This week, François Daigle-Bérubé, success coach, aka Anthony Vendrame, co-founder and co-owner of the company Poches & Fils, answers our questions about leadership. Or is it the other way around?
Posted at 5:45 a.m.
You are a real entrepreneur graduated from HEC Montréal who created the sweater company Poches & Fils in 2015. Where did the idea of making humor come from?
I always wanted to do humor, but I never allowed myself to do so. I’ve been doing stand-up for two years now and four years since I created the character. It nourishes me. I do corporate shows with the character giving advice on how to run businesses, but it’s all humorous. It’s an interesting niche, because in general, it’s not what comedians prefer. The companies tell me their challenge in advance and the character finds solutions. Recently I went to IGA, who told me they were looking for ways to keep customers spending more inside. I arrived in front of the employees with a PowerPoint. I was introduced as a success coach. But soon they realized that they had been trapped. I suggested they do it like IKEA, a kind of maze with real life scenes where you could use the food, then the recipes. I offer things that are sometimes simple and stupid, sometimes more complicated, but always stupid.
Did you invent the character of the success coach to respond to the request of your banker, who wanted you to find a mentor to help you straighten out your finances during the pandemic, as you tell us in a video on the pocketsetfils account? on TikTok?
Yes and no. We say it as a joke, because the banker really told us to find a mentor. On the other hand, the character already existed. And despite the fact that we were going through very difficult times financially, I continued to put time into FDB, François Daigle-Bérubé… which is a very questionable business decision. But, ultimately, it pays off. Because yes, it allowed us to meet a lot of people, commercial clients for t-shirts, contracts for shows, etc. The character also introduced me to my new partner, Derek Morin, who invested in the company. Since its launch last July, there has been a 47% growth in online sales.
Like several entrepreneurs, your character has also released his book L.A.M.B.O. sold for real in bookstores. Who are your sources of inspiration for François Daigle-Bérubé?
The coaches on LinkedIn, some of my former classmates from HEC Montréal, the business world in general. It’s raining on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram. The gurus. I’ve read all of their books. If I find it so easy to play the character, it’s because I was a bit like that before in my life, in the culture of hard work, the hustle culture. Which took a toll on my health and relationships. You quickly fall into workaholism [la dépendance au travail]with an erroneous perception of work. You see someone taking a break and you find them lazy, when deep down, it’s a bit of envy. This person loves themselves enough to give themselves a break. I needed accomplishments to justify my worth.
Where does your new name come from?
I spoke with artistic director Stéphane Raymond, behind Synvain Rénove and Chest Bras. He is a genius in advertising and character creation. He told me that the name is super important. I was looking for a Quebec name that reads poorly in English. Daigle-Béroubi. The character wants so much to be “big shot”, a bit like in the film Quebec-MontrealMichel Gauvin – Mike Gauvine.
The future belongs to those who get up early and the character sets his alarm for 3 a.m. Name me some other ridiculous tips you like to play with?
Working 80 hours a week, the culture of hard work, doesn’t make sense. Take cold baths or “derivative” baths – baths perineals popular in Silicon Valley. François invented intermittent sleep as a nod to intermittent fasting. He also talks about his morning routine, where he does his entire morning ritual the night before.
On the pocketsetfils TikTok account, you provide real advice in your capsules Let’s straighten it out. Do you have the impression that people separate seriousness from humor?
No, sometimes people mix me up [Anthony versus François]it’s normal. I have the same face. There’s just the turtleneck… and the words that differ.
You are also very open in these “serious” videos and you give information that many entrepreneurs would not give, even if only financial. Why are you so comfortable talking about it and even saying “we don’t know what we’re doing”?
Because I believe that we must deconstruct several myths about entrepreneurship. I don’t believe in being a self-made man. We all need help. And we’re all lucky somewhere. Having to work like crazy, always, forever more. The fact that it is a very glamorous and valued profession when, deep down, all professions are equal, and the goal is for everyone to be in the right seat doing what they are passionate about. That we always want to show the good things, but that if 9 out of 10 companies fail… there must be bad things somewhere… Then to agree to make ourselves vulnerable. When things don’t go well, it’s not 100% my fault, but when things don’t go well either… Then when I say “it’s going bad”, it’s still a small problem. We are lucky to be born here, to be able to easily start a business, to make a living from selling t-shirts, a non-essential product.
