Jeremie Tisseau set up a UX/UI design agency in HK and is now based in Thailand where he feels very much at home!
What’s your story?
It is a long story actually. I was working in the Canary Islands, Spain, in a solar telescope as a technician in optic. I never really loved my job there. At the same time I started to organize a language exchange group and had to create a website to get people to join. I loved it so much that I immediately decided to make it my work. I put another website together and sold my web design services for only $69 for 5 pages. This was ridiculously low but after 3 months I got my first client. That’s basically how I learned the job and got a portfolio and then new clients. 2-3 years later, I decided to move to Thailand and make it a full time job. I initially set up a company in Hong Kong and later, in mid-2014, I created my company in Thailand and started to hire staff. We are now a team of 6 people and we specialize only in user experience and user interface design for web and mobile.
I also organize a very popular and active web design meetup in Bangkok
http://www.meetup.com/bkk-web/ | https://www.facebook.com/groups/bkkweb/ .
What excites you most about your industry?
The web and mobile industry is one of the most exciting industries. Technologies evolve at a very fast pace and new devices come up in the market all the time. Very soon virtual and augmented reality will be part of our daily lives and then other technologies that we cannot even conceive in our mind yet will take their place soon after. I don’t know how this will affect my company or how we will be able to adapt to these new environments and technologies but it is exciting. We have to constantly learn new things and that’s what makes our work so interesting.
What’s your connection to Asia?
I always had a strong attraction to Asia since I was a little kid. My mother used to cook a lot of Asian food and we would eat with chopsticks. This had a lasting impact on me and now that I live here I feel this is my home. I can’t imagine living anywhere else in the world.
Favourite city in Asia for business and why?
I have only really lived in Bangkok so I am probably not the best person to ask but I think it has everything we need here. Also, startups and tech companies have really started to boost in the past 4 years. When I arrived 7 years ago local companies didn’t really care about design but since the iPhone, companies have started to care a lot more about UX design and started to invest heavily in it. This has really helped my business. There’s still a very high demand for good design in Bangkok and the region and anyone who offers good services should be able to make a good living here.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
“Learn to say NO.” This has really helped me in my business. It is easy to say YES but actually really hard to say NO to someone. When you say YES to everything, you can’t really focus on what really matters for your business or life in general. The day I learned to say NO to all the things I didn’t want to do and started to focus exclusively on UX and UI design, my business improved greatly.
Who inspires you?
I learn from many different people and read a lot of articles on the web every single day. If I had to cite one person I would say my mentor and billionaire Fred Mouawad, owner of Mouawad Jewelry, Coffee World, Taskworld and a few other businesses. He is the most successful person I have ever had the chance to meet and I am really glad to have him as my mentor. He has really helped me take my business to the next level and I will always be grateful for that.
What have you just learnt recently that blew you away?
I read a lot of things about futurism. Many things will change during the next 20-30 years so it is hard to just mention one thing. Maybe the most interesting one is the ability in the future to upload new data to your brain like in the movie Matrix or being able to access and control devices right from your mind.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
Maybe being more social? I used to be really reserved and shy for a very long time and I wished I had learned to be more social earlier in life. This would have really helped me both in my personal life and early on in my business. Now I meet people all the time and have a very large network which is good for my business.
How do you unwind?
If I make a mistake, I acknowledge it, think how I can improve for next time and then set it on the side. I don’t let things that I did in my past affect my life anymore. What’s done is done. It is best, to just move on.
Favourite Asian destination for relaxation? Why?
I do not have any one favorite place. I just go to the most convenient place.
Everyone in business should read this book:
Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux. This book changed the way I manage my business. This book basically talks about flat management organizations which are best known as Holocracy.
Shameless plug for your business:
Our company Morphosis Apps specialize in UX and UI design for medium to large companies and startups. And if you are wondering what UX and UI is, it basically means we design web or mobile apps or websites that are focused on improving the overall conversion. You can find more information on our online portfolio at www.morphos.is.
How can people connect with you?
It is best to connect with me directly on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeeremie . I am very active there.
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This interview was part of the Callum Connect’s column found on The Asian Entrepreneur:
Callum Laing invests and buys small businesses in a range of industries around Asia. He has previously started, built and sold half a dozen businesses and is the founder & owner of Fitness-Buffet a company delivering employee wellness solutions in 12 countries. He is a Director of, amongst others, Key Person of Influence. A 40 week training program for business owners and executives.
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