Latest / Auto Collabs / Making Accounting Sexy with Laurent Charpentier of Yooz
Transcript
- 0:00All right, so if you had to guess [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs... how many different ways have people in my lifetime said my last name? [laughs] Different, oh, man.
- 0:18[laughs] I'm gonna guess there's definitely, definitely four that I could, like- There's at least-... make a case for... three hands worth.
- 0:25At least three hands worth I think it'd surprise you that people get my last name wrong, too. What do they call you? What is it, Dally? Dally, Dolly. [laughs] Daily. It's unbelievable. They spell it wrong.
- 0:36Those are the three options. They spell it wrong all the time, all these I's and E's in there. Oh, man. But not like yours. Not like mine. No.
- 0:43To set the record straight- You had to have had that one high school French teacher that just had to say your- Crushed it... last name. Just had to do it. But I got Monster, Montsier- [laughs]... Monser.
- 0:54They l- they, Monter. Like, I- [laughs] You miss the whole S. It's Montsier, to set the record straight. It's very English sounding, unlike our guest today, which has a very not English sounding name.
- 1:06No, but your name... No, no, no, but d- don't even go, 'cause you'd be like, "Monsier," right? Monsier. Monsier. You could go there. You could go Monsier. But today's guest, you, you say his name better than any of us.
- 1:15Like Laurent Charpentier. Come on. Right? Whoa. Come on. Is going to be joining us, uh, not from France, but from, uh- Texas... from the States. I think.
- 1:25[laughs] Uh, he is the CEO of Yooz, and we hope that you enjoy this conversation, probably about nothing French at all. [upbeat music] All right, hanging out here with Laurent, uh, of Yooz.
- 1:40Laurent, thank you so much for joining us on Auto Collabs today, [laughs] first of all. My pleasure, guys. All right.
- 1:47So, uh, by your first name and your accent, people will very quickly tell that even though you live in Dallas, Texas right now, you are not from Dallas, Texas.
- 1:58Uh, uh, give us a little bit of background of like why coming, uh, from France to the US uh, was important to you. Like, l- like I'm gonna dive right into that. So you mean my accent didn't hide it? Oh, come on.
- 2:11[laughs] But, uh- Fake accent. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, no, bor- born and raised in, in France.
- 2:17And, uh, and, and, and while, uh, while I, you know, got my education, uh, in computer science engineering, I went to the US, studied, uh, for a couple years, uh, at MIT, actually, in, in, in Boston.
- 2:31And this was an amazing experience, made me, made me really, uh, uh, love the US. Uh, built a great network while I was there. And so c- came back to France after that.
- 2:41Spent some time doing some, some consulting work, uh, with, uh, Accenture in, in, in Paris.
- 2:48Um, and then I started, you know, getting this, uh, this, uh, envy to come back to the US, and this is at, at that time that I found the, the Yooz adventure, uh, with a nice, uh, success story and fast growth in France.
- 3:01And the project for Yooz was let's go international, and the choice was let's go, uh, in the US, uh, to grow, to grow the company and, and bring the product to the, to the US market. So this is when I joined.
- 3:13Very different, uh, experience from Accenture, going from, uh, going from a very big company to a startup mode. Uh, but there was an amazing thing to build.
- 3:23And, uh, you know, remember I was probably number three or four, uh, when I joined the US, uh, branch. And, uh, and today, uh, Yooz in the US is about 100 people, uh, 400 people in our French team- Wow...
- 3:34with, uh, the product development being, uh, all located in France. So it's been a great, a great ride.
- 3:40So, uh, one question that I have, because this is not something that you typic- that you see a lot of, at least in my experience, is someone moving from, like purely engineering, both via education and career path, into the executive seat.
- 3:59How, how did that kind of, like, come about for you?
- 4:01Did you always desire that type of leadership, or was it kind of like a, a growth, a coming of age through, you know, the engineering, you know, career path that you had?
- 4:11Yeah, you know, it was, it was always in, a little bit in the back of my mind. I mean, my, my family is, is kind of, you know, entrepreneurial.
- 4:18Uh, you know, w- Yooz was born as part of a larger company in France that, that, uh, actually had been founded by some of my family members.
