In a Team, One's Problems Are Everyone's Problems
“I am Italian-French and I enrolled at Bocconi because with two friends we had created a start-up, Hear and Know, and we needed financial expertise.” Claire Lelièvre graduated from Bocconi with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management, and then went on to become the company’s CFO after completing a Master’s degree in Financial Engineering in France. Her experience in the tech world as a start-upper has brought her closer to the business sector where she works today. In fact, she manages start-up investments for a C$150 million government fund at Investissement Québec in Canada.
“When the start-up started to grow,” she explains, “I went to San Francisco and lived in the United States for a short time, continuing working as an entrepreneur until 2019. Then I made a life change for love and moved to Canada.” Starting again from square one, or nearly. “The first few years were very difficult; I couldn’t find a job, even though I had a good education. I even worked at Ikea for a little while. After a lot of searching, I found a start-up incubator and began working for Platform Calgary to support other start-ups.”
She spent three years helping other entrepreneurs grow their ideas. “I liked sharing what I had learned, especially the mistakes I had made,” she adds. Meanwhile, Lelièvre expanded her network by teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia and the Pôle Universitaire Léonard de Vinci in Paris.
“Then I started working with some investment funds that asked me to short list start-ups, which led to my current job as director of a fund for the Québec government that invests in early-stage start-ups,” she tells us. Lelièvre quickly became “judge and jury,” deciding whether or not to put money into developing a given project. “It is an incredible job because you are in contact with entrepreneurs who are very passionate. And then we get to see companies grow, perhaps from two to forty employees in a few years, offering solutions that change people’s lives.”
As a woman, she says: “I had some obstacles to face when I was younger as a founder; I sometimes wasn’t taken seriously. In my current role, instead, I’ve found an inclusive environment. I am a new mother and nothing has changed for me professionally,” she adds. In her role, Lelièvre tries to encourage women entrepreneurs: “They are few and far between, and I often notice that they hold themselves back: before applying for funding, they want to be sure that they will get results, while men founders dive right in, sometimes even when they shouldn’t.”
Lelièvre now manages a small team. She says: “I don’t know if you can talk about female leadership. I do know that my goal is to help the people I work with to succeed, to raise the bar. In every meeting I have, if there is someone on the team who needs help, we take a break.” To be a good boss, Lelièvre has set down a few rules for herself, drawn from her experience as a young entrepreneur. “If there’s a problem to solve, regardless of the hierarchy, everyone has to try to come up with a solution. And another thing, never leave anyone behind. If I see that a colleague is staying late, I don’t pretend that nothing is wrong, I try to help them. To send the message: your problems are my problems.”
