Inspiring stories. Passionate people
TEAM
Creative Director - Kevin Le Goff Content Director - Charles Fourault Editor - Elisa Routa
@Swenson_mag
Swenson
CONTACT
Main / contact@swenson-mag.com Submission / content@swenson-mag.com Advertising / advertising@swenson-mag.com Press & Partnership / partners@swenson-mag.com
WEBSITES
Swenson Global - www.swenson.global Swenson Magazine - www.swenson-mag.com
STOCKISTS
Would you shop like to carry Swenson? stockist@swenson-mag.com
CONTRIBUTORS
David Ams, Fjord Photography, Jack Sorokin, Rand Hindi
WRITERS
Elisa Routa, David Ams, Jack Sorokin, Rand Hindi
FEATURED
Arthur de Kersauson, David Ams, Fred Jourden, James Lafferty, Joe Gebbia, John Dimatos, Mike Horn, Patrice Meignan, Rand Hindi, Sir Richard Branson, Stewart Butterfield, Susi Mai, Vincent Perraud, Kytone, Supa Hero
ILLUSTRATORS
Blandine Pannequin, Julie Guillot, Johanne Corre, Katie Beasley, Timothy Durand
TRANSLATOR & PROOF READER
Emma Price (Lost in Translation)
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Allen Walker, Arthur de Kersauson, Chase Jarvis, Dario Ferro, Dimitrii Shamorov, Jack Sorokin, Matthew Placek, Mike Horn, Mike Valentine, Remi Ferrante, Sebastian Devenish, Thomas Bergner, Vincent Perraud, Fjordlapse Photography, Anthony Dodds
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Axelle Tessandier Bronder, Johanne Corre, Annika Horn, StĂŠphane SallĂŠ de Chou, Quang Hoang, Ornemantal Conifer, and all the people that believe in Swenson
ABOUT SWENSON
Swenson is an outdoor entrepreneurial community for innovators, creators and thought leaders who believe that business and passion are tools that should be used to have a positive impact on the world. Founded in 2015 by a ground of friends, Swenson swiftly evolved into a company with its very own global community
DISCLAIMER
Swenson Magazine has been careful to contact all copyrights holders of the images used. If you claim ownership of any of the images presented here, and have not been properly identified, please contact Swenson and we will be happy to make a formal acknowledgement in a future issue.
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SWENSON MAGAZINE/EDITORIAL
b
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NOTE: This is another boring magazine about entrepreneurship
I
t’s all about passion. Some will tell you that passion has no place in entrepreneurship. That it’s all about raising X million euros and becoming one hit wonders over night only to disappear the very next day. And then there are the passionate ones,
those who want to break the rules and move mountains, those who prefer to create their own destiny, those who are driven by an extraordinary urge to succeed and whose accomplishments are based more on values and skills passed down one generation to the next than by sales, those who wish to improve the world rather than merely conquer it. We went in search of those people, the entrepreneurs of today, those who are building the world of tommorrow with the common desire to concretize and bring to life daring new projects. Swenson Magazine was born with an ambition to share, throughout the pages of this unique and unifying book, a number of inspiring and timeless stories. Different paths which can lead to either revolutionizing the hotel industry or completely changing your life in order to go customize motorcycles, to climb the highest peaks of the planet or to invent the future of artificial intellingence. A universe of strong and sincere values, an invitation to travel, where surfing and innovation coexist and where crafts are controlled by quantum experts. Swenson Magazine is dedicated to presenting entrepreneurship to you, a life that everyone dreams of and to which everyone is entitled. Inspiring stories, passionate people, that’s what Swenson Magazine is all about. Kevin & Charles - Founders
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SWENSON MAGAZINE/TABLE OF CONTENT
THE FRAME A discussion with Joe Gebbia On the road with Mike Horn At the office with Patrice Meignan
12 24 36
MODERN MINDS A session with Arthur de Kersauson A visit at Slack: "Email is (not) dead"
48 60
PLAYGROUND MaiTai Global - A cocktail of elite entrepreneurs and top atheletes
72
MAN-NERS How to succeed your Kickstarter campaign with John Dimatos Have a social presence with David Ams
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86 94
THE OBSERVATORY No Timeframe, no Restraints with Vincent Perraud Sea Light by Fjordlapse Photography
102 112
RECTO VERSO From actor to director with James Lafferty From imposter to hero with Blitz
120 128
MONOLOGUE Artificial Intelligence is changing the world with Rand Hindi
140
LE CLAN Swenson x Supa Hero Swenson x Kytone
151 157
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THE
FRAME Page 10 | Swenson Magazine
PASSIONATE PEOPLE
A discussion with Joe Gebbia On the road with Mike Horn At the office with Patrice Meignan
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JOE GEBBIA AIRBNB CO-FOUNDER
Belong Anywhere
V
alued by investors at more than $25 billion, the peer-to-peer home and apartment rental company Airbnb now lists more than 2 million homes worldwide and has reached more than 60 million guests as of early 2016. Operating in more than 190 countries, Airbnb expands today in new markets like Africa
and Cuba. We talked to Joe Gebbia, designer, co-founder and chief product officer (CPO) of the world’s leading online accommodation platform, listed by Forbes as one of America’s richest entrepreneurs under 40. Counting a community of millions of people and voted best company to work for in 2016 (Glassdoor), Airbnb is is without a doubt a trusted community marketplace. « The company’s mission is to create a world where you can belong anywhere, explore the future and peek into the unknown». We met Joe Gebbia and discussed about people, design, creativity, failure as a state of mind, conviction, and the company’s overall expanding future.
Interview: Charles Fourault Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Matthew Placek
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THE FRAME/JOE GEBBIA
"An entrepreneur with conviction won't take no for an answer, and turns rejection into an invitation to keep going." Joe Gebbia
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THE FRAME/BELONG ANYWHERE
Design and creativity are in the DNA of Airbnb. How did they evolve since 2008? Airbnb is built by a community of creatives - hosts that use the income from Airbnb to support their creative projects and guests who travel to inform and inspire their artistic process. This is the genesis of the company, and remains vital to our growth moving forward. When we were just starting out and pitched Airbnb to investors, many said it would never work— why would millions of people invite “a complete stranger” into their home? The magic of Airbnb is that millions of people have done exactly that. The hosts and guests who share our vision took us from the physical realm of accommodations to the emotional realm of human connection. Our vision manifests in the experience. It is our role to provide just enough structure and support to bring people together in unique places that they call home, while leaving enough space for spontaneity, discovery, and surprise; we are the vessel in which connection is forged. How do you personally train your creativity? For me, it is incredibly important to take time for creativity each day. Personally, I sketch. Even when I don’t have a clear idea in mind, the act of putting a pen to paper each day is revitalizing. We spend so much time in front of screens, so to take moments away really helps me to connect with my creative side. I use all kinds of notebooks from Moleskine to Muji. I've yet to find one durable enough to withstand the effects of frequent travel and daily use. Do you think creativity should be more taught at school? I do - creativity has played such a huge role in my development both personally and professionally, and the idea that some kids wouldn’t have access to that part of themselves due to lack of funding for arts or creative programs is hard to stomach. It's one reason I'm thrilled by the STEM to STEAM program that President Obama recently endorsed (Stemtosteam.org). My design training has informed so much of my life and was key in the development and growth of Airbnb, so I would love to find a way to ensure everyone has access to some type of creative outlet. The story of Airbnb is about transforming threats into opportunities, thanks to creativity. What are the main qualities of an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur with conviction won't take no for an answer, and turns rejection into an invitation to keep going. This irrational perseverance, even when others say no, is what it takes to bring a new and different idea into the world.
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THE FRAME/JOE GEBBIA
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THE FRAME/BELONG ANYWHERE
You recently became part-time design partner at the most famous tech startup incubator Y Combinator (YC). What was the most valuable advice you took from YC co-founder Paul Graham? Paul Graham was a hugely influential figure in the early days of Airbnb. One of the most pivotal moments at the beginning was when we were trying to figure out how to gain traction, Paul advised to ‘go meet our people’. He meant go talk to our early customers to understand why they were using our service. We realized the listing photography in New York was really poor. Paul told us that it was ok to do things that don’t scale, and encouraged us to travel to New York, rent a camera, spend some time with hosts, and replace the amateur photography with beautiful high-resolution pictures. There wasn’t any data to back this decision, but we did it anyways. A week later, the results were in: improving the pictures doubled the weekly revenue to $400 per week. And what would be the advice you'd give to entrepreneurs? My advice to companies just starting out is to first answer this question: What is the thing you need to exist in the world? An approach to the answer may be solving a problem for yourself. What area of your life makes you think ‘there’s got to be a better way’? When do you find the flow of your day-to-day interrupted because bad design got in the way? Go after that. Filling in that gap for yourself is selfmotivating and you know first hand how life would be better with an improvement. And the best part? It’s never been easier to get an idea out into the world than right now thanks to the low cost megaphone of the internet. Before success, you may have had some periods of doubts. Could you describe how was your mind between those two? Failure is a part of creativity – nothing new was ever created without first having some kind of failure. Starting Airbnb, we put ourselves in a lot of debt, put our future’s on the line, and took a risk. If we had been too scared, too worried to take those steps, the company would have never been built. Failure isn’t an event, it is the relationship you choose to have with an event. You can decide something was a failure or a piece of education that teaches you something to get closer to what it is you’re after. We chose the latter.
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« Thank you for the introduction. While this sounds interesting, it is not something we would do here – not in our area of focus, do wish you best of luck. »
« Hi Brian, Apologies for the delayed response. We’ve had a chance to discuss internally and unfortunatly don’t think that it’s the right oppotunity for us from an investment perspective. The potential market opportunity did not seem large enough for our required model. »
Fed Wilson, famous investor at Union Square Ventures, one of the biggest venture capital, who missed the deal when Airbnb was still a marketplace for air mattress : «We made the classic mistake that all investors make. We focused too much on what they were doing at the time and not enough on what they could do, would do, and did do. » « Brian, We decided yesterday to not take this to the next level. We’ve always struggled with travel as a category. We recognize its one of the top e-commerce categories but for some reason, we’ve not been able to get excited about travel related business. »
« I am not sure I buy that ABNB reminds me of Etsy in that it facilitates real commerce in a marketplace model directly between two people. So I think it can scale all the way to the bed and breakfast market. But I am not sure they can take on the hotel market, I could be wrong »
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2008 f o u n d e d
Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk
3 FOUNDERS h e a d q u a r t e r
SAN FRANCISCO c u r r e n t
v a l u a t i o n
USD 25Bn t o t a l
g u e s t
60 000 000 2 000 000 l i st i ng
wo rl d w id e
191+ countries
34,000+ cities with airbnb
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THE FRAME/JOE GEBBIA
" Curiosity is the catalyst of innovation."
Airbnb is the 2016 Glassdoor best place to work, how do you explain that? We are working to create a world where you can ‘Belong Anywhere:’ a world that expands the richness of human connection, allowing you to go further rather than farther. Farther is a physical distance. Further is a state of mind and consciousness. The ideal people who want to work with us are driven to build and shape such a world—so driven that they actually look forward to long days (and sometimes nights) of hard work on a sometimes unpredictable journey. Our ideal team members are motivated by a thirst for knowledge (they often call themselves ‘information sponges’) which manifests in a tremendous curiosity in people, in the world around them, and in the infinite possibilities of the unknown. The people we really want to work with not only embrace change, but also go beyond and actively seek it out, even if the change is uncomfortable. Is there any rule to follow when you work at Airbnb? Our workspace doesn’t have many rules. To me, the need for rules is a sign that the culture isn’t governing itself; that our values aren’t being respected or translated appropriately through the culture. The signs that the culture is being understood and lived can be big or small. It gives me a great feeling to see our team members holding doors for each other, or picking up a glass someone else left behind and bringing it back to the kitchen. It’s also great to hear them speak up in a meeting to voice a concern or share a critique, even if it goes against the majority of opinions. This results from hiring people who believe what we believe, rather than establishing rules to follow. What do hotel and home mean to you today? A hotel is a place with a specific address. Home is a feeling that can be experienced anywhere in the world.
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THE FRAME/BELONG ANYWHERE
You now sit on the Board of Trustees at the Rhode Island School
over the long term see failure not as an event but rather as a state
of Design (RISD), the school of design you are graduated from.
of mind, an attitude applied towards this event. Failure isn’t actu-
You once advised students to “take the next step”. What is the
ally what happens, but rather a poor reaction towards what hap-
next step today for you and for Airbnb?
pens. A good reaction turns any outcome into a learning point.
We’re always thinking about what’s next at Airbnb. Technology companies can change so quickly that I’d be concerned if we
Does it mean the good reaction is taking risks?
weren’t dreaming about what’s around the corner. The model we
The more we improve our attitude towards experimentation, the
created has touched other verticals as well like cars, boats, and
more risks we’ll take, and the greater probability we’ll discover
even dog sitting. Other spaces that could use radical re-thinking
something new. Within the company, we’ve created teams whose
are education (both K-12 and higher ed), clean energy, and health-
mission is to explore the future and peek into the unknown. We’re
care. These spaces are waiting for a designer to step up and breath
always dreaming about what’s next for Airbnb. For technology
new life into them. To me, curiosity is the catalyst for innova-
companies, it’s an absolute must to be investing in multiple ways
tion. A curious culture is one that experiments, that relentlessly
to see what’s around the corner.
searches for the undiscovered, even when those efforts result in what some may describe as a ‘failure’. Cultures that are successful
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MIKE HORN E XPLO R ER & A DV EN T UR ER
In search of the impossible Mike Horn is globally acknowledged as the world’s greatest modern day explorer. From swimming the lengths of the Amazon River solo to an unmotorized 17-month circumnavigation of the globe along the equator, Mike’s list of accomplishments as a solo explorer is unparalleled. In two decades, he has seen more of the Earth than possibly any other human being.
