By Quentin Debavelaere (www.linkedin.com/in/quentin-debavelaere-5386505/), COO @Malt Defining your operations at a startup is not an easy task: customer support, processes, HR, office management, legal… Ops is an evolving function that is closely linked to a startup’s mission & organization  Malt (www.malt.com) isn’t just used to make beer or scotch - it’s also one of the best freelancer marketplaces 弄 Quentin Debavelaere is their COO & his job is mostly focused on sales, finance, business development, and international expansion. His role has shifted over the years, doing whatever needs to be done at that time.

1. Adapting Ops to your
mission & organization

2. Quentin@malt.com
@letquentus

3. 3
- Présence géographique
- Team product
- Taille d’équipe
- Investors
About Malt
Created 6 years ago in France
(exponential growth)
Present in France,
(soon in Netherlands and growing)
+

4. Freelancing is a societal, structural &
pan-european phenomenon…
+45% 30K +1 %
90%
freelancers
in France
freelancers
by choice
of tech jobs in EU
are freelancers
in 10 years
In France
freelancers in
EU since 2004
25%
Sources : EFIP 2016 Survey; The rise of independent workers / Malt-Ouishare: 2017 Freelancing Study in France/ Malt 2018 Study : Transforming with freelancers

5. So we built the 1st
human-centered search
marketplace for freelancers
• NO JOB POSTING
• OPEN MODEL
• REPUTATION
• AVAILABILITY
• LOCALIZATION

6. …and the services that
freelancers and
businesses need to work
safely
• PAYMENT (escrow & factoring)
• ONLINE CONTRACTING
• ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
• AXA LIABILITY INSURANCE
• PARTNERSHIPS

7. What is the role of the ops team

8. • Test before industrialization
• Provide user feedbacks
• Align product with front office processes
• Help reduce waste and friction
• Standardize processes and knowledge
• Set targets / performance management
• Internationalization
Smooth the ride for the Product team Improve processes, tools and org for “front
office”

9. Product
maturity
Ops focus on product
Early stage = deliver the service to customers
• Onboard Uber drivers
• Create client invoices
Strong running product
• Train front office on new
features
Scale up
• Pre conception of features
• Anticipate product features
• Feedbacks and prioritization

10. (but don’t tell that to my CPO)
• 1 PM
• 1 designer
• 1 front
• 2 back
= € 50k for 2
sprints
Got many
requests from
sales team ?
Let some fire
burns

11. Having any
issue ?
• Call the OPS team to
improve internal
processes
• Or recruit more staff
;)

12. UBER drivers onboarding process
• From 10 to 400 drivers to onboard per week
— Manually done in office by Operations team (in 2013 incl. setup of phones etc.)
— The team used a freelancer to create on boarding videos (what is it like being a
driver / how the app works / how to self register) to avoid repeating the message
dozens time a day
— Then online google form and test sent prior to physical meetings to see only end of
the funnel (check vehicle, readiness of documents…)
Process now streamlined
— Recruitment of dozens of interim workers
— Integration of document upload and automatic reminders in the Uber app and
website
— Marketing automation : targeted help at each funnel step

13. •
•
•
•
•

14. (€ 50k wasted)
• Unfocus the product team from key long term challenges and growth features
• Wait too long before recruiting more staff ! It takes ages. Anticipate growth. Work on process efficiency
AND recruit more staff.
• Grow lazy ;) Even if you recruit, stay razorsharp focus on improving everything all the time. Profit matters
• Use the product to build a very nice and powerful feature… only to change the org or process a few weeks
later

15. You need to balance the day-to-day, tactical
requirements with the more strategic aspects of
Operations. Ensure longer-term initiatives aren't
falling through the cracks.
Knowledge management
International expansion / Standardization of processes
Sales training
…

17. https://www.welcometothejungle.co/fr/companies/malt/jobs/busi
ness-operations-associate_paris

18. • Analytical
You can’t sleep if this analysis doesn’t work
• Optimistic
you see the glass half full. You can’t stop but helping
solve problems
• Hands on, creative thinking and pragmatic
“I can do it”
• Ambitious
you see opportunities before obstacle. No target
can’t be reached, it’s just a matter of ressources

19. Putting myself out of job !
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Admin and office mgt
Finance
Sales
HR
Finance
Sales
Community
Legal
OperationsLegal
Operations
International
Expansion
Community
Operations
International
Expansion
Sales
Community
Legal
Operations
Legal HR HR

20. Day 1 of course. Okay, maybe day 2
• You realize that you need to manage your
first users
• You need business processes while starting
to scale
• Some product features will take too long to
deliver
• You are blind and need figures on your
activity
• … This happens faster than you may
think

21. OPS scope varies from one
company to the other

22. SALES
COMMUNITY
OPERATIONSPRODUIT
FINANCE
MARKETING

23. SALES
COMMUNITY
SALES
COMMUNITY
SALES
COMMUNITY
OPERATIONSPRODUIT
FINANCE
MARKETING
CENTRAL
TEAM MARKETS

25. (INTERIM WORKERS)
CONTRACTS
AND WORKERS
PAY
PROCESSES

26. DRIVERS
ACQUISITION
AND ON
BOARDING
STRATEGY
EXPANSION
(Well you know it)

27. FRAUD MGT
AND
COMPLIANCE
REGULATION &
COMPLIANCE
PROCESSES
(Fintech)

28. Aligning the company

29. 29

30. Definition of
Company priorities
(OKR)
Definition of
product roadmap in
accordance
Definition of ops
roadmap to fill the
gaps and reinforce
product roadmap

31. 31
Q2 Q3 Q4
GROWTH
FREELANCERS
SEARCH
APP
COMPANIES
PRICING
MESSAGING
SEARCH UX
TBD
INTERNAL CRM
ALGO
APP V1 APP V2
MUTLI USER ACCOUNT
TRACKING

32. 32
Q2 Q3 Q4
GROWTH
FREELANCERS
SEARCH
APP
COMPANIES
PRICING
MESSAGING
SEARCH UX
TBD
INTERNAL CRM
ALGO
APP V1 APP V2
MUTLI USER ACCOUNT
TRACKING
MUTLI USER
NEEDS
SALES OBJ AND
PROCESSES
CRM
PRICE PLAN DEF
INTERNAL PROCESSES
COMMUNITY
BUSINESS PLAN
2020
BUSINESS PLAN
2020

33. Nice tools that could help you

34. 34
Non exhaustive
OnRoadmap

35. 35

36. Quentin@malt.com
@lequentus