![[Podcast] Murfy surfs the domestic appliance repair market](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/etude-de-marche-electromenager-france-578x280.jpg)
Discover what artificial intelligence is with this 10-year-old child
In the 7th episode of ” The Business World with Pierre-Raffaele “, Ségolène Martin, Kantify’s CEO, takes the time to explain artificial intelligence to a 10-year-old child: Pierre-Raffaele. What is artificial intelligence? What is it used for? And above all, do companies need it? Here are the 3 main themes that will be discussed in this video. Ségolène Martin explains with a lot of pedagogy what artificial...
![[Podcast] DNVB panorama with Sebastien Tortu](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/sebastien-tortu-240x240.jpg)
[Podcast] DNVB panorama with Sebastien Tortu
In this podcast, I had the pleasure to welcome Sebastien Tortu, author of the leading French publication about Digital Native Vertical Brands (DNVB): “DNVB: the new business, between web and retail, how DNVB is changing the rules of the game.” In this podcast, we take a look at this new business model and the evolution of the French DNVB ecosystem. What is a DNVB It is quite challenging to give a strict definition of DNVB...
![[Podcast] This 10-year-old child decodes the restraints on female entrepreneurship](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/Pierre-Raffaele-Florence-Blaimont-240x240.jpg)
[Podcast] This 10-year-old child decodes the restraints on female entrepreneurship
In this new episode of ” The Business World with Pierre-Raffaele “, Florence Blaimont, the boss of the WoWo Community, decodes the five restraints to female entrepreneurship. Pierre-Raffaele is astonished to see that women are less represented in companies than men, especially within the entrepreneurial class. How then can we explain that women are less entrepreneurial? It is the result, according to Florence Blaimont, of...
![[Podcast] How to augment your sales force using Artificial Intelligence](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/IA-vendeur-240x240.jpg)
[Podcast] How to augment your sales force using Artificial Intelligence
In this podcast, made on Christmas Eve 2019, I had the pleasure to welcome Adrian Pellegrini, co-founder of BlueDME, a French start-up that advises salespeople using artificial intelligence. The start-up first launched its services in the automotive sector before moving into the insurance field. Adrian Pellegrini had caught my attention when he published an article on LinkedIn about the ” augmented salesperson “. It is...
![[Podcast] How to Disrupt a Market: The Pipplet Example](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/langues-langages-talen-240x240.jpg)
[Podcast] How to Disrupt a Market: The Pipplet Example
Radical innovation, disruption as we say in English, is the absolute Holy Grail for all entrepreneurs. It is the promise (or at least the hope) of a breakthrough entry into the market and the capture of maximum value. The phenomenon of disruptive innovation has been studied by Clayton Christensen (Harvard University), who showed that companies that came up with such products won the day and made the dinosaurs disappear from the...
This child explains to you the keys to success in SEO
What are the keys to success to be well-positioned on Google? This is the key to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) which consists in making sure that your website meets Google’s expectations to appear at the top of the search results. In this 3rd episode of ” The Business World with Pierre-Raffaele “, our star presenter welcomes Christian Janfils to learn about SEO and prepare for the web launch of his future company...
Why do we innovate? Prof. Bruno Wattenbergh explains everything to this 9-year-old child
2020 rhymes with new features at IntoTheMinds. As we announced in a previous post, we have launched a series of videos about business. The presenter is a 10-year-old child, Pierre-Raffaele, who receives in his studio, guests who are experts in their field. In the 2nd episode of the series, it is a guest of choice who is welcomed by Pierre-Raffaele. Bruno Wattenbergh is indeed a professor of entrepreneurship and chairman of the...
Discover all the facets of business with this 10-year-old child
New year, new project. At IntoTheMinds, we love offbeat projects, and we like to indulge ourselves. So in 2020, we decided to launch a project dedicated to marketing and entrepreneurship. Rather than always talking about business between adults and specialists, we decided to ask a child to lead the debates. Who better than a child to demystify marketing, innovation, business models, artificial intelligence, and all the other topics...
