DC: Can you introduce yourself?
Frédéric Bensignor: I'm Frédéric Bensignor, 54 years old, and I have been in the digital services industry for 30 years now. Between the ages of 25 and 40, I worked as an employee in a Paris-based service company where I was head of sales for the whole of France as well as Belgium and Luxembourg. When I joined in 1995, we had around fifty employees, but we quickly grew to 450. In 2010, management decided to sell the company because my CEO, who had been my mentor for 15 years, was reaching retirement age. Aware that the longest-serving and best-paid employees are usually the first to go in this kind of merger or takeover, I quickly realised that we were not going to be a good match.
We therefore ended our collaboration at the end of 2010, and I decided to set up my first company, Arben, in December of the same year. I started off alone, and my partner joined me some time later. Together, we expanded the company to just over 60 employees spread between Paris, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Brussels. Among these sixty or so consultants, I had around 40 salaried employees and 20 or so freelancers.
DC: More precisely, what did Arben do?
Frédéric B.: Arben was an IT outsourcing company, so our core business was to provide consultants to our clientele, mainly large groups in the banking, insurance, retail, transport and energy sectors. Our clients would call on us to reinforce their IT teams. Whenever they needed project managers, developers or network engineers, they turned to our company to provide them with the necessary expertise.
DC: Why and under what circumstances did you decide to sell this company?
Frédéric B.: Arben was around for nine years and grew rapidly. In 2019, I wanted to expand my workforce from 70 to 100 through an external growth project. The investment bank I was working with told me that they were unable to offer me any companies to acquire, but that they did have a lot of clients who were interested in buying us. When you're not in the mindset of selling your company and you don't even know its value, it's easy to be hesitant. But once I had the company valuated, I realised its potential and said to myself: why not? We finalised the sale in December 2019, almost nine years to the day after Arben was founded, to a company called AFD Tech, which was itself acquired by Accenture two years ago. I definitely sold at the right moment, as three months later we were all confined due to COVID.
DC: How very lucky! You subsequently went on to create Feniix. Can you tell us how that came about?
Frédéric B.: Between 2020 and 2022, during COVID, I took two years off to rest. However, in 2022, I felt the need to get back to work. I've always felt the need to create and do things. Thus, at the beginning of 2023, I again set up a business, and Feniix was born. After the sale of Arben, I had kept a small structure, initially to support the buyers in the process of the sale. But with the arrival of COVID, I decided to put an end to it: the buyers themselves were experiencing difficulties, with their sales staff on lay-off, and I couldn't see myself billing for time that I wasn't working. So, I transformed this small structure, reinjected funds, changed the name and founded Feniix in March of 2023.
I immediately resumed my usual activities as a service provider and got back in touch with many of my former clients, who reopened their doors to me and entrusted me with several mandates. In less than a year and a half, Feniix had grown to around fifteen employees, mainly based in Paris.
DC: What led you to partially divest Feniix, only 15 months after its creation?
Frédéric B.: I always stayed in touch with A. Aidoudi, the advisor from the investment bank who helped me sell my company 5 years ago, and who has become a friend. A year ago, he told me about the Mitem group, founded by Michel Teman, whom I have also known for a long time, although we had lost touch. Michel Teman is a great businessman and entrepreneur who created and developed the Mitem group through a strategy of external growth. I was approached with the idea of integrating Feniix into Mitem through a partial transfer of shares. I agreed to enter discussions with Mitem and Michel Teman and decided to sell part of Feniix. We signed the deal two or three weeks ago. The Mitem group is thus my new majority partner, but I remain at the head of Feniix, as operational director.
With the support of a group that has chosen to merge companies specialising in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and data through external growth, we are in a position to create real synergies. As a result, we can offer our customers a targeted and specialised approach, drawing on the respective skills of each of the group's entities. I am delighted that Feniix has joined Mitem.
DC: Having done both, what is the fundamental difference between an entrepreneur and a manager?
Frédéric B.: The entrepreneur takes risks, because it is their own money that is at stake. There is no guarantee of success, even if you do your utmost and give yourself every means to succeed. If it doesn't work out, there’s no money coming in. However, as a sales manager, you're employed by a company: whether the latter functions or not, your salary is guaranteed. You also have the benefit of a structure that allows you to carry out your projects, whereas an entrepreneur starts each day with a blank slate.
As an entrepreneur, you not only have to be prepared to take risks, but you also have to learn to discover and know yourself, to know how far you are capable of going. I've been through periods where it was hard just to get out of bed in the morning; it is a trying thing, not seeing any money coming in and not having a salary. But once things are up and running, the satisfaction is immense.
DC: How does this translate into day-to-day operations?
Frédéric B.: As a manager, I have never changed and that is why my staff are loyal to me. I'm a direct and transparent person, who always communicates with my co-workers, whether the news is good or bad. I have enough respect for others to be able to pull them on board with me and accompany them on our shared journey. My former boss always made me dream; he made me want to get up in the morning and go to battle for him, and I guide my staff in the same way. When I set up Arben, people joined me despite a lower salary, inspired by the idea of building something together.
But at no point did I make them feel any of my doubts. We mustn't transfer our stress or worries to our staff. The team has to see a solid person in their manager on whom they can rely.
DC: Talking about the risks faced by an entrepreneur, is there nevertheless a secret to or recipe for success?
Frédéric B.: A very valuable secret that I learnt only recently, and which Bernard Tapie, one of my idols, shared with me, is that real power is not about controlling everything, but about surrounding yourself with the right people. I have surrounded myself with the best and brightest, some of whom are more competent than I am in certain areas, and I have no problem with that. I supported and guided them, and today the people who work around me are company heads, sales directors, business unit managers, all managing hundreds of people.
