How do you manage a hypergrowing business?

The condition for success: an ability to constantly reinvent the model to adapt it to the requirements of hypergrowth. The proof is the example of Frédéric Mazzella through the BlaBlaCar adventure.

THE IDEA THAT SCALES FROM THE START

Everyone knows the story behind the BlaBlaCar concept: that of a traveller who does a lot of driving and hitchhiking a lot, finds himself without a train seat on Christmas Eve and who, from the car his sister came to pick him up, sees both crowded trains and empty cars. The idea of a universal service listing all the car seats available to travel differently was born!

Frédéric had a lot of other business ideas at the time. However, it is this that imposes itself on him and prevents him from sleeping for 72 hours. The feeling of having THE right idea is based on an observation: all technologies were available to create a product that revolutionized transport, from massive databases, connectivity and search engines, to the rise of the Internet.

“I told myself that if this thing existed, I would know it, I would have come across it because I traveled a lot” Frédéric then said to himself. The market study that he then carried out confirmed the potential of a good idea based on his “user-centric” intuition as a frequent traveller.

Anyone can have the idea of creating a carpooling site. Frédéric knew how to develop it and bring it to the point of creating Blablacar, today one of the French unicorns.

PUGNACITY

The essential step for any entrepreneur, at the beginning, is to create the first product, find his customers (not necessarily those targeted at the beginning), satisfy a request and keep the business going. The first years, Frédéric and Francis Nappez, its co-founder, essentially built B2B platforms. It is these services dedicated to businesses that make it possible to recruit and pay the first salaries. The temptation to focus on selling the service to businesses is strong but the more global vision of a C2C service remains the main goal. The objective: to make carpooling accessible to all, to address the C2C and to create a community of “carpoolers”.

In parallel, the BtoC platform therefore continues to be developed and improved. Frédéric and his teams are increasing the number of interview requests and contacts with the webmasters of all sites to insert their urls, never giving up on their vision.

It is an exhilarating but difficult time, because the results are struggling to arrive and the users represent only a small targeted community. Even if Frédéric's loved ones start to worry without telling him, even if Frédéric himself doubts it, those around him continue to support him.

Then comes the opportunity not to be missed: an SNCF strike! Hèlène, Frédéric's sister and communications pro, suggests making a press release explaining that “during the strike, Blablacar is not on strike.” The requests are overwhelming. The site is exploding and the challenge is to stay the course, starting by strengthening routers in shared hosting at €9.99... Anecdotally, the volumes generated by the young carpooling service bothered other sites sharing the same server, to the point that BlaBlaCar was often threatened with cuts by its hosting provider! It was necessary to move quickly to dedicated servers.

COMMUNICATION, WHICH GUARANTEES THE MUTUAL RESPECT OF EMPLOYEES

When Frédéric had the idea for BlaBlaCar, he knew that the service was going to become universal since anyone could use it, and that a structure would necessarily be needed accordingly.

On the other hand, he did not anticipate that such a team was necessary to manage this service: in terms of size, diversity of jobs, communication with members, permanent work on the product, servers... “People don't understand that there are 500 of us” he points out. Today, BlaBlaCar relies on hundreds of servers, more than 100 engineers, 30 people dedicated to the product, 120 people in the “Member Relationship” team, 130 in marketing and communication, spread over twenty countries.

For Frédéric, the biggest risk of a growing company is that departments no longer respect each other. This happens quite quickly, in fact as soon as the various departments (Tech versus Marketing vs Admin etc.)... are no longer required to discuss. It then becomes essential to create moments of encounter.

To prevent this risk, several initiatives have been put in place:

— The Blabla Talks : every Wednesday without exception, for 3/4 of an hour, 3 to 6 members of a team present the projects completed and those on which they are working. Each team does at least one Blabla Talk during the year, in the presence of the co-founders and all employees because attending is not an option! A “live streaming” allows offices in other countries to follow the presentation live, which is done in English. This is an imperative at Blablacar, whose 500 employees are of 35 different nationalities.

It is important that the “head of” of the department concerned is not the only one involved in this presentation. Explaining what you do, engaging in a project and then being accountable to all employees — and not only to a supervisor — allows everyone to take responsibility and increase their involvement.

However, the fact that all employees were involved raised the question of everyone's ability to communicate in public. In fact, this speech by everyone caused a lot of empathy and respect. Nevertheless, an INSEAD trainer came for several years every Tuesday evening to coach employees on self-confidence, fluency of presentation and English. A great way to make sure presentations stay lively and engaging.

These Talks have 3 benefits:

— Identifying people and their profession : we know who does what. In a growing society, it is important for everyone to know who he/she can contact on each issue.

— The involvement : presenting your work, past and future, in front of your colleagues, is engaging with them. The exercise, in front of a necessarily interested public, is also very rewarding.

