ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014 - 32

ITINÉRAIRE
By Charlotte DIEMER (MEB 13)

How to train
your dragon
As entrepreneurs are the new winners in this world, glorified and envied, can
they cope with something as «bureaucratic» as HR Management? Charlotte
DIEMER, client analyst at Ebuzzing, explains why entrepreneurs and HR can
actually be friends.
After 15 months at video advertising
company Ebuzzing&Teads, I carefully
avoid using the word «corporate»: it is
the worst insult to an ideas and freedomloving start-up. Ever.
Working asa Client Analyst in London,
I take care of pre-sales research and
source information from different teams
across countries: marketing, ad operations, sales and publisher management;
while this serves the purpose of gathering
data for external use, it also allows me to
look at internal processes and structures.
One thing that struck me particularly is the
way knowledge is stored and shared: as
often is the case with young companies,
processes are kept at a bare minimum, so
to allow rapid decision-making.
Advantages
As a matter of fact, this horizontal structure
permeates all of the company's business areasand culminates in the absence of a proper HR
department. The office open-space always resonates with ideas, meeting requests and elevator
pitches to time-constrained managers, as they
have the responsibility of hiring and training
people. This model has the advantage of cutting
processes and aligning business interests with
candidates'concrete abilities. Holidays, sicknessleaves and salaries are managed by the finance
team and an accessible HR cloud; internal communication is dealt with through real-time update
software Yammer.
The fluidity of structures allows agility; on the
other hand, though, it creates a porous conglomerate of inefficiencies. As the company is growing
(Ebuzzing just merged with Montpellier-based adtech company Teads, whose name it is adopting
completely) and planning to go public next year,

- ESCP Europe Magazine N° 157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014

a frame needs to be put in place to make sure
that people do not get stuck in the impalpable net
of frustration the lack of processes is bound to
generate.
With this objective in mind, Ebuzzing&Teads just
appointed Christophe Parcot, ex VP Head of
EMEA at Yahoo, to the role of COO. One month
in, I asked him what his impression of the company
was. His answer entailed quick decision-making,
talented people and great products. Processes
need to be structured and simplified, though, he
admitted.
Frustration
A few days ago, I overheard a conversation
between two very successful colleagues:
«Working in a start-up», one was saying, «You
have to learn how to cope with frustration». True,
I thought: it´s all about driving sales, about being
the toughest and smartest, it´s fast paced and fun.
The absence of an impartial evaluation, though,
may negatively affect meritocracy, as in a big boys'
club where teams get picked by friendship and
not by merit. This threatens long-term motivation.
How to keep people´s drive intact?
Bertrand Quesada, CEO and co-founder of
Ebuzzing, sees motivation as an intrinsic impetus everyone working in start-ups should have.
«Motivation», he says, «comes from our constant
ambition to innovate and revolutionise the game».
As the company is on its fast-track for growth,
though, I do hope it will implement some HR bestpractices. A competent HR department could foster innovation and cooperation, implement internal
communication and knowledge-sharing. Overall, it
would make daily operations smoother and more
efficient.
Too «corporate» to be true? I hope not.
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ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014

Table des matières de la publication ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°157 - Novembre/Décembre 2014