In one sentence, what do you do, explained to someone who knows nothing about computers?
I simplify computing. And that's not simple, let's say it with a smile. Everything to do with computers, AI and data keeps getting more complicated, except for younger generations. Personally, it fascinates me. I taught myself everything, and I try to bring it back to something everyone can understand. With one rule: honesty. When I don't know, I find out. And I don't sell dreams: I offer what's genuinely useful for your needs, not what earns me the most.
The first thing you fixed, built or took apart, as a kid or teenager?
I'll admit it: I mostly broke things rather than took them apart, laughing at myself as I say it. But I always tried to understand how it worked. That's just how I am: I need to know how something works and how it all fits together, a bit like a human body. A muscle, a computer, a server, an artificial intelligence, it's the same curiosity. As a teenager, I built a lot, and my first studies in electronics gave me the basics of microcircuits. I've kept that respect for equipment: you don't rush the things that are meant to last.
You ran gyms for years. What did that job teach you that you use every day at DRAK?
Consistency, first. Then rigour, because every trade needs it. And above all, contact: years of listening to individuals and professionals tell me what they needed. Long before AI, I was already seeing the same thing in everyone: saving time, automating what repeats and protecting their information. In my gyms too, we had data security issues. You don't forget that.
Eighteen years of bodybuilding. What does that change in how you work (not in your body, in your head)?
I get asked that a lot. Bodybuilding gave me real discipline, like my time in the military. It teaches you that everything is built little by little, over time, like a blacksmith hammering steel until it becomes a blade that won't break. When you bring that discipline to the body, then to the mind, then to work, you start to see and understand a lot more. And everything I put my body through, smiling as I say it, reminds me of one thing: a human being is capable of great things when they give themselves the means to achieve them. It's all a matter of mindset.
Self-taught: how do you concretely learn something new? A recent example.
I'm interested in everything; it's almost a flaw. The moment something fascinates me (psychology, the human body, biomechanics, nutrition, biotechnology, astrophysics, quantum physics, AI…), I go looking, reading, testing. A recent and very concrete example: home automation and the 3D Home I'm putting online soon. It's a technology that's existed for a long time, one I'd already touched on during my studies, and it's becoming fascinating now that it can connect to AI. Save time, automate, and above all understand. For me, the purpose of a life is to keep learning all the time.
A book, a thinker or an idea that changed you, and why.
"Le Capitaine. Reprenez le contrôle de votre vie" (The Captain: take back control of your life), by Don Pierre Albertini, someone I consider a mentor. I put him on a pedestal, even though he wouldn't like hearing that, and saying so makes me smile. He has a phrase that made me grow a lot, and it's truer than ever in 2026: "Everything is contextual." Really, everything. Most people forget to use their brain before judging; he explains very well that every situation, every conversation has its own context. Since then, I always start there.
What annoys you most about the software and services sold to small businesses?
Complexity. I've sold software and services myself, to small businesses and large ones alike, and that's what clients already told me, and still tell me: "It's too complicated." It drives me up the wall. That's where I wanted to make a difference: get to the essentials, don't waste anyone's time, offer things that are quick to understand. When you try to do too much, in the end, nobody understands anything anymore.
Why Montréal?
Because it's my city at heart. A city open to the world, with incredible professional opportunities, right next to the United States and its technological innovations. I work between the two shores of the Atlantic, Montréal and France, and this company lets me do that. But what made me stay is the kindness and warmth of Quebecers. Genuine people, with real respect.
The perfect day, from waking up to going to bed.
Ha ha ha, very good question. A day you've planned a little, when the weather's nice, and you can feel as soon as your feet hit the floor that it'll be a good one. A productive day: my workout, then several client meetings that end with "Thank you, Yannick, you really helped us, we'll tell our friends about you." That's what keeps me going. And for it to be perfect: a quiet end to the day, a bit of time for my personal life and a beautiful sunset. Yes, I'm a big fan of that. I do it a lot less these days, and I miss it.
What can a client expect from you that no one else will give them? And what shouldn't they expect from you?
What you can expect: I know the field. I've been in the shoes of the people who come to see me, and I've sold some of the complicated products they're still using. So real closeness, which a lot of people have lost, and honesty. What you shouldn't expect: promises of the moon and the stars. Never that. If I can't do something, I won't sell it to you; it's not in my nature. I stay within what I know how to do. And when something doesn't work, I look for the solution until I find it, because I'm stubborn. Thinking of the other person, of what a client truly needs for their business to grow, that's been forgotten far too often.
A failure you talk about without embarrassment, and what it taught you.
I love this question. To me, failure is something beautiful. The purpose of a life, and I truly believe this, is to fail millions of times. It's the advice I give my close friends: fail, a lot. We forget that the people who built great things from nothing first failed thousands of times. I have tons of failures to tell, especially professional ones. At the time, I told myself "it's my fault." Sometimes it was true. But it's those failures that brought me to where I am today, building my own company.
Three words your friends would use to describe you, and one they never would.
Honest: that matters most to me. Hand on my heart: I'm turned toward people, for people. Stubborn, sometimes too much. Ha ha ha, that makes me laugh too. And what they'd never say is that I give up. When there's a problem, they know I'll break down walls to find the solution. Bold and stubborn, right to the end.
