Frenchie in da Valley

It's 11pm in San Francisco, close to 25 Celsius degrees, I'm wearing a t-shirt, coming back from dinner with a great friend. If you were still doubting how happy a Frenchman in California can be, I can guarantee that you'll be convinced by the end of this post.

I came to San Francisco to work. I came because to me it's the best city and area (silicon valley) to live in and evolve in. Not just because I aspire to work in the tech/digital/new media industry, but also because it's a beautiful city in itself. As I said to another friend, you can take the silicon valley out of San Francisco, but you won't ever be able to take the beauty of the city and the atmosphere that it has for itself.

But tonight I had the opportunity to meet with a very good friend that I hadn't seen for over 4 years. We hadn't lost touch, thanks to social media, but the last time I had seen Andrew was in the middle of August 2007, and it's been too long.
So tonight, I jumped straight to this invitation to meet for dinner, and incredible things that I didn't even suspect could have happened, ended up ...well, Happening.

This dinner allowed me to take a step back from the tech industry and Un-Focus from work as well as the overwhelming and exciting news that happened today: after all, this company that I really like unveiled new software, a company I'm interested in unveiled a new product, and another company which philosophy I truly believe in, is about to shake an industry.

While walking under those streetlights, our conversation didn't revolve around tech for more than 10 minutes. And it was one of the greatest thongs I have done. Engaging with Andrew, and discussing a variety of topics from Floods to Being too cool to meet Katy Perry and Lil Wayne opened my mind even more, and allowed me to learn about topics and areas I was not familiar with.
This is the type of thing that helps you change your perspective on things and even your approach to the World.

This night out was never about learning, or networking, or getting business tips, it was about enjoying life through important things, discussing about our lives and families.

Simply put, it was honest. A moment when you can truly open yourself to the other person, knowing that whatever the differences in your point of views, and no matter your attitude, this person is listening, understanding, and accepting what you have to say. No one is judging anyone, because we have this relationship.

We even ended up discussing the future of both our professional lives, and as you would do with any friend, sharing interesting things, points of views, and useful information that as an individual, you are happy to share with your friends.

It's kind of a confused post, but on this very moment, I'm feeling happy, motivated, and inspired. This would not have happened if I had had the same dinner with a friend who happened to work in tech. I can guarantee we would have talked about all those exciting products and services, but I wouldn't have gone out of my area of expertise, and this would have been a big miss of opportunity.

Once again, I'm very grateful to be in San Francisco, but even more am I grateful to know these interesting people who help me increase my knowledge of the World we all live in.

If I had one advice to give out to virtually anyone, it would be the following: no matter what time it is today, plan something tonight that is different, and not linked to your domain of expertise. Find out something you're interested in but don't know enough of. It can be anything (from Solar Power, to canvas painting, to entrepreneurship, to boxing) and I'm sure you can find it for free (or at least cheap enough.) If you don't have access to something interesting enough, use Wikipedia and choose a random article, or go on iTunes, and download one of the free podcasts available on iTunes U.

Go out and learn something new. You'll thank the universe later!

I am living a dream.

I've said it and repeated it, online and in real life. When some kids grow up hoping to become an astronaut, my teenage years were looking at one day working in Tech. As the years went by, I am extremely proud to say that, with a lot of motivations, luck, and efforts, I've been able to make this come true. And by now you probably heard/read this enough to see me as a bragging spoilt brat.

But today, I'd like to be a bit more down to earth. There is a downside in all this, as small as it is. Most of the time you ignore it, or even better don't even realize it. That is probably around 98% of the time, for me.

But just to make things clear, here's my take on what it means to be:
-not only a European outsider,
-but also being amongst the youngest ones I've met that was not a student, but on a first real-job experience that is not a summer job spent at a camping or a local supermarket.

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Rythm & Productivity:

One of the things I'm definitely not used to is the rythm —by this, understand the amount of constant work and effort. It's coming from both sides: I'm generally not used to the speed things are going, but also, working in a start-up makes it even more challenging —and even more interesting, as decisions and goals much be executed very fast.

From a productivity aspect, as far as I can remember, I’ve always got the job done and on time. But for the same task, and same level of productivity, I would end up spending more time trying to solve my problem. I can’t explain what’s wrong, if it’s my mental capacity or just a problem or focus. It might even be both.

Expectations:

For all kinds of different reasons —the fact that the company is small and the team is darn good, mainly— the expectations are high. Once again, it makes perfect sense: we have a talented team at all levels, from the vision of our CEO to the details that our designer puts into every single icon. Everyone is dedicated to making the products great and the company successful. But as a result you sometimes find yourself doubting your own skills compared to all of them. Obviously this internship is an opportunity for me to learn, but I constantly put a lot of pressure on a personal level to try to reach even a tiny amount of the aweomeness and talent that seems to reign at Seesmic. I don’t want to just do the job, I want to do a good job!

Being clear and organized:

These are two of the things that I’ve been trying to improve for a long time and that have been a source of problem for me probably ever since I was able to make decisions by myself.