Interview: Charles Fourault Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Dimitrii Shamorov / Chase Jarvis / Sebastian Devenish / Allen Walker / Dario Ferro
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THE FRAME/MIKE HORN
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THE FRAME/IN SEARCH OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Explore until we've seen it all
T
hrough a series of radical expeditions,
the majestic peak of Makalu, the fifth highest mountain
he has hiked, swam, canoed, biked and
peak in the world in a remote section of the Himalayas,
sailed more than 40,000 km, pushing the
rising to 8,463 meters, without the use of additional oxy-
limits of human ability. In 2004, Mike
gen or high altitude porters. Last year, Mike attempted
completes a 2 years and 3 months-solitary voyage called
to paraglide K2, the world's second highest mountain
« Arktos », following the Arctic Circle around the globe
and one of its most dangerous. Over the years, Mike
during the dark season, walking on the ice under tem-
Horn became internationally renowned, receiving
peratures of minus 60°. In 2008, he creates and embarks
many awards and prize, writing four books about his
on a four years-expedition around the world, without
expeditions. « By stepping out of your comfort zone,
motorized transport. His new project called « Pan-
you are stepping into the unknown and that’s what
gaea » aims at serving as an exploration platform of the
makes exploration so interesting ». We sat down with
natural world for young adults. Its mission is to educate
the world’s most accomplished explorer to talk about
a global network of youth, spreading a powerful envi-
taking risks and to discuss his search of the impossible.
ronmental message of conservation and preservation. Later, the South-African explorer and athlete scaled
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THE FRAME/MIKE HORN
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THE FRAME/IN SEARCH OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
Before becoming a professional explorer you were an entrepreneur with no limits, an Outdoor Activity Sports Centre in Switzerland. What are the similarities between the two? There is not much difference between being an entrepreneur and an explorer, when we engage into a challenge we should get rid of the options of failure. Today, I'm a football and cricket team coach, a consultant for a French TV show, a speaker but, above all I’m an adventurer. That is where my priority lies and how I choose to spend my time. As for the rest, first come, first served. Beyond adventure, you developed a real life philosophy. Why is it so important for you to push your physical limits? To me, my life is one big expedition. Every day I tackle every challenge and appreciate everything beautiful with the same openness, humility and determination, no matter where in the world I am. By stepping out of your comfort zone, you are stepping into the unknown and that’s what makes exploration so interesting: to know the unknown! I do not see what I do as risking my life. I simply feel alive doing what I do, by living life to the fullest! Be honest, humble and real. Never stop trying. Never give up. That’s what a human being needs to succeed!
“The impossible exists only until we find a way to make it possible.”
THE FRAME/MIKE HORN
"The summit is only half way there. The real summit lies in returning home."
THE FRAME/IN SEARCH OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Globetrotter, you are also one of the strong-
Being taught to look over the wall is definitely the
est advocates of the planet. With Pangaea
best advice I ever received. Had I looked at the
expedition, you explored the globe for more
world differently, I might not have achieved what I
than 4 years to raise awareness amongst
have achieved until this day. For that reason, I also
young people. How is the planet as of today?
believe it is the best advice to share. Everything
I have a lot of hope for the future of the planet,
lies in the way you perceive the world.
but unfortunately I do not have as much hope for the human race. The planet can live with-
And the best advice you'd give to an entrepre-
out us, but we cannot live without the planet.
neur?
To preserve it we should start respecting it by
Never stop trying and never stop listening. If one
putting it’s needs over our own. The planet
is capable of listening, one is capable of adapting
will never die, the human race however, does
to any situation.
not have the same future.
Mike, you are a multidisciplinary explorer.
What do you think about environmental
What is your preferred field: water, earth, or the
policies of developed countries?
mountains?
I believe many countries are trying to make
Water in all forms: ice, snow, rivers, lakes and
an effort, yet these efforts aren’t global enough
oceans. Water is the source of life!
to change the circumstances of our situation today. We need global change, but local is always a good start.
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THE FRAME/MIKE HORN
In May 2015 you tried to climb the K2 summit with no fixed ropes and no oxygen. For you, was it the ultimate challenge to climb the Mountain of Mountains in such conditions, relying only on your own motivation and will? In every expedition I take on, I need two important elements. Firstly, I need a challenge, and secondly I need to better what I’ve done before. So going back to K2 was not only a challenge, it was also my second attempt. I don’t like to stop on a failure, therefore I had to go back and give it a better try in the hope of a successful ascent. This year I am leaving on an expedition around the world via the two poles and when I get back in 2017, I will definitely give K2 an other try! For me, K2 is the most meaningful mountain to summit in a climber’s career. It is the Mountain of Mountains! I won’t give up on K2.
You made this expedition with a team of expert climbers, including your friends Fred Roux and Köbi Reichen. You usually do individual expeditions. Is it possible to climb the K2 alone? Of course! We have however decided to take on the K2 challenge together, where we climb in a team, yet without relying on each other. Even though I have a tendency for solo exploration, most things in life are best when shared! Climbing expeditions are different to all my other expeditions, because our ascent’s fate is very much influenced by the weather. Contrarily to my other types of expeditions, climbing involves a lot of waiting and wishing time, and who better than your friends and family to share that time with at base camp when awaiting the next weather window! Additionally, each one of us brings a different skill or piece of knowledge to the table. You can always learn from another person!
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THE FRAME/IN THE SEARCH OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
For this expedition, you started with a trip of over 12,000 km to reach Pakistan by car. Why? To appreciate the natural beauty this world has to offer and to add an element of excitement to the expedition. I wanted to get to know the people and we would meet along the way, share their culture and witness the various landscapes we were driving through. I will always choose to travel on land over traveling by plane. Up in the air we have no control, whereas on land I have the opportunity to decide which road I’m going to take and which stops along the way I am going to make. I am the master of my own destiny. What did these different attempts bring to your explorer career? Every climb is an incredible experience making the summit secondary to the excitement and fulfilment I get from attempting to reach it. My strongest memory during these attempts is to always get back home safe and alive even if I do make it to the summit. Additionally, the summit is only half way there. The real summit lies in returning home! You’re also involved in the Pole2Pole 360 Expedition. Could you talk about this expedition? Pole2Pole will be the circumnavigation of the world via the South and the North Pole, engaging into different natural elements along the way. Social, environmental projects along the way. The estimated duration of the expedition will vary from 18 to 20 months. Due to the changing climate, it is very difficult to predict the weather today, and the weather will determine my progression. I like to think that the preparation for an expedition is my entire life as an adventurer, making the preparation time 25 years of exploration. I sleep, live and dream one project after the next!
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THE FRAME/MIKE HORN
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THE FRAME/IN SEARCH OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
How do you finance your expeditions? Nothing is possible without sponsors. Fortunately for me, my sponsorships quickly turned into long-term partnerships. I am very lucky to be supported by sponsors that believe more in what I do than in a commercial return. I am fortunate to have amazing partners. In theory, we select each other, and that’s what creates a great, trustworthy and efficient partnership. Nowadays, does innovation and technology make challenges less exciting and risky? Nature will always be nature, man will always be man, and experience will always be experience. Equipment and technology constantly change, and for me that’s a problem: one should never rely 100% on something that always changes! Are there any challenges left for you to take up? There will always be a challenge for me to take on in this world! For example, we still know very little about the bottom of the oceans.
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PATRICE MEIGNAN CEO T H E A R S E N A L E & L’ É C U R I E
Racing stable full of talent
T
here are certain kinds of people who are hard to describe, because they’re so talented in so many different lines of work that to put just one title on them would be basically impossible. Director, gallery owner, producer, advertiser, marketer, publisher, Patrice Meignan is all those things. He basically represents every job
you can find in a management consulting guide. At the head of Intersection magazine and of the communication agency L'Ecurie (en: ‘a racing stable’), the 39- year old mobility and image fanatic tells us a bit about his crazy daily life that he lives at over 100kms/h. An encounter with a strong personality from the mobile lifestyle environment who makes a point of achieving every single idea he gets. Even the zaniest ones.
Interview: Kevin Le Goff Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Remi Ferrante
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THE FRAME/PATRICE MEIGNAN
Tell us a little bit about your career path...
It was published monthly, making almost a 200 000€ turnover
I started out very young. I was obsessed with the press and with
and printed in 35,000 copies. For 10 years, I lived an extraordi-
images. I collected all the magazines. At 20, I must have had
nary life and travelled all over the world. I went to some amazing
around 300 different magazines and 20 copies of each. I was inter-
places, such as the Yakuza in Japan, the Avian Porn Awards in Las
ested in independent underground press, cutting-edge stuff like
Vegas and the Custom Culture in Los Angeles. I wasn’t earning
Yellow Rat Bastard. I’ve got a strong visual culture and numerous
much money, but I was building myself a good network. Then I
passions such as motorbikes, cars, bikes, boats, skateboards and
published a magazine, "Extra Small", for children and parents. I
watches. I really try to specialize in exclusive and original sub-
did 10 editions from 2003 to 2005.
jects. Alternative social mainstreams interest me. Did you have any other ambitions at the time? Did your passions help you to increase your visual culture?
When you do a magazine, you always think that you’re making
I launched my first magazine at 19. I was in a Sup de Co (high
the best magazine in the world. But every time I received Inter-
level business school) in Grenoble. There was a publishing house
section, a magazine I was subscribed to, it was like a slap in face.
there that published 10 snowboarding magazines. They hired me
It was way better than what I was doing at the time. One day I
to be their Head of Advertising. Then I became chief editor of
decided to go see the founders in London. Back then, it was fund-
a magazine called Snowsurf. 8 months later, I was in charge of
ed by Rankin, who did Dazed and Confused and Jefferson Hack,
three magazines: Snowsurf, Wind and Surf Trip. In 1999, aged 21,
who now does Another Magazine. I told them I wanted to launch
I pitched an idea for a new mag to the publishing house: "Blast". It
Intersection
was a huge success.
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THE FRAME/RACING STABLE FULL OF TALENT
internationally. I was completely mesmerized by mobility and
alize, make, produce, find a set designer, a photographer, a stu-
style in motion. I’ve been publishing the magazine for ten years
dio, but then that's how I visualize this business. You have to have
now in 5 different countries: France, Belgium, Monaco, Morocco
a very broad scope between networks, knowledge, production,
& Russia. I have the life I want and I have access to anyone I want.
publication and the lobby.
I think I've pretty much interviewed everyone, from Magnus Walker to Carlos Ghosn.
What fascinates you most; the visual, the experience or the freedom it brings you?
What are the advantages of running a magazine?
All of that put together: Simply being recognized by my peers
I’ve been able to ride in all the cars and planes under the sun, to
as someone who does amazing quality stuff. I don’t do it for the
get on submarines and aircraft carriers. It especially helped me
money but for my love for publishing and for the subjects. I love
to have a big lobby. When Karl Lagerfeld spoke about us and said
transcending the rules and try to go far as possible in my crazy
that we were the "Vogue of mobility", that definitely gave us some
ideas. My strength is that I always manage to accomplish them.
credibility. You become an authority figure and have the power to
One day I hung a Peugeot RCZ under a cable car, I put 50 journal-
say what’s good or what isn’t. No one questions what you do and
ists in a cabin and, halfway up, I simulated a power failure on the
you can really let your creativity run wild. In 10 years, I've never
Diablerets glacier trip in Switzerland. I then opened the trapdoor
once used a single press photo. I produce 100% of the contents I
and the car was underneath.
publish. Production is complicated because you have to conceptu-
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"One day I hung a Peugeot RCZ under a cable car, I also sunk an Audi TT in a pool and I flew a Fiat 500 underneath a helicopter that I was piloting."
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THE FRAME/PATRICE MEIGNAN
"What we are into is achieving greatness"
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THE FRAME/RACING STABLE FULL OF TALENT
That’s how the journalists discovered the car! I also sunk an AUDI
rie. Each designed their own Mustang. Then, we did a big digital
TT in a pool , a revival of the legendary Rolling Stones stunt the
operation with a contest on Instagram, movies, photos and a for-
day they crashed their car in the Hotel de Paris’s swimming pool
mal launch at the Republican Guard 15 days ago, which is where
in Monaco. And I flew a Fiat 500 underneath a helicopter that I
the French Rebublican guard’s horses are trained. It’s really a
was piloting. I make my ideas work and, above all, I get the brands
360° operation that takes around 6 months to complete. They are
to pay for them. To fly a car underneath a helicopter costs 50000€.
fairly substantial budgets.
A magazine without brands can’t exist, but a magazine whose business model is focused solely on publishing can’t exist either.
And what about the strategic part?
Nowadays, the media generates a community but if you don’t gen-
I do strategic consulting to CEOs and marketing positioning in
erate a parallel business in this community, it won’t work. So I
my area of expertise. I recently worked with Renault. Renault is
managed, in 10 years, to develop work for brands, a job agency.
making a coming back in Formula 1 racing and they’re buying
That’s how L’Ecurie was born.
Lotus. They came to me so as I could portray the new story of this racing stable who already have 37 years of presence on the
How is L’Ecurie structured?
circuits. I’m in the middle of creating the most stylish team in the
Well, it’s developed into a communication agency which special-
world, with the mind spirit and the DNA of a French brand. All
izes in motion. I established the agency with different centres in-
that around the transfer of technologies. In F1, it’s like when Air-
cluding a Content Creation centre, which does photos, videos and
bus uses their expertise and know-how on a car in order to make
films for brands; an event’s group to launch them; we’ve also got a
it faster. Or when a top fashion designer designs a pilot’s uniform.
strategy centre and a Public Relations centre, of lobby, influence
It makes a difference. And all this creates storytelling, brand con-
and a Social Push in which I take care of Lifestyle’s PR.
tent around the team.
In your opinion, what does Lifestyle mean?
If I’m not mistaken, there’s a third part to all this, isn’t there?
It’s a word that helps you understand what ”Hors-captif” means.
Yes, that would be the commercial side of my business. I thought a
In the watch industry, watch brands do articles for watchmaking
lot about my areas of influence and "the content" which gives me a
magazines but it's important for those brands to be present in life-
certain aura and allows me to create a community. It’s the theory
style magazines as well, such as GQ or Vogue. In the car indus-
of the 3C’s: "Content / Community / Commercialization". The con-
try, purchase applications done by magazines today represent 10
tent is thanks to the magazines, the only problem being that if you
to 15%. The act of buying is prescribed by the woman who reads
find a cool product in a magazine that you want, you can’t click on
Vogue, who sees a cool car in a magazine and who then talks
it to buy it. The community itself is made up of social networks.
about it to her husband. And that’s where we come in; we work on
You can start a dialogue that can become profitable and that way
that media target. In PR, we take care of Mercedes, Smart, AMG,
start selling products. I’ve set up a pretty specific market place
Asics, Ducati, Nixon, Tudor, Bombardier, InCase, Bogarde, Loui-
called "TheArsenale". It’s a very strong name that has two mean-
son Bobet and Frauscher.
ings. First of all, the Arsenal is a place in Venice where Marco Polo’s boats were manufactured and where great conquerors con-
How does the event planning side work?
quered Europe. It is also a military arsenal where weapons are
I choose 100% of my collaborations. Mustang recently came to me
kept. When you’re a modern dandy, your weapons are the « boys'
because they wanted to franchise the car, personify it and give it
toys » such as airplanes and boats. I am going to create new media
a more ‘human’ touch. So I chose six contemporary artists, sculp-
for that market, more focused on 'Products, Mobility & Visions of
tors and photographers, such as Mathieu Caesar, Lélu Thomas,
the Future' and interview the designers and engineers.
Noah Duchaufour Lawrance, Alexandre Gauthier and L’Encre-
Swenson Magazine | Page 43
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THE FRAME/RACING STABLE FULL OF TALENT
What are the products for sale on the platform www.thearse-
the skittles are going to fall, but all the jobs are pretty much the
nale.com?
same really, they are all activities that self-feed themselves. My
We don’t sell BMW or Mercedes, only products made by the plat-
next goal is profitability. The turnover and the volume are not
form, that is to say “co-branding”. We already have 70 exclusive,
everything. My turnover represents about 80 projects a year. For
deluxe products. The idea is to federate independent businesses.
profitability, it takes time to understand, especially when you’re
The world has changed and industrialization has become possi-
neither CEO (Chief Executive Officer) or CFO (Chief Financial
ble. He who customized motorcycles
Officer). I grab my pilgrim’s staff and continue to advance and stay brave.
