Today, we’re meeting Paul-Etienne (Paulette to those close to him).
As co-founder of Epycure, he’s always ready to listen, bends over backward to help others, and do everything he can to satisfy our customers.
He’s clearly addicted to chocolate 🍫 (but don’t tell anyone), always full of energy 😁, and shares his journey and inspirations with us.
Paulette, can you briefly tell us about your journey?
I grew up in Versailles in a family of five children, and I’m the youngest.
I was lucky to grow up in a family of inspiring personalities who have always supported me in my entrepreneurial choices.
After completing my baccalauréat, I enrolled at Assas Paris II to study economics and management, then two years later joined the Magistère Banque Finance program at the same university, where I specialized in corporate finance. During my internships, I particularly enjoyed meeting entrepreneurs, and that was when I decided that I wanted to move to the other side of the table. I decided to attend ESCP to pursue a specialized master’s degree in entrepreneurship, and at the same time launched Massage Chouette, a therapeutic massage service for companies provided by physical therapists.
At the end of 2018, I left Massage Chouette to found Epycure with Angélique and Marc.
What do you do at Epycure?
I oversee all operations, customer relations, the product, technology, and administrative & financial matters.
It’s cross-functional and incredibly rewarding, because our work involves dealing with very different professions:
- logistics specialists, to set up all the laborious processes required by complex personalization constraints,
- developers, who don’t necessarily speak the same language as we do,
- manufacturers and nutrition experts, who aren’t used to working with young people who want to shake up the industry,
- the Founders Future teams, with whom we continuously improve all our operational processes, meet many candidates to recruit the talent that will make up tomorrow’s team, and work on a whole host of other exciting topics.
Why is customer relations essential?
It’s obviously essential, because we’re the first "touchpoint" for prospects / customers. The marketing teams’ goal is to build a benchmark brand while optimizing acquisition, activation, and retention. It’s during activation and retention that customer relations must be flawless in order to deliver an exceptional experience.
Let’s talk about you: what’s your wellness routine?
Waking up early to give myself time to have time. I use it to write, exercise, stretch, and make myself a good coffee. During the day, I structure my tasks to keep up as much momentum as possible. Ideally, I finish the day with a game of tennis with my brothers. Then a little drink with my loved ones :)
What’s the next feel-good dream you’d like to achieve?
Going far away - I’ve never done it. It’s a frustration I’ve been carrying around for a long time. I’ve never lived anywhere other than Paris. I love Paris, but I’d like to experience something else and discover another culture.
What object means the most to you, and why? Can you tell us its story?
I have two: my tennis racket and my DJ headphones. They represent two passions:
- tennis is a family tradition that I share with my father and brothers. We love playing and talking about it.
- my DJ headphones, for several reasons:
- I love music, listening to it and sharing it - I’m listening to a gem I recommend to you right now - Talisman - Air (they’re from the Yvelines❤️)
- they’ve accompanied me everywhere. DJing represents my first steps as an entrepreneur: I mixed a lot, a lot, and loved making my way through hundreds of parties - it gave me a taste for entrepreneurship, and it was a fantastic adventure. I learned an enormous amount from it.
What was your latest moment of pleasure?
We host themed dinners, and we have a really good laugh! We dress up with whatever we have on hand and get into character :) The latest one was yesterday, and the theme was a French bistro: parsley ham, mayo eggs, black pudding, a cheeeeeese platter (my passion), and a failed flan!
Fireplace, French playlist, good red wine, and bed.
What’s your go-to feel-good place?
My tennis club in Montrouge, without a doubt! It’s my great passion, and I can’t wait to hit the ball with my older brothers.
One last question before we say goodbye: if you had to be a plant, a vitamin, or a mineral, which would you be? And why?
I fall asleep wherever I want, whenever I want, so valerian!
