Oh. Hello there! It's been seven months since I didn't write anything.

So we can say that… It's been a while.

First of all, as you can see I am testing this new format of first recording the audio, and then transcribing the audio into the newsletter format.

So the way I'm writing this edition is a bit special because: I have bullet points in front of me (by the way, I'm obsessed with bullet points, so I love to do this).

I only have bullet points and then I record, and then I use Descript, which actually transforms the audio into text automatically as I write.

So this is pretty amazing because I can, you know, edit either the podcast or the newsletter using the same user interface.

Meaning: if I remove a sentence from the text I see in front of me, it will be also removed from the audio of the podcast.

And the other way around. I can just Speak to write and write to speak.

We are in the age of AI!

I love to do it because I always wanted to do radio, so it's pretty cool. (I just bought a new microphone, which is good by the way. I hope the sound is pleasant to hear.)

And yeah, so basically I'm writing, recording you name it this edition because I just wanted to do an update about me, let's talk about me for once.

So the name of this edition is I almost forgot why I got into tech.

And it is essentially a journal to: the old, present, and future me.

I want to discuss about:

* How I got into tech.

* Where I am now?

* And where I want to go for the next years.

This is my classic annual update. All right, so let's start!

Lessons about freelancing.

I think freelancing is cool, but still not the end for me.

This is something I shared last year for those who were already following me before I even started to do GaaS.

I was writing on CoolGuys. It was in French back at a time, one year ago. And I was sharing about the idea of becoming a hyper freelancer.

What are hyper freelancers?

Basically, freelancers who also write content. So if you are listening reading this edition, You know about my content.

Hyper freelancers are also consulting of course, and also creating products.

So for instance education products such as: online courses, or even apps, SaaS, or whatever.

I think I became one of them because this is what I've been doing for the last year.

Consulting with some clients, creating content for this newsletter, and also, sometimes selling products: a productized service in which I was basically installing the Modern Data Stack, at startups.

Learnings from last year: on growing B2B SaaS & fintechs, through data.

I have now some certitude on how to grow startups. Not necessarily about doing the "zero to one" yet.

But on doing, the "One to 10", hell yeah I have some certitudes.

Product-led growth is fascinating, and B2B SaaS (even FinTech) is something pretty fun, actually.

I've already shared a lot about this philosophy, but basically:

If you are a product-led growth company, either B2B SaaS or FinTech, you will always have opportunities to work on your data.

To invest more in data, improve the team, the stack, the processes, and so on.

If you work on that, you will always have better results (and faster growth) than if you work on, acquisition and try to drop as much money as possible on your acquisition funnel first.

That's my big learning (actually, it's a confirmation).

But now I can clearly say that:

Reversing the AARRR funnel into the RARE framework: Retention, Activation Revenue, and then Experiments (for both acquisition and referral) is something that I would always recommend for any product-led B2B SaaS, or FinTech.

So: work on your data, improve your processes, and you will have Growth at your company. Guaranteed.

Limitations of the (hyper) freelancing model:

By design, freelancing is broken for me.

Let me explain why.

First of all, I think I am a maker and I am happy when I build things on my own.

You know, when I work on my computer, write things, write code. Put my hands in the dirt, basically.

And the thing is: if a client needs my help in this space, he's probably doing something wrong with his data setup (which is okay, of course).

But he also probably doesn't understand it correctly at all. And that's why I was writing a lot about it, last year.

However, setting up a data stack by myself for a client requires a 200% implication into the project.

That is precisely where things become complicated and frustrating.

Because I am 200% implicated in something that has often a lot of friction (because developers are not implicated, and not concerned about the subject — often it happened with the companies I was working for).

When I say "by design" is that because as a freelancer you are anyway outside of the company you're working with.

So this 200% implication is a bit wrong, by design.

So, yeah, that's really the thing I've been noticing while accepting to do more and more client work, as a freelancer.

From that: where do we go?

I have two options now:

Either I join an early-stage, small startup to take some equity and give this 200% implication into this company that I would join.

But you guessed it. This is not what I want. So, I have a second option.

It is to take more risk and to build my own company, to try it on my own.

And here we are.

I am launching my company

I am not stopping freelancingright away, but seeing freelancing as a way to survive — before eventually focusing 100% on the product I will be launching.

Because yes, now we are talking about a product. We are talking about a SaaS!

But for now, I'm stepping away from freelancing. I might be launching a call-only version of it. Meaning clients would be able to pay for a consultation call. Let's say one hour, two hours. I don't know.

But that's it. I will only give advice, and don't put my hands in the dirt. Not at client companies, only at my own company.

And this comes from a reflection that I had when traveling in Asia (back six months ago).

Plus, I really don't have anything to lose.

You know, I'm not in a dangerous situation. I know where to sleep anywhere in the world, I have enough money. So why not? Why not?

( I will go to what this company is about, what the product is and will be, what is my vision, and so on.)

But before:

A note about solopreneurs:

I actually think that they are the future of work, and the company I want to build will be actually really close to a “solo business”.

I think that adapting is a major skill to have right now, because of the speed everything goes.

And: for sure, you will always go faster with a small team than with a big, broad, large enterprise company.

So the conclusion about this is that: small is great. And this is really the format I want to build my company on.

To give you an example of this format:

I've been personally really lucky because by chance I found this PLG data tracking and analytics thing (which fekt like a game to me) but apparently is a very rare and valuable skill to have.

So my one-person monopoly, one-person “solo business” could be about this.

And by the way, I won't stop it because:

* I know it's a very good way to grow companies

* Because learning never stops as well

* And also: because it's funny, even in B2B. This can feel like magic sometimes, especially when you leverage automation. I basically love to do this.

The only thing that I change now is that I prefer to try to use it on my own (so with my company) and to document my journey while working on something that makes more sense than building into this B2B, PLG, data, tracking thing (a SaaS, let’s say).

This is the specific knowledge I have at the moment, but this is not the dream that I have in my life and the thing that I want to work on for the next 10 years.

This is something that I will use building my own SaaS, but I won't be building into it. Right.

Conclusion:

To finish this update about last year, and what I've learned about (freelancing) hyper freelancing:

What I will be doing now is not changing that much from this “hyper freelancing” idea (I am actually transitioning into the final version of it).

* My freelancing will be pure consulting. Consulting calls only.

* Content on this new version of the newsletter, with a podcast.

* And finally, a product, that will be a B2B product-led SaaS.

Also:

* Staying small is great, and still a very good way to make nice things.

* Solopreneurs are not solo, they are “multiplied” by leverage that they can have through media and code.

* And this is accelerating because of AI. What a time to be alive guys!

And I also think that growing bigger companies (with a lot of employees) will be more and more risky, and less and less desirable.

So now you might think:

Well, if it's not about freelancing, and you want to build a product-led B2B SaaS, why don't you build a micro-SaaS in data and analytics and tracking?

And this is what this series of episodes is also about. Because this is not the reason I got into tech.

But see you next week for the next episode. Bye-bye guys!