Overcoming crippling anxiety and how to get work/life balance right, with Mathilde Collin, Co-Founder and CEO of Front

**Dan Murray-Serter** (0:00)
Before we get into this episode, I'm excited to announce that the Secret Leaders podcast is now finally on YouTube. We've got some really exciting, incredible interviews lined up, and I'm so happy to have been able to speak with these guests at my house in person.
Plus, if you've ever wondered, what does Dan's living room look like? This is your chance to find out.
Is it mid-century? Is it art deco? Did Dan have any say in the matter? Is it just what his wife wanted? Well, you're going to have to just find out for yourself. So go check it out. Search for Secret Leaders on YouTube. Go over there, hit subscribe, be one of our first ever subscribers on YouTube. Do me a favor, tell a friend, you know, all that jazz. All right, now onto the show.

**Mathilde Collin** (0:48)
One of the things I realized when I started this company is that I believe before starting France, that if you have a good idea, if France is a good idea of operating a big market at the right moment, then the company is going to be successful. And it's absolutely wrong. Like the truth is, if you're not focused on the right things, if you don't hire the right people, then your company isn't going to be successful independently from how good your idea is.

**Dan Murray-Serter** (1:14)
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Secret Leaders from Infamous Media. I'm Dan Murray-Serter, and this is the UK startup podcast where you can learn from top entrepreneurs. Today I'm talking to Mathilde Collin. She's the co-founder and CEO of Front, a platform that brings together businesses' communications in one powerful inbox so they can talk much more effectively with their customers. The company has grown hugely and built a cult following since its founding in 2013, recently announcing a massive series C round from startup operators that include Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom.
But it hasn't all been sunshine and rainbows for Mathilde. Find out how she overcame burnout, as a seriously ill co-founder and a strong case of competitiveness that almost let work take over her whole life.
But before all that, we're going back to the start. Over to you, Mathilde.

**Mathilde Collin** (2:04)
So I was raised in France, in the suburb of Paris.
I was very lucky for a few reasons. I was raised in a family where my parents really loved me and that gave me so much happiness, confidence, and I think that the best gift I received. Number two is I was lucky because I felt like I had the skills that were required to succeed as a kid when you're raised in France. So I was good at school and not everyone in my family was that way and I think I felt that life was pretty unfair from the day I was conscious because on the one hand, I was a very, very happy kid for the two reasons I mentioned and on the other hand, I was also realizing that it was not really thanks to anything I had done.
So that's how I would describe my childhood, very, very happy and also very aware of the fact that that was unusual or just I didn't take it for granted. Then for the longest time, I didn't know what I wanted to do when I would grow up. Specifically, the thing that impacted me a lot when I was a kid was most of the people in my family didn't like their jobs or I heard them say so often, like so happy that it's the weekend, I don't want to go to work on Monday, it's gonna be vacation soon and I look forward to it. And because I was a happy kid interested in a lot of things, I didn't want to grow up because I felt like growing up and going to work five days a week, so many weeks a year and not enjoying it was painful. And I think that's what led me to doing what I do today. And we can talk about that later, but it's always been at the back of my mind that I wouldn't settle for what I felt like a lot of people had settled for.

**Dan Murray-Serter** (3:51)
Love that. Okay. So good, good influence. And what was life like at home then?

**Mathilde Collin** (3:57)
Super peaceful. I realize it now because I'm married. I've been married for three years. And the funny thing is we went back from... So I live in the US in San Francisco. My family is in France.
We had a daughter in September last year. And so we went back home for Christmas and we were very lucky because it was the middle of COVID. But we went back for two months and I got to spend one month with my family and one month with my husband's family.