The lies of the novice entrepreneur
In today’s article, we propose to take a look at all the mistakes that project owners and novice entrepreneurs make. As a market research firm, and especially because we are very active in entrepreneurship, we are in the front line to get a comprehensive view of all the mistruths and preconceived ideas that endanger the survival of an entrepreneurial project. We come back in this article to the golden rules of entrepreneurship....
![[Podcast] FinTech trends with Jean-Louis van Houwe (Fintech Belgium)](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/fintech-240x240.jpg)
[Podcast] FinTech trends with Jean-Louis van Houwe (Fintech Belgium)
For this last podcast of the year 2019, we welcome Jean-Louis Van Houwe, founder and CEO of Monizze and Chairman of the Board of Directors of FinTech Belgium. Jean-Louis Van Houwe reviews the need to structure the FinTech scene, the balance sheet of FinTech Belgium and the main trends of FinTech. Jean-Louis Van Houwe will detail in particular the three axes of value creation that structure the FinTech universe: a radical change in...
![[Podcast] how to support female entrepreneurship, with Florence Blaimont](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/women-entrepreneurship-TN-240x240.jpg)
[Podcast] how to support female entrepreneurship, with Florence Blaimont
Women represent only 1/3 of entrepreneurs in Belgium. They earn 28% less than their male counterparts, according to the Brussels barometer of female entrepreneurship (2017 edition in French). And nearly 40% of Belgian women entrepreneurs have thought about stopping their activity in 2018. At a time when business creation is more than ever a driving force of the economy when governments are pampering start-ups, how can these figures be...
![[Podcast] Promises and challenges of artificial intelligence with Ségolène Martin](https://www.intotheminds.com/blog/app/uploads/Segolene-martin-kantify-podcast-240x240.jpg)
[Podcast] Promises and challenges of artificial intelligence with Ségolène Martin
In this week’s Podcast, we welcome Ségolène Martin, the CEO of Kantify, a company specialising in artificial intelligence, based in Brussels. Artificial intelligence has undoubtedly been one of the most popular subjects in recent months, but in this Podcast, we will try to go beyond the clichés. We will, therefore, focus on the real added value of artificial intelligence in companies, but also on the difficulties that the launch...
Study: The evolution of business failures in France
Nineteen years of French statistics on business start-ups and failures in France: this is what we are suggesting that we analyse together today. In this article, we allow you to examine the evolution of business failures, county by county, from 2000 to 2018. After highlighting the most dynamic counties, it is time to explore the dynamics of business destruction. As usual, we make all our work available to everyone on our Public...
Evolution of alcohol consumption and the market for de-alcoholisation
The evolution of alcohol consumption in Europe is leading many industry players to rethink their offer. In this article, we return in particular to the initiative launched by Philippe Stassen and the Meurens brothers who are joining forces to propose a new de-alcoholisation offer in the Charleroi region. Alcohol consumption in Europe In France, alcohol consumption has been on the decline for nearly 80 years. While a Frenchman consumed...
PayLead: A new wave of loyalty in the world of banking
PayLead is redefining banking loyalty by offering consumers the opportunity to be compensated in proportion to their purchases from their business partners. In this article, we return to the initiative launched by Charles de Gastines and Jacquelin Becheau La Fonta nearly three years ago. Summary Presentation of the company Genesis and history The fields of application How does it work? The future and key figures Presentation of the...
Boco Brussels: the reasons behind the failure
Boco Brussels is over. The franchise was held by Star Food Company, who initiated legal reorganisation proceedings before the Brussels Commercial Court. This is the end of the Boco adventure in Belgium, a concept we have been following since its very beginnings. We had also met a long time ago with its co-founder Simon Ferniot (brother of the chef and TV presenter of the same name, also co-founder) to talk to us about a concept that,...
