Portrait of François Painchaud

Reflections, methods, lessons.

What 24 years building on the web have taught me — about entrepreneurship, AI, agency and SMB growth, and the trade in general. No empty promises, no gimmicks. What held, what broke, what's worth sharing.

Backlinks and SEO: 30 years of evolution, and why they still matter in 2026

From BackRub in 1996 to AI Overviews in 2026: the full timeline of backlinks in SEO. Why they remain a major signal for Google, and now for LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity too.

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Three tech cycles, one pattern: what Web 1.0, mobile and SaaS taught me before AI

Web 1.0, mobile and SaaS, generative AI — three waves, one same four-stage pattern. Why the real winners rarely arrive first, and what 24 years building on the web taught me about adoption discipline.

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Fractional CGO for digital agencies: why your agency is plateauing and how to unblock it

Founder-dependency, eroding margins, fear of specializing. The three ceilings digital agencies between 5 and 30 people hit — and the mechanics of a Fractional Chief Growth Officer to unblock them.

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How to choose a digital agency in Quebec in 2026: the 7 questions nobody asks

Account ownership, success measurement, AI in service delivery, execution team. The seven questions that reveal a digital agency's real quality in Quebec — and that almost nobody asks before signing.

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Running three projects in parallel without burning out: my method after 600 projects delivered

Six practical principles for carrying multiple entrepreneurial projects simultaneously without burnout, after 24 years of entrepreneurship. What 600 projects delivered taught me about rotation, delegation, and refusal.

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AI for Quebec SMBs: where to start concretely when you have neither a data team nor an unlimited budget

A practical four-step framework to integrate AI into a Quebec SMB without a data team or unlimited budget. The method we use at Kasvu to launch a first profitable AI project, step by step.

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What 24 years in digital taught me about AI

Three cycles, one same pattern. Why entrepreneurs who lived through the arrival of the web and SaaS know how to recognize what really changes with AI — and the three principles I share in every mandate.

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