Thomas Pasquet

There will always be success and failure in your career; the main thing is how you deal with it and how you turn these moments into a learning curve.

 

Thomas Pasquet serves as the Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Ogury USA. An experienced, serial entrepreneur, Thomas previously co-founded web content monetization company BeeAd, which was subsequently sold to the Ebuzzing Group, itself later acquired by ad marketplace Teads.

Having successfully exited BeeAd, Thomas and his cofounder, Jean Canzoneri, were both convinced that a significant opportunity still existed within mobile advertising to offer a solution outside of the dominant players. In 2014 they started Ogury with the ambition to become the world’s biggest mobile journey marketing platform with the widest reach of data generation globally. To achieve this, the aim was (and continues to be) to run the largest explicitly opt-in first party data generation platform, giving app publishers and brands a suite of solutions to fully harness the power of unique mobile data, simultaneously improving the mobile experience of users.

Where did the idea for Ogury come from?

Jean and I created Ogury after we took a two-week trip to San Francisco. We decided to see what was happening right in the middle of the most popular technology hub in the US so that we could brainstorm our next big idea. Our goal to take that idea to Europe. We tried to think of a few ideas outside of our common ground, which was ad tech, but we were not able to land on one idea we were overly ecstatic about. Then, we decided to dig into what we really know and focused on advertising and marketing technology. We realized in that moment of time there was a major gap in protecting consumer’s personal data while also collecting that data for use. We began to question how we could gather the most mobile user data without creating a major social networking services, like Facebook.

We also deeply value the privacy and protection of mobile users. So, we started to think about how we could ask for user permission or consent for their mobile data while also gathering different signals from different places to reconstruct the entire mobile user journey. That slowly transformed into Ogury and who we are today.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

Productivity and efficiency starts from the moment that I wake up. You must set a precedent for your intentions and attitude from the very beginning. Every morning, I take the first 10 minutes of my day to meditate and align my thoughts with what I would like to accomplish. Then, I arrive to the office by 8:00am and meet with my counterparts in France, especially Jean Canzoneri, my partner and Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Ogury.

A majority of my days are spent in meetings and one-on-ones with my direct reports and managing the productivity of the overall business from a higher level. I also value the success of my direct reports and of all my employees, so I spend a majority of my time also coaching and counselling my teams so that they can accomplish their own individual goals every day.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I look at my goals as climbing a mountain. You see the peak, but you have to take one step at a time to reach it.

It is extremely valuable to create your goal then outline the problem you are trying to solve and the steps you plan to take to solve it. Sometimes it can be really useful to create a deck and lay out all the points visually and clearly; outline your roadmap, overall goals, investors and so on.

What’s one trend that excites you?

One trend that really interests and excites me is the idea of incorporating a career coach into businesses. Training your employees is paramount to both employee satisfaction and the growth and success of your business.

Ten years ago, there were not many mentions of having “career coaches” in a business. But now coaches help employees on all levels, not only to learn and push themselves, but also to push themselves to deliver and perform at higher levels. That is something I am working to implement with my employees at Ogury today.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

One habit that has made me more productive and also more successful as an entrepreneur is getting to the office early and preparing for my day. When I first started Ogury with Jean we would carve out meetings first thing in the morning before anyone else arrived at the office. This is a practice we continue to use today.

What advice would you give your younger self?

One piece of advice I would give my younger self is to be less emotional. I would have reminded myself that there will always be ups and downs throughout both your professional and personal life, but you should take a moment to gather your thoughts and think of a positive way to tackle them.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

One thing I think is true that many do not agree on is that talent is overrated. You can be super talented, but if you don’t have the passion, execution, and grit to get the job done, then talent is not worth much.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

One thing I do over and over again is to find the best partners to work with. My partners keep me accountable for my actions and keeps me humble. They are transparent and tell me when I am not doing something right and when I’m doing something well. The right partner will help you grow in all aspects of your life.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

When I moved to the US alone, I was extremely ambitious and passionate about Ogury. I had a lot of counterparts who told me that my sales goals were not possible. But, through my ability to remain positive, passionate and ambitious in my business, Ogury exceeded its sales goals in our first few years. I recommend all entrepreneurs adapt a similar attitude to fearlessly yet humbly stare down anyone who says you won’t make it.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

There will always be success and failure in your career; the main thing is how you deal with it and how you turn these moments into a learning curve.

In terms of failure, I think you first have to define what failure means to you. To me, failure is more than just not meeting your goals; it means not meeting a goal with the resources you are given or acquire along the journey. So, with that in mind, I think that with Ogury one of the more difficult moments we have run into is ensuring we bring on the right people that we need in order to be successful. We deeply value our individual team members and strive to bring on the right team members who emulate the pillars of excellence we want to achieve. We are working to improve our process every day and bring in the right tools to improve the business overall.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I am always thinking and brainstorming of ways to improve the way we do things. I’m a strong believer in the content we learn from and think that content will be important for future business opportunities.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

The best $100 I have recently spent is on my Kindle. I am constantly reading, and it gives me the ability to always stay on top of new books, refresh old books and stay up to date on all news items at just the quick click of a button.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

I use a tool called “Boomerang” on my email. It has been extremely helpful for me as it sends back any unanswered emails you send within 24 hours, so you can resend it and make sure you get responses.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I actually have three books I highly recommend anyone on a team read:

– “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers” — By: Ben Horowitz
– “Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win” — By: Jocko Willink
– “Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers” — By: Timothy Ferriss & Arnold Schwarzenegger (Foreword)

What is your favorite quote?

“They did not know it was impossible, so they did it” from Mark Twain

Key Learnings:

• Take the time to outline the day ahead and productively set your goals so you can hit them all by the end of the day.
• Don’t be afraid to be passionate and ambitious about your ideas and your goals. You will hear “No” more than you hear “Yes”. Stare down your doubters and do not be afraid to work for your success, there are people who will back your passions and believe in you.
• Read “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers”, “Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win” and “Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers”.

Connect:

LinkedIn: Thomas Pasquet, www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-pasquet-a5642311
Ogury Site: