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...
