🤞

After being lost for 2 years and leaving Spendesk without a clear plan, it took me a while to know what I wanted to achieve in my life and the environment and routine that I need to be happy.

Maria and I worked on a plan for 2025; this year is the year of hard choices and transition to start being on track for 2025.

🤩 Here are some of my best memories of 2023

1. When my brother, Geoffrey, signed his first CDI in a Tech Startup. Proud of him!

2. When I destroyed the 19th walls of the flat in Medellin and started to make over. Four months later, I believed real estate mean “Solve problems” 😂, and in Colombia, there are a lot of PROBLEMS!

3. When we attended the concert of Sofiane Pamart in Medellin, a precious moment.

4. When I signed my first Term Sheet!

5. When I hiked the Pyrénées with my mom.

6. Bonus: all the moment spent with Maria (14th July on a rooftop, visiting inside the pyramid..)

It was a year full of memories, but to be honest, it was not an easy year. I feel heavy and impacted by this year. I hope the hard work/choices will pay off in 2024.

📱 Zoom on The Mobile First Company creation idea 💡

– Can’t be fully transparent and share too much details.

In 2023, my primary goal was to launch a startup. I dedicated January to brainstorming and refining my first idea, FreeX.

The concept aimed to assist remote workers in getting paid and managing their taxes directly, bypassing intermediaries like Remote.com or Deel.com to maximize income. We also aimed to address the credit aspect, helping them secure loans for personal projects.

I interviewed lawyers, remote workers, and garnered interest from venture capitalists, but doubts crept in. Concerns arose regarding market growth, with many tech companies discontinuing remote policies. I feared I might have missed the wave (2019/2020). Moreover, associating with tax optimization gave me a pause, even though I still believed in its profitability.

After weeks of contemplation, I shifted my focus to a new idea, tackling a broader problem: How can more people to use software?

Having spent six years at Spendesk, I mastered the SaaS industry, from value persuasion to distribution, and believed a different playbook was possible.

While most tech firms concentrated on the Mid-Market, building complex all-in-one platforms and using costly acquisition channels, I envisioned an alternative. This approach is centered on two key factors:

1. The speed at which users perceive the software's value

2. The global significance of the problem being addressed.

I delved into ERP research, complex software that resolves numerous business issues. Two companies fascinated me: Odoo 🇧🇪 and Zoho 🇮🇳, both profitable with oustanding growth, despite being older than me.

The key to these two players was their modular approach. Unlike SAP (the leader), which sells a single, intricate, expensive software, others allow users to solve problems by installing modules or different software. People seek solutions that definitively address their specific problems, not a single platform covering all their needs.

But why "Mobile-First" ?

The mobile aspect emerged later. Working with fast-growing mobile apps revealed the smartphone's potential :

1. More intuitive, user-friendly, and globally accessible (thanks to app stores).

2. Higher trust levels, as people prefer app downloads over signing up or booking through a landing page.

3. Enhanced capabilities, with unique mobile features (camera, voice, payment, WhatsApp), enabling the creation of unique experiences.

4. Cost-effectiveness, as developing a minimal app is cheaper than a complex SaaS.

With these convictions, I went all-in on this idea, pitching it to the top 30 CEOs in my software and mobile app network. Eventually, the company was incorporated with a well-funded bank account.

I then poured all my energy into finding a co-founder and assembling the core team (Head of User Acquisition, Head of Mobile, etc.).

Regrettably, I can't share more details at the moment, but we're well on our way to challenging the SaaS industry with a different breed of software, crafted by a talented team.

Stay tuned for more in 2024.

🤯 Life is also challenging ; here are my setbacks and frustrations during 2023

• Being more RELAX

  I discovered last year that I’m quite a stress person; I like conflict and I’m not afraid to argue for my ideas or opinions.

  I have the feeling of not being at peace with myself and the society. I need to succeed to relax and enjoy simple moments of life.

• Continuing to take risks?

  It’s a mixed feeling; I take risks or make decisions without considering the consequences (for example, the financial risk of the coliving). I impose my choices on those around me. Yes, I'm advancing so fast in my life, but it's tiring.

• I miss working with a team in the office.

  Covid is over, and remote work is as well; it’s time for me to go back to "normal life," solving problems with a team and building memories. The Mobile-First Company will not be 100% remote, and the office will be a big part of the culture. Everyone changes their opinion, read my #2021 Review 😂

• Lost motivation in my professional life

  Being a freelancer was mainly driven by how much money I could make and how I could use this money to live experiences and invest in the future. Back in 2022, I felt unmotivated by what I was doing and took the decision to reduce my income and change the type of missions to feel more connected, starting a transition to be able to go back to a full-time job as a founder.

  I built The Mobile-First Company based on the good memories of Spendesk and the frustration of the last 2 years as a freelancer. I believe I found the perfect match to achieve something big.

• The impact of my choice on my wife's career

  1 year ago, Maria made the decision to leave the unicorn Mercado Libre, where she had an amazing job full of responsibilities, to start as a freelancer to be able to travel more and spend more time with me in Europe. This was clearly not our best choice, and we’re working hard to ensure Maria joins an ambitious company in Europe.

• Still need to improve my Spanish

  I reached the point where I could survive in Colombia, but the Coliving project showed me that I’m far from being fluent. I still need to work hard on my Spanish to be able to argue effectively. Learning a language was never a strength for me; I'm still struggling with French and for that reason, I'm the first surprised that I'm almost speaking 3 languages now.

PS: I reached a 1,100-day streak on Duolingo, meaning that I used the app every day for more than 3 years.

🎯 What are my goals for 2024?

I will focus all my energy on ensuring that The Mobile-First Company is on the path to profitability and growth.

I still wants to post 150 times on Linkedin.

I will continue to invest in Africa.

I want to helps the people I love be successful in their careers and happy 🫶

The goal for next year is to be able to afford my dream house in Colombia in 2025!

PS: I also need to strengthen my back.

I’m 28 years old, and my mind is full of goals to reach before turning 30. Next year will be precious.

From Medellin, Jérémy ✌️

Jérémy.

That’s all for this year!

If you enjoyed this year’s review, hit reply and let me know. I love hearing from you!

Support us

Today we release a FREE TOOL on Product Hunt based on a study over 1,000 Pricing Pages, let me give you more context:

We analyzed +1000 pricing pages to understand SaaS pricing strategies. Here are our key learnings:

Why did we do this? Because the second most common reason for SaaS companies' failure is pricing mistakes!

👉 70% of SaaS companies offer a Free Trial or a Free Plan 👉 82% of SaaS companies have an "Enterprise" plan

Here are the 3 most popular pricing models in Europe: Flat Fee (31%) Seat-Based (28% vs. 42%) Usage-Based (27%)

We have decided to make our research available for free on a search engine, including +1,000 pricing pages, founder interviews, and historical changes, etc.

The project is live on Product Hunt (my first one 😇), please show your support 💪

Do you have Product Hunt? 🧡 Support the project, it's a big day for us.

The link of the project: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/saas-pricing-explorer

Best,
Jérémy

It’s becoming a ritual for me, taking time off, focusing on analyzing my year, and ensuring I’m still working in the right direction to achieve my dreams.

2022 was a STRANGE year for me, exhausting with many different tasks and launching a project that didn’t have strong links. I had this feeling to be a little bit of Schizophrenia.

The only thing I’m sure about last year is that I was super busy and took big risks (personally & professionally).

In this review, I will talk about my solopreneur journey, facing the limit of this model. I will also project you inside 3 of my Side Projects: Growth.Talent, Kara.ventures & my Youtube Channel.

I’m expecting you to ask me questions and tell me if you want to work closer to me next Year,

because 2023 will be built to be the complete opposite of 2022. 🙂

But let’s focus on 2022!

So what do I decide to include in this review?

• 🙌 What I'm proud to have accomplished this year!

  Building a community (Growth.Talent) and launching a VC Fund (Kara.ventures) it was the year of ambitious side-projects. I spend most of my year in Africa.
  It's a mix of personal and professional learnings all around the year.

  • My 2022 Goals's achieved.

  • Deep Dive: How did I make Money in 2022?

  • Deep dive into more personal topics

• ⚡️ Deep Dive into my Content/Media strategy in 2022
  Double down on Linkedin and invest massively in Youtube. Let’s talk numbers.

• 🤩 A list of unbelievable experiences I lived
  Remember to offer you a unique experience and personal Gift. This year I authorize myself to invest more in my happiness.

• 💰 Zoom on my VC Fund (Kara.ventures)
  What is a side-fund, and how we made it? Let me present to you Rena who made this project a reality.

• 😠 Life is also challenging; here are my bad and frustrations during 2022

  2022 was an intense year, and I have plenty of frustrations. It's very important to share them.

• 🌍 A quick timeline of the place I have been

  Working remotely and traveling around the world was my top priority. Some places weren't planned :)

• 🎯 What are my goals for 2023?
  Don’t tell people what you will do. Show them what you did! Ok, few pillars for next year.

Have a good reading 📚…

🙌 What I’m proud to have accomplished in 2022.

My first year (completely) independent, split into 4 main projects across different continents. I reached the dream life I had when I left Spendesk: working remotely, advising startups, having a community, and investing in Africa.