- 4:27Uh, so it was, it was a little bit in my blood, but the, the idea, uh, for me was I wanted to do my own thing, right?
- 4:33I, I, I wanted to build something and, and this is why, you know, I, uh, I did my, uh, uh, I guess my, uh, my training or if, if we can call it this way, at Accenture.
- 4:43This was a great, uh, a, a great methodology to learn.
- 4:46Uh, and, and then coming to the US being number three or four, uh, uh, to launch the, the US side was a great way to, uh, to build something from, from the ground up.
- 4:56Uh, and it started with definitely my engineering background, you know, pre-sales, um, support, implementation.
- 5:03Uh, and, uh, as the company grew, uh, you know, took the leadership role to, uh, to manage the, the US operations first. And, uh, I, I, I didn't invent the business side.
- 5:14I recruited some talented leaders on the marketing side, on the sales side, to complement my technical background, and, and we've built a great team. Uh, you know, companies, uh, are about people.
- 5:24Yooz is about, uh, you know, uh, the, the, the work family that Yooz is, and it's, uh, it's, it's about the team, right?
- 5:32I think it'd be easy to miss this if you weren't at NADA or you haven't interacted with the Yooz team in, in, in any way, shape, or form.
- 5:40But, you know, when you think accounting, you typically, like, the image that is conjured- [laughs] Like, if we plugged, you know, like show me an accountant- We're all-...
- 5:49into, like, ChatGPT- Don't worry, you don't even have to give the rest of the description. We got it. [laughs]... or DALL-E, right? Everybody know, everybody knows where I'm going.
- 5:55However, when we were at your booth at NADA, there were flamingos- Yeah... bright colorsUm, lively, attentive staff, young faces, just excited to be.
- 6:05The, the, the young, the young man, I can't remember his name, but he was telling me how he's, like, really good friends with Leon Bridges, the musician. [laughs] Nice.
- 6:13So it's, it's, like, I think the personality of the company is...
- 6:18You pair that with the technical savvy, and I really think it is indicative of, like, the future of how people are thinking about accounting and technology- Mm... and interaction.
- 6:26And I just wanna make sure we start talking about those things on this podcast as well. Um, because- Absolutely...
- 6:32the personality behind the process and the mentality, I think, goes a long way as auto dealers are constantly thinking in more progressive ways how to use technology and automation to improve their business and solve some problems.
- 6:45So were the flamingos your idea? [laughs] Uh, yeah, it was, uh, one of our marketing leaders. [laughs] Uh, but, but I, I, I was, I was really fan of it because, uh, the company started in the south of France.
- 6:56And, uh, it's, uh, there are a lot of famous places in the south of France where flamingos, uh, you know, migrate or, or spend some time. So I was like, "Yeah, this is a nice touch to our origins.
- 7:07Now let's try to use that as our mascot." Oh, man. So we're starting to, uh, to leverage that. And the bright pink colors, of course.
- 7:13And, you know, we try to bring differentiation and, and unique benefits in our product. And we try to also bring differentiations in, uh, in, you know, how we, how we interact in our culture and all of that as well.
- 7:24It's very important to us as well. You brought up something that resonates with me. I wrote this down. You said, "Companies are about people."
- 7:32And obviously, I mean, this is AutoCollabs, part of Automotive State of Union, More Than Cars. Mm. This is something we care deeply about.
- 7:39Um, at what point do you make the realization as a leader that, "Oh, that, that's actually what the company's about.
- 7:45We, yes, we have a product, but the product's only gonna be elevated to the degree that our people are elevated"? Uh- Have you always felt that way? Does it stem from a family business mindset?
- 7:56Wh- where does that, where does that come into play for you? How did that come about? Yeah, it's been, it's been in the root of the company from, from very early on.
- 8:03And, uh, you know, I, I, I cannot say it's, it's fully from me, but I, I like to believe, you know, I, I, I'm playing a strong role.
- 8:10And, and, and so, so do all of our team members today in nurturing this culture, maintaining it, especially as we grow and the company's getting much bigger than, you know, than, than 18 years ago.