French economy ministry uses data to predict bankruptcy and help firms
Anticipating the failure of businesses is a challenge both for entrepreneurs and for the State itself. Did you know that a bankruptcy, beyond the financial and emotional cost it represents for the entrepreneur, also represents a burden for the State? Bankruptcy is indeed a judicial process that often requires complex procedures involving multiple parties (court, trustees, creditors,…). Avoiding bankruptcies, helping companies to...
Customer Experience: Polette puts sex toys in a shop window display
Last week, a shop window display aroused my interest as I walked through the streets of downtown Brussels. I was not the only one to stop in front of the Polette store, rue du Marché aux Herbes. How could it have been otherwise when moving sex toys were displayed in the window? In the series of interactive store windows, this one is at least, quite remarkable. Market research is also about that: observe trends. We have interviewed...
How to use market research to get prepared for export
While market research is obviously essential before the creation of a company, it is not the only time when the different techniques that make it up can be applied. Entering a foreign market (for example, an export market) is another case where market research is crucial. Not only is this a new market for you and your company, but it is likely that this export adventure will be further complicated by the lack of knowledge about the...
The secrets of conducting market research or how to ensure the success of your (future) business: Part 3
How to do market research? You will find the answers in this article, offered to you by the market research agency IntoTheMinds. Find here episode 1 and here episode 2. We completed this series of articles in 2018 with the creation of an online market research guide that you can access free of charge on our website. For any question, request or quote for market research in Belgium, France or elsewhere, do not hesitate to contact us....
Correcteo transforms a niche market into a business opportunity
The exercise of preparing a final thesis can be a complex task for a student. It is with a view to supporting them that Quentin Demey created Correcteo, a platform that allows students to receive the support they need to develop their thesis. At the time of Correcteo’s international opening, we interviewed its founder to find out more about the future of this promising organisation. Summary Correcteo in a Nutshell Origin of the...
CoCasse vegetable tablets: a surprizing food innovation
It was during our active monitoring of the marketing campaign at SIAL 2018 that we discovered CoCasse, one of the candidates for the SIAL Innovation Awards, which presented a product never before seen: a vegetable concentrate in the form of a tablet. The resemblance to a chocolate bar was so striking that visitors fell for it, some thinking that the squares of vegetable concentrate could be eaten. Back in today’s article on a...
Tediber, the success story of a Digital Native Vertical Brand (DNVB)
Tediber, founded by Julien Sylvain, is a company whose particularity is to sell on the Internet an object whose marketing was until now the exclusive preserve of “permanent” shops: the mattress. A native digital actor, Tediber has just opened a brick-and-mortar store in the Marais district of Paris (13 rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie), a turning point in his strategy as an online “pure player” that...
Homestamp, a blockchain-based mobile application by Immoweb
As part of our marketing and technological surveillance, we are now interested in a mobile application launched by Immoweb, Belgium’s leading platform on the real estate market. This application, called Homestamp, has the particularity of using blockchain technology. The purpose (to validate the inventories online thanks in particular to photos and videos with certified timestamps) seemed to us to be particularly relevant to...
WeMaintain : this startup disrupts the market of elevator maintenance
BFM Académie, the first contest for new business creators on radio and television, is now in its 13th edition and this year, it is Jade Francine, creator of WeMaintain, an elevator maintenance company, who is the winner. Its slogan is “using digital technology to enhance the value of technical professions”. We had the pleasure of interviewing her and learning more about this somewhat revolutionary concept within this...
Le Testeur, a store to conduct market research in real conditions
As part of our marketing and retail monitoring, we have recently interviewed Sabrina Le Bourgeois, Director of communications at SEMAEST, a mixed economy company based in Paris, to learn more about the Le Testeur boutique located at 14 rue du Château d’Eau in the 10th arrondissement, an innovative way to conduct market research in real conditions while minimising the risks involved. Here is what we have learned about this...