I don’t understand why, but I can’t seem to communicate the thoughts in my mind in a clear and easy way. The simplest question can be followed by an unnecessarily-overcomplicated answer. As soon as I realized that it was going to be a problem, I tried to work on keeping things simple, but it is still a challenge today.

The same goes with organization. With all the different things we all need to take care of, and the constant multi-tasking, it is easy to be disorganized. Being able to have access to documents in advance of a meeting, “owning” a task and proving that you’re worth the responsabilities given to you is very rewarding, but once again requires good work, organization and a high level of attention to details.

This last part is less to do about my internship, and more about being alone in a foreign land...

Being constantly torn being two continents:

Let’s say it right away: I’m not a “family person.” It’s not mean or anything, and doesn’t mean I don’t love them or appreciate what they constantly do for me. I totally realize that. But I don’t feel the need to hug them, or tell them how much I love them. I don’t feel like I need to be physically close to them either. That’s one of the many reasons why I left home as soon as I had the opportunity.

Some aspects of this is the same with my friends back from France: I know who they are, and we’ve known each other long enough, that despite the fact that we are all in different places around the globe, whenever we get together, every moment is special, and feels just like if no one had ever left.

But being here, I find myself constantly struggling to find the right time to speak to them. Yes we could send messages (and sometimes, despite my hatred for this tool: emails), but everyone knows that a message sent, then answered, and so on... doesn’t bring any level of interaction unlike a video conversation, or even instant messages.

So I send a considerably big amount of time trying to keep in touch with everyone, mostly the week-end, and even during the week at times.

Which leads to my last point...

Spare time and resting:

During the week, I try to compensate the fact that I’m not on the same level of productivity as the others, by staying longer at the office. I don’t like to leave work hanging, and I feel bad if I don’t feel productive enough, so staying longer at the office is my way to compensate.

During the week-end, I’d say close to a quarter of my time is spent catching up with friends and family. And while it’s definitely amazing to talk in real-time, it’s also taking a big part of my day (as it happens to be the evening for them.)

I don’t regret anything though, but I’m just pointing out that it’s hard to conceil everything and then try to enjoy a new environment to the maximum.

On the other (–and more optimistic) hand, when I do find the balance, once I manage to optimize either my time working or spare time, it will be much easier to apply these changes, and discipline, in my lifestyle.

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These were some pretty huge paragraphs of different things to mention, to realize, and to improve.

It took me a walk outside, after a long day at work, to make the most of this and organize my thoughts properly.

But now that the post is complete, here’s the bigger picture:

I’M HAVING A Frakking BLAST!

And this is my state of mind 98% of the time.

The remaining 2% are responsible for this post: not a downer, but a realistic side of me, always looking at what’s not good to try to improve. (Note that I didn’t say what’s going wrong.)

I’m an optimistic kind of person. I look at things on the bright size, and my glass of orange juice is half full because the rest is in the bottle, chilled, and ready to be served.

If you’re living or have lived in a similar situation, studied abroad, worked far from home, or were pushed out of your comfort zone, against your will or not, can you relate to this? What are the advices that you would give to individuals getting ready for this trip?

Finally, I am 100% opened to suggestions to improve, so Shout! Shout! Let It Out!

I do believe in the famous quote that says that "A picture is worth a thousand words."

So to sum up this week-end, the best thing is probably to show you directly what I've been up to.

I finally took a lot of time to explore, whether by myself, or with some friends and housemates. It was great! I went out on Friday evening, Saturday all afternoon and Sunday too!

From a Chicago-style deep dish pizza to the tallest hill in San Francisco (where you can appreciate the view of the city on 360 degrees), from a Mediterranean restaurant to a walk in the huge park that is Golden Gate Park, I've been very out going and active!

I hope to be able to do the same in the following week-ends, hopefully explore the areas surrounding the city too: the Redwoods, maybe a trip to L.A. if my housemates have a car that we can use... Why not even to Seattle or Las Vegas (once I turn 21!)

But I disgress: here are the pictures and videos!

Yes, I know, I'm one week late, and I haven't posted in a while. Yes, I AM genuinely sorry, but I think you'll understand more of the reason why after you've read this properly.

So last week (and I'm talking about the week of August 29th - September 2nd), was the first BIG STEP of this internship.

Introducing… DREAMFORCE: a conference/event related to Salesforce.com, the number one Business platform and Customer Relationship Management system.

To sum up quickly: everything I've been doing at Seesmic so far, ever since I started (on July 5th), was in regards to Dreamforce.

The goal of the company was to launch a new application, and we had a lot of things to prepare, from the app itself to the marketing and promotional content. Personally, I have been in charge of the collateral marketing items (getting tshirts printed, as well as stickers, one-page overview flyer, etc…), I've also helped demo the app to the many people coming to our booth, and was given the role of project manager, regarding Seesmic's presence at Dreamforce (making sure that devices were ready, charged, connected, getting all items from the office to our booth, and so on…)

It was very interesting for me to actually see the backstage aspect of these big conventions. And to be honest it all was impressive. I haven't really attended an event quite like it. The closest thing to this until now had been the fresher's fair at university, where all the school-clubs give out flyers and freebies to convince you to join their teams… And Dreamforce was just much much MUCH BIGGER.