“Climbing up a ladder, that’s what my life is all about”
You seem to be omnipresent at trade shows. Is this one of your priorities? It’s what I enjoy the most. Last week I was in Hong Kong, at "Watches & Wonders", a trade show which usually takes place in Geneva. All the CEOs were there. From Roger Dubuis to Richard Mille. I do this in every industry. I do le Bourget and the Monaco
in his garage 20 years ago used to be called a preparer. Now they are brands. Deus, Blitz, Clutch are independent preparers who have also become brands. The idea is to become a platform for
Yacht Show. It’s exciting to be able to talk to a Riva, a Peugeot, Dassault and then a Bell & Ross. I also go to Los Angeles and I was in Milan yesterday. Monday, I fly back to Shanghai to meet up
those brands.
with some clients. That's what I love doing most, catching planes
How do you manage to communicate this passion to others so
Trade shows are in my blood, I have to do them all! My sched-
as it ends up becoming the same dynamic for everybody? I hold meetings every morning and in those meetings I push people in their retrenchment, I coach them and encourage them. I do participatory management, a sort of creative Factory. I have 17 people who work for me and fifty employees. I want people to be happy. There are no work schedules but they are here all the time, it's a kind of a family, a racing stable full of talent. We make 4 million euros a year, it’s good but we’re hardly a multinational. What’s good is that we have the luxury of choosing our own pro-
and visiting all the different trade shows, one after the other. ule this year is Bâle, Baselworld, the SIHH (A trade show for fine watchmaking) and we’re doing 7 or 8 car shows because the guys have to see me in person. How do you manage to keep this dynamic pace? There is physical fatigue, I’d sometimes love to just hang around in garages and drink beer with my guys. But I dig setting goals and seeing that I can manage to accomplish them. I started 15 years ago and my boss at the time, at the world championship of
jects. What we’re into is achieving greatness.
snowboarding in 1997, said « you see the glacier up the top, you go
How do you manage to juggle all 3 projects?
I went up to the top, stuck the banner up and when I came down,
I could just do Intersection, or just L’Ecurie or just TheArsenale but I think that they all kind of feed off one other. All three are
stick a banner up there." I said "Ok, what do I do next?" I’m climbing up a ladder, that’s what my life is all about.
connected somehow. 3 compagnies, 3 main projects. What I want to do now is to move towards this ultra-professionalization of a creative company. I juggle a bit sometimes, never knowing where
Swenson Magazine | Page 45
MODERN
MINDS Page 46 | Swenson Magazine
INSPIRING STORIES
A session with Arthur De Kersauson A visit at Slack: “Email is (not) dead”
Swenson Magazine | Page 47
A R T H UR D E K E RSAUSO N CEO MERCENARY PROD
A unique model of production
A
rthur De Kersauson and ClÊment Beauvais are Parisians who met at university in Sydney, Australia. Over the last few years, they have been working together as producers and directors at Mercenary Prod. The Paris-based production first created "The Greasy Hands Preachers", a documentary film
where mechanics become art and a way of life. "Films are as much art as they are a craft," they say. Trying to shake up the way people approach creating content, the creative duo defines himself as innovative "film-trepreneurs", combining entrepreneurship with the film industry. "We create a sort of hybrid between a documentary and a video clip." This is a concept I was left with after talking with Arthur de Kersauson, co-founder of Mercenary Prod. We decided to learn more about their new model of production.
Page 48 | Swenson Magazine
Interview: Kevin Le Goff Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Mike Valentine
Swenson Magazine | Page 49
MODERN MINDSARTHUR DE KERSAUSON
Page 50 | Swenson Magazine
MODERN MINDSA UNIQUE MODEL OF PRODUCTION
"Creation is not a democracy, it's a point of view."
Swenson Magazine | Page 51
MODERN MINDSARTHUR DE KERSAUSON
How did it all start out? It all initially began with Clément. We made an advert and video
One produces and writes, the other develops and writes. Then,
clip in Australia in 2006. Clement developed a preference for the
they make the film together. It exudes a philosophy where pro-
production work, while, at the time, I preferred to write. But I was
duction plays the main part within the artistic experience. That’s
more on the Business & Media front. I started by producing Clé-
exactly what we really wanted to recreate in our production mod-
ment and, later, we started working together. It all happened re-
el because, for us, films are as much art as they are a craft. Our
ally naturally. We worked together for 4-5 years in Australia and
methodology is just as important as the creative aspect. Every-
then came back to France. When we got back to Paris, we went to
thing has to be done in one go, otherwise you can end up fast with
Iconoclast for a while, then we started Mercenary Prod. We kept
something completely asymmetric. So that’s how we work today.
on producing and writing. Then, we decided to pair up, which allowed us to merge both our production and writing skills. The Cohen brothers have always been a huge inspiration.
Page 52 | Swenson Magazine
MODERN MINDSA UNIQUE MODEL OF PRODUCTION
experience, we came up with a sort of hybrid between a documentary and a video clip. A format where we would take care of the entire creation from the beginning to the end. It would allow Why does Mercenary Prod stand out from the other produc-
us to produce only the content that we wrote. The advantage of
tions?
this format is that, when we found ourselves facing a brand bid-
Our company has a pretty simple particularity. Nowadays, we re-
ding, the tables were turned because we had created both the con-
alized that the way business models were generally done meant
tent and the story. No more classic competition, where the brand
that everyone produced the same way with agencies. It actually
provides you with the writing, with the format, etc. We found our-
made sense but, in order to achieve external creations, the costs
selves working directly with agencies and brands but we always
were becoming increasingly burdensome for production com-
used an extremely upstream process because what we did was
panies. Thus making the agencies more and more greedy and
to think the project through right from its creation. We needed
the margins increasingly weaker. So, we wanted to change that
to define the financial envelop early. We knew exactly in which
business model and turn more towards documentaries, a differ-
direction we were heading to. We got rid of all the problems that
ent format that could create a totally different approach. So we
could arise beforehand, such as : Creative ambitions unrelated
dug around for a while and tried a few things. Thanks to our
to the budget; Unrealizable productions; Brand Inconsistency.
Swenson Magazine | Page 53
We make a film that is not doable in the economy of the classic market and we finally end up with something unique. [...] Wedon’tselljustadirector,wesellthecontent. We manage to achieve our projects with our own signature. We sell a way of producing. ADK
MODERN MINDSARTHUR DE KERSAUSON
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MODERN MINDSA UNIQUE MODEL OF PRODUCTION
Do you have a project in mind that illustrates your singularity?
project development. Clément: He takes care of the ambiance and
We’ve worked a lot with Dior, we’re doing 2 sets right now. It's a
the music. He finds all our titles, he’s used to work more with the
documentary series filmed all over the world. We travel all the
cinematographers to develop the general mood of the project. On
time and shoot everything in 16mm. It’s a very ambitious and in-
my side, I'm more into the project’s structure. That’s not always
novative project. It’s something new to the world of scents, we
how it works but we can caricature it that way. Basically, I take
work with the « nose » of Dior and we go across the world to find
care of the BtoB part, the customer needs, communication and
raw materials. We just got back from Columbia where we filmed
production. Ten years ago, people communicated by sticking
a documentary on columbian mines for the largest producer of
their logos everywhere. Today, it’s totally different. Everything’s
emeralds in the world. They wanted to tell the story of the mines,
changed so it’s a big job accompanying and educating the brands.
and our job was to synthesize the equation between luxury and
Subsequently, Clement does all the cutting and staging. And then
documentary. The goal is to bring back images defined as a mix-
we both edit it all, together.
ture between luxury ads, which are the identity of the brand, and a documentary narration.That’s what our business is about today.
How do you achieve all the different projects at the same time?
The brand has certain values and we accompany them in making
Our popularity is quite new to us so we’re in the process of struc-
a film that will be on the boarder of a documentary and a film
turing our company and learning how to say no! The main objec-
about the brand’s values. It’s a format that allows to add value to
tive is to choose wisely the projects we do. We’re also learning
the brand’s value, to portray their creative universe. The main
how to delegate. The 3rd person in the core is Thomas, our pro-
idea is to give legitimacy to the brand through content like this.
duction manager. He takes care of all the logistics. It was impor-
We want to give them something they couldn’t have if they were
tant to learn how to find other people in order to focus on our add-
the pilots of their own project. Come sit in the passenger seat and
ed value and better manage the operational area. Our working
give your community the film they want to see. It gives brands the
group is a family unit, which makes things a lot easier and much
ability to take their time.
more enjoyable on a day-to-day basis. Maybe that’s what helps us to go forward, either change our philosophy or not. The number
How do you gain territory exactly?
one objective for the growth of a company like our's is to learn
Well, it can be anything: Polo, tattoo, mines. Then we invest a lot
how to get out of the operational and focus more on the artistic
of time in order to produce a hyper legitimate film. In order to
value. Today, we have opportunities to move to the US and devel-
make it legitimate, one needs a lot of money. And we want to use
op our company. So the real questions are: 'Do we stay in France?
the money we get from either individuals, Kickstarter, or from the
Is it in our best interests to grow ? And if yes, how do we deal with that?'
brands to make projects that have never been done before. We invest the time and the means of production to do something that
What did trigger the growth of Mercenary Prod?
neither the TV nor the web can finance. We make a film that is not
Different elements that all matured at the same time. Six years
doable in the economy of the classic market and we finally end up
ago, the best way for a production to surface was through video
with something unique. We can see how working together is so
clips and music, with no pre-existing relationship with the artists
important in our line of work.
themselves. That was the case with Romain Gavras, Ed Banger, Justice. We didn’t really have that kind of relationship. We had
As a team of creatives, how do you divide your roles?
done quite a lot of stuff together but nothing had clicked until
Nothing’s carved in stone but we have a fairly clear division of
now. But we followed our intuition. We deeply felt that documen-
roles. Arthur: I'm pretty upstream with everything related to a
taries had their place as a visual vector. The bets were placed
Swenson Magazine | Page 55
MODERN MINDSARTHUR DE KERSAUSON
5 years ago. We bet everything on adventure, luxury and docu-
Any failures so far?
mentary. For us, those three themes needed to join together and,
I’ve nothing but failures. Some bigger than others. This is a com-
more and more, they would be seen at the heart of productions.
mon point we have with Clément and everyone involved in Mer-
And that's what happened. We positioned ourselves for 5 years
cenary Prod. Everyone I know, including myself, have messed up
on a market that did not exist and the market was finally created
a lot. Sometimes, we get crazy ambitious on a project but have to
once our projects had finally matured. Nothing happens by ac-
aim a little lower because otherwise we’d just end up screwing up
cident. We were lucky enough to share certain achievements but
completely. But what counts the most is actually doing it. There’s
everything that has happened to us is due to our choices. Things
the club for those who get things done and the club for those who
don’t just fall into your lap and happen. We run a company where
would like to do things but don’t. We all want to belong to the
everything is custom made. We’ve got a rather traditional ap-
club of successful people. But people don’t realize that there’s a
proach.
club just before that one, it’s called the club of people who actually do things, which isn’t a bad club to belong to. And with desire
We don’t sell just a director, we sell the content. We manage to
and perseverance you can then get into the next club. Creation is
achieve our projects with our own signature. We sell a way of
not a democracy, it’s a point of view. It’s producing the same qual-
producing. And because desire is contagious, that’s when the
ity, during 3 days with 70 persons, during 20 days with 7. We’re
whole business model starts to become interesting. Nowadays ,
outsiders and the advantage of being an outsider is that you can
the problem with brands is that they want to sublimate reality,
always try something else, you have nothing to lose. Constraints
however we just want to tell them that reality is sweet enough,
are always new opportunities if you’re able to understand them
and that if it's shown the right way, everyone can be ennobled.
and challenge them. Nowadays, I tend to favor situations where I don’t have a choice. The advantage being that when you don’t
In your very first documentary feature spotlighting a band of
have a plan B, you're gonna do something desperate & crazy that
bikers from around the world, mechanics become art and
your competitor wouldn’t ever dream of doing. Push it to it’s lim-
a way of life. Can you tell us more about "The Greasy Hands
its.
Peachers"? Since we had spent a lot of time in the bike world, and in the
Any advice for someone who’s just starting up?
documentary world, we developed a real legitimacy on the sub-
The most essential advice would be to understand your environ-
ject. That's why we wanted to launch into something more solid.
ment. Understand what motivates people to buy or not buy. It
We've been thinking about this project of film during 3 months.
doesn't mean everything is just to have a good idea. The impor-
The purpose of the film was to highlight different choices with
tant thing is to properly assess the scale of the project. Thinking
breathtaking images and beautiful nature. The film tends to ex-
too big for a small market or vice versa. This is what I see when I
plore the revival of manual work through the passion of motorcy-
look at projects like « La Quête des ventes » (report) or when I look
cle enthusiasts. We dug a bit deeper into the whole universe and
at the surf industry. I spend a lot of time observing and trying to
also the one concerning manual labor. What triggered our desire
understand. You’ll have a chance to be in the right place at a right
to make this film was the understanding that the story of these
time 3 years later down the line because you’ll have integrated
white collar workers, trying to lead the life they want to lead and
the market dynamics and you’ll know where you have to place
make a happy life for themselves by working with their hands as
yourself. It's not about the ideas because they come much easier
mechanics, was universal. The shoot lasted for a year and was
once you understand your environment. Understand that there
shot in 16mm in California, Utah, Indonesia, Spain, Scotland
are always ways to change the methodology of an activity and to
and France. These "band of brothers" seek arbitration. Orlando
increase productivity or attractiveness. In order to do things dif-
Bloom was the executive producer, he has a true passion for cus-
ferently, you have to understand and observe them.
tom bikes.
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MODERN MINDSA UNIQUE MODEL OF PRODUCTION
Swenson Magazine | Page 57
Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
Her (2013)
How Colors
Mood Of
The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014)
Page 58 | Swenson Magazine
Swordfish (2001)
Middle Men (2009)
The Social Network (2010)
Set The
A Film
Underground (2012)
Something Ventured (2011)
Swenson Magazine | Page 59
Page 60 | Swenson Magazine
SL ACK Email is (not) dead
In 2013, founder and Chief executive Stewart Butterfield created Slack, a messaging apps designed for teams. Over the past years, Slack's team messaging software has gone viral among business users. Valued at $3,8 billion, the group messaging platform counts 3 million daily active users today, 930,000 paid users, including employee teams at Samsung, eBay, Pinterest, the New York Times, the Economist and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA.
Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Carlo Ricci Illustration: Timothy Durand
Swenson Magazine | Page 61
MODERN MINDSSLACK
With his twenty years in tech, Stewart Butterfield has
played a very important role in the launch of his two main crea-
helped shape the Internet as we know it today. He was
tions. The Canadian entrepreneur's early experiments were
previously best known as a co-founder of photo shar-
clearly based on the game. His path to success wasn't so straight-
ing service Flickr, founded in 2004. Flickr was first
forward. "Slack is directly based on our experience of using IRC
called Game Neverending, a massive multiplayer online
in the years before we developed Slack. IRC stands for Internet
game, which turned into a famous photo-sharing-app
Relay Chat, a protocole that actually predates the web, from the
acquired by Yahoo for $25 million a year later. Then,
late 1980s. The last people to send messages to protocol channels,
Butterfield spent years toiling on a browser-based on-
like a group of people, a project, or team, instead of an individual.
line game called Glitch, conceptually similar to Game
But it also has limitations due to its age. So we built a whole bunch
Neverending. But he shuttered it in 2012. Glitch finally
of extensions. We eliminated email and other forms of messaging
became a commercial communication tool called Slack.
and it became a very powerful tool."
In just a few years, Stewart Butterfield twice turned video game failure into successful startups. His projects
August 2013 saw the debut of Slack, a tool that helps teams com-
are what we call "pivots", a trendy term to design when
municate. Both powerful and playful, the software helps groups
a startup knows a financial failure, shifts to a new strat-
of co-workers exchange instant messages and swap electronic
egy and suddenly blooms. Historically, Flickr was one
files. Described as "a fun place to hang out" and where office work-
of the original pivots. Butterfiled explains this phenom-
ers can work, communicate and learn from one another, Slack
enon to Business Insider: "Slack, very much like Flickr,
has become a "near-addition to the modern office" according to
came by because, me and a group of people who were also on
the Wall Street Journal.
the original Flickr team started a company, a massive multiplayer online game (MMO) called Glitch. Except this time, it
As a good tool for team communication, Slack is set on revolu-
was 2009, and it was very easy for us to raise money thanks
tionizing the way teams work and minimizing the need for email.
to the success of Flickr. But Glitch still failed and after 3 and
Launched as an "email killer", Slack delivers a blow to the tools
a half years and 45 people working on it, we realized that we
of traditional communication. It proved to be a unique platform
had 50 emails on our company wide email list because we
of collaboration in enterprise, with an easy way of creating a do-
created a tool of communication that was great. And this is
main, spaces for discussions and channels (chans). Each room of
something that we wouldn't have been able to work without
conversation can be either private (limited to a group of guests
again, and so we decided to make a good product for other
chosen by the admin) or public to the whole company. Simplic-
people, then started building Slack." During the last 10
ity and power seem to be the key. ÂŤÂ Everyone can have [email]. It
years, Butterfiled's early game-playing roots
can cross organizational boundaries. No one owns it. It's not some
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MODERN MINDSEMAIL IS (NOT) DEAD
particular company's platform. Like raw SMS, email will prob-
favorite office-oriented chat application among businesses.
ably be around for many decades to come." said Butterfield in an interview with Business Insider. "We obviously use Slack for eve-
Design, look, file upload, search, images, post commenting, chan-
rything internally. And many of our customers do as well — but
nel, room sidebar, integrations, emoji, pricing, it seems that Slack
we set up this conversation over email, and I expect that people
is beating the other most popular messaging and communica-
will set up conversations like this over email 5 years from now,
tions tools. According to some experts, like the web and brand
probably 10 years from now. However, Slack does replace the
design agency FabricEleven, Slack makes the difference. "When
internal use of email." Even if, for some, Slack is killing emails
Slack came out initially more integration options and better mo-
within a company, external email will never go away. Yet, often
bile support was enough for us to switch. We feel that Slack has
described as a "workplace revolution", when you think about in-
more soul and is more fun to use, pair that with great support and
ternal use, switching to Slack from email "gives you a lot more
a team that only focuses on a single product instead of many and
transparency", admits Butterfield.
you have a clear winner." Easier to navigate, an attractively simple design, an easy access to files, a built-in way to upload and share
Since its creation, Slack has known a viral takeoff and an expo-
files with team members… Slack is a hit with everyone. "While it’s
nential growth. With 6K users in December 2013, 350K a year
easy to debate the pros and cons of each web app, the overall feel-
later, 2 million in December 2015, and 3 million in May 2016 the
ing was that Slack was just easier. Whether it was proper UX or
company became the fastest-growing business software applica-
design, something about the eye test gave it a victory." says Social
tions of all times and raised $540 million. The scale of revenue
Media Week. "Though some may compare the Hipchat vs Slack
growth is unprecedented, so impressive that Butterfield received
battle to MySpace vs Facebook, I think it is much closer to AIM vs
an "Innovator" award from the Wall Street Journal Magazine in
ICQ – two successful chat programs who each maintained their
November 2015, in front of celebrities like Brad Pitt, Karlie Kloss
respective audiences. " Slack recently opened up an app store of-
and Robert DeNiro.
fering other productivity tools and an $80 million fund to invest in new integrations. The "Slack App Directory" currently offers
As every successful leading and established company, Slack
160 apps- users can access or download services like Twitter,
knows the competition. Other capable apps for inter-office com-
Dropbox, Trello, and Google Drive among them — where admin-
munication, called Hipchat and Yammer, struggle to become the
istrators can install them on their team's Slack instance.
leading collaboration platform. Acquired by Microsoft for $1,2 billion in cash, Yammer joined the Microsoft Office Division in June 2012. Yet with similar approaches, Hipchat, Yammer and Slack differentiate on some functionalities, making the latest the
Swenson Magazine | Page 63
MODERN MINDSSLACK
THE GAME
CHANGER
Page 64 | Swenson Magazine
MODERN MINDSEMAIL IS (NOT) DEAD
“Everyone can have [email]. It can cross organizational boundaries. No one owns it. It's not some particular company's platform. Like raw SMS, email will probably be around for many decades to come. However, Slack does replace the internal use of email.�
Swenson Magazine | Page 65
MODERN MINDSSLACK
Stewart Butte turned video into success
Page 66 | Swenson Magazine
MODERN MINDSEMAIL IS (NOT) DEAD
terfield twice o game failure sful startups.
Swenson Magazine | Page 67
MODERN MINDSSLACK
Undoubtedly, Butterfield left his mark on the tech world. He said
The instant collaboration tool Slack created a way to improve
to Business Insider: "Whether that's due to the spread of networks
radically a company's productivity and competitiveness, and
everywhere, the rise of the smartphone, the 500-800 million peo-
make communication more efficient. Facebook at Work, a version
ple coming online at the same time, or the growing familiarity
of the popular social media platform, recently launched as a new
with messaging apps and platforms or the growing comfort with
business-focused messaging app. However, Stewart Butterfield
e-commerce, or any of those kinds of things — there are so many
doesn't fear the new messing app. "The brand ‘Facebook’ is not, I
technological trends coming together that the overall climate is
think, well suited to being used for work. The product sounds like
much easier." In 2013, they were 8 people working at Slack office.
it might be really useful at a really large company. Obviously, if
They're a team of 430 employees in April 2016. Slack is, "by far",
it’s a seven person company, there’s not much point in creating a
the biggest organization Butterfield has run. "We've been crazily
profile. But if it’s a 100,000 person company, then there’s certain-
successful. We had a fast rate of growth in the early days at small
ly some value in having that" Butterfield said to the "Next Web".
numbers, but it kept up. We've had over 5% week-on-week growth
"When I think about our larger customers, the bigger corpora-
for the last 70 straight weeks — and that has just continued.
tions and large startups – Comcast, Sony or Dell say or Airbnb
There's overall market dynamics, there's the technological shift,
and Stripe – it’s hard to imagine the teams at those companies
and there's the ability of companies to get revenue much sooner.
opting to use Facebook At Work instead.”
And then there's Slack's actual performance." Today, Slack is signing up all kinds of businesses, 930,000 of the active users pay for the full version of the with an estimated valuation of $3,8 billion. . It means $64 million in “annual recurring revenue. "You have to put in a lot of effort to make it work better for much larger groups -" said chief executive Stewart Butterfield to Ben Johnson and Gina Delvac from Market Place, "everyone from the 5-person graphic design firm in Omaha to some of the biggest companies in the world. So it’s an evolution." Mostly tech startups are using Slack but the range of applicability is broader than the four co-founders first imagined. "We have the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA using it. We also have the Teen Text Crisis Line using it, so suicide prevention workers coordinating. And, obviously, all kinds of commercial applications. The New York Times, the Economist, and pretty much everyone in the tech press. But also, creative industries, video post production and law firms." Not only, the group chat for employees definitely won users' hearts but it also became a monster success story over the past two years.
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P L AY
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ACTIVE COMMUNITY
Trip to Necker Island with Mai Tai
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MAI TAI G L O B AL A cocktail of elite entrepreneurs and top athletes Founded in 2005 by Susi Mai, one of the biggest names in professional kiteboarding and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Tai, MaiTai has been offering an alternative environment for conversations and relationships between awesome entrepreneurs, innovators and top athletes to be build around different activities. "We’re essentially disguising a conference as a vacation."
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Interview & Words: Elisa Routa Photos: John Dill
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PLAYGROUNDMAI TAI GLOBAL
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PLAYGROUNDA COCKTAIL OF ELITE ENTREPRENEURS AND TOP ATHLETES
B
orn in Germany, Susi Mai grew up in Dominican Republic. Naturally, she got into water sports. « Not windsurfing like my dad would have wanted but kitesurfing. I was competing for almost
seven years on the world tour and stayed in the PKRA kite world tour’s top five for six years. I've been a Red Bull top athlete. After that, I kinda stepped back to do other things in the sport. I tried to push sport for women and developed my own line of women specific kite gear, Siren. Somewhere in the process, I met Bill. And this MaiTai thing happened. » Bill Tai has a more traditional background. He's been in Venture since 1991 and founded around 8 companies at that time. He's often described as an angel investor to numerous startups in Silicon Valley. He remembers that mutual friends introduced him to Susi Mai, a then-21-year-old pro kiter who shared his love of the sport: « This friend lives in the same city as she. And it was striking how our names kinda fit together. Susi Mai and Bill Tai. So it kinda started by this entertaining little fun thing. A little fun fact that somehow evolved into a really great friendship and that is today the MaiTai. » As a cocktail or a mash-up, MaiTai was born on the island of Hawaii before becoming a global movement. Over the years, MaiTai Global has significantly grown, becoming a series of world-wide events around entrepreneurship and kiteboarding. « We help foster relationships between entrepreneurs from as far afield as Berlin and San Francisco, and athletes globally who gather to push the limits of life, business and sports. » says co-founder Bill Tai.
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“
There are similarities between someone who starts a company and someone who kiteboards. In kiteboarding, you fail and fail often. There’s a little bit of punishment that you choose to accept when you either launch a startup or decide to pick up this sport. Swenson Magazine | Page 77
PLAYGROUNDMAI TAI GLOBAL
Described as "the golf for geeks" by Forbes, kiteboarding seems
good first filter. Most of the time, existing MaiTai’ers will suggest
to have more in common with entrepreneurship than expected.
or bring likeminded new people into the fold. The fact that there
« There are similarities between someone who starts a company
are a lot of cool people involved, attracts more likeminded folks
and someone who kiteboards. In kiteboarding, you fail and fail
that like to share their views, ideas and passions. Everyone who
often. There’s a little bit of punishment that you choose to accept
“makes” it in life has to be driven by something. So I think this
when you either launch a startup or decide to pick up this sport.»
community formed around people who are driven by the same
explains Tai who is used to kiteboarding-related injuries.
things and have had the ability to execute and make things happen. »
« There are thousands of variables which are desirable to achieve, that you don’t understand until you’re into it, but you live for the
Since few years now, kiteboarding has played the role of the ex-
one moment where it all comes together and you’re flying through
treme sport of choice for techies. Sergey Brin and Larry Page,
the air and land properly, that makes it all worth it. »
Google co-founders, are avid kiteboarders. They bought the island adjacent to Branson’s private Caribbean island, Necker, to
Professional kitesurfer Susi Mai explains the role of kitesurfing,
take advantage of the great water conditions. Necker is known
as a very humbling sport. « The chance to make significant pro-
to be a kiters paradise and belonged to the few places where the
gress in kiting creates confidence. My role is to bring an all-star
five-day, annual invitation-only MaiTai event for tech execs and
line up of pro kiters to every event and make sure everybody can
startup founders took place (alongside Brazil; Utah; the Hamp-
get into the water and have fun, » says Mai. « I’ve been in the pro-
tons; Maui; Cape Hatteras, NC; the Dominican Republic; and
fessional world for so long, so all of my good friends are top ath-
Perth, Australia). Susi Mai explains: « It’s an action packed week
letes in this sport and it's the way it works so well. I get to bring
of fun, networking, sports and partying! The island really caters
really top athletes into it, then these guys get to hang out with
to the guest’s every need and so people have blast when they’re
top kiteboarders and we get to hang out with awesome entrepre-
out there.
neurs. » The professional team riders includes Jesse Richman, a world record kite flying champion who helps Tai's crew learn the
MaiTai adds a little special sprinkle by bringing together a like-
sport. Maui Native champion is aware that kiteboarding is a sport
minded group of people in an environment where they can get
with athletic demands and real dangers linked to the practice:
to know each other and talk about work without it feeling like
« A lot of these guys are fearless, they get here and want to go
work. We’re essentially disguising a conference as a vacation. » In
full speed. They're going to be dragged underwater for periods of
2013, Sir Richard Branson invited a group of twenty Sillicon Val-
time but they have to stay committed until they succeed. »
ley investors, entrepreneurs and professional kiters to attend an activity-packed week on his private island.
MaiTai gathers one-of-a-kind community. Lars Rasmussen, inventor of Google Maps and Facebook search or Young Sohn from Samsung are part of the crew. According to Susi Mai, there’s no secret behind such a community because it creates itself. « The community is always kind of growing itself, we don’t really advertise so people only find out about it via word of mouth or if they are really looking for something along those lines. That is a
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PLAYGROUNDA COCKTAIL OF ELITE ENTREPRENEURS AND TOP ATHLETES
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PLAYGROUNDMAI TAI GLOBAL
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"I was friends with Richard through kiteboarding for a long time before he invited us to come and bring a MaiTai event to his private island Necker. He loves kiting and he loved that we were bringing entrepreneurs and likeminded people to his island." Says Sui Mai. It seems that every session on the water can turn into a business deal. "I think what makes most of us happy is that this event makes a difference in people's life" says co-founder Bill Tai. In 2012, Voxer and Tango were listed in the year’s top-30 most downloaded in the Apple store. They were two of the many startups that launched their products at MaiTai. “Things like that happen on our trip. It’s unbelievable.” As a community of water men and women, MaiTai seeks to support organizations who struggles to protect the world's oceans from pollution, over fishing, global warming and habitat destruction. "Definitely our primary mission and loyalty overall is in ocean conservation. We are still a young organization that is finding it’s feet so there are still admin things that take up a big portion of our bandwidth, but we’re slowly adding more conservation focused expeditions to our event calendar and growing that side of things." explains co-founder Susi Mai. In November 2015, in partnership with OceanElders, they hosted the Ocean Gala fundraising auction in San Francisco. Set up as a non-profit to build a global community, MaiTai's mission was to bring focus to ocean conservation and wildlife. "The ocean gala served as a fundraiser for the two organizations, and we decided to collaborate because we compliment each other really well and together we reached a broader audience." Invited as the keynote speaker of the night, Sir Richard Branson said to the audience: "The Mai Tai crew wants to have fun in the water but also want to make sure that the species seen over are protected. Everyone can do something. We can all make a difference." Over $600K were raised during that night.
