I’m the co-founder and CTO of Woopie, which is a digital publishing platform. In a startup, you kind of do everything! So while I have spent a lot of time developing Woopie as a product, I also spend a fair amount of time selling, marketing, doing business development, looking after accounts and of course working with our customers. It is a lot to do but it’s always interesting. Working for yourself is the best because you can really push yourself and your company to its full potential.

I have always worked in software development, but publishing is something I’ve become more and more obsessed with over the last four years. After leaving Microsoft in 2010, I went to work as a CTO for a digital magazine publisher in New York. I have always loved magazines and reading, but I had no idea how much I would love working in this space. Working with editors and writers on short deadlines is completely different from building software, and I learned so much. Ultimately that company took a different direction and I realised I was in a position to do something I had long wanted to do: create a magazine for the Irish tech community (Idea magazine). It only took me a couple of months working on Idea to figure out that there just weren’t good tools for digital publishing and that a lot of people were struggling in the same way I was. I quit teaching and consulting and started working full time on Woopie.

I usually go to the gym first thing in the morning and straight into the office after that. To make sure everything gets done each week, I break up my days so that I have different focuses each day. I find this is more effective than trying to multitask each day. So I set Mondays and Wednesdays as product development, Tuesdays as planning & business development, Thursdays as marketing/sales efforts, and Fridays for accounts. Customer communication is the one thing I make sure to do every day.

If I’m doing development, designing or working on new features, I need quiet. I have enormous headphones and often just listen to white noise in the office. I often find I make significantly faster or better progress on these types of things either early in the morning or later in the afternoon when the office is relatively quiet. If I’m making good progress on something I generally go as long as I can because sometimes it’s hard to get into that groove again. This occasionally makes for late nights, so I make sure to balance it out so I don’t get overloaded.

Everything! Well that’s not true. It’s half true. Working on Woopie, the product, is the most fun thing and most interesting thing I’ve ever worked on. Visualizing new features and thinking about things no one else is doing is fantastic. Spending the time architecting solutions to our crazy ideas is challenging and very rewarding. The things that aren’t fun are the ones that, as a startup, you think get in the way of you creating something great. The legal work, the business infrastructure, the accounts, the pitch training, the applications for grants and funding, they all take a lot of time and thought and often feel like distractions. I absolutely love making Woopie work and look great, and I love talking to my customers and hearing about the cool things they want to create and how happy they are using our product. I’m so excited about the product’s potential to help people, and that is really fun.

As an engineer, one of the things I learned early on was that just because people use a computer all day for their job doesn’t mean it’s comfortable or intuitive for them. This was quite surprising for me, but I found a lot of people who find computers to be sources of stress and who don’t like using devices or computers. So many of the editors, writers, and publishers I have worked with find a lot of software quite frustrating and confusing.  I think it is critical to spend a lot of time with your customers, making sure that things are user-friendly and task-focused. It’s also important to ensure your software makes their life, their job, easier and less stressful.

I keep busy outside of work too. I love travelling, but don’t get to do a lot of it at the moment unless it’s Woopie-related. I enjoy learning languages and learning to cook new things. Next I’d love to take a course on making your own bacon & sausages! I am a huge bacon fan.

I’m a Digital Content, SEO and Social Media Manager. In few words I’m responsible for the content and advertising strategy for companies. This includes managing online advertising and developing/implementing companies’ content and social media strategy (e.g. Twitter and industry and company blogs).

How did you get into the content and advertising industry?

Since I was a kid I wanted to be a journalist and I did everything to succeed. But when the Internet exploded I started to look at my future in a different way so I decided to turn from being a “pure” journalist to be an online journalist. Then, years ago, I decided to experiment with the strength and the value of community and social media and, studying (Communication Science) and learning every day, I became what I’m now. A journalist, a digital content, a SEO and a Social Media Manager.

What does a typical working day entail?

A typical working day is 24/7 for a social media/community manager especially like me, when you work with different time zones. It’s definitely a flexible job, it’s not a 9am to 5pm shift job. During the day I can work on my own and in a team, it depends by the situation and I also work remotely. The best thing about this kind of job is the fact that you never do the same things, there’s always something new to discover and new challenges especially with people and customers to satisfy. More than words, I suggest a look at this infographic with a perfect title “A Day In The Life Of A Social Media Manager”  http://www.socmedsean.com/infographic-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-social-media-manager/

How do you keep on top of industry trends given the diverse nature of your role?

I study everyday, I try to be informed about news, trends and new opportunities looking at social media, informative sources and books - what people want is what you need to provide. I also try to read in other languages than English, Spanish and Italian (my first language) using translation’s tools to understand what’s happening all over the world in relation to my daily job.

