The first time I had a professional disappointment in the “French start-up nation”, I was 25 years old. I had just left a small start-up, because I found that the responsibilities were too high for me. It was my first job as a Web developer, obtained at the end of an end-of-studies internship. In the morning, I started my computer with a lump in my stomach because of the workload. The culture of presenteeism was in order. We were never safe from the famous “you took your afternoon” when it was already 6 p.m. It was there that I first perceived the hypocrisy of“we are a family, but in reality we are a company”.
Even before finding another job, I therefore resigned from this start-up. Quickly, I joined a “scale-up” [une entreprise qui compte au moins dix employés, une moyenne de 20 % de rendement annuel pendant au moins trois ans et qui a levé plus d’un million de dollars], then in full phase of hypergrowth. Today, it is one of the ten largest in France.
When I started, we were 150. In less than two years, there were 500 people. It was dizzying. In the end, I didn’t even know half of the employees anymore. Each week, people arrived in waves, so much so that we couldn’t remember all the names of those who had joined us the week before. Despite table football, the gym and other places of socialization, contact with others has become more indirect.
When you land in a start-up, you are quickly put in a family atmosphere. For my part, I see it more as a way to make us work by appealing to our helpfulness or our loyalty, as we would do a favor for a friend. Except that in friendship productivity has no place.
“I didn’t understand why we were working so late when it wasn’t necessarily urgent or necessary”
In our team, with the increasing turnover, the workload came to weigh more and more on my shoulders. I found myself alone to manage the subjects on which I had been trained. No one was there to guide me properly. When there were recruitments, I was often consulted beforehand to give my opinion and I helped to pass the interviews. Once the new recruit was hired in the team, I accompanied him in his training. It was very rewarding, even if it took a lot of my time. Quite quickly, my salary was reassessed several times during my experience with them. I found that pretty fair.
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