Nobody understands the ups and downs of business quite like someone who’s lived through them. Christophe Derdeyn has spent 25 years in the tech industry, helping companies navigate digital transformation and building shared services operations across the globe. These days, he splits his time between running his latest venture and mentoring new entrepreneurs.
Resilience
Starting a business looks great on paper. But the reality? That’s where things get interesting. Christophe learned this lesson the hard way during his second venture in Asia. “I actually started off amazing,” he recalls. “My first two years were really crazy. My company grew from zero to about 90 people in less than two years.”
Then everything went sideways. “I mis-assessed people and as a consequence we had three projects go completely wrong,” he says. That’s when he faced the moment every business owner dreads: “At that moment in time you have a choice – you can step back, you take your losses and you move on, or you double down, you step in, you take control and you fix things.”
It’s not just about the big setbacks either. “You will have big things like this and you will have many smaller things and you will get a lot of nos,” Christophe points out. His advice? “It’s very important to have a very thick skin. You need to be resilient – not everything will go your way.”
Continuous Learning
Twenty-five years in tech teaches you one thing for sure: standing still isn’t an option. “The world is constantly evolving so you need to continuously learn and stay up to date,” Christophe explains. This hits especially hard in tech, where change happens at warp speed. For Christophe, staying current means more than just reading headlines. “In my world, the IT world, evolution is incredibly fast,” he notes. “From that perspective, on a day-to-day basis I need to understand the influence of new technologies like AI in my world and how they influence the needs of companies.”
But it’s not just about keeping yourself sharp. Leaders need to help their teams evolve too. Christophe focuses on understanding how changes affect “the behaviors of the people that actually implement the projects for me.” These team members “need to learn how to assess this and they actually need to be guided on their path to also continuously learn and evolve in the way that they engage customers.”
Networking
Some business lessons take time to sink in. For Christophe, the power of networking was one of them. Now, nine months into his fifth venture, he’s seeing the payoff. “We are doing more than I have ever been able to achieve before,” he says, “and the main reason for this is my network.”
This network didn’t build itself overnight. “I have a massive network – people that I served before, people that I worked with, people that I engaged at parties or encountered in a business context,” Christophe explains. The key? “We always engage each other respectfully and well.” His golden rule: “Never burn any bridges.” The value of these connections goes beyond just doing deals. “Networking is extremely valuable because if you have the right people around you they can accelerate your journey and they can help you avoid some pitfalls,” he notes. His advice to newcomers: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the people in your network.”
Twenty-five years and five businesses later, Christophe’s formula for success comes down to these three principles: “Embracing these three principles – resilience, continuous learning, and networking – is actually what can help you set on a path to become a successful entrepreneur.” It’s not a guaranteed roadmap to success – those don’t exist. But for anyone looking to build something lasting in tech or any other industry, these battle-tested principles offer a solid foundation to build on.
Check our Christophe Derdeyn’s LinkedIn profile or visit his website to learn more about him.
