Effectuation Chronicles #17: Bloom At Work, Measuring Gross Workplace Happiness

Effectuation Chronicles #17: Bloom At Work, Measuring Gross Workplace Happiness Effectuation Chronicles #17: Bloom At Work, Measuring Gross Workplace Happiness You are a manager: do you think your employees are fulfilled at work? Are you an employee: do you make your voice heard on your well-being at work? These questions, which form the basis for good social dialogue and better corporate performance, are often overlooked or even forgotten. Yet academic studies such as UC Berkeley’s show that happy employees are 86% more creative and innovative than others, and Gallup’s shows that successful Millennials at work take 41% less sick leave. In a nutshell : Blessed are those who question themselves, they will be fulfilled! Faced with this paradoxical observation, are there any solutions? Yes: Bloom at Work – whose literary meaning invites you to bloom, blossom and blossom at work. Their solution makes it possible to measure and analyse, regularly and in real time, the well-being and commitment of employees. Through these « scientificized » measurement tools, an appropriate action plan can be proposed. This concept is fully in tune with the times, where meditation, yoga and foosball gurus flourish to escape the spectra of burn-out and boron-out. With more than 25 million working people in France, and an average expenditure of €40 per employee, the market for measuring well-being is estimated to represent nearly €1 billion, and is growing. The Problem. The counter-culture of feedback. Charles, 31, is a graduate engineer from Centrale Supélec, Columbia and Sciences Po. Over-graduated, he joined the prestigious strategy consulting firm McKinsey at the end of his studies. As expected, the pace of work is very intense. However, during the employee questionnaires sent out every two weeks, his colleagues do not complain frankly about the workload. Until the day a « cataclysmic » project pushed him and other members of his team to respond more severely to the questionnaire. Seeing his results, the partner in charge of the team brings the team together and starts a healthy and constructive discussion on the pace of work. And the results and conclusions are very positive. It’s a revelation! He leaves his consulting firm and makes a major career change. Article to be found in full on Forbes Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicles #16: POSQA, Augmented Paper

Effectuation Chronicles #16: POSQA, Augmented Paper Effectuation Chronicles #16: POSQA, Augmented Paper In a nutshell. Emotion in augmented reality. Thomas Templier, as his name suggests, is a traveller, a conqueror. He never forgets to send a postcard to his grandmother. The latter, always happy to discover his new adventures, inspired the young man. As soon as he finishes his studies, after a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, he launches into the assault of augmented reality to arouse emotion, increasing for example the capacities of the postcard. Today, the young ESCE graduate is trying to revolutionize paper-based augmented reality communication. Its start-up: POSQA; and its Posqartes have travelled around the world and are now taking the market by surprise. Located in Morning Coworking in Clichy, the POSQA team is composed of Thomas, founder, Thibaut, graphic designer, Rémi, 3D designer and Karen, the experienced consultant. The start-up also benefits from a sales force of five freelance business developers located in Lyon, Paris, Rennes and Montpellier. The problem . A bridge between communications. The world of communication always oscillates between paper and digital use. However, single-use paper often ends up in the garbage. As for digital, it requires above all an incarnation, a bait in order to create commitment. The QR Code could be the solution but for Thomas « it’s not aesthetic and it only redirects to a page »… Article to be found in full on Forbes Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicles #11: Inscoper, An Intelligence to Observe Life

Effectuation Chronicles #11: Inscoper, An Intelligence to Observe Life Effectuation Chronicles #11: Inscoper, An Intelligence to Observe Life It’s Sunday night. You are in your sofa, comfortably seated, for your weekly sin: television. Tonight, a fiction presents a mad and megalomaniac scientist at the head of an infernal machine. Enhanced by a colourful personality, the result is a mixture of Moonraker and Dr. Folamour. Even if it’s in a movie, it’s hard not to smile! How then would this wacky man be able to successfully industrialize the production of an army of robots? Who do we think we’re fooling? Moving from the laboratory to the general public is not automatic. On the contrary, it is a complicated ballet between researchers on the one hand, and engineers, managers and sales representatives on the other. In a nutshell. A « brain for microscope ». From lab exploration to mass production, it takes a whole journey. It is this transformation that Olivier Chanteux, CEO and co-founder of Inscoper, tells us about. He has partnered with Otmane Bouchareb to exploit the invention of two researchers, Marc Tramier and Jacques Pécréaux. Based in Rennes, the start-up is developing a control system for research microscopes and is enjoying such commercial success in its €1.3 billion market that it is seeking to internationalize abroad only 3 months after the launch of its product… Article to be found in full on Forbes Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicle #9: We Do Good, For the Entrepreneur It’s ROYAL