For example, in my last review, I had 4 pillars for 2023:

• I will travel a lot, mainly in Africa. ✅

• I want to triple my yearly income and continue to invest in a different types of assets (startups, real estate, wine, trading) ✅

• I want to launch a media and produce more content. ✅

• I want to spend more time with my friends and family. ✅

Let me deep dive inside my accomplishment:

💼 PROFESSIONALLY 

1. Launched my VC Funds (Kara.ventures) to invest in 20 African Startups with Rena Kakon

   That was the most ambitious project I had in mind for this year, and I needed the right partner to make it happen. I’m so happy to meet and work with Rena, who may be the perfect opposite of me regarding skills and mindset. But we’re reunited with the same passion for Startups in Africa.

   It can seem crazy to imagine that one of our side projects this year was launching a VC Fund. But we did it.

   • We raised money with our network to be able to invest in 20 startups.

   • We set up all the Legal + Admin aspects to be able to operate

   • We implemented a robust back-office + CRM to work efficiently

   • We visited & explore more than 12 countries on the continents: 🇸🇳 Senegal, 🇷🇼 Rwanda, 🇲🇺 Mauritius, 🇰🇪 Kenya, 🇲🇦 Morocco,🇹🇳 Tunisia, 🇺🇬 Uganda, 🇿🇦 South Africa, 🇬🇭 Ghana, 🇳🇬 Nigéria, 🇨🇮 Ivory Coast

   • We interview +180 startups.

   • And we invested in 6 of them. 🙌

   This is just the beginning of this 10 years side project, where I currently invested most of my cash.

2. Create a Community (Growth.Talent) to change the mindset about Growth in France
   I can’t pass the page on Growth while leaving France without keeping connecting with my peers.

   I wanted to bring the support I missed when I started my career in Growth in Paris.

   Around different pillars:

   1. Create a community of experts who share the same mindset and ambition. Not another boring Slack where everyone is here.

   2. Capture the best Job opportunity in the market and make them available

   3. Document & Benchmark our jobs, starting with the Salary Benchmark.

   4. Create powerful matchmaking based on specific request

   5. Organize events to connect and celebrate together

   6. Helps companies to understand the jobs better

   Thanks to @Timothée, in a few months we released the website and platform: growthtalent.org, monetize the community, reach 1,000 members, and launch many initiatives.

   I prepare a Deep Dive about it lower in this newsletter.

   

3. Spendesk becomes a Unicorn 🦄
   In January last year, Spendesk announced recent funding with Tiger Global and reached the Unicorn Statut 6 years after its creation. It’s a massive milestone for early employees like me, who gave us credibility worldwide, and I hope for financial power for the rest of our lives.

   

4. Finally, launch my Youtube Channel.

   Youtube is from far away my favorite platform, since a teenager, I have spent hours every week learning new things. I always wanted to produce videos, and after the substantial success of my Spendesk Departure Video, I knew I needed to explore this channel.

   I decided to hire a talented & ambitious video Marker: Augustin Chenard

   And in the last 6 months, we explored, tried, created, and iterated to understand how Youtube was working.

   I had a lot of fun on this project, which cost me a lot (from salaries and freelance to pro video material), with no clear ROI. It is more like a passion than a project or job.

   I will continue to invest in it next year.

   You can find more results about the Youtube launch in the Community Section

5. My African Tours and the robust network that I built on the continent
   I planned to travel around Africa for years and finally took the time to do it this year. It’s difficult to explain, but I invested so much time, money, and energy in this project that I was tired when I came back to France.

   I explored Senegal 🇸🇳, Mauritius Island 🇲🇺, Ghana 🇬🇭, Nigeria 🇳🇬, Sao Tomé 🇸🇹, Cote d’Ivoire 🇨🇮.

   It was a revelation for me, and I succeeded in building strong online connections, talking with people, and creating friendships when I was there. I was welcomed almost like a president and got the opportunity to learn so much about the culture, history, and startup scene.

   I will definitely continue next year to learn more and explore this continent. Next stop: Egypt 🇪🇬

6. I’m entering the 6-digit Solopreneur Categorie.

   It was my first year as a full-time freelancer (or Solopreneur), and I finished the year with +250k€ of income.
   It’s definitely a lot of money, double my Salary as VP of Growth at Spendesk. But I can confess that I had to work more to get this result.

   I made so many mistakes that cost me to have done double this number, I also generated a considerable amount of stress at some part of the year, when sleeping was difficult.

   I decided to talk more about this complicated year as Solopreneur in the Challenges section.

7. Growth.Awards 2022 – We made it: The Biggest Growth Event in 🇫🇷
   Imagine having a Theatre of +300 Growth People, with a jury and 6 different trophies to showcase why France is the capital of Growth. It took me 6 months, to find the right partner, and sponsors to make this event a success.

   I wasn’t scared to animate the party in front of all those people, and now I know that I can manage a big event alone from 0.

   The feedback is unanimous, it was definitely a success, and we will come back next year, with enormous ambition and more trophies.

8. My collaboration with Timothée & Augustin

   Last year I contracted Timothée, to help me with Growth.Talent, he dedicates a lot of energy and time to making this project a success. We took the decision to stop the collaboration back in June, and I’m so happy to see that he is now Lead Growth in a startup of my portfolio. This guy is talented. Follow him ;)

   I was also lucky enough to hire another futur Rockstar: Augustin, who is managing and producing Youtube content with me.

   PS: Merci Tim & Gus 🙏

9. The (indirect) success of Scalability
   For more than 1 year, I have supported and advised Benjamin Donteville, who launched Scalability, A Growth Agency focusing exclusively on Outbound.

   I start to help him when he was “just” a freelancer with 3/4 of customers. He is now the owner of one of the most promising Growth agencies in Paris, onboarding a cofounder, and hiring a talented Growth Outbound Manager. X

   This year was the year of all records for Scalability, and I’m proud to be part of it!

10. Becoming a Board Member of a startup studio in Africa: mStudio
    I will never imagine that that will happen! If you ask me last year during the same period when I started to prepare 2022, that was not planned, but a few months later it happens. I’m now a Board Member of a Startup Studio in Abidjan 🇨🇮

    mStudio has the ambition to launch 4/6 startups to support the informal sectors in West Africa.

    My mission is to find an onboard talented founder while helping startups grow and find the product market fit.

    That was the first time I got paid for a mission on the African Continent.

11. I help 46 Talented Growth Profiles to change their career
    This is maybe the most significant achievement of the year, supporting 46 talents to find their new challenge in Growth. And at the same time helps 46 startups to build their Growth Team.

    Special mention to Mojo, Polar Analytic, Le Wagon, & Deep Reach for the perfect collaboration 👌

💰 Deep Dive: How did I make Money in 2022?

More important than the final amount, the way I made +250k must inspire you.

I’m always interested in connecting and talking about a potential collaboration, let’s talk about it: jeremy@goillot.com

My business was focused on 3 pillars:

1. VP Growth Part-Time
   I support B2B SaaS companies or Growth Agencies and Startups Studios to Grow. I mainly work with the CEO and the Head of Growth.

   I like to work like a Github Issue Framework, I have a list of problem assign to me and need to solve them.

   This can be: Hire a Head of Growth, Change the pricing or Launch a new acquisition Channel.

   This job is custom for each customer. I put in place simple pricing based on the time dedicated. Most of the job is done in Async with Recurring meetings every week.

   Most of my customers have 6 months agreement.

2. Building a Growth Team and hiring the Head of Growth for startups
   This is still the money maker of my activity because it answers one of the biggest needs of startups. Hire one of the most vital profiles of their teams.

   I try a lot of different formats, and at the end of the year, I was satisfied with the type of customers that I have and the satisfaction behind my work.

   I work exclusively with a Retainer (money paid upfront), and I get a success fee if the job is over.

   It’s different than Headhunter because I spend more time teaching the CEO how to hire a Head of Growth rather than contacting the profile myself.

   Most of my customers are Inbound or referrals.

   I want now to focus on the Head of position, completely remote, and managing a team.

   I need to be better at rejecting wrong-fit customers, who bring me more problems, and who don’t succeed in closing a candidate.

3. Launching the Job Board: growthtalent.org/jobs

   At the beginning of the year, I wanted to “Productise my Headhunting” activity by launching a job board. Inspired by RemoteOk.com.

   I was always frustrated by the job offers about Growth because most of them are boring, without context and clear missions. And none of them have a Salary range!

   We design with (Anagram.club), leveraging 200 members of Growth.Talent, the best Job offer possible for a Growth candidate. Make them very clear and attractive.

   We charge companies for the redaction and promotion of those job offers as Flat Fees. We don’t take commission or fees if the candidate is hired.

   It was a substantial investment in money (+40k€) and time (4 months), and as of today, the project is now profitable.

   I’m working with other Growth.Talent members who help me to redact and edit the job description.

   I have a lot of ambition for next year, making all the Job Board “Web3 Friendly” where members get paid to post offers or refer candidates.

   Our end goal is to make the best option for candidates to access the best opportunity in Growth.

“I made the mistake of managing my business like a unicorn rather than a solopreneur.”

I learned how to manage a business in a profitable way, I always had my Spendesk Reflex in mind to always hire in advance, works with the best freelance, take a bold decision, and not always check the ROI of a project…

💡 Here is my biggest mistake this year as Solopreneur:

• Invest more money than needed. My saving is very low in the end. I can’t take 1-month break.

• I hired 2 full-time people when the revenue was heavily dependent on me, I bring a monthly recurring cost on a non-recurring revenue. Some months were scary, I remember in July checking my bank account every night before going to bed.