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PLAYGROUNDMAI TAI GLOBAL
Last year in February, MaiTai organized the first-ever Extreme Tech Challenge, the tech industry’s most intrepid competition, described by Susi Mai as an ‘American Idol’ or ‘The Voice’ for entrepreneurs. « We just wanted to find a way to make a satrap competition more fun. So we decided to model it after those talent shows and have several stages of the contest where the participants get access to a part of the MaiTai community. We hosted a series of events, starting with the top 25 XTC party in San Fransisco over Christmas, the semi finals where the top 10 pitched live to the judges at CES in Las Vegas, and the finals on Necker Island where the judges decided on the final winner. All throughout the contest, the finalists were exposed to cool people and part of exciting events.» Stepping into the 3rd edition of the XTChallenge, Mai promises to offer lots new fun surprises to the attendees. « Sir Richard Branson was a judge last year, he seems to really enjoy the XTC and we will of course be more than honored to have his continued support. It’s still early in the game but we are going to be bringing some great new judges to the panel for 2017. We are already getting a lot of applications this year so we’re hoping to really attract more high quality companies than ever before and have amazing finalists on Necker. »
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PLAYGROUNDA COCKTAIL OF ELITE ENTREPRENEURS AND TOP ATHLETES
Norway, Las Vegas, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Hong Kong, MaiTai plans to be everywhere this year again. Susi Mai concludes: « We always have a few cool things on the back burner. This year we are launching ourselves fully into the MaiTai Expeditions and also focusing on a potential extreme tech festival in Perth in April 2017. We will have our standard events plus a few new exciting ones like Fiji for surfing and Africa for safari conservation. »
THE GALION PROJECT
FOUNDER KITE CLUB
Summit is the leading community for
The Galion Project is a think tank that
Founders Kite Club was initiated by a
entrepreneurs, innovators, and thought
brings together entrepreneurs with the
bunch of entrepreneurs and founded by
leaders who believe that business and
ambition to change the world through
Sebastian Heitmann (CEO BEST Kite-
collaboration are tools that should be
breakthrough innovation. The aim is to
boarding), Christoph Jost and Florian
used to affect positive impact in the
exchange together to build the futur digi-
Wilken in February 2013. In 2014 Mario
world. Founded in 2008 as a gathering
tal champions. They share extraordinary
Steinbuch joined the team and is now in
for 19 people.
experiences through Kitesurf.
charge of the operational business.
SUMMIT POWDER MOUNTAIN
www.summitpowdermountain.com
www.thegalionproject.com
www.founderskiteclub.com
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MAN-
NERS Page 84 | Swenson Magazine
ENTREPRENEURS’ BACKPACKS
How to succeed your Kickstarter campaign with John Dimatos Have a social presence with David Ams
Swenson Magazine | Page 85
COMMUNITY
IS THE KEY How to federate a large community and create a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter? with John Dimatos, Head of Design and Technology Team at Kickstarter.
T
oday, with over $1 billion raised for over 100,000 successful founded projects over the course of 6 years, Kickstarter has become the world’s largest crowdfunding platform. We sat down with the Head of Design and
Technology Team, John Dimatos, to discuss the global potential of such a great community of people and institutions around the world. Previously founder of an oriental rug company, Head of the Applications at MakerBot Industries, one of the first 3D companies, the NYC-based Kickstarter’s head of D&T team engages himself to find projects that are in service of using technology in an impactful way. In constant connection with the project creators for the duration of the campaign, John Dimatos wants to reach a global audience and makes the creative entrepreneurs’ community the central component of his work.
Interview & Words: Elisa Routa Photos: David Gallagher
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Tell us a bit about your background.
Open source Hardware, which was
I grew up up in Greece, and I came
fascinating. Being able to make
to the States for College. I've always
things but also share all the details
wanted to be a politician when I
about how it’s made, what goes into
was a kid so I studied international
it, create things for the long run and
politics. But I discovered that I really
being able to make them again.
cared more about technology from a policy perspective. When I gradu-
That’s when you ended up working
ated from school, everybody that I
for MakerBot?
knew went to either banking, con-
Yes, MakerBot is one of the first big
sulting or became a lawyer. I didn't
3D printer companies. That was a
think it was interesting because I
fascinating opportunity. I was friend
didn't see concrete. So at the time,
at the time with Bre Pettis, the found-
my best friend and I went in the re-
er, and he said « come in and help us
verse direction and we started an
out ». And what I ended up doing
oriental rug company. We were buy-
there was very interesting, he let me
ing and selling oriental rugs from India, Iran and China. It was
put together a team of designers, industrial designers, mechani-
a really interesting business to be and a very traditional import-
cal engineers, architects, 3D modeler, animators, all the people
export. We did that for two or three years. I learned a lot about the
who use similar software but from different disciplines. So take
story telling that goes into hand-made goods but also about the
somebody who does 3D modeling for animation, and take some-
operational realities of world commerce. And it’s interesting to
body that does mechanical engineering, and they both look at 3D
think about this two things at the same time. When it has a story,
space, but from very different points of view. And we all kind of
when it was bought on a trip, or when you know how it was made,
centered around the machine. And we decided that we didn’t care
it has a lot of meaning and a lot of character. And it’s something
about how the machine worked, or well it worked, we just decided
that people like to hold on to forever. But the reality is that when it
we’re gonna live 10-20 years in the future. We’re gonna live in a
ends up in your hands, it involves going through multiple stages,
world where everybody is gonna have this, let’s start treating it
lots of people, different materials. And at the end of the day, that
and using it like that. And it was incredible being in that mental
becomes something which is in tune to global commerce. Wheth-
space and watching them do their everyday work as if everybody
er it’s handmade or not, it is going to get into a shipping container
was gonna have this one day. But also because they had like 5 of
and get on a boat.
them sitting there in front of them.
After 3 years at your oriental rug company, you decided to go back to school? Yes, I eventually wanted to graduate school, a program at NYU called ITP, it stands for Interactive Telecommunication Program. It’s been about 35 years, it’s a really healthy combination of the arts, business and technology. I ended up there because, again, I’ve always been a part of some thread of looking for a meaning in technology and how people interact with each other through technology. How people make things and share those with each other. At ITP, I ended up being involved in a movement called the
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MAN-NERSCOMMUNITY IS THE KEY
What was the most interesting thing in your job at the time?
on stages. I talk about their work, sometimes internally in meet-
It was to watch them learn from each other. For example, the
ings where I say this is what they’re thinking about, and why
industry designer came up with a way of printing watch winds.
they’re representing it this way. But also taking back a lot of the
It was all in one piece, but it was printed in such a way that all
ideas that we have around, how people should be representing
the pieces were linked to each other just slightly. And you could
their prototypes and being transparent. And taking those back
break it up. When he showed it to the rest of the team, the 3D
to those communities and say wether they’re accelerators, wether
modeler and the animator saw it and said « wait a second, I know
they’re in schools, etc. We should be more upfront with your story
what to do with this ». A day later, he had used the same tech-
and your narrative of it, how you make what you make.
nique, but he used to make a stick figure, a little figurine. He used the exact same technique, he printed flat and when you picked
What’s a typical day when your name is John Dimatos?
it up, all the points of articulation were right there. For him, the
Sometimes, you have like very clear meetings, you know ex-
same technique that the industry designer was using for a watch
actly who you gonna talk to but sometimes, you end up having
applied to animation. This is not rocket science. It makes a lot of
a whirldwind of a conversation. You talk to somebody who has
sense but it was interesting to see that if you put everybody in
been working on very weird ideas about a device that interacts
the same room, if they’re all sharing the same techniques, and
with your entire household. Now it’s our teams’ job to shepherd
showing each other what they’re doing and how they’re doing,
you through this process. Or sometimes a group of students will
you gonna accelerate the modality of animation very quickly. We
come in and they’ll talk about their ideas, what they’ve been
did some cool stuff. When I left Makerbot, I ended up hanging
working on, how they look at the world or their anxieties around
out with my friend Fred who’s our VP of Data here, and he asked
how to get a job. And we talk about the different options, what is
what I was gonna do next. And I really didn’t know. He said « you
like to enter the work world, you have to take a stronger part in
know, we could probably use somebody like you at Kickstarter ».
defining your job. Rather than just taking one.
And that’s kind of why I ended up here. Do you feel that the community is the central component of What is your role at Kickstarter?
your work?
It was an undeniably interesting opportunity because at the time
Yes, sometimes it can loose some of its meaning as you kinda re-
Kickstarter meant to have somebody that who’d work to take pro-
peat it but you can always kind of pull back, think about what
jects and help them become in synch with their rules and their
it really means. Objects or things, business, money on its own
guidelines. But I realized at the time and very much has become
doesn’t mean anything. The only time that it ever means any-
a part of how our team works that community of people who was
thing, is if it’s part of our relationship. Our CEO has a great talk
making interesting things also just needed somebody as a rep-
in which sometimes he mentions the fact that you come to Kick-
resentative internally and to educate our Kickstarter team about
starter, you raise some money to bring your ideas to life, you’re
what this world was about. How they did things, why they did
going to spend that money, so the question is « what do you have
things,… And so what I realized pretty quickly was that I was
left when you spent it? » Well, you’ll have some parts, you’ll have
playing the role of an ambassador, of the maker and technology
things that you’re working on, that you’ve shaped, you have some
community, internally at a company that was becoming very im-
tools, but you’re also going to have a thousand or two thousands
portant, as a way to maintain your independence, as a maker and
people who backed your project. You can either treat them as cus-
a designer. Through this, I realized that the work I had set up to
tomers, but if you do that you’re missing something. If you treat
do 15 years ago in technology policy was what I ended up doing.
them as a new group of 2,000 friends, that’s a lot of people but
So that’s what I do and it’s awesome because I get to global tech-
there’s something interesting there. You get to know people, you
nology policy from the point of view of working with the actual
get to understand what motivates them, how they’re going to use
people who create these things and representing them sometimes
your products, why they backed you in the first place, what else
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MAN-NERSJOHN DIMATOS KICKSTARTER
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MAN-NERSCOMMUNITY IS THE KEY
they might be interested in. You could start having conversations.
Isn’t it an interesting thing? The next time you see her, you can
And it all becomes like one fascinating cocktail party.
say: « The trip you did to Japan, you took amazing pictures! » Isn’t it amazing to do that? It’s a complete different kind of relation-
What’s the key to create an ambitious project and federate a
ship! Do you think you could create that thing with the CEO of
large community on Kickstarter?
Toshiba? It’s not possible! That’s why the smaller things and ag-
The key is to understand how you get yourself into and why. So if
gregates on the internet are so interesting.
you come to Kickstarter or anywhere in the world and you have a new thing that you want to do, the first thing that you want to do is
What would be the biggest mistakes to avoid?
tell five or ten people what it is that you’re doing. And you want to
Making sure you understand why you launch your project. The
actually listen to what they can say back. Then, that slowly turns
easiest way to do it is to look at your project and your ideas and say
into a different kind of relationship, even though it’s your project,
« What would I do if Kickstarter was not around? How would I do
allowing them to contribute towards it becomes something that
this? » If you play that around in your mind as a scenario, then you
we usually see in things like music fandom or movie fandom. We
can come back to Kickstarter and say «This is how it makes my
know what these things are intuitively. We all participate in this
life easier and better ». So basically having a lot of intentions and
stuff. But we usually see it in things that we care deeply about.
mindfulness. What you’re doing, why you’re doing it. The other
Because if you go back to what it was like when you were 15 years
things you can relate to it is that not letting third parties or oth-
old, you bought an album and you listened to it 5000 times, it’s
er people affect your independence and your optimism around
interesting to think about having more relationships like that in
what you’re doing. We’re here to serve original ideas. We’re here
your life forever, as an adult. They don’t have to be that intense
to serve a global group of people. In order to do that, don’t let the
but it’s so much more interesting to look at a set of pencils that you
other people who have other agendas, or other value systems af-
buy and think « I know who made it, I know how they got made.
fect your view. Sometimes what we see is that people think that in
And I’m only going to buy pencils from this person for the rest of
order to be successful you have to make it very mainstream and
my life. » And then for that person to know that, what he does in
commercial. And more Sellsy and more traditional in a way that
his life is to make these pencils for 10,000 people. And that’s what
it’s presented. We feel like they missed out on being more authen-
he has to do and it’s an awesome way to think about fulfillment.
tic and original true to their own voices. When somebody is truly creative and has a true essence to who they are, the best way to get
What would be your advices to launch a successful campaign?
them to do the best things for themselves is to tell them that the
Make sure your story resonates with your friends and people
Kickstarter can be a long run. It will exist forever. Five years from
around you. And if it does, you have a much more better chance
now, when you look at the campaign, you should be really proud
to build and appeal to total strangers on the internet. Start by
at everything that you did. If there’s something about the project
bouncing your ideas off of people that you know already. It doesn’t
that you’re hesitating on, don’t do it.
take much. I was talking to a creator of a sous-vide project called Nomiku. The founder, Lisa Q. Fetterman, is amazing, she talks to more people than everybody else I know. She does everything from Facebook, she doesn’t use LinkedIn, she treats Facebook like LinkedIn. She comments on your pictures, etc.
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MAN-NERSJOHN DIMATOS KICKSTARTER
How do you make a selection of the best technology and design projects? It’s actually kind of easy because it’s very fun. You have so much to choose from. It’s actually not hard, the difficult part is, I guess, making some difficult choices around where to spend your time and attention. The first thing to know is that anybody can run a project on his side. There’s no game keeping in that sense. It’s a very democratic and inclusive aspirational platform. What my team does though, with David (David Gallagher: Director of Media Relations, Design, Technology, and Games at Kickstarter), is that we spend a lot of time looking up the projects and talk to people early on, and finding ones we want to work closely with and champion them. We ultimately look for somebody who has put a lot of thoughts into something. If you’re making something that is gonna be held in someone’s hands, and if you thought a lot about the materials, about the curvature, of how it’s going to be placed on a table, we notice those things. They’re the things we like a lot, not just us. We think you’ve been respectful towards your community when you think like that. That’s the one thread that unites all the projects that we work with. Today, what are the latest trends on crowdfunding? We’ve seen a lot of students launching small projects. It’s the best thing ever to see an entire class of ten design students with lots of small projects at the same time. Like a coat-hanger! They’re small little things but that’s so interesting. It reminds me of this moment in time when you can experiment on a global level and if it is the right tone, and if it is the right note, it can all of a sudden become very big. For everybody else, it can serve as an example and say « I can do it ». How do you envision the future of the company? I don’t want to close on that, it’s not about the quantity, it’s about mutual impact. I think when we start to see entire museums being funded on Kickstarter, when we see entire archeological digs funded on Kickstarter, that will be fascinating. Why not? That’s where things get really interesting. Kickstarter has been very young, we’ve been here for only a few thousands days. So this is just the beginning. The other thing to remember is having a long term view on things. We’ve only been around for a few thousands days, there’s a lot more to see. As long as we stay true to our values, our goals, we’ll keep seeing new trends pass through Kickstarter. The bigger picture is that 100,000 successful founded projects over the course of 6 years on a global level. So what will happen when that number hits a million projects? It’s terrifying but it also speaks to the global potential that something actually has to change the view of when people interact with other people about things in their lives whether it’s music of films or options. For me, it’s really the ultimate change on a global level overtime. Millions of people are suddenly directly talking to and have conversations about the things in their lives that they care about, a lot briefer than normally. So that’s the biggest trend overtime. We are only open to creators in a certain number of countries, I think we’re up to 18 countries but we hope to extend to more. As soon as we can.
