Last week was #FranceDigitalDay. Emmanuel Macron announced his MarshalLicorne plan: a five-billion-euro envelope of public aid to support high-growth companies, foster the emergence of unicorns or pegasuses, push them towards IPO, and even lift regulatory barriers that might get in the way of their hypergrowth.
Since launching my company Flint in late 2018 - but really for several years now - I've been paying attention to the VC, startup, Silicon Valley and hypergrowth movement. Mostly for the strategy and direction I want to give my company. The model, the growth pace, whether or not to raise funds, organic or external growth, etc.
Over my readings and reflections, I formed an opinion about growth - and I am not a fervent defender of hypergrowth, to say the least. I'm not saying I'd be unhappy to experience hypergrowth, but seeking hypergrowth as a goal or as the engine of a company's development is unhealthy and harmful to society.
I'm aware that my opinion is neither aligned nor politically correct, but I disagree with placing hypergrowth at the centre of the #Frenchtech model and turning it into a Grail or an end in itself.
Pursuing hypergrowth almost systematically requires fundraising (VCs, business angels) or an IPO (as seen in the US). Whether VCs or markets, what they look for is driven by a strong ROI at resale or IPO. It is an almost exclusively financial pursuit.
Thinking hypergrowth means thinking hyper-profitability, hyper-exit, hyper-profit. That pursuit is unhealthy on the human and social plane.
By placing entrepreneurs' focus on hypergrowth, you push the purpose of company creation onto an almost purely financial axis. Starting a company should not - even less today than in the past - be primarily centred on financial growth, but on value creation on a more global level:
- Social value creation (company culture, employee well-being and development, client relations, supplier relations, a socially positive footprint on territories and ecosystems, sharing);
- Ecological value creation and sustainable development;
- Overall and durable financial value creation: aligning economic and financial value creation with points 1 and 2.
By focusing mostly on the financial, one will naturally tend to forget the human and environmental dimensions, which matter so much in our society.
It is the cohesion and the social calm of a company, and its authenticity, that create durable value and economic performance - not the other way around.
What's the point of having a unicorn if it means miserable employees or no social or environmental commitment? Our society does not need that kind of horned animal…
We had a chance to stand out politically from the American model (which has shown its limits - see the WeWork affair and other speculative bubbles), to build a FrenchTech model that is really French and really Tech, not setting aside the social and environmental dimensions because they aren't "hyper-sexy" or "hyper-profitable" enough. We had the option to look further and aim higher, by imagining new models and support schemes that would be more durable and more socially just in terms of value creation.
Instead, we are left with a herd of half-unicorns and aspiring entrepreneurs, to whom we say loud and clear: "Focus on hypergrowth, that's the path to seek, that's the example, that's the model."
Sorry, not for me. That's not the model I'll choose for my company. 🏴☠️