• Investing 40k€ in branding + platform, buying the Rolls Royce as a first car instead of learning how to drive with a “No code” car 🙂

• Repeat the same mistake with youtube, +10k€ of equipment rather than an iPhone. I may have the highest cost per interview if you include plane tickets + hotels. Why didn’t I start with a simple Reel before traveling all around Africa with a professional caméra?

I realized about this problem during the summer and switch my activity around profitability. These are not easy decisions to make, but bring you peace of mind and cash flow.

💡 I faced the limit of the Solopreneur model (according to me):

• Being alone is not done for me, I need team spirit and diverse types of profiles. I miss my Spendesk team.

• Your business relies on your Name and not on a company. People want me, I can never be sick, tired, or send someone else. They want me.

• Your energy/motivation is your revenue. When you are not motivated, your revenue is down.

• I was not able to take brake/vacations, I’m depressed when I see that I’m missing business opportunities or potentially missing revenue.

😇 PERSONALLY 

On a personal side, it was a busy and intense year. I took important decisions and commitments in my couple's life while supporting the people I love. I also offer fun to myself.

1. We signed a PACS with Maria ❤️
   I’m still in Love with the person who shares my life and supports me, trust me, it’s not that easy (to support me). After moving together last year, we’re now officially living together for both France & Colombian governments.

2. I got my 🏍️ Driving Licence and I own a Vespa PV150
   Yes, I’m this type of hipster driving a 1995 Vespa. I got my driving license in Colombia, and it was a fun process, very different than in France.

   I planning to keep the Vespa for a while before switching to a bigger moto. Do I still a minimalist after adding this item to my collection list? :)

   Let me know if you are in for a road trip in a Royal Enfield in Colombia.

3. I support Maria in her life change.

   After pushing/helping Maria, she decided to quit Mercado Libre, one of the biggest unicorns in LATAM, and start to study at Ironhack, the Bootcamp in Paris. She wanted to work in a smaller environment with more flexibility about Remote.

   She also launched her own podcast (El Brief de UX), and published 26 episodes 🤯 and reach 1,000 followers on Linkedin.

4. I help my Brother to start his career in the Startup Nation
   Geoffrey is the complete opposite of me, but he decided to do his first interview in the startup nation at Moka.Care. I was there to help him identify companies and create a persecuting spontaneous application.

   He is now looking for a 6-month internship as a Sales person inside Seed or Serie A startup. I guarantee that If he is not doing his quota, I will help the Growth department for free 😂

5. Continue to discover Africa
   That was my main goal for this year, to learn and discover about African countries, and for this time, I focused a lot on west Africa. I lived something quite magic, but I also faced corruption and injustice.

   But one thing is sure, Africa is the past and the future of our civilization.

6. Renovate my Flat in Paris and reach profitability on Airbnb
   After purchasing my apartment in November 2021, I took the time in May with my dad to fully renovate the kitchen, toilet, living room, and stairs of the Apartment.

   The result is impressive for 5 days of work and I clearly see the impact on Airbnb (+30% of the night price, +140% of occupation).

   Next year I want to build a Terrace in the bedroom and install the AC.

7. The purchase of my first NFT: cosmodinos.com

   I did not escape the hype behind NFT, I was lucky enough to learn everything from my close friend Valentin Salmon. Who succeeded in 2022 in launching one of the most extensive collections of NFT.

   Behind the hype, I was impressed to discover a lot of new technologies and payment solutions.

   “Why are gas fees too high?”, I had this type of newbie question back in time 🙂

   

8. Spend precious time with my Family ✅

   Living abroad and becoming older make you realize your family's importance. I’m happy about what I succeeded in creating in 2022 with the people I love the most. From a Mum's birthday trip in Portugal to camping 2 nights in the mountains, and hiking with my dad. Definitely not enough, but a perfect start :)

9. Welcome friends in Colombia
   In 2022 Colombia became my second country. Some Colombians are saying that I’m more Colombian than them now :) It’s always a pleasure to receive friends or friends of friends here.

   If you plan to discover Latin America, Colombia is definitely a place to come, and you will be well received!

10. Build a ‘Work from Home’ Setup
    Yes, I was this type of remote worker, selling expensive services while working from the dinner table. I spend a fortune on Coffees and coworking daily passes during the year. I took a step back and started to follow the Instagram Account CalmSetup, and the little geek inside me accepted his pulsion to invest in this setup.

⚡️ Deep Dive into my Content/Media strategy in 2022

Building content is a routine and a constraint that obligates me to be more creative, formalize more ideas and become more social. I don’t want to become an influencer and get money to create content, but I believe in building a product that can reach millions of people, start by doing it with yourself.

I learned faster than anyone the power of the network. When you grew up without any connections, you have to invest more than others. This is why I am building content!

I tried to dedicate between 12 to 16 hours per week to this content creation. When I was focusing on Youtube, it was almost 4 days per week :)

Last year I focused and doubled down on Linkedin and started to invest massively in Youtube

Here are my numbers, reach in 2022

💙 STATS ABOUT LINKEDIN

• Number of posts: 135 (vs. 73 in 2021)

• Number of reaches: 6 195 386 ( vs. 2,3M in 2021)

• Number of likes: 44 859 (vs. 28k5 in 2021)

In Average:

• 2,5 posts per week

• 332 likes per post

• 45 892 views per post

Here are my top 5 posts this year:

• Pourquoi on n’apprend pas à l’école que l’Afrique est plus grande que l'Europe, la Chine et les États-Unis réunis ?!

• Le Passport est l’objet le plus injuste au monde !

• Le Miami d’Afrique!

• Travailler en remote n’est pas fait pour tout le monde!

• C’est officiel on lance notre fonds d’investissement (Side-Fund) pour investir dans 20 startups africaines 🎉 🎉 🎉

💡Learnings about Linkedin:

• Have fun posting, don’t do it for the likes or business: I had a lot of fun producing posts this year

• Talking about Main Stream Subject generate more reach (Africa vs. Growth Marketing)

• Controversial posts have a good reach

• Reproduce your viral post is a good strategy: My analysis per African Countries

• Personal news is still your best post

• A short post, just with a picture can perform well

• The Senegal community is strong on Linkedin :)

• Video is not performing well for the moment

• The time you post has a strong impact on your reach

What I will love to try

• Repost/Recycle all my successfull post of 2022 in 2023

• Continue to share more videos on Linkedin

• Produce more posts in Spanish or English

• Succeed in talking about Remote Work without generating Virtual Signaling

• Talk more about travel and lifestyle

🔴 STATS ABOUT YOUTUBE

Youtube has always been my favorite platform, and I have always wanted to have a Youtube Channel. This is also the most challenging type of content. Speaking alone in front of a camera is not easy. But if I succeed in mastering it, the rest is history 🙂

I was also interested in having a platform where your content “never dies.” If you have a successful video, people will always watch it. For example, 4,000 people have watched my Spendesk Departure video from Last year 🤯

As an entrepreneur, I’m convinced that this channel will be one of the most significant acquisition levels in my next life. I need to understand the code. #LongTermVision.

• Number of videos posted: 15

• Number of Shorts posted: 31

• Number of subscribers: 1,029 🎉

• Number of views: 31,6k

💡Learning & Mistakes:

• Start small and post a lot

• Produce video quickly, less travel, fewer speakers, more selfie content iPhone recording.

• Short/Reel are more content viral and gets visibility to your channel

• I didn’t find a video format that I love (VLOG + TRAVEL + STARTUPS)

• For the interview format, we need to get people who already have visibility and people are interested to see

• It’s better to have 300 views where people watch 100% of the video than 10,000 of 5 min

• The script of the content of the video has to be aligned with the video

👍 My Favorite Content consumed this year

• 📚 My favorite book – The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness

• 🎥 My favorite documentary – Downfall: The Case Against Boeing (Netflix)

• 📹 My favorite YouTube Channel – Ali Abdaal

• 🎧 My favorite podcast – Transfert by Slate.fr

• 🎤 My favorite Rap Album – Civilisation @Orelsan (yes 2 year in a row)

🤩 Here are some crazy moments/experiences that ma this year unforgettable!

1. I got a Spendesk Tattoo – September 2017: “If 1 day we raised 100m€, I’ll tattoo the Spendesk Logo on my butts” …

2. Got “PACS” with Maria, and generally my life with her -Bring me love, stability and long term vision.

3. Hotel Collines de Niassam in Senegal – One of the best hotel I ever stayed

4. Being back in Mauritius Island – Fall in love about the island in 2018, I made a lot of friends, and it is a paradise. 💜 Manu, MERCI!

5. Assinie-Mafia Boat Tour with Cédric – One of the most peaceful place I seen in 2022, welcome by the best guest.

6. Insightful moment with friends – I did my best to create those moments, from Guatapé to Belleville.

7. Steve McCurry’s exposition in Paris – This is the type of Art I loved, portrait of people inside war countries.

8. Camping in the Pyréneés – All my family together for 2 days in the mountains, sleeping in tents. A “Madeleine de Proust” feeling

9. A lot of Golf – I started to Golf, mainly practice, very funny activity. We tried 5/6 different spot this year.

10. Football Game in Medellin: El Clásico Paisa – You can’t imagine the atmosphere when 2 teams from Medellin are playing agains each others.

11. My addiction to Karting – Another activities we discovered in 2022, where we spent a little bit too much money. I have to say that Rayan 🇨🇮 was the best driver I’ve faced.