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MAKE SURE YOUR STORY RESONATES with your friends & people around you.
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Words: David Ams Photos: Thomas Bergner
Why build a brand instead of features?
— David Ams
David Amsallem is a New-York based entrepreneur, founder of Kale Media (www.kale-media.co) a social media agency for small and medium sized businesses. Daily meditation sessions, surfing and skateboarding are David’s oxygen.
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M
ost of the entrepreneurs I meet are building a product, either with their team or co-founders (which I highly recommend) or with a development agency. They tell me about their project (when they’re not afraid of sharing it) with excitement and explain me why their product is going to be the next big thing in their industry. Everything goes smoothly until I ask them a very simple
question: Do you have a social presence?
As you can expect, the answer I receive is: they don’t,
where attention is so hard to get. If you don’t do the
most of them are waiting for their product to be “ready”
work, chances are high for your product to be invisible
in order to start putting out content. I really don’t want
at the launch and for you to completely miss your po-
this question to be a challenging one, but it’s literally
tential.
the first thing that I want to ask when people are telling me about their new projects. The answer to that
It has also become way too expensive to target an au-
question gives a lot of details about the level of con-
dience that has no attachment to your brand or to you.
nection they have with their target audience as well as
There is no way you can ask them to be loyal or to help
the things they can potentially leverage in the future.
your product to become a success. You did nothing for them so far.
> Do they deeply know what their audience wants or are they just making assumptions? > Are they already bringing value to some people who will be happy to do something for them in return? A leverage. > How did they identify the need for their product?
Become an expert in your field, consistently ship quality content, and most importantly care about your audience. Bring them real actual value.
> Do they have a community of early adopters to collect feedback from?
You are bringing the most value when you have nothing
> Do they have a competitive advantage?
to sell or promote. That is why several months (or years) before launching a product is the best timing. Your con-
The main reason why this question is important is be-
tent will be 100% authentic.
cause it’s too hard to have visibility for a product without having a brand or at least an established social presence. We live in a very very (very) noisy social world
Start building brand equity first Swenson Magazine | Page 95
“
MAN-NERSDAVID AMS
Your product will never be good enough, go out there and tell your story.
”
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MAN-NERSWHY BUILD A BRAND INSTEAD OF FEATURES
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MAN-NERSDAVID AMS
It will have the right approach, and people will feel involved and
one more week for this bug to be fixed or a few more months for
will be happy to be part of your adventure. If you represent some-
the V2 to be launched, go out there and build yourself or your
thing they like, they will want to be in the movement. If you bring
company a strong brand people will want to be attached to.
them enough value, they will be thankful and you’ll be able to count on them in the future.
I know we all want our growth to be exponential, and yes, building real relationships is not scalable. But by caring about your
Instead of focusing on that missing feature that will make your
audience and by bringing them unique value, you will build the
product “ready”, focus on how to create a brand people will love,
foundation of your business success. This crucial step might offer
and how to create real relationships with your target audience.
you the privilege to have other things to scale in the future.
Your product will never be good enough. Instead of waiting for
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MAN-NERSWHY BUILD A BRAND INSTEAD OF FEATURES
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THE
OBSERV AT O R Y Page 100 | Swenson Magazine
EXTENSIVE VIEW
No timeframe, no restraints with Vincent Perraud Sea Light by Fjordlapse Photography
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Vincent Perraud Photographer
No timeframe, no restraints
Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Vincent Perraud Illustration: Ornamental Conifer
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THE OBSERVATORYVINCENT PERRAUD
"Being popular on Instagram, it’s like being rich in Monopoly. It’s not real life." For Vincent and his 23K followers, reality happens only after posting a photo, just behind the casing of his phone, to the right of his QWERTY keyboard. Everything starts the minute he lowers his computer screen. "A lot of guys take it seriously but I like posting a picture of my dog just as much as I like posting photos of my job." Vincent is the kind of guy who can travel in the trunk of a 4x4 for nearly 2,500kms between California and Missouri. He’s also the kind of guy who runs out of gas in the middle of the desert. Adventure turns him on. And so does trouble. From South Africa to the West Coast of the United States, this French photographer’s work is now very well-known in the world of BMX and motorbikes, pure condensed testosterone that comes with different shapes and forms, such as the curves of the skateparks he photographs and the voluptuous lines of Porsches that fascinate him. "I've never been attracted to team sports such as football. I’ve always prefered things that require notions of control and heaps of adrenaline. When you ride a skateboard or a BMX, you have neither timeframe nor restraints."
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THE OBSERVATORYNO TIMEFRAME, NO RESTRAINTS
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THE OBSERVATORYVINCENT PERRAUD
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THE OBSERVATORYNO TIMEFRAME, NO RESTRAINTS
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THE OBSERVATORYVINCENT PERRAUD
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THE OBSERVATORYNO TIMEFRAME, NO RESTRAINTS
Originally from Bourgogne, he could have chosen to spend his life watching his nose turn the same colour as the burgundy grapes in the vineyards. But he chose to take pictures instead. Almost by accident. "It was an era of total recklessness. I was still in school, I didn’t care about much. And then I hurt my knee in BMX. I never wanted to become a photographer, but I was studying design at the time so I must’ve had a certain taste for aesthetics. Since then, I try to give myself the means to be happy. To requote a sentence illustrated by the English artist Ornamental Conifer 'Mondays aren’t bad, it's your job that sucks. Me, everyday, I get up with a smile on my face. Or a massive hangover." The very idea of becoming as bitter as a fermented kiwi pushes Vincent every day to collaborate with the brands he admires. Deus Ex Machina, Vans, Carhartt, North Face, Red Bull, the list is as long as the dizzy heights of the roads of Los Angeles that he has recently photographed. More recently, Vincent has discovered a penchant for Porsches, a logical evolution that is mainly due to him being over thirty. Which goes to show, just like a grand cru from Bourgougne, old is good. "I remember, when I was a kid, getting into a 964 Purple with my dad. It was pure perfection. When you’re little, you start off on a push bike, then a motorbike, then a car. And that’s when you discover a true sensation of freedom." Thanks to his latest project : the creation of a book of his travels for the end of 2016, Vincent hands are always busy and his mind is always elsewhere, in search of adventures. And trouble.
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Fjordlapse Photographer
Photos: Fjordlapse Photography Surfers: Blake Sands, Rhodri Hardy, Robert Dolama, Anders Johansson
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S e a Ligh t: No promises of the nig ht
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THE OBSERVATORYFJORDLAPSE PHOTOGRAPHY
Throughout his series of pictures entitled "Sea Light", Norwegian photographer Petter Claesson captured the natural landscape of his native country. He documented the endless conversation between snowy mountains, deep fjords and a wild sea. "I came to visit a friend who lived in the mountains surrounded by the sea, in Ă…lesund on the west coast of Norway.
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THE OBSERVATORYSEA LIGHT PROMISES OF THE NIGHT
It gave me an idea for an exploration and documentation." Strong winds, dark forests, sea eagles, and spectacular Aurora Borealis, Petter Claesson sees beauty and balance in the fjords. "I never stop photographing as time is changing. Sometimes sky makes space for the northern lights, with no promises of the night. I learnt to contemplate when the light slows down. The Milky Way gives directions, throwing its white map on the sky."
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THE OBSERVATORYFJORDLAPSE PHOTOGRAPHY
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THE OBSERVATORYSEA LIGHT PROMISES OF THE NIGHT
Unfulfilled. Shouting desires do not fulfil them.
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VERSO Page 118 | Swenson Magazine
A RECYCLED LIFE
From actor to director with James Lafferty From imposture to hero with Blitz
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JA M ES L AFFE RTY AC TO R
B
From actor to director est known for having starred as Nathan Scott on Mark Schwahn's basketball soap One Tree Hill for nine seasons, James Lafferty decided to become a director and took his talents to work on the set of The Royals last year. Working in film and television for over 20 years, James has never seen it as actual work. « It’s just
something I love to do. » Passion, positivity in the face of adversity and faith, that’s what the American actor, director and producer is all about. We met up with teen drama television series star to discuss his transition and to learn what it feels like stepping behind the camera when you are used to being in front of it.
Interview & Words: Kevin Le Goff & Charles Fourault Photos: Stuart Lafferty Illustration: Blandine Pannequin
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RECTO VERSOFROM ACTOR TO DIRECTOR
1. Can you remember the first movie you
(Waffel street in 2016). What are the dif-
The first movie I really remember seeing
ferences for you as an actor?
was E.T. I think it was the only film that
Every set and every role is a different ex-
my family owned on VHS. My family we didn’t own many films over the years. But looking back, I’m glad we owned E.T. I can’t think of many films that would be better to grow up watching over and over.
You were lead in One
Tree Hill, today you are acting in movies
ever saw?
didn’t sit around the television much, so
3.
2. Did you go to a lot of movies during your childhood?
I grew up in a small town, so for the first 10 or so years of my life, we only had one theater with one screen. It was on the main street, very old school. Going to the movies was a big deal for us, because there wasn’t much else to do in town. So we did end up going as much as possible.
perience, of course. But I think the unique thing for me in my career after One Tree Hill has been the experience of diving into new characters for relatively short periods of time. I had 9 years to live with Nathan from OTH, which was incredible. But now I’m getting to spend a month as a reformed mortgage fund manager in ‘Waffle Street’ or two months as U.S. Marshal Kyle Risdin in the pre-civil war era show ‘Underground’. It’s thrilling for me to spend a short, yet intense period of time with these characters and then just let them go.
4
You recently stepped behind the camera again alongside Mark Schwahn (OTH creator) on The Royals. How do you manage this transistion into the directing world?
I’ve managed the transition with a lot of help from a lot of very supportive people, Mark Schwahn being the most supportive of them all. On One Tree Hill, the transition was a bit more seamless because I had been working with the same team for so many years. There was a mutual understanding and respect between everyone on that set, so it was a naturally collaborative atmosphere, which is the best thing you can hope for as a TV director. Mark really helped me carry that level of comfort and confidence into my experience on The Royals. I found that team to be every bit as motivated, professional and collaborative as the people I had worked with before. There’s no doubt I’ve been incredibly fortunate in my experiences so far.
5
You are now an entrepreneur and have your own production company. What are the main challenges when you start a production company in LA/ in the US?
The biggest challenge is staying positive in the face of adversity. You develop projects that you believe in, knowing that they’ll have a small chance of ever coming to fruition. But you can’t let the odds discourage you. You have to push through the rejection and the doubt, you have to be resilient and you have to be smart about how you spend your time. I’d imagine it’s not unlike many other creative ventures.
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RECTO VERSOJAMES LAFFERTY
6
How competitive is it?
You can't overstate just how competitive an atmosphere it is amongst production startups in Los Angeles. It’s not so much that you’re in direct competition with other companies for contracts or jobs, it’s that you’re in competition with other companies for people’s attention. You’re trying to tell a story, so you need to convince everyone from the people who put up the money for production, to the people who are looking for movies to rent on their AppleTVs, that your story is the one that’s worth their time. So you’re really compet-
8
What are you most focused on while directing?
I don’t think there’s any one thing I can say I pay attention to more than another while
ing with so many elements that it actually
I’m directing. That’s what I love about it. I
seems quite ridiculous when you take a
feel it’s the most alive I’ve ever been on a
step back and look at it.
set because of that total awareness of your surroundings that I mentioned earlier.
7
There are so many moving pieces that demand your attention, that it takes a kind of focus you may not have even known you were capable of. It’s difficult to deHow is being an actor an advantage in directing?
There are definitely inherent advantages to being a director with acting experiences. You speak the same language as the actors you’re directing. You know what a scene demands in terms of preparation and performance from an acting standpoint. You value certain parts of the process more than someone with no acting experience might. But I think there are also pitfalls to avoid as well. The acting experience couldn’t be further from the directing experience in terms of your headspace while you’re on set. It’s important to remind yourself that the role you’re playing as a director on set demands a complete awareness of your surroundings, in front of and behind the camera. That’s not something you’re used to as an actor.
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scribe. As someone who is still learning, I shouldn’t claim to know what it means for other directors, but I do know there’s truly nothing better from my perspective.
RECTO VERSOFROM ACTOR TO DIRECTOR
9
What qualities do you think a good director has?
Again, I don’t want to speak too much to what I think makes a good director, because I’m still learning myself. But I do think that thoughtful, dedicated preparation is something I could simply not do without. I value every minute I have during the prep period in pre-production. It’s overwhelmingly vital to every single aspect of the eventual production itself, at least for me.
10
11
The movie you would have wanted to act / direct?
I’ll have fun with this one. Any Batman. Ever.
What kind of movie do you want to direct in the future?
I’d love to direct a character driven thriller. David Fincher is a big hero of mine and I’ve always been drawn to that brand of storytelling. That slick, clean execution. The masterful building of suspense. The dynamic shot composition. I guess those elements have been used by many before Fincher, but he’s the guy I really grew up watching, so I’d love to emulate that style for a film some day.
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RECTO VERSOJAMES LAFFERTY
12
13
What inspires you?
Can you tell us more about Underground, your next TV show and your character Kyle Risdin?
We shot ‘Underground’ in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It’s a pre-(American) civil war era drama about men and women trying to escape slavery in the Ameri-
What inspires me the most is collabora-
can south. I play U.S. Marshal Kyle Risdin. His job is
tion. I’ve been working in film and televi-
to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, which means he’s
sion for over 20 years now and I still think
allowed to cross state lines to pursue and recapture
it’s a miracle that so many different people
fugitive slaves. He’s a bit more personally involved
can come together to bring a singular vi-
in the lives of some of the other characters, but that’s
sion to life. Sometimes it turns out better
about all I can say about that. The show will pre-
than others, but in the end, the fact that
miere on March 9th in the U.S..
the job gets done still astonishes me and inspires me.