- 8:22Um, so yeah, pretty early on we realized that. We're like, "Oh, you know, we, we wanna, we wanna work with people that we have fun working with, that we enjoy.
- 8:29And, and if we, if we have a great product and great people, then, then it's gonna elevate the company, it's gonna elevate the customer experience, uh, and it's gonna generate innovation."
- 8:38Uh, and that's, that's what it's all about. I, I've got one more question, if I can, about this. You're out of questions, Michael. As- [laughs] See you guys later. [laughs] I quit. Um,
- 8:51as the company grows, right, I think, you know, when you go in, when you're in a startup phase, it almost seems like that family-esque vibe, that real people-centric vibe is easy to maintain.
- 9:03Um, you know, a lot of companies I talk to, when they breach that 50, 100 employee, 200, or to your point, if I'm seeing this, you've got, you said 400 people in France and 100 people in the US. Yeah.
- 9:13So 500-person company. What do, what are some examples maybe from your vantage point of how you maintain that closeness as, as you have, you know, 500 employees around the world?
- 9:27You know, it's, it's, f- first it's t- telling people about, "Hey, w- h- here's what's the DNA of the company. Here's what our roots are," so they know about it, so they know about our core values.
- 9:37And we've, we've defined what those core values are actually a- as a team. So a few years back, uh, we, uh, we actually sat down and brainstormed, "Okay, what are our values?
- 9:46What do we wanna communicate to, you know, to our organization inside and outside?"
- 9:51So we set up our core values with a set of qualities and a set of behaviors that, you know, everyone should strive to embody every day and to live by.
- 9:59So that's, that's something that is presented to everyone so, so they know what it's about. With, with that said, it's, it's, it's, it's necessary, but not enough.
- 10:08Then you gotta build, uh, you know, uh, build that closeness, br- bring people together. So we're trying to make sure that there is a good dynamic around the office.
- 10:17Uh, we actually in the US just expanded our, our office space, uh, and, and, and, uh, and just moved into a brand new office space. Our French crew did the same thing last year.
- 10:26And this is all about a lot of little things. You know, uh, we're doing some happy hours. We're celebrating some, the birthdays every month.
- 10:33We are do, throwing quarterly business reviews, uh, you know, parties, things like this that we try to bring people together and really make them bond so it makes, makes it easy for them to collaborate and, and then bring that level of excellence later.
- 10:46So, you know, it's nothing I would say super innovative, but it's about having that pace and, and having everyone on board for doing this, uh, from, from the moment they join the company really. Yeah.
- 10:57And is your office space here in Dallas? Yes, uh, just, uh, north of DFW Airport in Coppell, exactly. Oh, cool. I'd love to come and visit. Yeah, you should, yeah. Come and check it out.
- 11:07You better watch out, 'cause he, uh, Cyril is gonna show up with one of those pink flamingos on, on the stick that you just- Dressed up like a pink flamingo... stick in the front of the ground. That'd be great.
- 11:16And he'll be dressed like a f- I'll just stand in the corner on one leg to see how long it takes someone to notice. [laughs] Nice. [laughs] That's unbelievable. I'm... [laughs] Oh, Michael.
- 11:28I got a wrong picture in my mind just now. Oh, Michael. Just, like, there was way too little clothing, way too tight. It was, it was all wrong, Cyril. [laughs] And where did that stick come from? Oh, no.
- 11:39[laughs] My short, stocky Italian legs, that just won't work as a flamingo. [laughs] That's amazing. That's so good.
- 11:45Yeah, Paul was saying earlier, like, accounting, again, not the, you know, the, the, the sexy thing in, in, uh, SaaSy products is, is marketing and automation and AI- Mm-hmm... and all that type of stuff.
- 11:58Typically, you don't run to accounting to, to be like, "That's the cool new thing on the block." Yeah.
- 12:03But you guys have really taken a different perspective on, um-What's important within the dealership and leveraging technology to free up people. Yeah.
- 12:13Can you give us a little bit of insight to, like, where the origin story of the product of Yooz came from? Like, what was the reason why someone initially said, like, "That's a problem that we have to solve"?