12. New Year in Providencia 🇨🇴 – This little island in the Caribbean was so peaceful, celebrating with new friends in a paradisiaque beach.

💰 Zoom on my VC Fund - Kara .ventures

Quote from 2021 Review:

“What’s next:  Launching my own small fund next year to invest in emerging countries (LATAM + AFRICA).”

2021 was the year where I discovered Angel Investing. I made 19 investments, mainly in Fintech, in France, UK & USA.

Angel investing is an expensive hobby that stimulates you a lot. I’m always addicted to startups; I can spend my Saturday night watching startups on Crunchbase. Difficult to explain why.

After all those investments, I had the feeling that every investment was quite similar, from the founder's background to the Acquisition playbook. So I didn’t feel amazed anymore.

I started to connect & network with startups in the emerging market, particularly Africa, and I was learning new things every day. And to be honest, I was very fascinated by it.

To launch a project, you need to meet the right person, and this is what happened to me in February.

I met with Rena Kakon, a startup lawyer with solid experience in Africa, who wanted to start investing in Africa. It was the perfect match.

We start to connect weekly about this idea of investing together, then create a collective to finally decide to build a fund. Yes, I know having a lawyer as a co-founder is an unfair advantage.

(30 Sec - Start a VC Fund playbook) Here are the different steps we did before our first investment:

1. We write down these: how much money we will invest, what stage of the company, the average number of tickets, the number of tickets…

2. We list down why companies will accept our money

3. We make it very clear how we can support the company

4. We aligned on the type of investment we wanted to do

5. We start to connect with a lot of startups, I travel to Senegal and Rena to Kenya to test our thesis of investment in front of a startup.

6. We started to get interested in startups

7. We raised money, and even though Rena and myself invested 20% of the fund, we connected with other investors to onboard them in our project.

8. We incorporate the structure in Delaware: “Invest with Passion LLC” (that was the most expensive & complex part, kudos to Rena).

9. We continue to connect & reach out to startups. The best startups are not looking for money you need to chase them.

10. And then, we did it, our first ticket, inside the beautiful Payroll Software: Workpay 🇰🇪

11. It’s not over; this is just the beginning; a VC Fund needs between 7 to 10 years to be profitable. This is when we will know if yes or not we made money.

We visited 10 countries, interviewed 187 startups, and signed 6 investments. This is Kara Ventures.

As you may understand, I put most of my cash inside Kara Venture, I can’t invest in startups anymore, but I did 4 investments in France 🇫🇷 in 2022. Only in friend startups. Let me present them to you:

1. 🌍 Tocco.earth 🇫🇷 Launched by the talented Baptiste Debever
   Supplier management platform focused on sustainable sourcing. The company's platform helps in sourcing sustainable products, automating procurement processes, and managing the carbon footprint, enabling clients to reduce sourcing costs and offer better and more affordable products.

2. 🚢 GerCargo.io 🇫🇷 Founded for 2 ex Spendesk, Aurélien & Max CRMs are dead; use your data warehouse. Imagine running your campaign directly from Snowflake. An alternative to customer.io & Braze directly connected from your Data Warehouse.

3. 🕯️ Meterly 🇫🇷 Launched by Lucas Bedout (ex-VP Eng Spendesk)

   Solving billing issues of Software companies to allow them to test, iterate and deploy different pricing simultaneously. Finally, a billing software aligned with usage-based pricing.

4. 🪵  Louis.design 🇫🇷 Created by Thomas Devineaux Manufacturer of furniture intended to serve offices, made in France, sustainable, and fully customizable. They make office furniture sustainable that never gets old. Most of Spendesk tables are done by them 🙂

2022 was all about investment, and most of my energy went into it. Let’s talk about my big frustrations in the year.

🤯 Life is also challenging; here are my bad and frustrations during 2022

💼 PROFESSIONALLY 

1. I only have Side-Project, not Long term project that can change my life.
   Ok, I did a decent amount of money this year. I have been busy working on cool topics that I choose. I succeed in making it happen very fast.

   But now that I have this Solopreneur life, I want more. I want to have a business that is bigger than me, that solves one problem of thousands of people, and build a talented team to solve it. I want to build a startup again!

2. A lot of accounting & URSAFF issues

   I made the big mistake of taking an “Online Accountant,” which was not expensive when I created my company in March 2020. It was just a side business. But when this business grew, I just got nightmares and nightmares with the administration. Tax not being paid …

   I spent most of 2022 fixing those issues with my new accountant. I still do not understand how VAT collection failed all the time.

   It has become normal in France to work with a broken system. We all the time find excuses, like our National Health Care… But the way we’re treated by the administration is unacceptable.

3. How I managed my business + money
   I already talked about it, I managed my Solopreneur business like a startup with big ambitions. It took me ages (7 months) to understand that I needed to keep the extreme majority of Cash and not invest it (in the same business).

4. Not launch a Podcast or Show about Remote Work
   This is the subject that motivates me the most, and I didn’t produce any content relative to that. I sometimes need to choose who I am. Am I the Growth guy from Spendesk? The crazy Investor in African Startups? Or another Remote Worker?

   I need to keep in mind that people remind you for one thing and need to make that thing so obvious.

5. My inbox EXPLODED (👋 Inbox 0)

   I like to reply fast to emails and be super reactive, but in 2022 I failed terribly…

   First, my Linkedin became as busy as AirFrance support during a strike, and I didn’t pass the cap to “not reply to people.”

   Second, I didn’t prioritize it, for me, “Doing my mail” is an activity when you have nothing else to do. I always find something more “urgent” than INBOX 0.

   Third, How do you manage Whatsapp? I just got FULL of messages all the time!

   Next year will be different. I want to be better on Whatsapp, Linkedin & Email, have templates to reply to, inbox 0 most of the time, and spend at least 1 hour in my Inbox daily.

6. I don’t know who my followers are

   I reached the cap of 25,000 followers on Linkedin, there are people who have the feeling to know me, but I never heard about them. Here are 2 fun facts.

   I went to my bank in the countryside in France (Ariège 09), and the guy at the front desk said: “Oh Jeremy, I follow you on Linkedin..”

   More seriously, while traveling in Africa, I interacted with people who followed me and made my life so much easier, giving me a car, connecting me with people, organize trips for us.

   I’m sure that behind these 25,000 numbers are my next co-founders, roommates, investors, or best friends.❓ Any tips to know you better?

7. I didn’t build my Hotel, not enough cash in the bank…
   I always have in mind to build a Hotel for remote workers, where you can stay 1 month in a luxury apartment and enjoy the common area, pool, podcast studio, coworking, kitchen…

   I already find the land in Medellin, where I want to build it.

   This project is on hold until I can sell my Spendesk stocks to finance it. Otherwise, I have to convince a private investor, and I’m already raising a VC Fund; I ask too much money this year.

   I will love to explore this possibility next year and make it happen.

😇 PERSONALLY 

1. Not launch a side project with Maria, my brother, or my best friend
   Am I becoming used to having Side projects, right? But I failed in launching a “small one” with someone that I love sincerely outside of work 🙂

   We had a bunch of ideas, from the Silent Room for Podcast or Zoom Call in Medellin to a new podcast about travel and work to selling Concrete frames. But nothing goes through.

2. Not invest in real estate…
   I learn a lot while buying and renovating my flat in Paris, I’m happy to live in one of the most profitable cities in the world on Airbnb (Medellin 🇨🇴). I need to continue to invest in real estate.

   I definitely need to become more friends with Real Estate agents in Colombia.

3. Create more moments & memories with my family
   It must always be a frustration. To remind you how important they are to you. I want to continue to make those moments meaningful. Only one goal for next year, more meaningful moments than 2022.

4. I spend more time with strangers than with my friends.
   Most of my week I have between 20 to 35 calls from CEOs who raised money to people looking for a new jobs. I spend more time on the phone with “strangers” than my friends.

   That may be rational, but I feel sad about it.

In general, I’m a frustrated person, and this is my engine in life. I’m working against frustration, but It always has been the same.
It will still be in 2023. (and I have a lot to focus on 😂)

🌎 Places visited

• I started 2022, Celebrating from Cuzco in Peru 🇵🇪

• Huacachina 🇵🇪

• Lima 🇵🇪

• Salento 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Curaçao 🇨🇼 - to celebrate my 27 birthday 🎂

• Ibagué 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• 17 February - Moving back to France 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Rennes + Mont Saint-Michel 🇫🇷

• Copenhagen 🇩🇰

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Etretat 🇫🇷

• Porto 🇵🇹

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Dakar 🇸🇳

• Sally 🇸🇳

• Sine Saloum 🇸🇳

• Dubrovnik 🇭🇷

• Split 🇭🇷

• Hvar 🇭🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Mauricius Island 🇲🇺

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Ibagué 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Bogota 🇨🇴

• Guatapé 🇨🇴

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Lagos 🇳🇬 (The city I was the most surprised in 2022)

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Sao Tomé and Principe 🇸🇹

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Abidjan 🇨🇮

• Asinie 🇨🇮

• Accra 🇬🇭

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Bogota 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Ibagué 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• San Andres 🇨🇴

• Providencia 🇨🇴 🏝️ to celebrate the end of the year in Paradise.

🎯 What are my goals for 2023?

Don’t tell people what you will do. Show them what you did! See you next year :) 

But wait a moment, I know what I want for next year:

• I want to spend more time in the same place and have a better routine

• I will speak less and ask more questions

• I want to have a BIG PROJECT on top of my current side project, where I allocate most of my time and energy for the following years.