If you had advice for anyone wanting to get into the same industry, what would it be?

Be curious and be passionate. Managing social media and writing content requires a certain flexibility not only in your schedule but also, and most importantly, in the approach with the customers. If you need to work on a project about chicken be sure to know everything about them and introduce your point of view, always. And don’t be rude with people, this is the most important advice I can give. Plus study continuously, and not necessarily at school.

… and finally, when you’re not busy at work …

I like to cook (like most of the Italians :D ) because cooking is something that makes me relax and stay connect with family and friends: if you want to have a look at my recipes go here (http://www.veruskitchen.com) my English blog. And I love travelling even for short breaks to discover new things, always bringing with me a good book.
I love to engage with people outside working hours but since I have to deal with people all the day, I also like to remain at home, under my duvet and watching television with my hubby: I watch everything but please, don’t deprive me of “The Big Bang Theory” and a good movie if you don’t want to become my best enemy!

Thanks Veruska! 

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Hello everybody. I’m currently senior web producer at salesforce.com. My job consists basically in looking after the company’s french website but also the social media channels for France.

How long have you been with SalesForce.com?

I have been working at salesforce.com for almost 3 years. My job changed quite a lot since the moment I joined the company in June 2010. I moved from web producer junior when I was maintaining and fixing the website and being more in the executive side, compared to now when I have a senior role which is more about working on the best online strategy that we can setup, working on website optimization and innovation, setting up a stable and strong social strategy…

How did you get into the industry of marketing and social media?

I got this passion for the web industries when I was 16 years old during an university open day. I spent 3 years in there where I learned pretty much all the main web disciplines. Web development, graphic design, networks, video or sound edition were all part of the technological program but also communications theory, marketing, law and economics were part of the theoretical program. I learned a lot during those years and it made me really certain and confident about my future. At the end of it, I spent one more year studying 3D animation and working alternatively in a web agency as an intern. These 4 years of studying brought me finally to Ireland in Cork where I wanted to learn English and get the International experience that I was looking for. I spent these 6 months in a photo agency where I was doing photography post-production and video editing.

Finally having skills in every domain of the web, a bit of experience and an English level good enough to work in a professional environment, all these criteria brought me to the job I’m doing at the moment which is to look after the French website/social channels of salesforce.com. In my current job, the hardest thing for me was the beginning, working as the youngest of the team, surrounded by really experienced and smart people in a whole international environment ! You need some time to get some confidence and prove to yourself and to people around you that you can bring extra value to the company and then, you are really getting into your Dream job!

What does a typical working day entail?

I kick off my day at around 9 o’clock, eating my breakfast while reading my emails and catching up on what’s been happening overnight in the US and in Asia. Then, I start working on current projects which could be from a 10 min job to a week job. It really depends of the nature of the project. I usually also have meetings during my day which could take 70% of my day, catching up with local or International teams. Working in a small team of 10 people, we support others internal marketing teams based in different countries. This brings us to travel quite often for a better collaboration and synchronisation between teams. I consider my job as a really multitasking one which retains really different skills and that’s what makes it interesting!

How to you keep on top of industry trends?

I consider keeping myself up to date regarding industry trends as part of my daily job. Even if it’s not always easy, I try to keep some time everyday to read blogs and visit websites to keep me updated. We also help each other in the team by sharing between us the best thing we have seen during our day.

If you had advice for anyone wanting to get into the same industry, what would it be?

Be passionate and do it only if you love it. That’s a job that you need to be always at the forefront of technology, challenge yourself in the way you think and try to think outside of the box if you want to be successful. If you don’t, it will be out of your depth really quickly as it’s an industry which changes incredibly fast.

… and finally, when you’re not busy at work …

I’m riding my mountain bike in the Dublin mountains! As a general rule, when I’m not at work, I try to avoid being on the computer as I’m already all day long on it during the week. Mountain biking has always been a passion for me since I’m young.

My favorite website? Mine obviously. Feel free to have a look on it olivierlacroix.com.

But seriously, at the moment, that will sound silly but I spend lot of time on Youtube. I’m even more and more watching Youtube rather than television. You can find so much but also, so many interesting documentaries about anything! Try to type “How to” + “a verb of your choice” and you will find the answer to everything you’re wondering! It’s just an incredible resource! Same thing if you are looking for documentaries, inspiration or whatever! HD videos about your favourite topic that you can watch whenever you have time for free without having to record it or being disturbed by ads every 15 mins….What else do you need ?

Thanks Olivier!

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