- 12:26So the, the very origin story about, about Yooz came from the former parent company in France, uh, which had s- uh, was building software to automate document-based processes.
- 12:38Not only invoices, but any type of document, questionnaires, check capture, uh, things like the social security forms, et cetera.
- 12:45So they had a product to automate AP, but their product was fairly heavy to deploy and kind of, you know, reserved to the, the Fortune 500 companies.
- 12:54And, and they saw a trend where essentially the SMB space had the same pain point really, with just lower volumes of invoices, but at, at a much smaller scale as well with less people. So really the same pain points.
- 13:07And this is when the idea came from, "Hey, let's, let's bring some of our DNA in the cloud, build a first SaaS product to automate AP." And this was back in 2010 in France when, when we launched.
- 13:19And, and then if we fast-forward a few years after that when we brought that to the US, we really saw an open, uh, field on the, on the mean market, and that, that included the, the, the dealerships.
- 13:31And we quickly got into a really, a very good relationship, um, with, uh, and I don't know if I can cite their name, um, uh, a, a big DMS player, uh, who was... who picked us as, uh, the exclusive AP automation provider.
- 13:46So that gave us a ton of expertise, uh, into the space because we piloted that with some of their, uh, some of their clients, and we built a dedicated integration.
- 13:56And, you know, eight, eight years, nine years later, we're, uh, we're now, you know, uh, very well-known, uh, in the DMS, uh, in the dealership world.
- 14:05Uh, and those, that allowed us, that, this allowed us to build not only specificities in the product for the auto dealers or the truck dealers, but also really understand their world when it comes to, you know, parts, service, sales, et cetera, uh, and, and build that expertise in our team.
- 14:22I'm, I'm like, my, my whole goal to get out of this is to understand from you why you think people still sign paper checks and send them in the mail, uh, in the US from auto dealers.
- 14:38[laughs] That's all I wanna know, actually. I don't care about anything else. I just wanna know why that still exists in our world.
- 14:45Um, because I'm, I'm sure, like, there's, there's this, you know, there's this variable in, like, dealers, you know, the way that they're just thinking about the, the function of AP, which, like, for the ma- so much of the world is just, like,
- 15:01hit, you know, bill.com and ship the, the, the check or, like, you know, s- pay it via credit card, put it on monthly repeat.
- 15:11But, like, because of the systems and the, and the processes that we've set up specifically in auto, we've created this ecosystem that, like, still is, from my perspective, resting on your laurels, and I'm guessing your product is solving some of that.
- 15:25But, like, why, why do we still sit where we sit in retail auto in, like, just that, that little thing, accounts payable- Yeah. Right? Uh, it's, it's a very good question. And, and hopefully, you know, that's the, the...
- 15:42I think the moder- the moder- the modernization is accelerating in the auto world for sure.
- 15:48Uh, you know, the DMSs are, are all, you know, making a lot of improvements, opening our, opening up their systems with more APIs, et cetera. And, and on our side, I think, I think it's just the status quo, you know.
- 16:00Uh, you, all the companies, like you said, they tend, they tend to make investment on what generates sales.
- 16:05So it's the marketing, it's the front end for, you know, uh, for, for selling, for the, the, the, uh, the sales services, et cetera.
- 16:13And, and AP in a lot of cases is still considered as the back office and, you know, things are not broken.
- 16:19They're working, they're working as, as they, as they should with, uh, you know, paper processes, but they're not, they're not very efficient.
- 16:28And in, in our world today, I mean, if you wanna be competitive, you gotta become more strategic when it comes to finance and, and this is really what, what Yooz allows organization and, and, and dealerships to do.
- 16:38Because then our, our, our, um, uh, pitch is really not that we're gonna replace people.
- 16:44It's, it's more about augmenting them and giving them, you know, freeing them up of those tedious hours spent keying data so they can actually look at the data or look at what they're spending on a per vendor basis, or paying early instead of paying late and then opening themselves to early payment discounts, things like this.
- 17:01So it's, it's really about this. Um, why is there not more of a sense of urgency to, uh, to automate that part? I think it's just because, you know, the, the sen- the phrase, "Oh, it's not broken, so why change now?"