• It’s mean I want to build or join a very early-stage startup with strong ambition

• I want to optimize my Fiscal & Tax setup

• I want to spend more time with my family and friends

• I want to interview 10 Celebrities that I admire for my Youtube Channel

• I want to climb a summit higher than the Mont Blanc

• I want to own another Real Estate Property

• I want to dive deep into Meditation technics and breathing tricks

And I will continue to take risks, documents and share them.

2023 = 365 days; how will you use them?

From Providencia 🇨🇴 with determination for 2023.

Jérémy.

That’s all for this year!

If you enjoyed this year’s review, hit reply and let me know. I love hearing from you!

Youtube is definitely the platform that helps me the most in my life!

I studied on Youtube, Discovered my jobs on Youtube, Learn skills on Youtube, and always find my new travel destination on this channel.

Today I’m proud to release my first video (a teaser) to announce my new project: Interview “Different” Entrepreneurs.

This is more of a personal challenge for me to discover my next journey, I decided to share it with everyone!

You are my closest network, and I need you again for this project!

Follow me on this new platform ❤️

From Medellin, with convictions!
Jérémy

It can be a cliché, but after documenting my learning years after years, I can clearly say that 2021 has been the most intense year. It’s the result of the number of choices and decisions I made, multiple by the important moment I lived.

I had this feeling to write down these different topics, ensure I understood them, and replicate them this year.

I started to do this type of analysis 4 years ago, starting with simple bullets points in my Apple Note. Today I’m sure this note is already too long to be read. But what is important is the process I used, and the exercise to step back to prepare for the future.

I highly recommend you to do this exercise on your side. Start simple and then go crazy :)

But why I’m making it public? 

1. Most of the time, I forgot to thank the people who helped me. Writing this note is the best way to remember all those persons and share it with them. #ImNotAlone

2. I discovered that my choice and decision can inspire many people. If a little guy in the south of France can read it and settle his goal for next year. I will be super proud. #LeadByExample
   

3. One of my 2021 goals was to document my learning, if you don’t write it down, you forgot. 
   

4. Every time I share or communicate about a project, I receive feedback or message that help me. I’m waiting for feedback, comments, critic, advice :)

So what do I decide to include in this review?

• 🙌 What I'm proud to have accomplished this year!

  From investing in startups to buying my first apartment, sharing moments with my family, and launching different businesses, it's a mix of personal and professional learnings all around the year.

  • My 2021 Goals's achieved

  • Zoom on a few successful Projects

  • Deep dive into more personal topics

• 🤩 A list of unbelievable experiences I lived

  Spending most of my time traveling helped me to generate lifetime memories

• 😠 What are my frustration, things I wanted to do.

  2021 was a very good year, but I still have plenty of frustrations. It's very important to share them.

• 🌍 A quick timeline of the place I have been

  Working remotely and traveling around the world was my top priority. Some places weren't planned :)

• 🤝 The detailed list of my customers

  Leaving Spendesk, becoming a solopreneur, I had the luxury to work with +20 companies.

Have a good reading 📚…

🙌 What I’m proud to have accomplished in 2021.

💼 PROFESSIONALLY 

1. My departure of Spendesk, from the decision to the communication

I started with a simple internship back in 2016, the last 5 years were intense but fascinating for me. I never imagined but also doubted the Spendesk success. I’m super proud to have been part of the first 5 years of one of the biggest Software built in Europe. 

You may have watched my video that explains my decision, well-produced by Valentin Nauton, it was in my mind for a long time. 

I wrote a lot about the scenario and had fun recording videos all around the world. But I never imagine reaching thousands of views and receiving that amount of messages.

Also, I’m very proud to keep strong relationships with Spendeskers and alumni. Being able to have dinner or coffee with most of the people who shared the last 5 years is another example of how strong our culture was. 

Finally, I’m super happy to see the Spendesk Mafia just created, with the first companies launched and money raised from each other. 

2. Kill my American Dream and succeed to find a new one.

I build most of my young career with a goal to be important in the Silicon Valley. Back in January, I was a kid without a dream and a plan when I decided to leave the US position. It took me almost 6 months to find a new challenge that will draft my life for the next 10 years (at least). 

The US, was my first and biggest failure, but the first time that I experienced the « Change Curve », and I can confirm that you go to all the steps :) 

I needed to analyze where and why this US dream come from, what was my motivation, origin from my past. I needed to « peel » the dream to be able to find a new one. 

• I discovered that the place where I want to work and live is the most important for me. For that reason, Africa has attracted me the most since I’m a kid.

• I understand that having an impact on a region, city or country is part of my motivation. I want to have a local impact around me.

• I know that I’m want to take big risks, I don’t need a salary anymore, and I will launch my own company. 

• I’m an explorer who is excited to do things that other are scared of.

• I’m battling the decentralization of the world, and countries will be more autonomous and less dependent on the old world and players of the colonization. I want to build a business that empowers that. 

Starting this year, I still have other projects to complete before being able to jump 10 years in this challenge. I will relocate myself to Africa, explore different countries, and settle in a place that helps me launch a Tech company from there. See you in Africa in 2022!

3. Discover Angel Investing and master it! 

Almost one year ago, I made my first Angel Investment in Swan.io (Fintech Infrastructure). In 365 days, investing in startups has become my new hobby. I read and learned a lot about it. I made investments alone, launched my club, work with a lawyer, invest with a holding... As an ex administrative phobia, it is a real challenge for me. 

Outside the financial and legal aspects, I work a lot on my thesis, outreach to be able to succeed 19 Angel Investment in 2021. This topic is hot, I decided to write a dedicated newsletter later.

4. Succeed to earn more money as an Independent only 6 months after I quit 

Leaving Spendesk was a big risk. I immediately started to work as an independent / freelancer to ensure I can keep (or increase) my lifestyle. 

6 months later, I am proud to make more money and reach financial independence. I struggle a lot to identify the type of customers, the type of mission and adjust the pricing. 

Today, I’m a happy “solopreneur”! 

5. Hire my first Talent: Timothée

I was lucky enough to become a manager and learn management super young, thanks to Spendesk. When I left, I immediately missed working as a team, and when I secured enough revenue, I decided to hire my first employee. Super happy to work with Timothée since 4 months!

6. Succeed to remove this « Growth Hacker » Tag

Due to my Linkedin Post, the Growthletter, the post cast, and all the noise I created since 5 years about Growth in B2B SaaS, in the mind of the people, I’m one of the best Head of Growth of the space. 

I’m very proud of that. But I will never be Head of Growth anymore, I learned it and mastered it. Now, it’s time for me to move to a new subject, rather than the fact that I’m still doing and thinking about Growth most of the time. I will work hard now to be recognized as an entrepreneur and creator. 

7. Being able to build a network in any country in the world

I can proudly say that I developed my own method to quickly build a network in a new country. From the confidence to the message and method, I start to have strong connections in the different emerging countries I visited. I invested in a Brazilian and Senegal company and worked with Mexican and Colombian companies. 

8. Grow my community about Growth

I clearly invest in my personal community this year, from different podcasts, Linkedin posts and events. I produced content to help Growth profile to have a better career. Since September, I organized more than 10 lives with experts to bring a new type of content and advice. It has been super successful with more than 150 people in average assisting to the live. 

9. See the Spendesk Growth Team evolve. 

When I announced to my team that I would dissolve the team and leave Spendesk, I didn’t expect them to evolve that much, half of the team stayed at Spendesk and built their own team, and the other half decided to leave to accept a bigger position and become the most wanted person of the ecosystem. I write a post about it on Linkedin: URL

10. Develop my network with VCs and Investors

Understanding how the tech scene works and where the money comes from is an important skill. VCs are the eyes of the ecosystem, and they know a lot of entrepreneurs. I spend important time building strong relationships with VCs to be able to have an introduction to talented entrepreneurs all around the world. 

11. Worked with more than 20 Customers in 2021

I decided to stay a solopreneur this year and try a lot of different offers with more than 25 customers. After struggling at the beginning, I’m convinced about my différent offers:

• > VP Growth Part-Time: helping SaaS companies to reach their first 150 customers

• > Growth Advisor: Mentoring a junior Growth Profile to evolve and achieve his goals

• > Helping companies to hire through Growth Talent

  • Executive Search, I hire your Head of Growth, from the outreach to the closing.

  • Hiring Advisory, helping you to build your Growth Team with my knowledge, playbook and network of talent:

😇 PERSONALLY

1. Find someone crazy enough to share my life 💜

I’m lucky to be able to find a partner in crime, someone who can follow me in my different adventures. So we decided to live together in Medellin.

2. Bought my first flat in Paris 🏠

Investing in real estate may be the first step for personal finance, leveraging my Spendesk salary to get access to credit. I bought a 46m2 apartment in the 10th district in Paris, for 460,000€. I will stay there when I will be in Paris (3/4 months per year), and the flat will be rented to other remote workers that need to be in the city and are looking for an alternative to Airbnb Pricing.

3. Learning Spanish and being able to have a conversation 🇪🇸

I’m not fluent yet, working hard on it, but I’m independent. I can order my food, travel alone, have a dinner in Spanish. Still difficult to realize, and I’m sure my different English or Chinese teacher will still not believe that I’m now able to speak in 3 different languages. So I will continue to work on my Spanish in 2022 before learning Arabic! 