14
In 2016, you will perform in Waffle Street with Danny Glover, based on the true story of James Adams, a $30 billion hedge fund VP who loses his job to become a waiter at a waffle shop. Today, many people are quiting
their white collar job to become something totally different, crafstmen, entrepreneurs, etc.. How do you explain this trend? I think there are so many resources available to us through technology these days, that more and more people are realizing that they can pursue things they are passionate about in a very real way. We can open our laptops on our kitchen counter and suddenly the world and all the tools we need to interact with the world, are staring us in the face. The further we go down that road, the less people are going to be inclined to pursue careers that sequester them to any one cubicle or office or building or even city. And then there are guys like Jimmy Adams, who I played in ‘Waffle Street’. He’s a real guy. The movie is based on a memoir. I think his journey represents our growing awareness and social conscience. Jimmy realized what he was doing in the world of finance was morally corrupt, even though it was considered legal. That didn’t sit right with him, so he embraced a career change and went back to the basics to find something that would sit right. I’d imagine there are more people out there just like him that are trying to find their calling while also satisfying their moral compass.
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RECTO VERSOFROM ACTOR TO DIRECTOR
15
What will you do in 5 years?
I’d love to have directed my first feature in the next five years. Other than that, I can’t say I’ve set any lofty goals for myself. In five years, I hope to be on the same course I’ve set myself on now, just a little bit further down the road. Or a lot further down the road. Either will do. As long as I’m moving in the right direction.
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Interview: K. Le Goff & C. Fourault Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Mike Valentine & A. De Kersauson
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BLITZ
C U S TO M M OTO R C YC L E S B U I L D E R S
From imposter to hero
W
hat do Bukowski and a Mechanic youth training program have in common? Blitz. Opened in 2011, the Parisien workshop has become a reference in the art of customising. We met the founders, Fred Jourden & Hugo Jézégabel, who both now have solid reputations in making
custom motorbikes. Formerly a Marketing Director, Fred dropped everything to follow his instincts and give a sense to his life. Before he was but « an impostor who earnt 15000€ a month » and now he’s become the hero of his own life. There’s a huge difference between the two, in terms of status, especially to those who attend high society dinner parties.
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RECTO VERSOBLITZ
I get really bad back pains. In winter, it’s freezing. In summer, it gets way too hot. I cut my hands all the time. I don’t make as much money as I used to. But I’m happy. How did this passion turn into a dynamic of the entrepreneurial process and a retraining vector? If you really want to do something, then you’ll take the risks. Which is what happened to me. I used to make a really good living. I was very well established, socially, financially and professionally speaking. But I gave it all up. In 2009, I even went and negociated a part-time. I became a part-time international marketing director. And you can’t be a part-time international marketing director ! But all I could think of was : it’s almost 1 o /clock and I’m gonna be able to go meet up with Hugo. For 3 months straight, I spent all my mornings exchanging ideas on forums and finding different parts on the internet. In the afternoon, I’d put into practise what I’d just learnt. I’d become a « sham » who earned 15000€ a month. I realized that what I did with my life gave me value. And that what I was doing at the time gave me everything, except value. Nowadays, my value is to take a bike and to transform it in order to make it better looking. And the best part is seeing the smile of the guy who comes in to pick up it up when we’re done with it. How do you explain this sudden attraction to trades which were until now deemed as old fashioned, trades which favour above all human relationships? "The invisible work" is a book by Pierre-Yves Gomez, an economist who says "Let us give meaning to the real value of work so as people can say that what they do has a meaning and so that then they feel recognized for what they do. " The day I decided to do my Youth Training in mechanics and started taking those night classes, that was the day my life changed. I was surrounded by guys in their fifties, with no diplomas and who didn’t speak a word of French, but if you asked them to change the head gasket of a Clio, they’d get it done for you in under 30 minutes! Me, I didn’t even know what a head gasket was ! That’s when I started thinking « These guys are the magicians, not me ». But at that same time, I knew that right then and there that this was what I wanted to do with my life.
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RECTO VERSOFROM IMPOSTER TO HERO
There are a lot of entrepreneurs, especially digital natives, who
Why this sudden rise of interest for motorbikes and customis-
are going back to the roots to things that are real. How do you
ing?
explain that?
Because we all, at some point, need to be part of something con-
During the Youth Training I took in mechanics, I always felt as if I
sensual. Today motorbikes are consensual. 5 years ago, cooking
had access to a certain kind of truth. After that, there was no way
was considered to be consensuel ! Today, cooking is still fashion-
I could go back to a job where I was just a pawn with no real value.
able because it’s telegenic. But that won’t last. True enthusiasts
My value was defined by the people under my command and the
shall continue to be interested and those who just came to look
money I made. As time went by, I found myself more and more
because they thought it was pretty shall lose interest fast. Just
disgusted by the scams I both witnessed & created. When I did
like I did. I’ve ridden skateboards, BMXs and roller skates. You go
my Youth Training, all I wanted was, once retired, that instead of
where it’s shiny. You go where it’s cool.
doing crossword puzzles and watching Motus, well, me, I’d be in my small garage in the countryside, tinkering around on my bike.
How can you tell the difference between something that’s cool
So obviously, it started getting to me. I think that in our day and
and a true passion?
age, in our society, more and more people are wondering « Where
There’s a very pretty poem by Bukowski called « So you want to
has our value gone ? »
be a writer ». Bukowski was completely put under the spotlight, both his lifestyle and his work. He heard a lot of young people
Passion is a real trigger that shows the true essence of entre-
start saying "Me too, I wanna become a tormented writer." Bu-
preneurship. Why do you think entrepreneurship is not always
kowski had destroyed his life doing just that so he wanted to warn
taught in business schools?
them all by writing this poem. In it, he explains that if the desire
In my business school, I remember being told that entrepreneur-
to become a writer is not deep down, that if you don’t feel this
ship was a way of making money. That's not true. There shouldn’t
vital need to express what you have inside, to literally spill you
be any commercialism to it. At the time, if we’d have done a bench-
guts out onto paper, if you do it for recognition, money or girls,
mark, Blitz would never have existed. Since no one was riding old
then "Don’t do it." "Unless you die or it dies within you", except
bikes or converted motorcycles, the market research would have
if it needs to come out like an massive explosion, a sort of verbal
immediately dissuaded us. Today, you can see motorbikes in all
diarrhea, then do it. A very good manifesto about commitment
the communication campaigns. It brings together 12,000 people.
and passion. The subject is the writer but you can replace it with
In 2015, there were luxury brands like Chanel and Saint Laurent
anything or anyone.
who started to take an interest in them. Which must have given ideas to other people.
Is there a problem with the education system that pushes people to do jobs that aren’t meant for them?
Blitz is now a globally recognized brand, what’s the role of on-
We don’t make learning interesting enough. Lessons have to be
line marketing?
reconnected with reality. Today, in order to calculate the diame-
We are part of a generation of craftsmen who are not only skilled
ter of a fork tube, I realize how important it was to learn geometry
but who also, above all, know how to explain what we do. I learned
in 2D or 3D or to do chemistry, especially when applying products
to observe the art of communication. I know the codes. At Blitz,
such as paint, varnish or rust removers. It’s important to know the
motorbikes are considered to be more than just a means of trans-
quality of the product, how the steel is going to react. It would be a
port. It’s our way of living and it’s also what made motorbikes
good idea to allow students to see things from a new perspective,
"sexy" to the media. In three years time, it’ll have probably have
to take them to see documentaries, museums…make the lessons
lost it’s sexy but that doesn’t matter. We’ll still be here. Thanks to
more interesting.
us, quite a few driving schools have seen an increase in motorcycle licences and see new consumers arriving on the market.
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RECTO VERSOBLITZ
At your own level, do you try to have interesting debates and advise people about possible reconversions? We do interventions at HEC, the leading French business school, a 2-week managerial program for adults which is called « Develop Yourself ». We talk about concrete, tangible things to some of the biggest managers in the world who are thinking about reinventing themselves. Either it reassures them or it strengthens them in their ideas of why not do it. It’s surprising to see how now, our way of proceeding is being intellectualized. We never intellectualized it. To them, we represent what they have theorized about for two weeks. They are people who are about to make a shift in their lives, so I tell them everything : “I get really bad back pains. In winter, it’s freezing. In summer, it gets way too hot. I cut my hands all the time. I don’t make as much money as I used to. But I’m happy.”
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RECTO VERSOFROM IMPOSTER TO HERO
This passion is a part of your identity at Blitz
It’s important for Blitz to have an authen-
and ensures a certain consistency with your
tic story to tell, be it through it’s identity or
DNA. In your opinion, what is the concept of
with it’s actions. How you decide that you’re
a high quality brand’s DNA?
going to work with a particular brand?
Nowadays, brands don’t know their DNA.
All our collaborations are born because Blitz
An international director at Lancôme doesn’t
needs a certain product. Gloves, jackets and
know much about the brand’s DNA. Has he
leather saddlebags, basically anything that
ever put his hands in a chemical to manu-
we like but can’t find. So then brands come to
facture a cream? Nope. He’s probably just got
us and make us proposals. Up till now, we’ve
out of a very large, reputable school, just like
only worked with brands we already knew and
I did, which has taught him absolutely noth-
liked. Edwin, Piece of Chic, Bleu de Chauffe
ing about the reality of his environment. But
or Buscarlet. Before working with a brand, we
he’ll have other advantages, such as a network
ask ourselves two questions : « What is their
and an aura. For me, that’s not how a brand's
story and are they as passionate about their
DNA is preserved. It’s the people who make a
work as we are of ours ? » Then, we take an
brand's DNA, on a daily basis. When you're
extremely close look at all the specifications.
a marketing director, you're just a title on a
They are people with whom we have a very
business card. The bigger the title, the more
good relationship. We don’t just put our logo
important you feel. I was really proud to say
on a product. It’s not just business.
that I had 35 to 50 people working under my supervision. But it wasn’t working thanks to me, it ran on it’s own. On the other hand, if tommorrow Hugo and I decide to stop, so does Blitz. We’re proud to know that we have a true, tangible place in our chosen line of work. We built this ship and we’re the ones steering it.
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"We are part of a generation of craftsmen who are not only skilled but who also, above all, know how to explain what we do."
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RECTO VERSOBLITZ
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RECTO VERSOFROM IMPOSTER TO HERO
Being your own representatives of your
Have you ever thought about going back
own project, what does that imply for
to your life as an executive director?
the development and sustainability of
Maybe in 5 years, I’d be happy to go back to
the brand?
working in an office, especially if I worked
We are the first ambassadors of our prod-
in something that I liked such as indus-
ucts. We’re not trying to convince people.
trial design or in an advertising agency.
What we want above all is to not lose our
That way, I could tell them that they need
connecting thread, which is to simply do
to start doing more investigative work, re-
what we like doing. As the project is not
search and sourcing. Why is it that when
intended to be taken over, we’re not do-
you see an advert, you get this sudden urge
ing this to make history nor are we trying
to smash your T.V set up ? With a pretty ad
to create a family company that has sur-
campaign and a pretty background story,
vived 15 generations. I know only too well
I’m sure that people would go back to eat-
how things run in family buisnesses. The
ing organic. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work
founders of all the large brand names that
like that because the secret of power is to
we know now, such as Lacoste for exam-
keep people ignorant. That's why I don’t
ple, were extremely good salesmen. In the
want to be anybody’s boss, it's too much
beginning, Lacoste did it for himself. He
of a compromise on my values & beliefs.
simply needed good polo shirts because
The only thing Hugo & I like to say is that
he himself was a tennisman. In our day
at least we’re the heros of our own lives.
and age, Lacoste descendants are no long-
Wherever we go, we’ll have tried to turn
er tennis players so they are easily tempt-
something that we consider to be really
ed to do something else, to go live abroad
ugly into something beautiful. If it works,
and explore new horizons. They no longer
then cool, if it doesn’t, then at least we
need to fight to live decently and compe-
tried.
tition is fierce. So, in general, historically speaking, it’s usually then that family empires are sold because that generation simply isn’t interested anymore in keeping the family’s business alive.
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MONO
LOGUE Page 138 | Swenson Magazine
IN THEIR MIND
Artificial Intelligence is changing the world with Rand Hindi
Swenson Magazine | Page 139
HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL MAKE TECHNOLOGY DISAPPEAR?
Page 140 | Swenson Magazine
Few months ago, I was in Costa Rica with my girlfriend, spending our days between beautiful beaches and jungles full of exotic animals. There was barely any connectivity and we were immersed in nature in a way that we could never be in a big city. It felt great.
R A N D H I N D I // C E O // S N I P S
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I
THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION
you’ve answered it on one of your devices!
WiFi, our phones would immedi-
How did this happen?
a service and finding content is equally
ately start pushing an entire day’s
Back in 1990, we didn’t have any con-
frustrating on mobile devices, with those
worth of notifications, constantly inter-
nected devices. This was the “unplugged”
millions of apps and tiny keyboards. If we
rupting our special time together. It in-
era. There were no push notifications, no
take notifications and the need for explicit
terrupted us while watching the sunset,
interruptions, nada. Things were analog,
interactions as a proxy for technological
while sipping a cocktail, while having din-
things were human. Around 1995, the
friction, then each connected device adds
ner, while having an intimate moment. It
Internet started taking off, and our com-
more of it. Unfortunately, this is about
took emotional time away from us. And it’s
puters became connected. With it came
to get much worse, since the number of
not just that our phones vibrated, it’s also
email, and the infamous “you’ve got mail!”
connected devices is increasing exponen-
that we kept checking them to see if we
notification. We started getting interrupt-
tially! This year, in 2015, we are officially
had received anything, as if we had some
ed by people, companies and spammers
entering what is called the “Internet of
sort of compulsive addiction to it. Those
sending us electronic messages at ran-
Things” era. That’s when your watch,
rare messages that are highly rewarding,
dom moments. 10 years later, we entered
fridge, car and lamps are connected. It is
like being notified that Ashton Kutcher
the mobile era. This time, it is not 1, but
expected that there will be more than 100
just tweeted this article, made consciously
3 devices that are connected: a computer,
billion connected devices by 2025, or 14 for
“unplugging” impossible. Just like Pav-
a phone, and a tablet. The trouble is that
every person on this planet. Just imagine
lov’s dog before us, we had become condi-
since these devices don’t know which one
what it will feel like to interact manually
tioned. In this case though, it has gotten so
you are currently using, the default strat-
and receive notifications simultaneously
out of control that today, 9 out of 10 people
egy has been to push all notifications on
on 14 devices.. That’s definitely not the
experience “phantom vibrations”, which
all devices. Like when someone calls you
future we were promised! There is hope
is when you think your phone vibrated
on your phone, and it also rings on your
though. There is hope that Artificial Intel-
in your pocket, whereas in fact it didn’t.
computer, and actually keeps ringing after
ligence will fix this. Not the one Elon Musk
n the evening, when we got back to the hotel and connected to the
Page 142 | Swenson Magazine
And it’s not just notifications; accessing
MONOLOGUEHOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL MAKE TECHNOLOGY DISAPEAR
Musk refers to that will enslave us all,
we just crossed it. Taking the connected
clocks won’t need to be set; they will be
but rather a human-centric domain of
devices curve, and subtracting the one for
connected to our calendars and beds to
A.I. called “Context-Awareness”,which is
A.I., we see that the overall friction keeps
determine when we fell asleep and when
about giving devices the ability to adapt
increasing over the next few years until
we need to wake up. All of this can also
to our current situation. It’s about figuring
the point where A.I. becomes so capable
be aggregated, offering public transport
out which device to push notifications on.
that this friction flips around and quickly
operators access to predicted passenger
disappears. In this era, called “Ubiqui-
flows so that there are always enough
It’s about figuring out you are late for a
tous Computing”, adding new connected
trains running. Traffic lights will adjust
meeting and notifying people for you. It’s
devices does not add friction, it actually
based on self-driving cars’ planned route.
about figuring out you are on a date and
adds value! For example, our phones and
Power plants will produce just enough
deactivating your non-urgent notifica-
computers will be smart enough to know
electricity, saving costs and the environ-
tions. It’s about giving you back the free-
where to route the notifications. Our cars
ment. Smart cities, smart homes, smart
dom to experience the real world again.
will drive themselves, already knowing
grids.. They are all just consequences of
When you look at the trend in the capa-
the destination. Our beds will be monitor-
having ubiquitous computing!
bilities of A.I., what you see it that it takes
ing our sleep, and anticipating when we
a bit longer to start, but when it does, it
will be waking up so that we have freshly
grows much faster. We already have A.I.s
brewed coffee ready in the kitchen. It will
that can learn to play video games and
also connect with the accelerometers in
beat world champions, so it’s just a matter
our phones and the electricity sockets to
of time before they reach human level in-
determine how many people are in the
telligence. There is an inflexion point, and
bed, and adjust accordingly. Our alarm
Our cars will drive themselves, already knowing the destination.