To give you some statistics, 45,000 people attended, included 15,000 for the Keynotes only. Yes, we're talking about 15,000 people attending physically! In one single room!

And the best part was, our CEO, Loic Le Meur, was actually on stage during one of the keynotes, to demo our new app. He was in front of the 15,000 people + the 40,000 online viewers coming from the Facebook Live Feed.

Both for Seesmic as a company and for my personal point of view, it has been a great —yet very tiring— experience. But there have been a lot of good things coming from this, and that's without mentioning the fun and bonding experiences that I've been through with my fellow co-workers.

One of these times, was to go see Metallica —for free because it came with the Dreamforce pass— LIVE, along with businessmen. Yes, White Collars coming to see Metallica, one of the most best metal/hard rock bands in history. Despite the fact that the musicians are actually in their 40's now, it was a great show. Especially given the fact that it felt kind of exclusive to be here! At the end of the show, Will.I.Am was invited to show off his DJ skills. Due to the fact that he just stayed behind turntables and put one song after another and the overall sensation of being VERY tired, I didn't stay too long for him.

Another great time was actually the following afternoon: the expo finished early, so our team went out for drinks. (Yes, even our awesome coworkers from Paris!) And after an hour and a half spent at this bar, we went to a Dell-sponsored Geek-themed party —with Arcade video games, and a band dressed up as loser-kids and dorks!

Freaking out, nerd-dancing, and just relaxing after these last few crazy weeks, has been the best thing for us. Oh, and food and drinks were free. AND they didn't check any I.D. —Just saying!

So I had a great time… And we even met some Seesmic fans along the way!

So that was my crazy conference week. I remember being so exhausted that I slept 14-hours on saturday! It was both very good and much needed!

This last week has been… Well, let's just say it's been different!

First of all, one of the employees left the company after two and a half years working here. Which not only meant that we were losing a great (and very efficient) member of the team, but I have been assigned to take over her part. I can officially say that I've moved on from being a member of the Marketing team to a Community Support Advocate. I'm now taking care of the users' problems, dealing with their requests, communicating with the developers if needed, and making sure that everything is good in the Seesmic world.

It's very exciting for me because I am starting to feel like a real employee, and I have a lot of responsabilities. It also means more work to do and sometimes decisions to make —on my own.

Before I wrap up, the other big news is that I've confirmed that I will not only be helping to organize but also be attending LeWeb!

For the non-techies around here, LeWeb is the #2 conference  in the World —and #1 in Europe— for Tech and Web. To give you an idea, LeWeb is:

- 3000 people attending from 160 different countries,

- 3 days of talks, sessions, start-up competition

- and it all happens in one of the most beautiful cities in the world: Paris!

I will let you guys know more about LeWeb as I start working on it, but rest assured that over here, I'm very VERY excited! Once again there will be very busy with all of this, but you have to understand that I am in a state of Inception right now:

- Working in San Francisco, in the Silicon Valley —and at a start-up— was a DREAM for me

- Attending LeWeb was also a Dream, and since Loic and Geraldine are the ones organizing it it's a Dream within a Dream. Get it?

I'm sorry for the REALLY long post, but I think it conveys how excited I am and how busy I've been!

So long my friends!

The life of a Digital Marketing Intern in a tech startup isn't always easy.

One day can be good, another one not as much. One day you can spend more time exchanging emails with your coworkers than spending time actually accomplishing a task already overdue...
But most of the time, there's a smile on your face, may it be the friendly atmosphere, a great piece of advice from your supervisor, or even having a talk with your CEO and realizing that you're in a different place.

Let me develop the latter example. Earlier this week, I had a face to face meeting with someone I consider to be one of the most successful European entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley.
As we were brainstorming on a topic together, he depicted his vision of this subject, and that's where I realised something:
-first of all, I had made it. My past work, luck, and nights spent at home on the internet had finally paid off.
-I was having this one-to-one conversation with him, and we were both on equal levels, working for the greater good of the team and company.
-He used simple facts and ideas to try to picture the future, and what we needed to make it happen.

This has been by far the most important and inspiring conversation I've ever had, and the best part is that it came out of nowhere, I realized it as it happened, and even long after it was over, I could still feel the impact of the talk on myself.

I do believe in great CEOs and entrepreneurs, but I also strongly believe that if they have a great team, then that's how the ideas become reality, and the company encounters success.

So if you wonder how my life has been for the last two months, I'm doing good, thank you.
I've been working on a lot of things, from a website's draft layout to ordering t-shirts and stickers. Today's I got some flyers and business cards printed.
I also work on supporting our users, in French, English, and sometimes Spanish, on Twitter and on our support platform too.
Oh and did I mention that we're helping the sales industry work on the go?

No it's not always easy, and I can screw up like any human being, but everyday from the moment I wake up, I know that whatever happens I'm living one of my wildest dreams, to the maximum.

And in case you were wondering, Loïc Le Meur is a great entrepreneur as well as an inspiring person. And so is the rest of the Seesmic team. But then again I'm probably biased...