Effectuation Chronicle #9: We Do Good, For the Entrepreneur It’s ROYAL Effectuation Chronicle #9: We Do Good, For the Entrepreneur It’s ROYAL The capitalist ventures of Silicon Valley, as humanists and geography enthusiasts, have given a special name to characterize the situation that start-ups go through to finance their commercialization: Death Valley. For the non-English speakers among us, this name indicates the high failure rate of start-ups in the face of this obstacle. And for good reason, the amounts requested are increasing; public aid is becoming scarcer; investors and bankers are more attentive to the financial performance of companies. A little late in the business plan and hop! For the manager, this may already be the end of the adventure. In a nutshell. A major part of the investment. What if, instead of financing against assets or shares in the capital, companies paid a portion of the turnover to its investors? No more guarantee problems and investors are directly interested in the success of the project. This system works like for artists in the music world, where production companies finance the creation of a person and then take a share of the profits made. These financing « royalties » are set up by We Do Good. The Nantes crowdfunding platform, created in 2012 by Jean-David Bar, has already financed more than 40 projects for a total amount of 1.5 million euros. It is now seeking to expand at the national level and thus become the financing alternative for innovative projects under €100,000… Article to be found in full on Forbes Non classé

Effectuation Chronicle #34 : Yuka, Healthy Consumption Scoring

Effectuation Chronicle #34 : Yuka, Healthy Consumption Scoring Effectuation Chronicle #34 : Yuka, Healthy Consumption Scoring It is difficult not to politicize consumers’ inspiration to eat better, and the mistrust that falls on manufacturers regarding their ability to offer healthy products. However, this does not mean that it is a Manichean battle, because if the consumer reacted less positively to the effects of superficial styles, companies would not have to compete for the pinkest ham and the most uniform fruit… It is therefore necessary first to empower and inform the consumer about his choices. That’s what Yuka, the new agri-food intermediary, is doing. In Two Words. Yuka watches over the Grain. Yuka is a mobile application for analyzing food and cosmetic products on their impact on health. In addition to this diagnosis, the application recommends similar but healthier products. And, it is important to specify this, in complete independence! The Problem. Consuming Better. One of the co-founders, Benoît Martin, had many questions about the food needs of his three children. After analyzing the labels, he realized that a tool capable of decoding them would be welcome. This makes it easier for the informed consumer. In 2016, he decided with his brother François and his friend, Julie Chapon, to participate in the Hackathon Foodtech de la Gaîté Lyrique, which they won by creating a connected object – in the shape of a carrot – in order to scan the products purchased. So the logo and concept were already there! Article to be found in full on Forbes Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicle #33: Vidmizer, Watch Your Videos

Effectuation Chronicle #33: Vidmizer, Watch Your Videos Effectuation Chronicle #33: Vidmizer, Watch Your Videos Just on YouTube alone, the most viewed video has gone from 2.2 billion in 2012 to more than 6 billion views in 2019, for Despacito. Whether you find it regrettable or not, the facts are there: video has established itself in a few years as a strategic tool for distribution that cannot be ignored. It is in this context that Vidmizer was designed. According to predictions, by 2020, 82% of all consumer web traffic will be video. Video is nowadays the ideal way to amplify and engage Internet users. According to Forrester Research, 80% of Internet users watch a video when 20% read a text. If video is a media with a high return on investment in terms of commitment and conversion, it must also be broadcast. In all sectors, managing videos well, effectively managing their distribution on social networks and websites, and effectively collecting associated data have become very important issues for brands. In a nutshell. Video and Optimizer: Vidmizer Vidmizer was born of the following intuition: video is for the company a heritage that must be managed as well as possible in order to make it profitable and to generate commitment and sales. The start-up aims to make companies agile with video and enable them to « transform the process of video production, management and distribution », explains the two co-founders Anne Gayat and Erwan Huhardeaux. The process of distributing and managing video data is currently far from being sufficiently agile. Hence the creation of the SaaS VideoEngage platform to simplify the use of video for companies: more automation and optimization in sharing and publishing, simplified and efficient data management, all without the intervention of technical teams. The problem is. How to benefit from innovation. The observation of Vidmizer’s two entrepreneurs is very clear: video is the future of digital marketing. « Marketers will have to learn to use video in the same way they learned to use text and photos, » they explain. « And all the more so with the arrival of the cloud. » Video is the Internet users’ preferred medium because it allows a lot of information to be conveyed – but it must not be of an advertising nature. This video format also increases the impact and memorization of messages and content. It would take thousands of words – or a pen of genius – to get the same message across in writing. Video is easier to distribute, better shared on social networks, « 12 times more » according to Anne, and easier to move up pages thanks to Google’s algorithms that greatly enhance this type of format. Article to be found integrality on Forbes Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicle #32: Click & Boat, The New AirBnb In The Wind

