This Kedger has launched “Behind the Skills”: the company that uses media to share good digital practices

To begin, tell us about your educational background. What did you study, both before and at KEDGE?

After I sat my highers exams (BAC S) I started at the University of Lyon 3. That lasted only two weeks before it turned into a year-long sabbatical during which I held a series of odd jobs. After that, I attended a post-secondary business school which, was not very exciting but I was able to earn a bachelor degree which allowed me to go to schools such as KEDGE as a “pathways” student. With the call of the Marseille sun as my primary motivation, I enrolled in KEDGE for its "programme of academic excellence in entrepreneurial diversity". Despite the name that overshadows business schools around the world, this path towards a higher education no longer exists, but it did enable me to move forward with on my various entrepreneurial projects. 

Concerning the associative life, I was a member of both the Diambars Med and Comedor student associations, with which  I had exceptional and lasting experiences with them and worked in their respective partnership centres. 

KEDGE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Tell us what you did after your studies were finished. What positions have you held? What did you learn in those positions? 

My career started while I was still at school. The big revelation happened in my 3rd year, just before I started attending KEDGE when I was doing a work-study as a business developer with Tilkee. Tilkee is a great startup located in Lyon. Its two founders gave me the desire to be an entrepreneur while I learned the intricacies of developing and managing a company from scratch. After that, I always complemented my courses at KEDGE with entrepreneurial experiences. I worked on four projects and founded two companies, either by myself or with others. Some were great successes and, of course, some were big failures! Entrepreneurship is a great emotional roller coaster... and I’m always available on LinkedIn to discuss it further!

VICTOR LINDER - LINKEDIN

What are you doing today? What gave you the idea and the desire to do what you’re doing today?

Most of my week is consecrated to developing Behind the Skills. After several months of doggedly working, Paul de Castelbajac (my childhood friend and associate) and I co-founded the company in July 2020. We are addressing the latent problem of there being no system that lets you build your digital skills while enjoying yourself at the same time. The available formats are not adapted to the information consumption habits (short, impactful, and entertaining videos) that are the norm today. Behind the Skills offers modern, fresh, and "snackable" content which can be adapted to the needs of the users. We offer an enjoyable way to access the knowledge of business experts and to learn their "tips and tricks" and best practices. This in turn makes it easier and faster to learn actionable knowledge in a sector where staying up-to-date is essential. I’m also working at the same time as a freelancer. I assist companies on social networks and in their growth marketing strategies. Additionally, I’m a lecturer on these two subjects at business and communication schools in Lyon.

BEHIND THE SKILLS

What are your development goals for the future?

We want to become a major player in the media world that shares good practices in the digital world by helping the greatest number of people to easily gain competence. We also want to become the leading marketing platform for SaaS software publishers, enabling them to promote their products in a modern and intelligent way. This same vision has been applied to our strategy for internationalisation: we are targeting several million users and more than 10,000 potential customers.

If you were to give advice to any KEDGE graduate who wants to do something similar, what would it be? 

I would keep repeating, "Dive in! Test out your idea. Talk about it as much as possible. If you want to associate with someone, take your time. Make sure that you complement each other professionally and that you, ideally, are in alignment with each other".

In my opinion, entrepreneurship is basically about practice. I would advise you to get started on it as soon as possible. It helps. The way KEDGE’s schedule is set up, and the gap year, helped me a lot with this. Don’t dismiss any concept because it can sometimes help you progress better and faster. And I happen to know because I had some very inspiring speakers when I was there.

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