4. Succeed to live around the world 🌎

I own a flat in Paris, rent one in Medellin, traveling the rest of the time. This year again, I succeed to live around the world. 

5. Find and collaborate with a talented Therapist. 🔮

I know how essential it is to understand yourself better, I needed the help of someone who is qualified to help me understand some part of my behavior and ambition. I’m working with Fanny Nusbaum for 7 months. I can clearly see the result on my long-term goals. A therapist is, for me a mental coach, as an athlete, you always need a coach to over-perform.

6. Make me gifts 🎁

I have a decent amount on my bank account since 3 years, but I never use that money to myself. This year I try to change it and accept to buy gifts to myself more often: a Patagonia outfit, hardware, and a drone. I’ll continue to buy experiences as long as traveling is still the number 1 of my expenses. I’m expecting a year 2022 full of travels and adventures.

7. Become less phobic about administrative and legal stuff 👩‍💼

I created 5 different companies, doing a lot of accounting and learning about tax. I clearly understand the sentence from Warren Buffet: “Accounting is the language of business”, understanding this language allows you an unfair advantage. 

8. Succeed to make cry of happiness my dad 🤩

I realize one of my dad’s dreams! For that reason, I offered him his dream car, but It’s not about the car himself. What it’s important, it is the message behind it. My dad is a typical French dad, always calm and quiet. He doesn’t really open or shares his feelings. He taught us how to drive, he bought us a computer and always have been there for me and my brother.

Here, the story behind it: He bought a Jeep in 2007 after dreaming about it as a kid. Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, he had to sell it in 2013. Since that he had in mind to buy a new one when he will be retired. But in early December, I anticipated his dream and bought him a Jeep Wrangler 1988 v6, fully renovated. Definitely one of my most significant moment of the year, with such emotion. 

I always believe that my dream is to help achieve the dreams of the people I love. 

9. Bring my mom to Colombia 🇨🇴

My mom never visit Latin America, for that, as a Christmas gift, I bring her for 10 days across Colombia. Living away from my family is one of my biggest frustration, for this reason, being able to organize this type of trip are vital for me. She falls in love of Guatape, a little town known as the best view in the world.

10. Build stronger relationships with people I admire 🙌

I’m happy to pass important steps in my friendship with people who are like me and share the same vision and ambition. There is the Spendesk Mafia in the first place, where I kept a strong and honest relationship. 

On top of that are, Nicolas, Morgan, Ahmed, Baptiste, Aurélien, Lucas, and many more. These people are the ones that I built the strongest friendship this year. Being invited to 3 of their weddings helped :)

11. Work and collaborate with my mom 👩‍👦

Yes, I have a 1:1 with my mom every week :) 
Include my mom in my working routine was the best idea, she helps me a lot for the admin and accounting topics as well as copywriting. She will have a strong part of my life plan and will manage some of my businesses. This is just the begging.

12. Be at the front page of my local newspaper. 

LaDépêche is the biggest newspaper in South of France, and I got interview by one of its journalist to talk about how education system are broken and how underserved territory have strong talent that are hidden. It was interesting to see how journalism work (terrible) and to realize the impact on the people who knows me from “College” and Primary School. 

13. I have done more sport and been in good shape! 

I run more this year, got a subscription at a Gym club, and started boxing. I love it! 

I also did plenty of hikes, from the US to Peru.

⚡️ Deep Dive on my Linkedin strategy in 2021

I have been Proactive on Linkedin in 2021, most of you know me thank to this channel. The ROI of this social media is already proven and on my side, it generates me angel investment opportunities and a tons of business. I will track more the lead gen of the platform next year. 

You want to know more? here are some of my key metrics during the 2021 Linkedin strategy

• 73 post in 2021

• Reach 10,000 followers

• More than 28,574 of Likes 

• More than 2,311,356 of views 🤯

I broke my virality record with a « random post » about Hiring tips, that reached half a million of views. 

Rather than those numbers, I want to tell you how powerful was Linkedin for me:

1. I hire my first employee after a Linkedin post 😍.

2. I use this platform to connect with people when I am traveling, and it helps me to generate strong relationships.

3. It’s clearly my first acquisition channel, and the perfect example of the power of Inbound. I have more than 2 business opportunities per week. 

4. I posted my Whatsapp number on Linkedin and got spam for 3 weeks :)

👍 My Favorite Content consumed this year

📚 My favorite book – Small Giants

🎥 My favorite documentary – Kiss the Ground (Netflix)

📹 My favorite YouTube Video – Why SpaceX is Making Starlink

🎧 My favorite podcast – Generation Do It Yourself #137 with Yannick Noah

🎤 My favorite Rap Album – Civilisation @Orelsan 

🤩 Here are some crazy moments/experiences that ma this year unforgettable!

1. Offering the dream car to my Dad

2. My investment/purchase of 2 JR’s lithography

I bought in February and September a lithography of JR (my favorite photographer), the feeling when you receive them and put them of the wall is something. 

The first one is clearly a symbol of my US Dream. You can see a kid with a lot of hope and ambition blocked at the border due to outdated immigration rules (and a global pandemic).

On top of that, my brother had the chance to met JR randomly in front of his apartment in Paris, and took a selfie with him. That’s why I bought the second one :)

3. Spending 15 days in quarantine inside a Hospital in Panama 🇵🇦

I was lucky against covid for too long, but it caught me back while traveling to Costa Rica in April, I got tested positive at the Panama airport (during a stop), and I was placed in quarantine inside a hotel. From the « VIP » ambulance crossing the tarmac, to the horrible food inside this fancy room without windows. It was clearly my biggest mental fight of the year.

4. The result of my DNA Test

I used 23andme and received a complete DNA result about my origins and some genetic behavior/attributes. It was surprising for me to discover that I didn’t have any Arabic blood, actually, I still have a strong part of my history unknown because my grandfather was abandoned, so after multiple trips to the Middle East, I was convinced to have "Arabic blood", but unfortunately no :) 

I’m 70% French and 30% Spanish (I still need to find why). On the other hand, I also got the proof that I have a strong motion sickness due to my DNA and why mosquitoes love me more than you. 

5. All my Angel Investment

The moment when you make the decision to invest, reach a mutual agreement and then send the money, is a mix of scariness and excitement. To be honest, it is quite addictive, I’m lucky enough to have a limit cash available that block me to do it more and helps me to be very careful in my choice. 

6. My last trip to the US, from the goodbye to sleeping at the immigration office in Miami

Say goodbye to this country and to the team we have built in San Francisco 🇺🇸 was essential for me. Without my working visa, I used the last days of an old touristic visa to be able to enter to the US in February. As always, immigration was super friendly and they asked me to wait few hours (5h to be precise) in the middle of my connection in Miami, I missed my flight, so that I needed to sleep there, but finally, they let me pass. 

Being back to my favorite city in the world, more than 12 months after my « exfiltration » during the covid and lockdown, was an amazing feeling. At that time, I already knew that it was last time I was going to visit this country, and even that I was never going to live there again. You can see this emotion in my Spendesk departure video, recorded in Salesforce Park.

7. Try new transport method for the 1st time: Parapente, Helicopter, Kite Surf but also Business Class.

8. Decided to rent an apartment in Medellin to buy furniture and enjoyed the best view of Medellin

Now you know the main reason why I fall in love with Medellin. I decided to spend most of my year there and rent a flat. So happy to have this quality of life. I rented the flat while traveling and didn’t lose money so far. It’s the first step before owning a flat in that ciudad :) 

9. Climb the giant arch of Los Cabos clandestinely

There is some crazy travel stories that I can tell you all, and here is one of the most intense. When I was working from Baja California in Mexico, I wanted to visit a beach difficult to access, after finding a little path, I met a local, a little bit weird, who proposed me to guide me to the beach. Being at the beach he proposed me to climb the Arch, I followed my instincts and followed him. Clearly the most dangerous and scary hikes of the year, no protection at all, no security... But something true is that I enjoyed a unique view of Los Cabos from more than 100 m above the crowded beach. 

10. Started Boxing

I always wanted to start Boxing, my parent was never enthusiast when I was a kid, I remember that I only did boxing during some difficult football game younger :) This year I took a personal coach @Mauricio, from Colombia, who trained me 2 times per week for 1 hours. It’s the most intense sport I have ever done, @Aurelien who train one time with me, can confirm 😂. 

11. Receiving my Starlink 📡

After watching my favorite video of the year (mentioned before), I let you imagine that my first action was to buy Starling, I was one of the first user in France. The subscription is 100$ per month and you need to buy the hardware (500$) but since October I’m using it! My dad lives in the countryside (09700 Canté rpz), and didn’t have optical fiber until now that he can enjoy watching a movie online or downloading music. 

12. An epic night in the Brazilian Favela of Vidigal 

I spent more than a month in Rio in October and I had the chance to connect with expats and local people who brought me to this indescribable place. The experience was basically drinking Caipirinha in one of the most beautiful views on top of Rio and finishing the evening riding motocross in the middle of guys holding machine guns. It was « Safe », never in danger, but will be in my mind forever. Thanks, @Jordan for the organization! 

13. Being invited as VIP to a football game in the Maracana!

Brazil was full of surprises, and this definitely was the craziest moment! after discussing with the owner of the hotel where I was staying, I shared my frustration to not be able to see a football game at the Maracana because tickets can not be sold to foreigners. I never expected that his father-in-law was the ex président of Flamengo Football Club, the biggest club in Brazil. The day after, his personal driver was traveling to the game with me, we entered in the prestigious stadium from the Player entrance, and was seated the 3rd seat in front of the players.
Life is surprising!