Effectuation Chronicle #32: Click & Boat, The New AirBnb In The Wind Effectuation Chronicle #32: Click & Boat, The New AirBnb In The Wind During the summer months, the call of the sea is felt. So we went to meet Jeremy Bismuth, his team and their dogs in their barge offices in Boulogne, Click & Boat’s headquarters. Even if the Seine was calm, the sailors were active in all directions and in all languages. That’s enough to make you feel completely out of touch! In a nutshell. Welcome on board. No need to present them anymore, the AirBnb of boats is on the rise. Created in 2013, with now more than 100 employees, the Click & Boat startup has 40 million euros of business volume. With or without a captain, you can now book the boat (Editor’s note: more than 30,000 units available in May 2019) you want in more than 50 different countries. The Abandoned ships’ problem Just as Airbnb optimizes empty apartments, Click & Boat addresses the problem of boats. They are expensive, require maintenance and the owners do not use them much: according to Jeremy, on average only 9 days at sea per year! Even among rental professionals, both landlords and tenants have difficulty accessing the market, the distribution between supply and demand is not homogeneous. Click & Boat wants to be a revealer of stock through its marketplace. From the small sailboat in Brittany to the yacht of Miami’s insane proportions, everyone can find what they are looking for. A key idea among many others. Edouard and Jérémy met at Mazars, in a different sector of activity, but they quickly discovered that they shared the same entrepreneurial spirit. For Jeremy, simple and resourceful business in particular. By the end of his studies in Dauphine, he had already taken over and sold a bankrupt restaurant. « For local shops, he tells us, it only takes three weeks to replenish the number of customers! We do tastings, offers, we even put a sandwich man in front… » Until the resale to Afflelou. Edouard, passionate about sailing and the sea, was full of ideas and felt that he would not stop there. They often met to confront their intuitions. « No, there’s already Doctolib… that’s too late. » Finally, the idea of a platform for networking around boats emerged. Edouard le Breton and Jérémy le Marseillais both meet there, even if they were not used to using the same type of boat. Article to be fully found on Forbes Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicle #31: LILM, On-Demand Furniture

Effectuation Chronicle #31: LILM, On-Demand Furniture Effectuation Chronicle #31: LILM, On-Demand Furniture Personalizing your home often requires the use of a unique combination of furniture, yet one by one made in a chain. For creative people looking for uniqueness, but without any DIY talent, there is still the solution of custom-made furniture made by a craftsman. But who to choose, where, how, and for how much? To do this, Anthony Garcia and the LILM team want to put the craftsmen back at the centre of the sale. In a nutshell. Matching for craftsmen. Lilm is a solution that simplifies the relationship between the customer and the craftsman. It is mainly aimed at interior designers and professionals with a furniture project (shop, restaurant, office). The main reasons why they choose the tailor-made solution? Practical, with the choice of dimensions to the nearest centimetre and aesthetic, with the choice of style and materials. Using a form, the user submits his project. For a table for example, it will include the style of the furniture, the type of wood, the shape of the legs, the finish and of course the dimensions. With a database of more than 1200 craftsmen, the team effectively matches the request with the offer, and even offers several quotes. In addition to this service, Lilm acts as an online trading platform for other craftsmen’s products, although it derives its main added value from contact. Added value that is not only commercial, because one of Lilm’s values is to give visibility to French craftsmen. « Crafts in themselves tend to be neglected, and in particular some atypical trades such as glassblowers, ceramists or mosaic artists, » Anthony tells us. It is therefore high time to help them realize their potential. The problem is to make access to crafts practical. When we want to support local crafts, it is obvious that nothing makes our job easier. « No one is going to come to the Creuze to visit a workshop and explain his project to a craftsman he didn’t know before, » Anthony says ironically. Ordering online can also quickly prove difficult. A customer – and in particular a company – needs to be able to compare the possible offers. However, both to find the craftsmen and to compare the estimates, the process is very restrictive. It can take up to two weeks for a craftsman to calculate a quote. Thanks to the data that Lilm accumulates on its community, the platform is able to estimate the price generally asked by its craftsmen for a service, and saves precious time to its customers. This is enough to intelligently digitise the furniture and decoration market, which represents more than 100 billion euros in Europe. Without this solution, it would be up to the craftsmen to make the effort to make themselves known and market their products, but as Anthony says, « it’s not their job »! It seemed inconceivable to him that in the custom furniture market, even if it were less important, there would not be a global platform to simplify the relationship between customers and producers. Article to be found in full on Forbes Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicle #30: BioPoolTech, The Ecological Pool, An Oxymore?