Swenson Magazine | Page 143
MONOLOGUERAND HINDI
By the time this happens, technology
is everything else, such as the weather,
tool, over a period of 6 months. The huge
will have become so deeply integrated
the buildings, the streets, trees and cars.
green bubble is one of my co-founders
in our lives and ourselves that we sim-
For example, to model the social layer,
(who sends way too many emails!), as is
ply won’t notice it anymore. Artificial
we can look at the emails that were
the red bubble. Building this ubiquitous
Intelligence will have made technol-
sent and received by someone, which
computing future relies on giving de-
ogy disappear from our consciousness,
gives us an indication of social connec-
vices the ability to sense and react to the
and the world will feel unplugged again.
tion strength between a group of peo-
current context, which is called “context-
ple. Building this ubiquitous computing
awareness”. A good way to think about
I know this sounds crazy, but there are
future relies on giving devices the abil-
it is through the combination of 4 layers:
historical examples of other technologies
ity to sense and react to the current con-
the device layer, which is about making
that followed a similar pattern. For ex-
text, which is called “context-awareness”.
devices talk to each other; the individual
ample, back in the 1800s, electricity was
A good way to think about it is through
layer, which encompasses everything re-
very tangible. It was expensive, hard to
the combination of 4 layers: the device
lated to a particular person, such as his lo-
produce, would cut all the time, and was
layer, which is about making devices
cation history, calendar, emails or health
dangerous. You would get electrocuted
talk to each other; the individual layer,
records; the social layer, which models
and your house could catch fire. Back
which encompasses everything related
the relationship between individuals, and
then, people actually believed that oil
to a particular person, such as his loca-
finally the environmental layer, which is
lamps were safer! But as electricity ma-
tion history, calendar, emails or health
everything else, such as the weather, the
tured, it became cheaper, more reliable,
records; the social layer, which models
buildings, the streets, trees and cars. For
and safer. Eventually, it was everywhere,
the relationship between individuals, and
example, to model the social layer, we can
in our walls, lamps, car, phone, and body.
finally the environmental layer, which is
look at the emails that were sent and re-
It became ubiquitous, and we stopped
everything else, such as the weather, the
ceived by someone, which gives us an in-
noticing it. Today, the exact same thing
buildings, the streets, trees and cars. For
dication of social connection strength be-
is happening with connected devices.
example, to model the social layer, we can
tween a group of people. The graph shown
look at the emails that were sent and re-
above is extracted from my professional
ceived by someone, which gives us an in-
email account using the MIT Immersion
dication of social connection strength be-
tool, over a period of 6 months. The huge
tween a group of people. The graph shown
green bubble is one of my co-founders
above is extracted from my professional
(who sends way too many emails!), as is
email account using the MIT Immersion
the red bubble.
CONTEXT - AWARENESS Building this ubiquitous computing future relies on giving devices the ability to sense and react to the current context, which is called “context-awareness”. A good way to think about it is through the combination of 4 layers: the device layer, which is about making devices talk to each other; the individual layer, which encompasses everything related to a particular person, such as his location history, calendar, emails or health records; the social layer, which models the relationship between individuals, and finally the environmental layer, which
Page 144 | Swenson Magazine
MONOLOGUEHOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL MAKE TECHNOLOGY DISAPEAR
Swenson Magazine | Page 145
MONOLOGUERAND HINDI
we can understand our habits, and thus, predict what we will be doing next. In fact, knowing the exact place we are at is essential to predict our intentions, since most of the things we do with our devices are based on what we are doing in the real world. Unfortunately, location is very noisy, and we never know exactly where someone is. For example below, I was having lunch in San Francisco, and this is what my phone recorded while I was not moving. Clearly it is impossible to know where I actually am! To circumvent this problem, we can score each place according to the current context. For example, we are more likely to be at a restaurant during lunch time than at a nightclub. If we then combine this with a user-specific model based on their location history, we can achieve very high levels of accuracy. For example, if I have been to a Starbucks in the past, it will increase the probability that I am there now, as well as the probability of any other coffee shop. And because we now know that I The other fairly large ones are other peo-
key people! Of course, all this can be done
am in a restaurant, my devices can surface
ple in my team who I work closely with.
on social graphs as well as professional
the apps and information that are relevant
But what’s interesting is that we can also
ones. Now that we have a better represen-
to this particular place, such as reviews
see who in my network works together,
tation of someone’s social connections, we
or mobile payments apps accepted there.
as they will tend to be included together
can use it to perform better natural lan-
If I was at the gym, it would be my sports
in emails threads and thus form clusters
guage processing (NLP) of calendar events
apps. If I was home, it would be my leisure
in this graph. If you add some contextual
by disambiguating events like “Chat with
and home automation apps.
information such as the activity I was en-
Michael”, which would then assign a high-
gaged in, or the type of language being
er probability to my co-founder.
If we combine this timeline of places with the phone’s accelerometer patterns,
used in the email, you can determine the nature of the relationship I have with each
But a calendar won’t help us figure out
we can then determine the transporta-
person (personal, professional, intimate,
habits such as going to the gym after
tion mode that was taken between those
..) as well as its degree. And if you now
work, or hanging out in a specific neigh-
places. With this, our connected watches
take the difference in these patterns over
borhood on Friday evenings. For that,
could now tell us to stand up when it de-
time, you can detect major events, such
we need another source of data: geoloca-
tects we are still, stop at a rest area when
as changing jobs, closing an investment
tion. By monitoring our location over time
it detects we are driving, or tell us where
round, launching a new product or hiring
and detecting the places we have been to,
the closest bike stand is when cycling!
Page 146 | Swenson Magazine
MONOLOGUEHOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL MAKE TECHNOLOGY DISAPEAR
These individual transit patterns can then
retail store, everything that works here
relevant content inside them. It’s not yet
be aggregated over several thousand users
can work for all retailers: grocery stores,
perfect, but it’s a first step towards our
to recreate very precise population flow in
supermarkets, shoe shops, etc.. It could
long term vision — and it certainly saves
the city’s infrastructure, as we have done
then be plugged into our devices, enabling
a lot of time, swipes and taps! One thing
below for Paris. Not only does it give us an
them to optimize our shopping schedule
in particular that we are really proud of
indication of how many people transit in
and make sure we never queue again! This
is that we were able to build privacy by
each station, it also gives us the route they
contextual modeling approach is in fact so
design (full post coming soon!). It is a tre-
have been taking, where they changed
powerful that it can even predict the risk
mendous engineering challenge, but we
trains or if they walked between stations.
of car accidents just by looking at features
are now running all our algorithms di-
such as the street topologies, the proxim-
rectly on the device. Whether it’s the ma-
Combining this with data from the
ity of bars that just closed, the road surface
chine learning classifiers, the signal pro-
city — concerts, office and residential
or the weather. Since these features are
cessing, the natural language processing
buildings,
demographics,
generalizable throughout the city, we can
or the email mining, they are all confined
… — enables you to see how each factor
make predictions even in places where
to our smartphones, and never uploaded
impacts public transport, and can even
there has never been a car accident!
to our servers. Basically, it means we can
population
predict how many people will be boarding
now harness the full power of A.I.
trains throughout the day. It can then be
For example here, we can see that our
used to notify commuters that they should
model correctly detects Trafalgar square
It’s important to understand that this is
take a different train if they want to sit on
as being dangerous, even though nowhere
not just about building some cool tech or
their way home, and dynamically adjust
did we explicitly say so. It discovered it
the next viral app. Nor is it about making
the train schedules, maximizing the ef-
automatically from the data itself. It was
our future look like a science-fiction mov-
ficiency of the network both in terms of
even able to identify the impact of cul-
ie. It’s actually about making technology
energy saved and comfort.
tural events, such as St Patrick’s day or
disappear into the background, so that we
New Year’s Eve! How cool would it be if
can regain the freedom to spend quality
And it’s not just public transport. The
our self-driving cars could take this into
time with the people we care about.
same model and data can be used to pre-
account? If we combine all these different
dict queues in post offices, by taking into
layers — personal, social, environmen-
account hyperlocal factors such as when
tal — we can recreate a highly contex-
the welfare checks are being paid, the
tualized timeline of what we have been
bank holidays, the proximity of other post
doing throughout the day, which in turn
offices and the staff strikes. This is shown
enables us to predict what our intentions
below, where the blue curve is the real
are. Making our devices able to figure
load, and the orange one is the predicted
out our current context and predict our
load. This model can be used to notify
intentions is the key to building truly in-
people of the best time to drop and pick-
telligent products. With that in mind, our
up their parcels, which results in better
team has been prototyping a new kind
yield management and customer service.
of smartphone interface, one that lever-
It can also be used to plan the construc-
ages this contextual intelligence to antici-
tion of new post offices, by sizing them ac-
pate which services and apps are needed
cordingly. And since a post office is just a
at any given time, linking directly to the
Swenson Magazine | Page 147
LE
CLAN Page 148 | Swenson Magazine
COLLABORATIONS
Surfboard 6,6" with Supa Hero Leather Gloves with Kytone
Swenson Magazine | Page 149
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SUPAH ERO x SWENSON For this first collaboration, our team at Swenson wanted to be surrounded with authentic talents. We saw in Supahero a way to fulfill our expectations, passions and demands. Thanks to the expertise of Florian Auger, we have thus created a board to our image, mixing raw oak wood with the elegance of full polish and clear glass-on fins.
Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Florian Auger
6'6 '' x 20 '' x 2 1/2 '' Volume: 37L Shape: A versatile egg style for medium to small build. Special features: Easy to use, indulgent, designed for intermediate or occasional surfers to play around in waves from 30cm to 1,50m.
Swenson Magazine | Page 151
LE CLANSUPAHERO x SWENSON
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LE CLANSUPAHERO x SWENSON
Since the age of 15 when he shaped his very first board, Florian Auger has always had his two feet plunged in the world of board sports and his hands on foam blanks. He started out launching his own skateboard brand, Takin skateboards, before devoting himself to Supahero in 2002, driven by the desire to accomplish something awesome. « So here’s the story… Up till then I’d been pretty refractory when it came to the surf industry. I blamed the big companies for all the difficulties that artisans were encountering.To me, it was all their fault. I considered marketing to be pure manipulation, unethical and expensive and remained convinced that by doing everything on my own, in small quantities, I could provide better quality at a lower price. People would therefore notice my products and because they were better than any other, they’d obviously buy it. My projects would be perfectly viable, no need to invest. With 100 bucks, I’d do all the work myself, there was no stopping me, I’d be invincible! But strangely, my plan never worked. So I was forced to open my eyes. Give up on my dream. Change my way of seeing things. » To combine the technical side of engineering with the typical artistic side of any craftsman, that’s what Florian wants for Supahero. He firmly believes that mixing surfing with art & design provides exciting new creative opportunities. "During the past ten years, l’ve learnt all the traditional techniques of how to make the most advanced boards ever. I’m currently working with all the latest technologies of the implementation of composite materials. I’m trying to use my knowledge of materials to creatively assert a new style of glass for Supahero and to work with a maximum of people, worlds and different skills."
Swenson Magazine | Page 153
LE CLANSUPAHERO x SWENSON
Supahero, a family where each person has their specificity, have their headquarters based in the premises of the Antichambre in Anglet. At a perfect intersection between the showroom,a tattoo parlor and an art gallery, the Antichambre adapts, changes and evolves. Before finally settling down in the South West of France, the shaper, originally from Nantes, had travelled all over the world. From Morocco, Sri Lanka to New Zealand, Florian learnt a lot from the expertise of each new encounter. "I started out learning stuff through my friends and then from lucky encounters I made along the way ; new friends and masters who taught me so much. I learnt to ‘Eat fast, eat liquid' with Erwan (Juanito surfboards): When we had to skip lunch because we had too much work; I learnt how to practice martial arts amongst foam blanks with Renaud (UWL Surfboards); Having to redo a board on which I’d spent hours on because it wasn’t " smooth enough" with Fab (Blend glassing); I did a whole lotta crazy stuff with Paul and Tristan (Lucky Bastards). I met Haitians in France and French in Hawaii, Australians in Samoa and Japanese in Taiwan. I visited my country thanks to passing shapers and managed to surf everyday." You can find Supa Hero x Swenson board in our store: www.swenson-store.com
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LE CLANSUPAHERO x SWENSON
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KYTONE x SWENSON At a time of planned obsolescence, Kytone completely clashes. Taking great pride & care to make comfortable and resistant products thanks to expert quality, Kytone has put an end to disposable products. "Kytone is a philosophy of life. We work hard to create timeless, well designed products with no significant trend, inspired by our experiences of different riders."
Words: Elisa Routa Photos: Kytone
Swenson Magazine | Page 157
LE CLANKYTONE x SWENSON
A European production (France and Portugal), this French brand works hand in hand with their craftsmen, striving to give real personality to each of the products made. "We believe that men who work with no pressure or deadlines, who master their expertise and who care for every detail, have the same priorities as Kytone." In Kytone workshops, both uniqueness and durability are required. From design to manufacturing, we wanted to highlight these common values within a single product. Following an exclusive collaboration, these natural camel-colored leather gloves signed Kytone x Swenson were born. Since we believe that the products we wear daily show a lot about who we are, we chose a product with character, which alone embodies both strength and the softness of memories. You can find Kytone x Swenson leather gloves here in our store: www.swenson-store.com
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LE CLANKYTONE x SWENSON
Swenson Magazine | Page 159
Rethink the way you work.
www.swenson-house.com Page 160 | Swenson Magazine