14. My first Michelin ⭐⭐

First time inside a Michelin Star restaurant, ORO with doubly starred, I enjoyed it a lot. Quick tips, never take the wine pairing menu, you will definitely finish drunk :) 

 I also had the chance to eat in the best Restaurant of Colombia, El Cielo, definitely a good usage of your money if you are food enthusiast. More than just a food, it’s a real experience. 

15. Got invited to my first weddings

Two of my best friends organized their wedding last June, it was the first time I was invited. I bought a new suit and learned the different codes. Really a good moment and connections with my friends. 

16. Drive a T-Max in Tenerife

I started the year in the volcanic island of Tenerife, and rented a nice scooter during the stay, I enjoyed driving across the volcans and beach with this type of engine. Having the moto license is clearly a goal for next year! 

17. Sleept in a Hammock in the middle of the Colombia’s biggest desert, La Guajira, for 3 days

Back in March, I explored with my cousin the northernmost point of South America, that is in Colombia. We had a local guide crossing this enormous desert in a 4x4 while sleeping all night long on a Hammock. As a disclaimer, you don’t really sleep :) 

18. Enjoying the Airport Lounge with the Priority Pass

Every airport in the world have a business lounge, a space where you can sleep, eat and work far away from the crowd. You can buy a premium card call Priority Pass (35€ per month) that allows you to access to lounge all around the world. If you are like me and always want to arrive at the airport in advance, this card is made for you! 

19. The football game between Toulouse and Sochaux

Since I’m a kid, I support 2 football teams: Toulouse my hometown, and Sochaux my dad’s hometown. It was a ritual to see the game opposite both team in Toulouse. After decades in the first division, both team are now playing in the second division, and I was back to the stadium with my dad and brother. 

20. Being a mentor at HEC Paris

As a dropout student, the imposter syndrome to never graduate from a recognized school is always here. I was invited to advise student from the entrepreneurship program about their Go to market strategy. Very fascinating exercise

21. Seen the July 14th firework from a roof in Paris

I always love to climb a building and the national day in Paris was the perfect opportunity to do it 🎇. Few lockers were broken, but the view was impressive. For sure you can’t get a better spot. 

1. Bough a drone and learned how to film and edit

It was my biggest irrational purchase of the year, this Dji Air 2s drone was clearly not a mistake. It brings a completely different point of view when you travel, and generates unique memories. I invite you to check some of my best shots on Instagram.

🛒 One of my hobbies, buying domains name, here is my 2021’s purchases

[growthmoney.vc] –The email I used for my angel investment, Jeremy@growthmoney.vc

[theGoillot.news] – Used for my personal newsletter and diaries.

[theGoillot.coffee] – Better than a boring Calendly/Jeremy-goillot 

[Spendesk.club] – I’m sure one day, we will have a club between Spendesk alumni.

[growthtalent.email] – To be used for emailing with GrowthTalent

[growthtalent.org] – Core domain name of my Talent agency for Growth

[remote.maison] – Want to make my flats/villas available for rent or build a coliving in Africa

[growth.beer] – Holding for the moment, cool extension right? 

So far, I may own +50 domain names, most of them are redirect or unused, it’s clearly less profitable than holding Ether, but I really enjoy looking for new domain names. 

🤑 Zoom on my 19 Angel Investment in 2021

I will write down a deep dive of my angel investment and share it with you. But let me remind you few things.

Why I invest in startups?

• I unlock some capital from working inside a scaleup, from my high salary to the equity that I own at Spendesk.

• I’m a huge fan of the tech industry, I spend most of my time doing research and competition analysis. I know this world very well and understand it. I think I have an unfair advantage for this type of asset. 

• I’m not scared to reach out a founder and I always give them value. From this strategy, I’m able to connect with ambitious founders, build strong relationships and have a space during the fundraising.

• Tech is a booming sector, the current bubble allow me to potentially made x10 return on my investment.

• I’m learning a lot for each investment. Investing inside a startup gave you access to the earning of the company, the market knowledge and talented people. For example, investing in Tesla, Bitcoin or Apple don’t bring me extra knowledge. 
  

But How do I find those opportunities? 

This is the question that I receive the most, and people are completely wrong about Angel Investment. 

 Most of people believe that you receive a pitch deck by mail or your are part of a secret Slack/WhatsApp groups or even that a platform allows anyone to invest in the « best startups », none of that exist and people who may sell you that, are liers. 

You need to find the startups and you need to create your own opportunity! 

I may develop it in a future post, but most of my investments are a result of a networking or outreach strategy. I never reach out to a founder asking them to invest in their company. I challenge the vision, share some Go To Market tips & strategies, gave previous feedback about the product etc…

Few examples of the origins of my investment:

1. Being one of the first user of the solution (Hightouch, Attio…)

2. Help them for they Go To Market Strategy (Causal, Swan, Secoda..)

3. Know the founder for a long time (Defacto, Reveal…)

4. Interview them about the space and the industry before building a strong relationship (Palenca, mGrana…)

5. Introduction from another Business Angel (Platypus, Refty..)

There is no magic tricks, you create your own opportunities, bring value to the founder and build a strong relationship, you may have a spot in the next round. 

MY 19 ANGEL INVESTMENT IN 2021

1. 💳 Swan.io – SEED 🇫🇷 #Fintech

2. Hichtouch.io – SEED 🇺🇸 #ModernDataStack

3. Causal.app – SEED 🇬🇧 #Finance 

4. Folk.app – PRE-SEED [eFounders] 🇫🇷 #CRM

5. Attio.com – SEED 🇬🇧 #CRM 

6. Platypus.io – SEED 🇩🇰 #HRTech

7. At.cafe – PRE-SEED 🇫🇷 #RemoteWork

8. Secoda.co – PRE-SEED 🇨🇦 #ModernDataStack

9. Palenca.com – SEED 🇲🇽 #API

10. Crew.work – SEED [eFounders] 🇫🇷 #TalentCRM

11. Refty.co – PRE-SEED 🇫🇷#HRTech 

12. getDefacto.com – SEED 🇫🇷 #Finance 

13. Stoik.io – SEED 🇫🇷 #CyberSecurity

14. Airsaas.io – SEED 🇫🇷 #SaaS

15. Cauri.Money – PRE-SEED 🇸🇳 #Fintech 

16. Collective.work – SEED [eFounders] 🇫🇷 #Freelance

17. Wagmi – SEED 🇫🇷 #eLearning

18. Reveal.co – SEED 🇫🇷 #CRM 

19. mgrana.com – SEED 🇧🇷 #Fintech

My Angel Investment strategy was not full of success, and I wanted to share some failures with you

A. 3 startups refuse my investment after long discussions: SundayApp (SEED), Join Jump (PRE-SEED), Unions54 (SEED). For example, I received a lot of negative answers, either ever received the paper they promised me, and even I helped some of them to hire a Head of Growth but at the end of the day they never gave me a spot.

B. I invested with 4 different « vehicules », but I needed to learn first a lot about taxes and the administrative aspect. For example, I was not able to invest in N8N, a German company, due to the complexity of the process. 

C. I didn’t invest in a Colombian Company, the country where I spend most of my time. I had a strong opportunity inside the B2B Neobank or the new Accounting software, but at the end, no money sent!

D. I didn’t exit yet, I had 2 opportunities of selling my shares but I took the risk to stayed to the next round. 

🚀 What’s next:  Launching my own small fund next year to invest in emerging countries (LATAM + AFRICA)

🤯 Life is also Challenging, here is my bad and frustrations during 2021

💼 PROFESSIONALLY 

1. Not producing enough content!

After crushing the outbound strategy at Spendesk, I’m convinced that Inbound, Content and Brand is the core of any business, and I really want to apply them for myself. I want to continue to build my personal brand, launch medias, produce high-value content.

 I’m happy on my Linkedin strategy and my personal newsletter. But I really wanted to launch my YouTube channel and increase the number of content shared. I will build a team around me to do it in 2022.

⚡️24 hours of failure recording a video in Medellin

To symbolize this frustration, I wanted to produce a guide on how to work from Medellin 🇨🇴. I decided to hire a freelancer, but due to some miscommunication, I ended up hiring a group of 4 people. After crashing the company drone that almost cut a finger to the filmmaker, we failed to record due to technical or sound problems and loose plenty of time, I was so disappointed that I ended up canceling the project and just paid the guy. I lose time and money but learned a lot. 

 My biggest learning was to focus on the quality of the video and the different plan rather than the content. I wanted to produce a movie as a second YouTube video. I will now shoot on my iPhone, work with a team to post-production editing, and share it.

2. Not succeed to launch a business with an associate, always being alone

Working alone, being the only one leading my different project, is hard. I would love to associate on a different project this year, from association to content or side business. I built a strong relationship with a person but didn’t succeed in launching a proper project with a partner.

3. Stil say « US » when I talk about Spendesk

It's very hard to turn the page after 5 years, I clearly include myself as a Spendesker today, when I talk to people, they have the feeling that I’m still passionate and active in the organization. I don’t regret my choice, but I’m in this balance where I’m still the #1 fan of this purple card. 

