Since his first job at 13 years old, Robert Gervais, 39, has been a success story to watch. After graduating from Concordia fine arts and business, Gervais founded Pre2Post, a technology company ranked one of Profit Magazine’s 50 fastest growing companies of 2004. The CEO talks to The Concordian about his work, his challenges and gives advice to students entering the workforce.
What exactly does a CEO do?
A CEO’s role is very much defining the strategic direction of a company. It’s making sure you have all the right pieces, like a chef, in a sense. You have to decide what direction the company is gonna take and how you’re gonna get there. It depends on the size of the company of course. CEOs can have different roles. I’m very much a hands on practitioner. I put in long hours.
What does your company do, in the simplest of terms?
You want your computers to work, our guys will make it work. I mean, that’s really basic. We tend to deal with companies with up to 5, 000 work stations so it gets a lot more complicated because you’re dealing with mobility issues, data storage issues and so on.
What was your first job?
I was 13 for my first job. I asked my father for a raise, and he said, “You don’t want a raise; you want more money.” And I said, “Well, yes.” Then he said, “Fine, so you no longer have an allowance. I’ll help you get a job where you’ll make more money.” I said, “I think you misunderstood.” [Laughter] So I started working part-time, in a library putting books back on shelves. I think it has defined a lot of who I am [and] helped me develop a lifelong attitude towards hard work and work ethics. My first business was when I was 16; I had people selling household goods door-to-door for me in the West Island. We were selling recycled Stretch & Seal, aluminium foil, garbage bags – all environmentally friendly products – in bulk. This was before Costco became big. Since then, it’s been one thing after the other.
What were your aspirations upon graduating?
I had no idea. I think it’s really important for students to realize it’s not a big deal if you don’t know what you want to do. I’ve always been a firm believer in trying to do what you enjoy. If you’re not sure what you enjoy, do something you’re enjoying doing at that moment and if one day you wake up in the morning and you’re not excited or there isn’t that sense you’re trying to achieve something, then maybe it’s time to look elsewhere. As long as you’re adding to your toolset over the years, it never hurts. I came out of fine arts, I’ve been in finance and I was an industrial designer. I’ve been in film and television, writing and producing and now I’m running a technology company and I’ve also been involved in politics. Eventually you will find your path. I think the lucky ones are the ones who know what they want to do when they’re 13 or 14 years old.
Looking back on it, is there anything you would have done differently as a student?
If anything I would have been a little more involved in athletics. Healthy mind, healthy body.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in making the transition from school to the business world?
I think a lot of it is discipline. In school, we often believe we are disciplined but we don’t realize how fortunate we are in some ways. Whether it’s a four-day school week or flexible hours, we’re able to work to our own schedule. But that depends because there are a lot of students who work as well, and I think those who work are a step above those who don’t work throughout school. In some way it’s tougher for them while they’re in school, but when they get out, it’s a lot easier to adjust to the reality of a work week.
What are some qualities that you need to be successful that you aren’t taught in school?
[In business school], you tend to be given a nicely gift-wrapped situation. And as an entrepreneur, everything is messy. You’re handed a bowl of spaghetti and you’ve got to figure out where the strands go. Also, I think that more could be [taught] on where you get money from the government grants – whether it’s in art or business, for example. And, when you come out of school, what kind of job can you expect? I think sometimes expectations are too high coming out of school. People think that they are owed something because they have a degree, but the reality is business people don’t care about your degree. It will help you get the interview but after that you have to prove yourself for the most part. Some degrees, of course, carry a little more weight: engineering, accountant. But with most degrees you have to go out there are earn it. I think they could do a better job of preparing us for that in school. Another element that they don’t teach you in school is networking. A huge part of who I hire – the business I get for the company – comes out of networking. It’s not only who you know but who knows you. It’s about developing that network of trust and relationship where people are gonna refer you. They give you lots of tools to become middle managers, but the difference between a middle manager and a senior manager is [senior managers] can navigate through the whole human aspect.What do you look for in a CV?
