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-day 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 11 pm 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!
Originally published at https://www.upflowy.com on March 28, 2021.
