00:02Simon, vous êtes avec Daniel Cornell
00:05de VentureCraft Studio
00:06de l'International Beauty Factory
00:08de l'office de San Francisco et de Paris
00:12Hi Thomas, absolument, a very warm welcome
00:14to our latest episode
00:16of the Fireside Chat, Daniel Cornell
00:18founding partner of VentureCraft Studio
00:21and actually a really
00:22interesting story behind you because you started
00:24exactly where I am in this seat, as a journalist
00:26and I wanted to know how being
00:28a journalist shaped your adventure then
00:30to becoming an entrepreneur and being
00:32involved in the tech world
00:33Absolutely, Simon, thank you for having
00:36me here, so
00:38I did start my
00:39career as a journalist many years ago
00:43even though I'm American
00:44actually it was here in Paris
00:47where I was
00:48writing stories for the International Herald Tribune
00:51on science and technology
00:52and then I moved on to
00:54International Data Group, an international
00:56trade publishing group
00:57and that experience
01:01as a journalist
01:03of course taught me some key skills
01:05how to listen to people
01:06how to interview people
01:08how to synthesize large amounts
01:10of information
01:11but it also taught me
01:13the importance of being anchored
01:16in reality
01:17getting the facts right
01:19and later in my career
01:22as I moved on
01:23to become a strategy consultant
01:25and advisor to small and large companies
01:27in the tech world
01:28as I became later a venture capitalist
01:32and also had a couple of gigs
01:34as an entrepreneur
01:36I realized that very often
01:38entrepreneurs and their investors
01:41are not really grounded in reality
01:44they're so caught up in storytelling
01:47value propositions
01:49trying to sell
01:51sell sell
01:52sell
01:52either customers
01:53or investors
01:54that they
01:56are
01:57become untethered
01:58from reality
01:59and these are all topics
02:01that you explore
02:02in your book
02:03so the book
02:04written by
02:05Emile Cornell
02:06focus
02:07the author of
02:08Spinning in Control
02:09rather
02:09improvising the
02:10sustainable startup
02:12and
02:13the
02:14points you've just
02:15touched upon
02:16focus
02:16on that resourcefulness
02:18and business
02:19and entrepreneurs
02:20really in their earliest form
02:21in many ways
02:22that's right
02:23that's right
02:24you know
02:24I wanted to step back
02:26and look at everything
02:27I had learned
02:28over my
02:30multiple careers
02:32if you like
02:33and
02:34what I realized
02:35was that
02:36great entrepreneurs
02:38are really craftsmen
02:40they're artisans
02:41craftsmen
02:43and crafts women
02:44I should say
02:45so artisans
02:46master artisans
02:47when it all goes well
02:48and so I looked at the history
02:50of some master artisans
02:52like
02:53Stradivarius
02:55they also
02:56are
02:58explorers
02:58and so I looked at the history
03:01of some great explorers
03:03like Francesco Magellan
03:05and
03:06as I did that
03:07and started to move my way
03:08towards
03:09more contemporary times
03:12looking at
03:13successful
03:15entrepreneurs
03:16I started to realize
03:18that they shared
03:19certain
03:20core skills
03:21and those
03:23core skills
03:24were all
03:26underpinned
03:27by
03:27improvisation
03:28that they all
03:30very intentionally
03:30developed
03:31their ability
03:32to adapt
03:33to reality
03:34as they found it
03:36and as it evolved
03:37as they were working
03:38on their product
03:39their service
03:40or their next
03:41great masterpiece
03:42and Emile
03:44when you talk
03:45about
03:46a lot of this
03:46with entrepreneurs
03:47here at VivaTech
03:48on the floor
03:49does your point
03:51resonate
03:51with what they say
03:52or are they perhaps
03:53a little bit
03:53taken aback
03:54by the ideas
03:55you put forward
03:56to them
03:56when you're
03:56advising them
03:57consulting them
03:58great question
03:59so
04:00to some degree
04:01they get it immediately
04:03because they know
04:04whether they admit it
04:06to their
04:06investors
04:07or not
04:08they know
04:09that they improvise
04:10every day
04:12all the time
04:13you know
04:14we have this
04:15emphasis on business
04:16planning
04:16the business plan
04:18that you have to bring
04:19to your potential
04:21investors
04:21or to your board
04:23but the truth is
04:24that very little
04:25ever goes according
04:26to plan
04:27and so
04:28entrepreneurs
04:29are improvising
04:30so when I
04:31when I talk about this
04:32they immediately
04:33nod their head
04:33and say
04:34of course
04:34that's what we do
04:35and I ask them
04:37but do you
04:37intentionally work
04:38at improving
04:39your skill
04:40at improvisation
04:41just as a jazz
04:42musician would
04:43or just as an
04:44actor would
04:44then
04:46they're not
04:47quite sure
04:47no one has ever
04:48suggested that
04:50to them
04:50the other thing
04:52that I find
04:52if I may continue
04:53is that
04:54they don't think
04:55enough
04:56about the economics
04:58of their business
04:58they don't think
05:00enough about
05:01how to remain
05:02capital efficient
05:03how to boost
05:05the valuation
05:06of their companies
05:08and
05:09by doing
05:10that
05:10they run
05:10the risk
05:11of being
05:12very successful
05:13in terms
05:14of inventing
05:15an important
05:16new product
05:16or service
05:17but falling
05:18down
05:18in terms
05:19of being
05:19able to
05:20reap
05:20the economic
05:20rewards
05:21of their
05:22efforts
05:23and that's
05:23clearly
05:24very important
05:25to business
05:25I'm afraid
05:26I could talk
05:27to you all
05:27day but our
05:28time is up
05:29so thank you
05:29so much
05:30for joining
05:31us
05:31the author
05:31of spinning
05:32into a
05:33control
05:34to my
05:34some very
05:35insightful
05:35things
05:36there
05:36in that
05:37speech
05:37back to
05:38you in
05:38in the studio
05:39in the studio
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