Cassien Lemoine

Why this persona fits the audience

Co-founder of a small consultancy in Paris that sells product and design services to SaaS startups; he keeps prospect data in spreadsheets and sends targeted outreach to CTOs and founders from a shared mailbox.

• Age: 34
• Location: Paris, France
• Occupation: Co-founder
• Income: EUR 60k-95k owner income
• Education: Master's degree
• Company size: 2 employees (including himself)
• Years in role: 3

“I don't want to build a bigger machine; I want to refine the gears so the whole thing moves quieter and faster.”

Cassien Lemoine is a 34-year-old co-founder based in the heart of Paris, navigating the delicate balance of creative integrity and commercial viability in the B2B consulting sector. Holding a Master's degree in Industrial Design from ENSCI-Les Ateliers, he spent five years in agency roles before launching 'Atelier Flux' with a single vision: to bring rigorous product design principles to early-stage SaaS startups that were often too young to afford top-tier firms. Today, he operates a lean, two-person entity where he serves as both the lead designer and the head of business development. Despite his technical aptitude, Cassien clings to a surprisingly analog workflow for his most critical function: client acquisition. He meticulously curates lists of target companies in a sprawling Google Sheet, cross-referencing funding news and leadership changes, then manually crafts bespoke emails to CTOs and founders from a shared mailbox. This method, while labor-intensive, reflects his core belief that automation often dilutes the personal touch required to break into closed networks. He is financially disciplined, reinvesting profits into better hardware and software licenses only when they demonstrably save time, a trait born from the precarious nature of solo entrepreneurship. His life is defined by a pursuit of 'craft'—whether in the pixel-perfect UIs he designs or the nuanced copy he writes. He is a man who measures success not by the size of his team, but by the depth of his impact and the freedom to choose his clients. Recently, he has begun questioning whether his spreadsheet-heavy approach is sustainable as he aims to double his revenue, sensing that the friction of manual outreach is becoming a ceiling on his growth. Yet, he remains hesitant to adopt complex CRMs, fearing they will introduce the very bureaucracy he sought to escape when he left the corporate world. Cassien is a paradox: a modern entrepreneur who finds comfort in the tactile rhythm of typing and the tangible order of a well-organized spreadsheet, constantly seeking a middle ground between the chaos of the startup world and the precision of his own design philosophy.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Cassien wakes at 6:30 AM, brews his coffee, and runs until 7:45 AM. By 9:00 AM, he is at his desk, reviewing the day's priorities in his notebook before opening his laptop. He spends the first two hours on deep design work for a client, creating wireframes for a fintech dashboard. At 11:30 AM, he switches modes to business development, opening his shared Gmail. He pulls three new leads from his master spreadsheet, researches their recent funding rounds, and drafts personalized outreach emails, a process that takes him about 45 minutes per lead due to his need for hyper-personalization. Lunch is a quick sandwich eaten at a nearby park. The afternoon is filled with client calls and internal team syncs. From 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, he updates his CRM sheet, marking which prospects replied and flagging those who need a second touch. He leaves the office at 6:30 PM, avoiding the worst traffic, and spends the evening reading or cooking dinner with his partner.

Lifestyle

Cassien resides in a renovated 45-square-meter apartment in Le Marais, sharing the space with his partner, an architect. His mornings are ritualistic: black coffee brewed with a V60, followed by a 45-minute run along the Seine before work begins. He is health-conscious but not obsessive, prioritizing sleep and a diet rich in vegetables over strict gym routines. Financially, he lives below his means despite the volatility of freelance income, maintaining a six-month emergency fund. Socially, he prefers deep one-on-one conversations or small dinners over large networking events, often gathering with other founders who value craft over hype. Weekends are reserved for reading fiction, hiking in the nearby forests, or tinkering with personal projects like setting up a local server.

Work life

As co-founder of 'Atelier Flux,' Cassien manages a two-person team handling product design and UX strategy for early-stage SaaS startups. His day is split between client delivery and business development. The reality of running a boutique firm involves wearing every hat: designer, sales rep, and accountant. He currently relies on a shared Gmail account for outreach and maintains a complex, color-coded Google Sheet for prospect tracking, manually updating lead status after every interaction. This manual process consumes roughly four hours weekly, a significant drain on his billable hours. He works best in focused blocks, often starting late morning to avoid the chaotic Parisian rush hour, utilizing noise-canceling headphones to create a sanctuary of concentration amidst the open-plan café culture of their office.

Relationships

Cassien's closest confidants are his partner, who grounds him emotionally, and two former university classmates who now run agencies in London and Berlin. They exchange insights on tool stacks and market shifts via a private Slack channel. He has a loose network of 30-40 active contacts in the Paris tech scene, maintained through quarterly coffee meetings. He values influence from senior mentors who have successfully scaled their own boutiques, though he remains wary of 'gurus' selling courses. Family is distant but supportive, visiting twice a year, while his primary community is found within niche online forums where technical discussions outweigh social pleasantries.

How they decide

Cassien adopts a cautious, evidence-based approach to decisions. He rarely commits to a new tool immediately; instead, he demands proof of concept, often testing free tiers or open-source alternatives first. He is deeply influenced by peer recommendations from trusted technical circles rather than paid advertisements. If a solution promises efficiency, he requires a clear migration path and transparent data handling policies. He is willing to pay for quality if it saves time, but he resists paying for features he doesn't understand or use daily. His default stance is skepticism toward 'all-in-one' suites that might become bloatware.

How they sound

His speech is measured, articulate, and devoid of aggressive sales jargon. He uses precise French terminology mixed with English tech slang common in the startup ecosystem (e.g., 'scaling,' 'churn,' 'UX'). He speaks slowly, choosing words carefully to ensure accuracy. He avoids hyperbole, never saying 'revolutionary' or 'game-changing' unless backed by data. In conversation, he pauses frequently to think, preferring to admit uncertainty ('I'm not sure yet') rather than bluff. He tends to ask clarifying questions about implementation details and privacy before discussing outcomes.