4. I didn't work or advance on my foundation & education program

One of my end goal is to build a middle school that allows kids to reveal their potential. I want to show that another kind of education is possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, I need to invest time, money and energy to come closer of the educational system. Until now, I didn't interview anyone, didn't visit any middle school or launched any initiative in that sense. Clearly a defocus for me to not be able to have done anything yet.

5. Not mastering in Accounting and Taxation

I made strong progress and learned a lot this year, but still far away from the level I need to have to succeed in my different projects. I need to learn more the « language of business » from international taxation, investment schema to accounting basics. This point is clearly linked to the next one. 

6. Not being surrounded by good people for my support function.

As a solo entrepreneur who is making a decent amount of money and who is ready to take enormous risks to make more, you have to be surrounded by smart people that help you on different topics. I'm still actively looking for an Accountant, Tax Consultant, wealth manager etc.

7. Failed to boost 2 side projects: TechNaan & Growthletter

I wanted to push TechNaan to the next level, instead, I stopped after 79 startups were identified, I didn't like the format and the output was not aligned with my long goal strategy.

We also wanted to revamp Growthletter and we worked with a talented design agency but we failed in the release execution. The main reason is the lack of motivation after 3 years running the biggest newsletter in French about Growth. 

😱 I almost launch a CRM Company

Back in June, when I decided to leave Spendesk, I was convinced that I will launch a CRM company.

Since the beginning of Spendesk, we have struggled to organize the business data and make them available to the business team. Thanks to the talent I hired, we solved that problem and Spendesk become one of the first scale-up to use a modern data stack as CRM. I truly believe that most of the tech companies will switch to this data infrastructure and dedicated technical resources to trackle this problem.

I decided to be associated with Aurélien Aubert, who technically solved this problem at Spendesk. We launched a Sprint and also interviewed more than 60 companies between CTOs or Data Engineers to understand how was the market, the need was there and most of the people was align to our vision. In the same time I invested in different players of the space: Modern Data Stack & CRM and we tried all the new solutions launched in that space.
Our vision and understanding of the space was the most robust.

Then, we started to look for a potential confounder, and we almost signed 2 cofounders. My strongest bet in this moment was to build a talented team from the beginning.

But user interview after user interview, I realized that the mission of the company, the persona and the industry was not challenging me enough, I wanted to launch this company for the wrong reason because I was solving a problem that I is already solved (easy path) in a well-known industry. From this feeling, I started to analyze why this project was not motivating me enough, and here is few learnings:

• I don't want to sell only to companies who raised funds, I prefer to have a large amount of customers.

• I want to build a company with a long term vision, still being at the head in 10 years, and don't want to surf on a trend #ModernDataStack 

• I want to have an impact on an ecosystem or territory, I feel frustrated to not have a local presence.

• I want to start from a blank page again, when I joined eFounders, I didn't know anything about SaaS, Outbound or Fintech. It's because I was enthusiastic to learn everything that I have been successful and passionate.

• I want to live in an emerging country and build a company from there.

It was a difficult decision, particularly to explain my choice to Aurélien, but it's better to realize it earlier in a project. Another difficult point is the feedback from the others, who think you don't launch your project because your are « scared », « lazy » or not « ready ». I'm angry maybe I'm braining a lot about this project, but the most important is to design your life philosophy, launching a company is just a step to achieve this philosophy.

I will continue to interview people, invest in companies, produce content, make money as a solopreneur, until I really find what problem motivates me enough to dedicate the next 10 years of my life.

😇 PERSONALLY

1. My brother’s health issue make his life harder

Sometimes you realize how lucky you are to be in good health, being able to travel all around the world, take big risks and projects by yourself on the long term. Unfortunately, some people that you love the most don’t have the same chances. Also if you are not directly concern, it’s your biggest challenge to fight that, being able to enjoy your own life and be a support to them. This year again I realize how lucky I was and how important my brother is for me. 

2. Don’t travel enough in Africa

It’s the first time in the last 5 years that I don’t travel to Africa, I can see the deception in my mind. This continent who fascinate me since a kid. This continent is where I want to build my life and business. I need to be there. This year was a big transition to be able to have everything done to settle my life there.

3. Spend more time with my family 

This is the perfect illustration of: « You have to make some sacrifices in your life, to be successful », living closer to my family, having dinner with them frequently is clearly not possible with my current lifestyle and life goals. I’m ok with it, but it still difficult. 

It’s a real dilemma what I’m living, because I don’t want to live where I’m come from or where I grew up; for that reason, I need to be successful enough to ensure that my parents and my brother will follow me in my new life. I still have this idea in mind to launch a business with my brother and having my mother managing another, so both will live near to me.

4. Workout more and practice more sports (Kitesurf, boxing, regularity) 

 I don’t have a regular sport practice, I’m very intense for few weeks, then don’t do anything for a moment. Also, I don’t have any particular goals related to sport, I enjoy to practice, but I love more to compete. I need to fix a clear goal for next year to ensure I will be more regular. 

5. Being able to manage my nutrition better 

I’m convinced that what you eat impacts your life. Despite the fact that I’m in perfectly healthy condition, I believe in having a balance alimentation, don’t drink soda and never eat salty products. Rather than this basics learning, I don’t understand anything about nutrition and after different conversations with people who take that seriously, you discover how uneducated person your are and what you may missed. Gluten-Free, Vegan etc.. I want to try different diets to understand what my body really needs.

6. Build a strongest group of friends around me, spend more time with them

I’m a social person, this year I can see that I developed strong relationships with people who are important to me. But I didn’t launch big project with them, went to vacation or have enough precious moments together. This is an important axis that I will work in the comings years.

7. Owning a moto

I still need to get the driving license, but being able to drive a moto while traveling or when I’m back in Toulouse is one of my goals list. I already have the name of the school in Paris just need to book time in my calendar to practice and get license. 

8. Still not satisfied with my Haircut

Some points are « lighter » than others 😂, I’m working on my capitar style since the beginning of the year as my hair is growing, I try a bench of different style and I’m still not convinced which one is matching to me. I will gave few more month to the long haircut before cutting everything and stick to the basic. 

9. Didn’t invest enough in wine

It was one of my personal goals in 2021, I wanted to start my personal cellar and invest in wine, I failed the initial project to build one in my dad house and got my apartment in Paris too late. I will start with a small electric cellar of 24 bottles this year. I always have in my mind that the wine you buy this year will be an exceptional gift in 20 years and a perfect symbol. 

🎙 Podcasts recorded this year

This is one of my favorite exercises and something that I like to do, I see podcasts mainly as a media training rather than an acquisition channel. I try to pick a podcast where I can talk about different subjects and try new punchlines. I’m also jealous to never launched mine, I remember buying all the materials for Spendesk in March 2019 but never take the risk to launch it. In 2022, I will produce (finance and distribute a podcast where I’m not the host) and looking for a team interested to launch a Show about Tech in emerging market with me. I will keep you posted.

• GrowthMakers #149 – Last Podcast as Spendesk employee, where I talk about the last version of the Growth Team and my new position in the US

• SaaS Connection #5 – Explaining the difference between the French and US Market for Software Companies 

• Faut Que Ça Close #4 – How the Spendesk Growth Team was dedicated to the Sales Team 

• SaaS Club #26 – How to build a Growth Team and present my new project Growth Talent

• French Doer x Jérémy Goillot – My longest podcast ever, I talk about everything, childhoods, spendesk, travel. If you want to know me, here is 3 hours about me. 

• Speak Up! X Jérémy Goillot – A podcast for young and ambitious person about succeed in your career. 

• La Galère with Jérémy Goillot – I wanted to talk about all my personal failure as an early employee, not satisfy of the result, but worth a try..

• Les Rois du Scale #9 – Explanation of Growth and how to apply it to freelancer to find more mission.

🌎 Places visited this year

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Angouleme 🇫🇷

• Tenerife 🇪🇸

• Medellin 🇨🇴  

• San Francisco 🇺🇸

• Arizona 🇺🇸

• Utah 🇺🇸

• Nevada 🇺🇸

• Cartagena 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Santa marta 🇨🇴 

• Guajira 🇨🇴

• Bogota 🇨🇴

• Costa Rica 

• Panama 🇵🇦

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Holbox 🇲🇽

• Tulum 🇲🇽

• Valladolid 🇲🇽(Chichen Itza)

• Los Cabos 🇲🇽

• Mexico City 🇲🇽

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Madrid 🇪🇸

• Montpellier 🇫🇷

• Marseille 🇫🇷

• Nice 🇫🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴 

• Minca 🇨🇴

• Palomino 🇨🇴

• Santa Marta 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Ibagué 🇨🇴

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Rio de Janeiro  🇧🇷(Corcovado) 

• Jericoacoara 🇧🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Nantes 🇫🇷

• Paris 🇫🇷

• Toulouse 🇫🇷

• Medellin 🇨🇴

• Santa Marta 🇨🇴

• Guatape 🇨🇴

• Cuzco 🇵🇪

• Machu Picchu 🇵🇪

• Huacachina 🇵🇪

• Lima 🇵🇪

🎯 What are my goals for 2022?

Don’t tell to people what you will do, show them what you did! See you next year :) 

Ok, let’s gave you some tips:

• I will travel a lot, mainly in Afrika

• I want to triple my yearly income, continue to invest in different type of assets (startups, real estate, wine, trading)

• I want to launch a media and produce more content

• I want to spend more time with my friends and family

And I will continue to document my learning and share them. 

2022 = 365 days, how you will use them?

From Cuzco 🇵🇪 with proud of my 2021 year. 

Jérémy