— Respect and motivation : knowing what subjects everyone is working on is a source of respect between teams. Understanding that the company is made up of complementary people, who act on different levels and professions is not only motivating, but also makes you want to excel in your field of expertise.

BlaBlaCar has set up other mechanisms to promote the involvement and coordination of international teams, as well as remote work:

— Every 6 to 8 weeks, one”International Week” brings together all countries (1 or 2 people from each country come to Paris).

— 100% of the foreign staff comes to Paris once a year, or even 2.

— Every year BlaBlaCar organizes a off-site seminar (the BlaBlaBreak).

— All offices are equipped with Lifesize video conferencing solutions to facilitate remote meetings. The investment is important, but it is the condition for a good synchronization. In addition, this avoids numerous trips that cost time, money and energy when a company becomes international.

VALUES, A DECISION AID

Co-creation is, without a doubt, the most effective way to encourage the involvement and adherence of new generations. This is why, in order for the entire company — and not only management — to recognize itself in the values of BlaBlaCar, their definition is the result of a co-creation process.

In March 2013, during the first annual seminar with the 60 employees, the teams defined the 10 values of the company together, with the help of an external consultant. Today, they have become a reference for everyone. More effective than procedures, they guide both recruitment and everyone's daily job. ”When a company is growing rapidly, employees often have to make decisions. However, they cannot constantly call on managers, let alone founders.” explains Frédéric. The values of the company then serve as reference points, facilitating decision-making and empowering the employee because the decision comes from him. A very American concept, resulting from the three years that Frédéric spent at Stanford.

The next step, for values to be well integrated, is to bring them to life by materializing them. The values are written in the form of slogans displayed throughout the company. Seeing them daily is a constant reminder of the teams' goals. This allowed everyone to appropriate the values that correspond to them and that best resonate with their profession.

MOTIVATION, A KEY FACTOR IN RECRUITMENT

Values, the installation of a certain number of rules, KPIs to follow, and a moral contract with employees are important in terms of HR. This allows you to define the framework... and to reframe! The missions of everyone in the company must therefore be well defined. This involves, for example, writing explicit job descriptions for recruitments.

Because recruiting is surely the most delicate and the most fundamental subject in the growth of a company. While skills are of course essential, what counts above all when starting a project is the real motivation for the activity: it is this that allows you to be agile, a key factor when looking for your Product-Market fit. Because a motivated employee can always learn what will be necessary for the success of the project...

But judging someone over an hour of interview and determining whether they have the skills required for the job and whether we will be able to work effectively together is a real challenge. Sometimes the answer is clear, but it's often complicated. Of course, you must let your instincts speak and know how to assess the candidate's skills very precisely according to the position, but there are also some recruitment reflexes to put in place. This is why, over the years, BlaBlaCar teams have defined different forms of tests that today allow the company to recruit the best candidates and to process the thousands of applications received each month.

For example, getting references from former employers is important as early in the process as possible. The process must be done in coordination with the candidate, depending on whether or not he has informed his current employer of his steps. It is also always useful to do a preliminary search on the internet about a candidate: this gives more material for the interview.

Another very effective recruitment process: using the network of employees. The talent and skill sought may be just around the corner. Encouraging collaborators to suggest former colleagues and even to give their opinion represents a valuable saving of research time. It is also a great way to qualify a person's cultural fit and skills at an early age.

THE PRODUCT, ALWAYS THE PRODUCT!

Today, Frédéric Mazzella remains obsessed with the product, which he continues to manage on his own. He is still very present with the teams and follows the KPIs closely. The secret: he remains a loyal user of the service, because it is by being the most demanding customer that you improve your product.

To continue to develop the product according to the needs of users, BlaBlaCar has also set up a “Member Voice” team, halfway between the Member Relations (Customer Support) team and the Product team. This makes it possible to summarize and report all the needs identified by the user community.

This is all the more fundamental as the brand goes hand in hand with the product. Today, it is it that inspires confidence, which is why we must remain very attentive to its evolution. This is why Frédéric spends a lot of time working on the brand internally and externally.

THE ROLE OF THE FOUNDER CHANGES WITH THE GROWTH OF THE COMPANY

The important thing when a company is growing is to know how to delegate. You have to know how to say “I don't know how to get there, but I know where we're going to go”. So, people take responsibility for the “how”, they tell themselves that it is up to them to find it. This requires humility on the part of the founder of course and precisely to recruit ambitious employees with a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

“Today, my role is evolving: I focus on the “What”, the “Why” and on the Direction. I am no longer working on the “How to” concludes Frédéric.

Finally, here is a recruitment video from BlaBlaCar that perfectly summarizes the culture of the company, one of the pillars of the development of this French unicorn, and which means that today young graduates of the Grandes Écoles prefer BlaBlaCar to Procter & Gamble.

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