These are people who have been with me for over 20 years, who trust me because I've always been there for them. When I set up Arben, for instance, I took someone with me who had worked with me for 20 years and who followed me with their eyes closed, because when I was a sales director, I didn't hesitate to go and skin my teeth in front of my management to defend them or to get things done.
DC: What skills have made you the entrepreneur you are today?
Frédéric B.: I'm an autodidact. To my great regret, I don't have a degree. Today, my children have done some great studies, and I've told them: don't make the same mistakes I did. I'm a curious person who, despite a few shortcomings in secondary school, still had a good basis, so I got there; but not without a struggle, because I had to do 10 times as much as the others.
What has also contributed to my success is my wife. She stopped working to look after the family when we had our third child 15 years ago, which allowed me to fully concentrate on my work. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to do half of what I've done.
DC: Coming back to Feniix, what decisive steps have made the company such a phenomenally fast success story?
Frédéric B.: In a word, it is the trust placed in me by my staff and my clients. Without them, I would never have been able to develop Feniix so quickly.
You should also know that with Feniix, I chose to position myself in a fairly niche market segment: a banking software called SAB, which I had worked on for ten years with Arben. By once again specialising in this domain, I was able to reopen doors by offering a unique skill set.
But the foundation of this success story is a lot of hard work, a bit of luck and, above all, the trust of the employees and clients who have joined me on this journey. You have to inspire something that makes people want to work with you again, and that trust is built through transparency. Once again, I'm very direct, even with new recruits. At my last interview, coincidentally, a candidate told me that with me, you at least know where you're going. By being transparent from the outset, everything is said and we're all on the same page.
It also means respecting your employees' rights, which includes paying them on time. Our reputation speaks for us, and it is my reputation and my interpersonal skills that have enabled me to renew my collaboration with employees and clients alike.
Finally, you have to constantly maintain your network. Even between 2020 and 2022, when I wasn't working, I was still talking to clients and co-workers to cultivate these relationships. As in any business, if you disappear, people move on and forget about you.
DC: At what point did you know that Feniix was ready to join a larger group?
Frédéric B.: There was no precise moment. I think it was my encounter with Michel Teman that convinced me. It wasn't a financial motivation, because in that case I would have waited until the end of 2025, when Feniix would have been worth more, to sell the company. I wanted to accelerate Feniix's development, and Michel Teman convinced me with his kindness and ambition. He's a remarkable man, I mean that from the bottom of my heart, with great ambition, and who really listens, which is rare these days.
We spoke the same language: the desire to fully invest ourselves in the years to come so that the Mitem group, and therefore Feniix, becomes even more valuable. I'm nearly 55, and I've still got 6-7 years to work before I retire. If we can pull off one last trick before leaving and enjoy it, I'd be delighted.
DC: So, it was the synergy with Mitem that played a big part in this decision?
Frédéric B.: Yes, absolutely. Sometimes it comes down to two people meeting and at a certain point, something happens. It was Alexandre Aidoudi, my investment banker, who had already helped me sell Arben, who told me about Michel and got us back in touch. There are times in life when two people come together at just the right moment, and we had just such a moment.
DC: You're talking about your investment banker. Does this kind of support play a big role in a process such as this one?
Frédéric B.: A huge role, even. The support provided by Alexandre Aidoudi, and therefore by ALMA Deals & Conseils, was extremely important. This was the second time I did an exit with him, and he always put my interests before his own. More specifically, when I sold my first company, things went south a month before the sale. Alexandre left it up to me to decide whether or not to continue, and to look for another potential buyer, when he could very well have pushed me to sell in order to pocket his commission. Today, like five years ago, I trust him completely. I told him: “Alexandre, I entrust you with my life - make good use of it.”
DC: You relied on DealCockpit for your Data Room needs during this operation and we thank you for that. Why did you make this choice?
Frédéric B.: Once again, it was Alexandre Aidoudi who put me in touch with DealCockpit for the Data Room aspect. He had highly recommended you and I'm very happy to have gotten in touch with you, because getting to grips with the tool was indeed very quick and simple. DealCockpit is easy and pleasant to use, and I quickly found everything I needed, from file management to access controls. Again, this underlines the importance of the support provided by an investment bank, which goes as far as choosing the right partners and bringing them together to ensure that the sale is successful, and the best possible result is achieved.
DC: How has our tool concretely helped you in this process of partial divestment?
Frédéric B.: Relying on a partner like DealCockpit generates a genuine sense of confidence among buyers, because they are assured of the transparency of the transaction. They realise that I, as the seller, am investing in setting up a Data Room - and not with just anyone. This creates real credibility in the context of a divestment.
DC: Have you used a comparable platform when selling Arben? How is DealCockpit different?
Frédéric B.: I remember that we had a Data Room at the time and that my colleague had quite a few problems with it. DealCockpit, on the other hand, is very straightforward and easy to use, and I found that the solution wasn't overly expensive.
What I also really appreciated was the sales support from Fiona, who is incredible and extremely competent in her assistance. She gave me a good introduction to the tool and always helped me out when I needed it.
DC: Are there any aspects we can improve?
Frédéric B.: I sometimes had trouble with the access management when I added a new document. Sometimes users weren't informed that the document had been added, and I had to manipulate the rights each time in each group.
DC: Thank you for the feedback, we are currently implementing a system that will facilitate this process. Finally, if you had to pass on one piece of advice that has stayed with you or that you have taken to heart throughout your career, what would it be?
Frédéric B.: Never give up. When you get bad news, move on. There are worse things in life than losing a contract, for example. I apply this to myself and to my staff: go get some fresh air, play tennis, go to the cinema... You have to bounce back quickly, otherwise you'll just be stuck brooding in your corner.
Secondly, be yourself. Be transparent, be honest, be direct.