Philippe Voyer is the founder of Subséquent, a Quebec-based startup that simplifies workflow management by reducing the technological friction caused by the diversity of file formats exchanged.

Since joining Zú’s incubation program in 2023, Subséquent has undergone a remarkable evolution, driven by Philippe’s hard work and the guidance of his three mentors: Marc Petit, independent consultant, Dominic Audet, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Moment Factory, and Mathieu Duffar, partner at BDC Capital.

Discover Philippe’s journey and the mentors who played a key role in his entrepreneurial growth.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

  1. What sacrifices need to be anticipated when choosing to become an entrepreneur in the technology sector? How have you personally managed these sacrifices along the way?

Entrepreneurship is a tough road, and there are certainly sacrifices to be made along the way to keep moving forward. Once you’ve taken the leap of faith, you often feel like you’re walking into a void, constantly facing uncertainties such as: financial risks, atypical schedules, unpredictable days, blurring the line between work and personal life, fragmented weekends and vacations, work overload, juggling too many plates at once, etc. And let’s not forget that in the technology sector, everything moves really fast, and the creative industries are facing major challenges and undergoing profound transformation.

All these factors can place the entrepreneur in a spiral of stress and anxiety, making it difficult to maintain balance. Even if the entrepreneur is able to manage the pressure well, it’s important to be aware that the little cloud of chaos that follows him everywhere is bound to have an impact on those close to him. So you have to accept that the risks involved in entrepreneurship can lead to major sacrifices.

But then… the main reason an entrepreneur makes these sacrifices is because they believe deeply in their vision, and are convinced that it can be achieved with a lot of perseverance and a little luck. For those who are driven by this flame, the desire to undertake and have a positive impact on the world must be stronger than the need for security.

 

  1. On the other hand, what have been the greatest sources of unexpected satisfaction in your entrepreneurial journey? Were there any moments or successes that surprised you with their positive impact?

Despite the sacrifices, my entrepreneurial endeavours have had a number of positive impacts. For example, on a personal level, it has enabled me to push my own boundaries. Unlike most entrepreneurs, I’m not particularly extroverted, but entrepreneurship constantly pushes me out of my comfort zone, training me to communicate well, listen attentively and get in tune with people. It’s also helped me develop the ability to manage stress and anxiety, and to stay calm even under pressure.

One of my greatest sources of satisfaction in this adventure is all the wonderful encounters I’ve made in the context of entrepreneurship. Along the way, I’ve met extraordinary people who share similar passions and challenges to mine. I’ve greatly expanded my network of contacts, received a lot of constructive feedback from people with different points of view and even made some new friends!

As I’m an introvert by nature, one of the things that amazes me every time is realizing just how good I am at convincing people. To feel that precise moment when you see in people’s eyes that they go from indifference to a certain interest in your entrepreneurial story, and that they’re on the verge of wanting to get on board and take part.

Finally, I get a lot of satisfaction from offering my technical skills to help people. Even though we’re behind-the-scenes craftsmen, it’s very motivating to see the impact we can have on our customers’ productivity. The spotlight will never be on us, but our greatest source of pride is seeing the designers we’ve helped launch projects we’ve helped with.

 

  1. Which emerging technologies do you think will have the greatest impact on your sector over the next five years?

When Subséquent was founded in 2020, people thought we were pretty enlightened when we said that generative artificial intelligence would soon disrupt the creative industries. Now that this type of technology has been democratized, it will, in my humble opinion, be very difficult for startups to grow in this market, now that the big players are well positioned on the chessboard.

It may seem counter-current, but I believe that today’s startups would benefit from putting less emphasis on AI in their pitch and instead focus on how to solve problems in an innovative way by saying more precisely what approach or model they are using in their product. We also need to take into account the energetic impact of AI, and be sensitive to the negative perceptions and fears it provokes in many people.

In our opinion, what will have the greatest impact on the creative industries is to modernize audiovisual and interactive content production techniques, which haven’t evolved that much in recent years despite numerous technological advances. This is due in part to the near-monopoly of a small number of companies who own the vast majority of software used in the creative industries, and to the fact that it’s difficult to change the behavior of its artisans.

Otherwise, what we think we need to follow closely is the evolution of open standards such as OpenUSD, which enjoys a solid consensus and is being developed by a large community supported by the close collaboration of several major industry players.

 

  1. How do you recruit your employees? What qualities and skills are you particularly looking for in an innovative technology company?

At Subséquent, we are fortunate in our ability to find and mobilize talent. Up to now, we’ve recruited mainly from our network of contacts and sometimes through university placement services.

A good tip to share with all entrepreneurs is to be close to academic circles where specialized courses are given in your field. Try to cultivate relationships with professors and don’t miss an opportunity to participate in activities where students can be exposed to your company and team members.

For me, it’s almost an unfair advantage, but with this approach I have access to an almost inexhaustible source of new talent who are developing exactly the skills we’re looking for and who are interested in our field. In particular, because I teach a graphics programming course at Laval University, every year I see around a hundred students come through, and there are always a few with a lot of potential. I can’t even count all my former students who have gone on to successful careers in the creative industries, and many have become work colleagues and friends.

In terms of what we look for in a candidate, the essential criterion is the ability to demonstrate programming skills, either through experience or personal projects. The most important thing for us is not so much the candidate’s experience, but rather his or her development potential.

Surprisingly, experience has shown me that it’s often more difficult to work with senior programmers in a context of innovation. We much prefer to give a first chance to young, inquisitive programmers with a never-ending thirst for learning and a “hacker” mentality.

For technical skills, we’re looking for programmers with experience and/or interest in the various technologies we use to develop our product. For example, the core technology is developed in Clojure, the API in Elixir and the user workflows are encoded in our own DSL, which is a dialect of Lisp – nerds will notice that these are all functional programming languages ;).

We’re also developing integrations to game engines, animation software and many other digital tools frequently used in the creative industries, so we’re also interested in anyone who has hands-on experience with these technologies.

 

  1. What advice would you give to those wishing not only to start their own business, but also to develop a new technological solution??

First of all, you have to realize that your life will no longer be a long, quiet river. You’ll be plunged into uncertainty, and there will probably be more difficult moments than victories.

My first piece of advice is to take care of yourself, your physical and mental health, by maintaining an active lifestyle and a healthy diet. Despite your schedule, which will become quite chaotic, try to set aside time each day to do at least some physical activity, not skip meals and eat plenty of vegetables.

What works well for me is to take a long walk in nature at the end of a working day. That’s when I put my thoughts in order and visualize my next actions. I also recommend running, which is an excellent sport for people in a hurry, with lots of impact on the body and stress reduction.

Now from a technological point of view, I have several good pieces of advice to offer:

Beware of new trends, because if history has shown us anything, it’s that fashions tend to change, as people quickly tire of them. Pay attention when everyone is looking in the same direction, because it’s probably in the blind spot that the best opportunities for startups lie. Remain sensitive to weak signals and try to visualize how things will evolve in perspective over time.

When it comes to your technological choices, try to avoid falling into funnels as much as possible. Major technology developers are specialists in the art of making developers fall so deep into their funnels that it becomes virtually impossible to get out.

In the same vein, be careful with LowCode/NoCode solutions, which are increasingly present on the market. These products may enable you to develop prototypes quickly, but always have a plan in mind to replace them as soon as possible with solutions where you have full control over your intellectual property.

Finally, you have to love what you do and be persistent. In more traditional entrepreneurship, almost all the emphasis is on the problem to be solved. That’s fine, but I’d add that in the creative industries, we also have a duty to make people dream by creating beautiful things that make the world a better place.