Effectuation Chronicle #30: BioPoolTech, The Ecological Pool, An Oxymore? Effectuation Chronicle #30: BioPoolTech, The Ecological Pool, An Oxymore? At home as well as in others, a swimming pool is in itself a privileged space for relaxation, pure relaxation and happiness to be shared in a friendly atmosphere. How can you better enjoy your free time in summer when absolute sun relaxation is a must? But behind the wellness aspects lies a less attractive reality. The ecological footprint of a swimming pool is disastrous in terms of water, electricity and chemicals. In addition to this, there are inconveniences for its regular maintenance, which can very quickly turn out to be a heavy burden. We are beginning to come to the conclusion that a version 2.0 is needed. Emmanuel Berthod, with his « swimming pool 3.0 » is a little ahead of us, but the result is what we expect: maximizing idleness and minimizing the ecological footprint. In a nutshell. It’s all in the title. BioPoolTech, as its name suggests, is a pool that combines naturalness and technology. Emmanuel wondered « how to copy nature effectively ». The former engineer from the photovoltaic industry has synthesized his technical skills with his desire to improve the lives of people and the planet. Sensors controlled by artificial intelligence analyze water quality, and the purification work is left to a secret recipe of natural bacteria. No more Ph tests, no need for chlorine or other chemicals to enjoy even purer water.Some customizations are even left to the user, who can choose with the help of a mobile application how to optimize all the features of his pool to his taste. Thanks to its model, it can reduce the water consumption of a swimming pool by 90%, electricity by 75% and chemicals by 100%. This approach has an even greater impact as the pool market is huge. The problem of an old but very rich market. The swimming pool world is vast, with more than 25 million pools sold worldwide, 10% of which are in France. Demand is very strong, even in times of crisis. « When the real estate crisis caused the real estate market to fall by 20%, the swimming pool market continued to grow by 4%, » says Emmanuel. But in the swimming pool industry, no significant improvement has disrupted anything in 20 years, as if there was no need to innovate because the market was so profitable. Hence his growing interest in the matter. « The market will evolve, and we will contribute to this change, » he says. Article to be found in full on Forbes. Chronicle

Effectuation Chronicle #28: Wishibam, Recreating a Customer Relationship 2.0

Effectuation Chronicle #28: Wishibam, Recreating a Customer Relationship 2.0 Effectuation Chronicle #28: Wishibam, Recreating a Customer Relationship 2.0 Lack of time, search for the best price or convenient deliveries, more and more of us are buying on the Internet by abandoning traditional stores. Often not very faithful to a particular site, zapping is the way to go for impatient consumers. How can we find this privileged relationship with the local merchant even when buying online? Wishibam has asked himself this question and offers us a solution. In a nutshell. Sellers 2.0. With its clearly stated ambition, Wishibam wishes to reconcile online and physical commerce. To recreate the established relationship of trust that can exist in a store between the seller and the customer, Wishibam quickly set up a free service of digital salespeople called Personal Shoppers. Personal Shoppers are responsive and personified online assistants who offer products that meet customer requests in less than a minute. The Personal Shopper accesses a suggestion list proposed by the Wishibam algorithm and accompanies it with a personalized message. This alliance between the immediacy of the Internet and human complicity allows the marketplace to retain its users, with a conversion rate 4 times higher than that of Amazon. On the basis of this « B2C marketplace », Wishibam is now developing a white label solution for property companies and local authorities. Problem. Fall in attendance and volatility. The figures are clear; the transformation of the shops is in progress. « The number of store admissions has fallen by 60% in the United States, which is likely to happen again in Europe. At the same time, turnover from online sales has increased by 170%, » says Charlotte. This situation is causing a lot of damage among large retailers and independent stores that close physical sales outlets without innovating digitally. Charlotte adds that « the average vacancy rate in the city centre has increased by 57% according to Procos ». The lack of innovation and underdeveloped services mean that these brands lose a significant proportion of their customers. The customer is omnichannel, he wants to be able to buy simply by enjoying the best shopping experience. Faced with the lack of digitization of stores, increasingly volatile buyers are using market leaders such as Amazon or Le BonCoin to place orders. Idea. Rotate from B2C to white label. Building on the success of its platform equipped with shopping assistants, Wishibam is launching into B2B. By offering stores « Personal Assistant » CRMs, Charlotte and her team enable them to recreate this important link between salespeople and customers. « When you go to Bricorama, we are all relieved to be able to be advised, you have to find this experience online, » says Charlotte. From this observation, the young Executive Director reveals her vision: « My conviction is that tomorrow’s business will be physical, digital and « experiential ». Experience is human. We need to find this lost link between customer and merchant, online and in store. To do this, it is necessary to use data to support salespeople in the customer experience. » Article to be found in full on Forbes Chronicle