Discover exclusive insights into the personality of Edouard Hausseguy, co-founder of the new gen pizzeria GRUPPOMIMO, a serial entrepreneur who fears nothing.
What is your greatest pride?
Gruppomimo. After that, personally, it’s my son.
One key thing you would have done differently if you had known or realized it earlier?
To make the agency much more profitable quickly. I should have looked at the figures more and realized that, actually, I should have done it earlier.
Is there a company that particularly inspires you at the moment in terms of in its execution, in its communication?
Zenly was a great company. Unfortunately, Snapchat ended it recently by buying it 300 million. But Zenly was a crazy company.
I organized a lot of parties with Antoine Martin, because I was a bit of a DJ when I was younger and I loved doing all kinds of stuff. Antoine quickly became a friend. And it’s true that he used to talk to me about Alert Us (the ancestor of Zenly) at parties at the time. This application allowed you to simply follow your kid or your grandfather to get his heart rate, if he had any battery left, where he was, etc., so that you could basically be warned of dangers or complicated situations that require help. He had the thing developed with geolocation. They were better than Apple and Google at that, that’s why Snapchat bought them.
Once, I had a big scooter accident. I stayed four days in hospital. And in fact, at the end of the second day, I received a message saying from Antoine saying « That’s strange, my staff told me that it’s been two days that you hadn’t moved. What happened? » So I told him I was in the hospital. That’s when I said to myself that it was an incredible idea! It was a very beautiful company and success.
An encounter that you had that marked you in the ecosystem of someone who particularly inspires you?
Oussama Ammar. Not on a professional level, anyway we didn’t talk about it much, but more on a personal level. He has always impressed me. The
the way he approaches life, the values he has… Although he is often criticized by people who don’t know him 99% of the time, I have always admired the way he dealt with life. We’ve exchanged a lot, we’ve talked a lot about life in general, and he’s someone I really like.
Is there an app that you recommend everyone to have?
Unfortunately, I’m not a big consumer of apps, podcasts, books… I’m actually very basic: LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify… I don’t have any particular app that I would
recommend.
In all the people who are around you, who inspire you, is there one that you would recommend to me to have on this podcast to share a bit of their experience?
Yeah! Louis Marty from Merci Handy, he’s cool, he did it all by himself, he made it on his own, he went through the containment. He’s a guy who has a lot of
things to say.
Is there any advice you’ve been given that’s been very useful in your life?
Don’t sell the bear’s skin before you’ve killed it. Do, and once you’ve done it and the result is there, you can talk about it. Never speak too much about the result.
What is the music of the moment that you listen to on a loop?
I listen to a lot of old school musics and one sound I’m listening to a lot at the moment is Never gonna give you up by Rick Astley.
Can you tell me something about yourself that people would be surprised to know?
I’m a huge fan of fishing: I fish all over the world when I can go fishing outside France. In fact, I’m going to fish in Djibouti at the end of April.
Is there a habit you are trying to get into or stop?
Listening to people more. I love to talk, so I talk a lot and I tend to take up too much space. I’d like to learn to put my speech down, and especially to listen to people more. And a habit I’m trying to break. I’m trying to stop… coffee. I try not to drink too much coffee, because then I get irritated. And then doing more sport.
As you are starting to earn some money now, have you been doing any spending sprees?
I’m not a big spender. I’ve never been a big materialistic.
However, there’s one thing I love, and that’s old cars. So yes, I’ve had a few sprees. I bought myself a Ferrari, I bought myself my childhood dream car, the Mustang Fastback Eleanor, because it’s the car in the film Gone in 60 seconds with Nicolas Cage.
But I love going to Renault Magny-Cours, because I like F1, I even have a simulator at home, so I like everything that’s a bit automotive. I have more and more ecological responsibilities to have, like everyone else. And that’s why I recently sold my cars because they pollute. And when your office is 50 meters from your home…
You don’t read much, but is there a book that made an impression on you?
I really don’t read. The only book I read was because I love kite surfing, is The Wings of the Sea. It’s the story of the creation of the sport. If there’s anything I’d really like to see when we’re talking about habits, it’s reading. I’d like to be able to sit in a garden, quiet, and read 50 pages in a row. So maybe I’ll settle down in time and I’ll get there then. But not yet.
Another one is Influence and Manipulation. It is THE book you read when you’re in finance, and you want to learn how to sell. Basically, it’s the 7 sales levers when you’re in the sales profession, which allow you to make people say yes. It’s funny to know that basically by saying certain things, you’re going to be able to generate a certain
Behavior in someone.
If you were to give advice to someone who wanted the same path as you, what would you tell them?
Good luck! It’s a lot of work.
I’ve often seen young people stop me when I was in my Ferrari and ask me what I do for a living. And I have the impression that they were waiting for a bit of a hack answer, like if you take a left turn, you’ll make millions. The problem with this new generation is that they look for shortcuts too much. In life, unfortunately, whether it’s in personal life to find love or in entrepreneurship to succeed or even as an employee, there are no shortcuts. So yes, there are cryptocurrency stories where the guy has become a millionaire in 2 days, but that’s like people winning the lottery. Today, there are no shortcuts.
If you want to succeed, you have to work hard and be passionate. And the people who are at the top today are people who were in the same position as you at the beginning and who went through the same paths, who believed in their project and who didn’t always listened to others. Because you have to stop telling people to listen to everyone, especially those close to you who will want to protect you. For me, it’s not in security that we generally find success. It’s more about taking risks.