Tom Jacquesson is the proud co-founder of Taplio and Tweet Hunter, a couple of social media tools that have brought a lot of value to the market. These tools facilitate the process of building a personal brand on LinkedIn and Twitter to find greater success online. Recently, the company was acquired by lemlist, a huge accomplishment!
For more information on Taplio and Tweet Hunter, visit their respective websites!
Today, we sit down with Tom to learn more about his entrepreneurial journey.
Q. Tell us a little more about your journey as an entrepreneur – how did you get started? What inspired you?
Tom: I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur when I turned 21. I was taking an entrepreneurship class (whatever that means), and my teacher was very inspiring.
I had always known I wanted to do things a bit differently and becoming a founder was the best way to achieve that.
I created my first startup at age 24, with my current business partner. We failed, but we learned a lot and several years later we rejoined forces and had a lot of success the second time around.
Q. What’s one thing in your routine that you do consistently that has made a huge difference in your personal or business life?
Tom: It’s hard to focus on just one thing because one thing rarely makes any difference. It’s the accumulation of little things and decisions that make or break entrepreneurship attempts.
What works for me is that I separate my day into 3 blocks of time for 3 types of tasks:
– Mornings are for deep work I like
– Afternoons are for meetings and deep work I don’t like
– Evenings are for emails and mindless tasks I can do without thinking
This way I start every day with something I enjoy doing, then I move on to the less enjoyable things while I still have energy, and close the day with simple, repetitive tasks.
I think that prevents me from burning out. I’m obviously working a lot, but by organizing my day like this I make sure my energy levels are well spent and don’t go below 0.
Q. Who are your mentors and inspiration? and what knowledge or insight did they give to you that was valuable?
Tom: My first boss was definitely an inspiration. I was employee #2 or #3 at a Montreal-based digital marketing agency, and I watched my boss grow his company from 1 person to 10 people in 2 years, all while treating everyone with respect and running an honest business.
When I told him I wanted to leave and do my own thing, he was very encouraging. Today, the agency is thriving even more, with tens of employees and they even have offices in Europe now.
I respect a lot of people, but I don’t admire or feel as thankful for anyone else in the business world. For me, entrepreneurship is about doing and transforming thoughts into action. It’s not about reading startup books or listening to podcasts. Though that can work for some people.
Q. What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Tom: Most people think it’s when we sold our company earlier this year, but it’s not.
The most satisfying moment for me dates back to my first startup, the one that ended up failing. My co-founder and I had just published our app on the App Store and received our first customer review. It was from a stranger and they gave us 5 stars and left a kind comment.
Best. Day. Ever.
That’s really what I love about what I do, that’s why I strive to create products that people use and find helpful.
Q. How do you market your business, and which tactics have been most successful?
Tom: Our products are all about personal branding, so obviously this is something we have invested time and effort in. That’s how we show the benefits of the product and spread the word.
One of the most effective approaches to marketing was partnering up with influencers, sometimes giving them a significant stake in our company. It made a big difference for us, especially at the beginning when we didn’t have a big audience.
Another thing that worked for us quite a bit is creating free products that are complementary to our main paid product. This helps us get more reach while targeting people that are interested in what we offer. A small portion of them will become customers.
Finally, we’re still very much involved in the product, both my co-founder and me. We are our own power users and we love talking with users who reach out to us asking for features or describing their needs. You can put in all the marketing effort or budget you want, but in the end, it comes down to being useful to your customers.
Q. What have been your biggest failures or challenges?
Tom: On a more personal level, it was tough to go back to being an employee after my first startup failed. I spent 6 or 7 years working to have a salary and acquire some additional skills. Some of those years were good because I was working in great companies. Some of those years were crappy, but I was always aware I wasn’t doing what I wanted to be doing.
When it comes to Taplio and Tweet Hunter, I think our main challenge was to sustain the growth we’ve had. We sometimes struggle with the vast amount of new users coming in. We try to support them the best we can, but we know we have to scale the team. It’s something we have started doing, but it’s challenging because we don’t want to hire people just for the sake of it. We want to hire great people who will support the company in the long term, and that’s not always easy to find.
Q. How did this failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?
Tom: I think that going back to being an employee was helpful even if I didn’t enjoy most of it. It taught me that things don’t come easily. I had been pretty lucky in life up until then, but failing my first startup and having to become an employee again was depressing.
I honestly wasn’t sure I was ever going to be successful as an entrepreneur and was scared that my life would get stuck in the loop of “work for 5 years, fail as a founder for a couple of years, start again”.
I knew it was going to take work and even if I put in all the work, I could still fail. But I also knew what was waiting for me if I failed, so that was extra motivation to succeed. In other words, the experience prepared me.
Q. If someone was to create a TV show about you, what would it be about and what would it be called?
Tom: The title would be “Remote Founder”, and here’s a synopsis for you: The startup adventures of a French dude working from his couch in his pajamas.
To keep up with Tom’s products and services, visit Taplio and Tweet Hunter!
