Watch on YouTube for English subtitles (settings → auto-translate → English).
For this episode of Start Mode, Mat Vaxelaire (Partner @ Hexa) sits down with Jérémy Goillot, founder & CEO of Mobile First Company: a startup with a rare level of ambition: rebuilding the software stack used by millions of SMEs, through 40 mobile-first and AI-native applications.
It’s been only 18 months.
In that time, Jérémy raised 12M€, shipped Allo (a modern take on business telephony), signed 5,000+ customers and moved the company to the U.S.
But what stands out in this conversation isn’t the traction.
It’s the way Jérémy works: fast, intense, obsessed, and very honest about what it costs.
You can watch the full conversation above, or read the key themes below.
1) A founder defined by intensity, not credentials
Jérémy didn’t grow up in Paris or SF.
He grew up in the Pyrénées Ariégeoises, in a family of hard-working employees who never asked for raises, never pushed for more.
He saw what “lack of ambition” looks like.
He decided he wanted the opposite.
“If I didn’t work twice as much as everyone else, I’d stay stuck. It was that simple.”
This intensity is how he built his career, how he attracts talent, and why he pushes Mobile First.
2) The insight behind Mobile First: the SME stack is old, slow and overpriced
The initial thesis was almost obvious once you saw it:
SMEs use outdated tools
products are designed for desktop workflows
mobile usage is where attention actually is
AI destroys price structures overnight
Jérémy wanted to build tools that feel consumer-grade but run business operations.
Then ChatGPT arrived and confirmed the intuition: software pricing, onboarding, activation — all of it was about to be rewritten.
Mobile First set out to rebuild the suite.
3) The 40-app idea and why it isn’t crazy
Most founders would try to get one product right. This team is building forty.
Why?
Because SMEs don’t want 15 vendors.
They want:
the same UX everywhere
predictable pricing
simple onboarding
tools that talk to each other
And also because, as Jérémy says bluntly:
“I don’t want to spend seven years on one feature. I need a place where the product cycles keep moving.”
Mobile First is designed as a multi-product company from day one.
4) The first product was wrong. The second was wrong. The third clicked.
The early days looked nothing like the current product.
They started with inventory management → not good enough.
Then a voice AI answering assistant → people weren’t ready to pay.
Then they discovered the real frustration: business telephony.
Teams wanted:
call recording
SMS
transcripts
AI notes
CRM updates
and a modern UI
So they glued together everything they had built and Allo was born.
5) The cofounder mistake (and the uncomfortable fix)
One of the hardest parts of the discussion: Jérémy picked the wrong CTO.
He granted equity without a cliff. Two months in, he knew it wouldn’t work.
He had to undo everything:
buy back shares
tell investors
tell the team
restart the technical foundation
No spin, no sugarcoating.
“It was my first big decision as a founder. I got it wrong.”
It almost killed the company, but making the decision early saved it.
6) PLG wasn’t enough — sales showed them why they win
Mobile First started as a self-serve SaaS. Thousands of signups. Lots of usage.
But not enough revenue. Churn was high. Cohorts weren’t healthy.
Hiring the first salesperson changed the picture:
46% close rate
bigger accounts
expansion inside teams
a clear sense of who they outperform
“PLG tells you everything that breaks. Sales tells you why customers choose you.”
7) The actual job of a zero-to-one CEO
With a coach’s help, Jérémy defined his role through five responsibilities:
Communicate — clearly, constantly, inside and out
Maintain product quality — nothing ships below the bar
Drive distribution — ensure a predictable flow of customers
Hire and fire — raise the average quality of the team
Own revenue — by selling or by fundraising
Every Monday, he rewrites these five principles.
8) Ambition requires energy and energy requires structure
The intensity has a cost.
To avoid burning out or burning his team, Jérémy leans on:
sports
routines with his partner
leaving the office early and working later from home
weekend escapes outside Miami
reducing emotional volatility
9) Advice for founders in the 0→1
He believes founders underestimate how much work it actually takes and overestimate how much balance they can keep while trying to build something meaningful. His view is simple: if you want to create an ambitious company, something has to give. You need to correct mistakes fast, even when it’s uncomfortable. You need to stay close to customers every single day because it’s the only place where the signal is real. And you need to accept that the emotional swings — the days where you think you’ve cracked it followed by the days where you want to burn everything down — are part of the job.
