Growth Stories – Alexandre Girard

Name:
Alexandre Girard

Job Title:
Co-Founder

Short Bio: 
I am a software engineer by trade and an inventor at heart. With over 15 years of professional experience and tens of innovative product launches in a wide variety of fields and industries, I have the ability to execute swiftly and walk the fine line between good, fast and cheap.

I have adopted a decisive leadership style, conscious that time is always of the essence, and as such assemble and manage cross functional teams driven by user impact and business outcome.

Hobby/Fun Fact about yourself:
108 days streak! What does that mean? Well, these days, I am determined to complete all of my daily health objectives, and my friends would receive unexpected notifications at 11pm that I have completed a HIIT workout.

Personal Growth Story:
Personal growth is more than just a subject to me, but very much a career plan. I’ve never really enjoyed standard education but instead thrived learning in an empiric manner: try, error, adjust, iterate. Hence my plan to scaffold my career with side-projects allowing me to explore business and technical topics of my interest.

The thought process was that in the worst-case scenario, I get out with valuable and practical knowledge and thereby fast-track my career. Best case scenario, I create a viable business and potentially make a fortune with it. Only winning outcomes.

Obviously it’s oversimplified and I’m keen to expand on that further!

Your Next Growth Target:
My next growth target is my current: grow Upflowy from 3 to 30 people. We’ll take it from there once we reach it!

Your Role Model:
Lately, I’ve been following Matt Fraser who’s been winning the title of Fittest man on the Earth for the past 5 years. I have lots of respect for him probably because he’s an over-achiever and certainly because he’s humble. He is able to recognise that his successes are the outcome of a team effort, starting with his partner.

Also, he has launched a motto that applies very well in my career choices: Hard Work Pays Off. One must believe faithfully in it if one wishes to overcome the many self-doubts creeping up in the journey of an entrepreneur.

What would you say to yourself 5 or 10 years ago?:
Appreciate the here and now. There’s nothing worth regretting so long as it’s actioned timely. 

The book you plan to read or are currently reading
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

It’s a book recommended by my colleagues Kay and Matt and that resonated with me when they told me it may help in achieving my goals.

1-3 books, podcasts, or pieces of content that you’d recommend to anyone:

• First Round – Leadership/Management (Newsletter)
• Level UP Tech Leadership/Engineering  (Newsletter)
• Intercom on Product podcast
• Software is eating the world – Andreessen Horowitz (one of Facebook’s first developers)

If you’d like to find out more about Upflowy, head over to our website!