- 17:15Uh, and that's, that's where we're bringing a lot of education to our audience on the ROI of AP automation, et cetera. Who are the, who are the, the dealers who switch to your platform,
- 17:27uh, you know, in the last, we'll say 12 months, what are they typically focused on and, and why do they typically make this change? So i- in most cases- Just holistically. Yeah.
- 17:38And if you could too, like, give not just an AP, like what, what mindset do the dealers that adopt your platform have?
- 17:45So a- and, and, uh, the, the, the, this, what you just said, just, just not from AP is very important because really AP automation is not only about the AP or the accounting department, it, it touches the, the entire organization on, on anyone who can approve a purchase or approve an invoice, right?
- 18:02So it, it's actually a, a pretty broad, uh, change in the organization.
- 18:07But the, the whole point and w- the value of Yooz is that we make that super easy, super intuitive.For the approvers, because they can do that from their cellphone, et cetera. So it's, it's, it's super easy.
- 18:19The, the mindset, uh, for, in terms of the people who are signing up with us in the past 12 months, is really about that, you know, that automation, that, that will to be more strategic.
- 18:28Usually, it's often associated to growth as well. It's about doing more with the same, you know, uh, the same amount of, of staff or, or not in- not increasing expenses there.
- 18:39Um, and, and the dealerships, because there is so much decentralization with different locations, uh, the, the, the, the, the, the pain points that you solve are, are, are quite unique, and the ROI, uh, is amazing.
- 18:52So, um, this is, this is really that mindset that they have. Do more with less, uh, and more visibility, more real-time data, uh, more strategic, uh, uh, value tasks, uh, from, from their staff.
- 19:05Yeah, I think that this is... An- any product right now in our industry that enables scale at centralization is winning. Mm-hmm. Right? Because centralization is happening at an all-time record pace, right?
- 19:20The number of, um, you know, acquisitions happening from mid and large size groups is quickening. We're getting- Mm-hmm... more groups with five or more rooftops.
- 19:29And like you said, there's still decentralization as far as decision-making process, as far as, you know, v- vendor, uh, uh, vendor acquisition, anything like that.
- 19:38But there's centralization specifically in things like back office processes, which is where you could leverage technology to be able to build scale without building, uh, you know, expenses, right? Right.
- 19:50And that's where I think... I think that it's, like, ripe for the picking for anyone that's executing a product in that type of scenario to, like, really take market share really fast.
- 20:03So I, you know, I'm, I'm kinda giving you kudos of, like- Thanks... it's probably gonna pick up, you know? [laughs] Oh, yeah. It should. It should. And, and, and we're, we're DMS-agnostic.
- 20:11[laughs] We are DMS-agnostic nowadays.
- 20:13So even if, you know, our clients are making, making acquisitions and they're acquiring stores, uh, or locations that are on different DMS, we can accommodate all that and, and essentially make it even easier for them to create that centralized platform, that centralized source of truth, even though they're still in a decentralized, you know, organization, uh, in terms of, you know, the locations, maybe the AP staff, maybe, uh, even the, the systems they're using that may not have merged yet, uh, because of such acquisitions in terms of pro- uh, external growth.
- 20:47Well, Laurent, it has been a pleasure getting to know you a little more, hearing about, uh, just your entrepreneurial energy for the, the company and the segment and for auto dealers.
- 20:56Thank you so much for sharing some of your time with us today on Auto Collabs. Thank you very much, guys, for having me. It was a pleasure. [upbeat music] All right, accounting is cool again. I mean- [laughs] It's cool.
- 21:11It's cool... officially. Cirillo's gonna be dressing up like a flamingo just because he's excited about it. That's gonna happen. I do. I- I think probably. Standing, standing on one foot. Yeah. [laughs] Yep. No.
- 21:20No- Well, and, you know, you know, I, I will say this is, like... This is w-
- 21:25there are subsets of our industry that just do not get enough highlight because they are the back office or because they are in parts, and everybody wants to do the sexy, attractive thing and, like, "Go get more customers with some cool marketing campaign that has a display ad," right?