By the time it gets to me, candidates have been screened so they’re usually pretty good CVs. But little mistakes will kill you. If there’s a typo, if it’s hard to read, if the grammar is not strong, forget it. We see so many; your CV has to be, at least from a very basic standpoint, perfect. If you’re applying for a sales position, you have to sell with your CV; if you’re an engineer, your qualifications and skills as a systems engineer have to come through. You have to be crystal clear about what you’re going to bring your employer. Grades are not so important for me – but I don’t want somebody who just got by. I’m really looking for extracurricular activities. Do you network? Do you have interests outside of work? I wanna see someone who is well-rounded, who can bring a lot of different tools. If you’re applying at a larger corporation, they have a grid that they’re trying to fill in, but for me as an entrepreneur, it’s very much a ‘feel’ thing. Is this someone that’s gonna work hard? Are they willing to learn? Are they humble? I want someone with confidence but that also realizes that they don’t know everything.
Does your company hire people coming out of school?
We’re very aggressive about hiring people who are coming out of school. We often give the first opportunity to someone, which unfortunately is something not enough employers do. I think it’s a great time to get someone, because they don’t have the bad habits of having worked somewhere else where they may not have been as happy as they could be. You can start a relationship that’s fresh, with someone that gives a fresh perspective to the company. There’s a certain energy they bring, out of school, which you don’t get with someone who’s been working five years or ten years. It’s a different kind of energy – not different or worse. I happen to prefer it.
Do you give internships?
We have. We’re always looking for people in sales and marketing. It’s an area that, as a tech company, has lagged behind the operations and that’s where our focus is right now.
You were named one of Profit Magazine’s Hot 50 fastest-growing companies for 2004. Can you tell us your earnings today?
We’re in the millions now. We’re hoping to grow dramatically in the next 18 months. We’ve been in business for a little over six years. We’ve been able to come up with a solution that’s unique in the marketplace. I’m hoping to see our sales grow seven-fold in the next 18 month. Hence why we’re looking for sales and marketing people right now.
You’ve done well. But what are some of the mistakes you’ve made as CEO?
I could fill up two newspapers with the mistakes we’ve made. I think that perhaps [in the beginning] I had a fear of success. It’s a very Canadian attitude, where we know we can do more but we’re very comfortable where we are and we’re making a decent living. To go out there and make a huge splash and also risk losing everything, that’s a frightening leap to make. You’ve worked hard to get to where you are; you don’t want to risk everything to quadruple your business, even though you can do it. So I think we were probably delayed a couple of years before we were convinced that we were ready, but the reality was we were ready before. Another thing is, I would no longer start a company without seed financing. We did this ourselves the first two years – I think we paid ourselves, $0.14 an hour. To be doing this in my 30s was really tough. And perhaps a third mistake is we didn’t put enough emphasis on building a sales structure early on; we really focused on operations. Somebody said to me not too long ago, “You’re so lucky, you’re learning so much!” And I said, “Yeah, you get to a certain point where it’s enough learning, you want to start earning.” And we’re at this stage right now, where the company is taking off and it’s an exciting time.
Tell me a secret of your success.
I think to try to have integrity in what you do. Do what you say. Say what you do. And one of our key success factors, for myself and my business partner, Nick Rainville, is we surrounded ourselves with some very good advisers and that’s been huge in helping us move forward over the years.
What is the biggest honour you’ve received?
I’ve been nominated for entrepreneur of the year by Ernst & Young, finalist for the Arista award for entrepreneur of the year, and those are great. It’s extremely flattering when you are recognized by your peers but I think the deep satisfaction comes from looking around the room and seeing you have a happy group of people working together with the same vision. It’s very validating, because when you are at the top of an organization, people tend to not criticize you that loudly. So you don’t know whether or not you’re doing a good job.
You ran as MP for the Conservatives party two years ago. Are you still involved in politics?
I am. Behind the scenes now, mainly. I am more the puppeteer than the puppet. I don’t expect to run anytime soon, for the simple reason that I just can’t, with the business. I would love to run; I really enjoyed the process. It was by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, just from a physical and emotional standpoint. It’s brutal. I don’t think anyone realizes [that] just because you’re running you’re not human. I had seven people spit in my face during the campaign. There are elements that were very, very tough to take. However it makes you a hell of a lot tougher. Politics was also tremendous for my business; people realized I had ambitions and that I was willing to go out there and work hard for it.
How does being young help or hinder you
in the business world?
It doesn’t hurt. Even though I’m relatively young, I’ve been in business for over 20 years in Montreal. But I’ve had lots of people helping me [and mentoring me].
Any words of advice you’d like to leave students with?
I think it was the CEO of Noranda who told me this years ago when I was at Concordia. He said, “Robert, when you wake up in the morning are you happy? Do you enjoy what you do for work? Can you support the people you care about? If you’re doing those three things, you’re successful.”
