Global Native would mark the beginning of many things in my life: my definitive move to France, my debut as an entrepreneur, and my first real introduction to the web.
It all started around a table in a Japanese restaurant in San Francisco early in 1998. My boyfriend at the time, Peter, and I had been trying to make a go at life together in France. He was a student of Political Science and an English teacher, and I was the tag-along girlfriend taking my chance at love. I managed to acquire a series of student visas and started learning the language, but it was clear that if I were to stay on I would have to find a way to make a living. Teaching English was an obvious answer, but I had other aspirations. I wanted to be a photographer.
Peter had something else in mind too. He had been starting to use the Internet more and more with his students as a pedagogical tool, and was interested in taking it further. Why not start a web agency? The web was booming in the US, but still had yet to take off in France. It was an opportunity staring us in the face. But what did we know about making websites?
Enter Karen, Peter’s cousin, ex-Apple Computer employee, graphic designer and web guru. When Peter first suggested not only bringing Karen over to France, but having her live with us, I thought he was nuts. We were having a difficult enough time as it was as a couple, how was having a third-party in our midst going to help anything?
But the more he talked about it and the more I let the idea sink in, the more convinced and excited I became. My own boss! In an exciting field, and in France!
The three of us sat around that table hashing out the details over sushi and beer, drafting what was to be the basis of a business plan. Never mind that I was also enrolled at the Condé School of Photography in Lyon that Fall, we were going into business for ourselves.
It all looked good on paper, and we each had our roles cut out for us. Peter, being the best versed in the language, and generally a good talker, would be our Commercial Director. Karen was obviously Artistic Director and our only Web Producer. I, with my years of administrative and management experience, would hold down the fort. The numbers looked good, the market seemed ripe; a perfect plan.
When we approached Peter and Karen’s parents with our idea and our need for financing, they were patient. They humored us during our long and endearing pitch, and then Larry, Peter’s father, asked the fatal question: “So what happens if Karen and Jenny have a lesbian affair and decide they want to be together? Then what happens?” We looked at each other incredulously and laughed. What was he talking about? We assured him that there was no risk of such dangers and walked out that evening with the promise of the financing we needed.
Of course he was right. Not about Karen and I having a lesbian affair, but about how our personal lives and interactions would play a huge role in the success or failure of our company. Cultural hurdles, personal tensions, personality clashes and individual needs had not been written into our wonderful and idealistic business plan. Peter would be the first to leave the company a year after its conception. And ultimately, after another year of struggling to survive, Global Native was dissolved by August 2000.
Alone in front of my computer one day later that month, wondering what to do next or where to go, the phone rang. “We have a urgent need, can you come in and see us right away?” After explaining the current state affairs the gentleman on the other end of the line didn’t seem rattled one bit. “I’ll be right over,” I said.
That day I landed my first freelance contract for 40,000 French Francs (roughly 6,000 Euros), a contract that would turn into 3 websites, a video, a CD ROM and trade show stand. By the end of the project I had brought 5 other people on board, and in October of that year, JB&CO was born.
I have been working as an independent Web Producer and Consultant ever since.
(At the end of 2009 I stopped using the moniker JB&CO, and simply work under my maiden name)
Jenny Beaumont Cappaert
