Three French Tech leaders, all multi-entrepreneurs, explain how the experience of their first start-up shaped the creation of their following projects.
Serial entrepreneurs or repeat founders, whatever you want to call them. In both cases, these profiles are based on solid experience in terms of entrepreneurship, which can prove useful in avoiding repeating past mistakes. The JDN therefore asked them for their best advice.
Master your time-to-market
Building a good product is one thing. Throwing it at the right time is another. “We can develop the best solution: without a good time-to-market, it will not work. When I founded Selectionnist, we were already doing AI when the market was not ready. We were two years ahead in terms of adoption,” confides Lara Rouyrèstoday CEO of Elsee Care, a platform that reimburses uncovered health and well-being expenses, and previously founder of Selectionnist and Dealissime.
Favor seniors over juniors
“For my first start-upwe mainly recruited junior profiles. Today, I favor more experienced profiles, with real knowledge of the market we are targeting. Of course, they are more expensive, but they save valuable time in the first years. And with AI, their impact is multiplied,” explains Benjamin Greliéfounder of Posos, a medtech that develops prescription and medical decision support solutions, after having already launched the start-up Printic.
Fundraising: do not ignore the rules of the game and the expectations of VCs
Fundraising cannot be improvised. Before entering into negotiations with VCs, it is better to know the codes of venture capital to avoid beginner mistakes. “You have to understand the world of venture capital and how it works. Without experience, you can waste time pitching to the wrong funds, but also negotiating points that are not negotiable,” warns Lara Rouyrès.
“It is essential to know the funds’ expectations well, because this determines the quality of the exchanges,” adds Franck Le OuayCEO of Lifen, specialist in the management and secure exchange of health data, and co-founder of Criteo. “We also need to know how to talk about risk: show that we are aware of it and explain how we reduce it, in order to make it acceptable, without trying to hide it,” adds Benjamin Grelié.
Don’t listen to your board too much
A claim that may seem difficult to put into practice, as it requires perspective and a certain assurance, but which Benjamin Grelié nonetheless considers essential. “Investors are not always experts in the sectors in which they invest, because they often support numerous companies with a fairly general investment thesis and therefore cover very different sectors. Conversely, the entrepreneur is confronted on a daily basis with his market and therefore has a better reading of it.”
Choose a project that can be scalable internationally
“For my first start-up, the challenges were very territorial, with services anchored in local logics. The model was difficult to extend and internationalize. For my project that followed, I had a clear conviction: I wanted a company designed from the start to be exportable internationally,” says Lara Rouyrès.
