Jamie | Day 2:

Secrets and Sharing

While our popuphq is by definition mobile, we have made a home at a local coworking space called Mutinerie. It’s located in a non-touristy part of town, adjacent to the Communist Party’s Paris headquarters, which is quite poetic, though unlikely a coincidence. Mutinerie is a beautiful open space with a cafe/bar, friendly faces sipping espressos to welcome you and a coworking cave downstairs to boot. The space embodies the steadfast idealism, persistent creativity and spontaneous bursts of action that, in my mind, characterize innovators here. It also possesses, of course, a sense of temporality and transience that one finds in many big cities, and particularly in Paris. The glass ceilings, velvet curtains and indoor ivy guild the space with beauty and metaphor, but it’s the people who make it come alive. At the core of those I met today, was a desire and devotion to share and collaborate on a level that could be perceived as mad back home.

While finishing a cup of coffee in the cafe, my focus went toward a young man whose chiseled face and magnetic eyes peered out from below a black a top hat. I imagined this is what Mystery from that American dating book, The Game, would look like as a French startup founder. His name was Guillaume, and he is the founder of Djump, or “the french Lyft,” as it’s fondly referred to here. He and his team were doing an all-day strategy session on communications and legalities surrounding local ride-sharing in Paris. In the spirit of sharing, they extended the invitation to their competitors. I asked the founder why, assuming they most be in stealth acquisition talks or using it as an intimidation tactic to get their competition to shut down.

As my eyes popped in shock at the idea that a brand new startup struggling to get off the ground would consider their competitor an ally rather than an enemy, Guillaume didn’t seem to think much of it. “Competition is good!” he said in a tone that a mother might use to comfort her daughter in tears.

While I was not in tears, I did feel like child discovering the truth about Christmas: that maybe there’s more to gain than lose from sharing. Later in the evening I told a French friend about what happened, expecting her jaw to drop as mine did. Instead, she responded with a stating-the-obvious tone, “Oh yeah, that’s good.” From time to time I catch glimpses of this kind of deep collaboration among competitors in the Bay Area, but it’s certainly not a way of life there the way it seems to be here among young entrepreneurs. And when I take step back and think about it, I’d be hard-pressed to find much information we keep internal by default, that I couldn’t share with the world. The success of business, like most others, is reliant on our execution. Something certainly feels ironic about coming to France to experience the potential benefits of transparency.

Guillaume (Djump) and Jamie

Who did you meet?

The day was really divided into two. The first part was meeting dozens of French entrepreneurs at our co-working space. The second part was spent sharing stories, wine and cheese with our community of guides and Insiders. The common theme was sharing experiences with people who share values. While I appreciate this in my day-to-day life, it brings on a new level of importance when far from home and disoriented. It feels good to build bridges with those around me.

The entrepreneurs of Mutinerie

What interaction stood out most and why?

Two gentlemen showed up to the community mixer because their friend suggested they come. They were incredibly open and warm, and exhibited a level of ambition with Vayable that I rarely see with people who haven’t yet actually signed up. “We want to target Arab travelers coming to Paris and show them an experience that will both please them and change their lives,” they told me. It was the first moment in our experience here so far when I felt a sense of “mission complete.” Yes! This is the kind of co-creation we came here to do. Let’s make this happen!

Avec Sarah et son mec!

What was the biggest challenge?

My mind started to drift back home. I’m not fully present here yet. So much that I was up until 6am thinking about what we left behind and whether this was a a huge mistake. We have a lot of work to do on our product and we’re jetlagged halfway around the world with no comfort or stability in site.

What new ideas did you have?

We have a huge opportunity to address people’s personal needs and idiosyncrasies and rather then putting people into boxes, we should embrace this with our product. By encouraging people to share what makes them special, rather than making them feel like they need to subvert it in secrecy, we can grow our community faster and better.

The Vayable team and the people we <3: our community.

What did you discover about yourself?

It was more about the people around me — that there are so many amazing ideas pouring out of our community, and the entrepreneurs we work alongside during the day —- so much brilliance, I want to spend my time here listening as much as possible, taking it all in. My goal while I’m here is to listen more and talk less. Should be easier than at home, as I understand French better than I speak it. :-)

What ‘s something new you learned about the Vayable business/community?

Money isn’t the primary driver of behavior here.

How’s the team doing?

They are on fire. I was really happy to see the how well everyone clicked with our community. At one point during the community event, Michelle told me, “I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” She couldn’t have said it better.

Michelle sharing her experience with Insiders and guides.