Tattletech Hot Seat with Laurent Féral-Pierssens, Silentale

So we met Laurent, the CEO of Silentale nearly a year ago at Plugg in Brussels where he presented on stage in the start up rally. We instantly liked him and his sweater but didn’t quite get his presentation. This didn’t stop us from stalking him at the cocktail party to give him a few tips on improving. Each successive time we ran into him, LeWeb, NextWeb he was better and better and now he’s got users banging down his door and a whole lot of mojo going on with the application. We were recently both coaches at the KIS Partnering Forum in Rome and I had the chance over many bottles of wine to finally get him on a Tattletech Hot seat. Here is what we discovered.

Tattletech: So, you created something that let’s back up and store all of our online conversations, what gave you the idea for Silentale? Why did you think this was something we needed?

Laurent Féral-Pierssens: It came from a personal need to automatically consolidate and organize all my messages, a few going back as far as 1988 on Arpanet. And the need only grew stronger as individuals started to have multiple profiles while using multiple addresses and devices! After drafting a few algorithms for automatically matching identities I realized it was feasible, while initial assessment of the market showed a strong need and productivity gain from organizing contacts and messages.

TT: I was talking to a VC in London a couple of weeks ago and he told me he could not figure out how Silentale works, so tell us, how does it work? It has that elusive cloud ingredient that we all like to talk about but probably don’t really get.

LFP: Well, it’s quite simple in fact. Silentale polls your different messaging services, indexes their content and attachments while making a long term backup of the original messages in the cloud. While doing so, Silentale organizes the messages and figures out who are the recipients of the messages and matches them automatically to the people you know (on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Contacts, Twitter….)

This allows Silentale to do something unique, displaying your conversations with the people you know in context. Inside your inbox or email client, social/professional networks, CRM and collaboration tools. We’re a productivity tool to your real-time communications.

TT: You are a bit of a hybrid – French-Canadian from the New World now living in Paris from the Old World, what do you think are the main differences in the start up community?

LFP: Entrepreneurship is not seen in the same way and comparisons can take years to debate. This being said what strikes me is that Europe is a real network of hubs; of startups, talent and markets. You really need to think outside of your country/culture to see what’s happening and to be successful, and it’s extremely enriching. Gives entrepreneurs of the Old World methodology and practice that you can’t experience or learn anywhere else.

TT: You said recently in a blog post that it was lonely being the only one at the dance, do you still feel that way?

LFP: Hell no! The dance floor is getting more crowded and I’m happier everyday to see great companies, both in the US and in Europe, taking a stab at the underlying problem. Gist, Xobni, Backupify or even projects like Mozilla Raindrop have great product or services that aim at solving one or more aspects of the conversation social graph.

TT: Why Silentale? Is it a quiet company?

LFP: We work silently… to rise above the noise. Here’s a longer answer to this question: http://blog.silentale.com/2009/10/02/whats-in-a-name/

TT: Before Silentale, you started and sold three successful Canadian start ups – so you clearly have a track record of how to grow and sell a business, what mistakes have you learned from in the past that you won’t do with Silentale?

LFP: So many mistakes were made along the way, it’s impossible to know if I’ll make them again in the future. But there’s definitely something about acquiring the right talent at the right time and keeping yourself open minded enough. When you’re starting and later growing a business, it’s all about the equilibrium: looking far enough ahead while executing day-to-day. And it’s really hard to keep identifying subtle nuances and forseeing the changes happening under your nose, and still apply a steady direction without being rigid.

TT: In a fight to the death, which superhero would win? Batman or Superman?

LFP: Gotta be Batman: he already defeated Superman, at least in the “The Dark Knight Returns” series. Anyway, any geek would support Batman!

- JLH

Tags: Arpanet, Silentale