Trocotel : how solving customer dissatisfaction leads to new business
The Trocotel website is an interactive platform created by Etienne Merlo and Jérôme Rouvront, both former employees of the Accor group. We went to interview Etienne Merlo to better understand the motivating factors behind the creation of this website. The idea of Trocotel comes from first-hand experience. These two employees were confronted each day with the dissatisfaction of many customers who had booked at an Accor hotel, but who,...
What’s the marketing secret behind Frank Woolworth’s fortune?
The Woolworth building is one of New-York’s most iconic buildings. Not only was it the tallest building of the world from 1913 until 1930, but it also conveys the history of a brand that has revolutionized retail before going bankrupt. How did retail look like at the time of Frank Woolworth ? Frank Woolworth was a legendary businessman but also a legendary inept salesman. His inability as a salesman is told to have led him draft...
Twinkind went bankrupt : another startup in 3D printing has died
A few years ago we discovered in Berlin a very hot startup : Twinkind. They specialized in 3D printed figurines in a quality never seen before. Their process was based was unique as we explained in this interview of its founder Timo Schaedel. Unfortunately Twinkind filled for bankruptcy in June 2016. The press realease (in German) doesn’t give much detail on the reasons of the failure but our guess is that the market was...
Innovation at VRT : Appiness “Spott” keeps growing
Last week I was invited by the innovation division of VRT (Belgium’s Dutch-speaking public television) for their creative circle III. It consisted in a series of presentations and testing from startups incubated in VRT’s “sandbox” department. Presentations and demos were given by 5 startups : Fisheye, Limecraft, Moovly, Appiness, Kiswe. Buy what you see on TV with the Spott mobile app The demo which very much impressed me was given by...
Fatal errors for startups growth
Fellow betacoworker Toon Vanagt made an impression when presenting on startups growth at Techstartup 2016. The least you can say is that Toon as vast experience in the field of startups (check his latest baby data.be) and a solid sense of humor. He was not afraid to tell the audience about his failures and I found one of them especially interesting : Casius.be. Toon explained how he burned 4m€ of VC cash to build a … 1.8m€ business....
Sharing economy : revenues to be taxed in France
The good thing with the sharing economy is that it has empowered individuals to make money. The bad thing is that governments haven’t been able to take much advantage of those new business models. In France the sharing economy represents a turnover of €2.5bn and a workforce estimated to 13000. Needless to say, it was more than enough to get the attention of governments in desperate need of money since the financial crisis has begun in...
Highlights of one more year of blogging
It’s now been 6 years I’ve regularly posted articles on this blog (some 2100 articles in 3 languages). The design and technical changes we made in 2014 and 2015 were fruitful. The audience increases regularly and since we fixed a cache problem this summer, the French version of the blog is hitting almost systematically the 100k unique users mark on annual basis. The Dutch version of the blog is not doing so good ; despite all my...
The paradox of entrepreneurship : whom do you create your startup for?
Why are there so many startups failing in the first 3 to 5 years ? One of the recurrent explanation is that entrepreneurs don’t understand their market well. Some may suffer from the knowledge corridor, and what is sure is that market research may have helped to avoid failure. My point today is a more philosophical one. We’ll all agree that market research can indeed help find the right strategy and marketing approach. But why is it...
A new way to finance the growth of startups : bonds ! (Part 2)
In part 1, Jean Carvajal explained the various types of crowdfunding available to companies seeking financing, including issuing stocks, bonds and taking out conventional loans. In his opinion, bond financing is a great method as it provides funding flexibility and customisable repayment options without diluting shares. He then explained what unique factors Investbook’s risk committee considers when selecting projects for its...
A new way to finance the growth of startups : bonds ! (Part 1)
The topic of financing startups’ growth is a recurrent one on this blog; simply because it’s a problem that many entrepreneurs are faced with and that they don’t always solve. Today we’re interviewing Jean Carvajal, President and Creator of Investbook. Investbook is the first crowdfunding platform approved by the AMF (French regulatory body) for bonds investments. IntoTheMinds : Banks are cautious. This...