- 21:40Yep. And so much of our inefficiency in the industry is actually in the back office tasks. And think about this, like, how do, how does that...
- 21:51Because we're all about consumer experience, employee experience, all that, uh, uh, uh, here at ASOTU.
- 21:57And you think about, like, if your AR, AP person is frustrated because their work balance and the way that they actually do their work is so difficult or requires all of this manual input when they are experiencing an iPhone on their, on their day-to-day life.
- 22:14How does that impact the accounting room?
- 22:17That then impacts the time that they get the calls about titles and tag work, and all of the residual impact of, like, if you don't get this thing right and make that person's role better, like,
- 22:29you're missing the whole point, right? For sure. Makes me think of how smart that is just as a business play. 'Cause
- 22:37while most might regard that as the unflashy thing, there are still some very flashy advancements that they're thinking about, in particular, inside of that sphere. Um- Yep...
- 22:49but also, like, it, it reminded me of just an investing play.
- 22:52Sure, there's people that wanna make big bets and high risk and all of these sorts of things, but nine times out of 10, most investors are like, "You know what?
- 23:00Put your money into the thing that is, like, stable and safe and more- Yeah... predictable." Absolutely.
- 23:05And I just think, man, we're in an industry that loves the shiny object, and here, here he comes through the middle and he's like, "Yeah, but this thing over here that nobody's paying attention to, that's the thing that's always gonna be there."
- 23:19Yeah. Have... Actually, have you guys ever been in a dealership, because I've done this so many times, and been in, like, the general manager's or the dealer principal's office, and the AP person comes in.
- 23:29And, like, it's this f- I don't even know how they make folders this big. [laughs] But it's, like, all in a folder, and it's, like, this big, and it's like thunk.
- 23:36[laughs] And the check stack comes down, and then, uh, what happens right after that? The person just goes, like- Yeah... "Oh, yeah. Push." Zip, zip, zip, zip. "Sign that one. Sign that one. Sign that one."
- 23:44It's like this one little- Every once in a while an amount will catch their eye, and they'll, like, stop for a second, and they'll ask a question, and the payables person's like, "Yep, you already said this about that amount."
- 23:51"That's what I thought you said." "Okay." [laughs] "Okay, sign that one," right? I love that yester- or I love that... I almost said yesterday.
- 23:58I love that in the episode when you were like, "Why are we still, like, writing and signing checks?" Like, [laughs] it's- Yeah, f- that's true, though... 2024 for crying out loud. Literally.
- 24:06But you know what's funny about this? This is a very country-specific- I just wanna cry... issue because- Yeah...
- 24:12mo- even moving from Canada where my whole life I was like, "Man, we're probably so far behind," it wasn't until I moved to the States that I saw- Not check writing...
- 24:20dude, in a grocery store I saw somebody write a check when I moved down here. I was like, "That's a thing?" Literally, I just had this conversation with Miles. It should be illegal.
- 24:27I was so annoyed because I was going...
- 24:29You know how, like, during, near the food, like, where you can gr- buy the grab-and-go stuff like the pizza and the subs and all that, they have, like, a little register so you can check that stuff out.
- 24:38Someone pulls up with a bag of groceries and sets them all out on that tiny little counter they have made for scan and salads, and then the guy paid in cash. And I was like- No. Oh, he did. Ah.
- 24:48And I said, Miles, I was like, "This is what it was like back in the day. You would look to make sure someone wasn't writing a check, and you wouldn't get in that line," right? Oh, my goodness.
- 24:57You know, Old Aunt Mavis pulls out the checkbook, like, pulls out the purse. It still happens. "Who do I make it out to?" Yeah, right. [laughs] "Who do I make it out to?" I know.
- 25:04Well, I'm glad we're moving away from it and then, uh, Laurent is helping us do that. At least in our industry. I hope so. I hope so. Well, we hope you had a good time with us.
- 25:12On behalf of Kyle Mountserre, Michael Cirillo, and myself, thanks for spending some time with us today on Auto Collabs.
- 25:19Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U.com.
- 25:32If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
- 25:39[upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet?
- 25:57Not yet.