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Profiles, trends and startupers
in their own words
375
STARTUPERS
375 STARTUPERS
Profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
ROLAND BERGER / NUMA
Roland Berger / NUMA
35
About Roland Berger
Operating in France since 1990, Roland Berger is the world’s leading management
strategy consulting firm of European origin and boasts 2,400 employees at
50 offices in 36 countries. Our Paris office employs some 300 of them, including
240 consultants and 29 partners, and advises major French and international
corporations on key business issues. Roland Berger is the creative force behind the
Terra Numerata™ digital network, an open and non-exclusive partnership platform
pooling skills and expertise that industry, associations and public institutions can
draw on for their digital projects.
About NUMA
A major player in the digital ecosystem for the last
15 years, NUMA brings together inventors, entrepreneurs
and startup founders with the aim of enhancing and
showcasing innovation. With offices in Paris, Moscow,
Bangalore and Casablanca, NUMA pursues three main
goals: the event-driven nurturing and structuring of
communities (it is the founder of the “Cantine Numérique”
(“Digital Canteen”) and staged 1,500 events attracting
80,000 people in 2015); the acceleration of startups
(having provided such a service to 104 of them since 2011,
and over 200 mentors); and the digital transformation of
companies (NUMA supports one third of CAC 40
companies in their digitalization and also set up the first
public/private multi-partner program) through open
innovation and experimentation.
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375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
03375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Methodology • 4
Introduction • 5
Why start my own business? • 6
The need for freedom • 7
A market opportunity first and foremost • 7
Who am I? • 10
A young man… • 11
… with a business school degree • 11
I met my co-founders on my course • 19
What do I do? • 24
B2C is sexy • 25
Widely varying target markets: a cause of potential creative disruption • 28
How can I help myself? • 30
Technical support and market knowledge: two key needs • 31
Core essentials • 31
Support for decision-making • 32
Conclusion • 33
About Roland Berger and NUMA • 35
Table of contents
Roland Berger / NUMA
04 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Methodology
This study is based on two surveys of 375 startups applying for
NUMA’s business accelerator program: a Startups survey comprising
19 questions on the business project’s origin and environment and the
difficulties and needs of entrepreneurs; and an Entrepreneurs’ survey
made up of 21 questions on the sociological characteristics of startup
founders (age, education, etc.) and the way in which they work
on a daily basis. From this initial sample, we chose to remove some
40 foreign startups and 27 startups that have already attracted more
than €100,000 in funding, the idea being for us to focus solely on the
target group of our study: newly created French startups that have
yet to raise funding.
NUMA’s business accelerator program attracts startup founders
looking for help in developing their projects. In reflecting that support,
this study provides an insight into a less well-known aspect of French
entrepreneurship: newly founded startups about to embark on their
business adventure.
05375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
For the first time, an international consultancy firm,
Roland Berger, and a global startup accelerator, NUMA,
have joined forces in a bid to enhance the digital
transformation of the French economy and develop its
digital ecosystem. The two have combined in this study to
shed a revealing light on new French startups, a breeding
ground that is still something of an unknown quantity
among the media, investors and public authorities.
ince 2011, NUMA’s business accelerator pro-
gram has provided support for more than 100
digital startups and received 2,930 applica-
tions. Some 80% of these companies are still
operating and create hundreds of jobs each year. Hun-
dreds of startups have been successfully taken over,
while some have continued their development by join-
ing leading business accelerators abroad and others
have achieved growth by attracting funding.
In choosing their markets, striving for an impact and
expressing their desire to innovate, these new
business owners are driving French entrepreneurship
forward. Getting to know them better will provide us
with a fresh way of interpreting economic and social
trends. So what do we really know about these
entrepreneurs? Why do they decide to take the plunge
and go into business? Where do the successful
businesses of the near and not-so-near future emerge
from? Just what are the emerging business models
and industries? And what are the obstacles facing
these entrepreneurs? What are their needs?
While there has never been a shortage of analysis of new
startups and the entrepreneurs behind them, the fact is
there has been relatively little data available up to now.
How can they get it right, and how can we help get funds
moving if we can only see the tip of the iceberg, namely
the startups that have raised funding? In seeking to ad-
dress that very lack of information, this study enables a
number of conclusions to be drawn on the economic
and social nature of French entrepreneurship:
→ The desire for a challenge and to make an impact is
the main reason why entrepreneurs start a business,
an indication of how they call the conventional enter-
prise into question.
→ First and foremost they are seeking market oppor-
tunities, including openings in markets they know lit-
tle about. Business startup trends can therefore pro-
vide indicators of future creative disruption.
→ Entrepreneurs are mainly young men who meet at
an elite school (grande école) and have largely similar
profiles.
→ In terms of economic models, they are mostly in-
spired by the success of other startups, which points to
the importance of a certain collective entrepreneurial
imagination.
→ They have many needs, which mainly involve
knowledge of the market they are looking to break
into, technical aspects and, above all, support with de-
cision making.
We hope that this study serves as a guide for those who,
in some way or other, have an interest in the world of
startups, are thinking about taking the plunge or who
are looking to offer support to French entrepreneurs.
If, in the coming months and years, private and public
stakeholders engage in initiatives that are not mere
posturing and white washing but instead have a
genuine impact on entrepreneurs who are starting out,
then we will have achieved our aim.
Happy reading everyone.
S
06 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Why start my
own business?
What motivates
startup founders?
1
KEY FACTS AND FIGURES
The potential growth of the target market is the main criteria when it comes to
selecting a project, and was cited by 50% of startup founders, well ahead of the
next most common factor: having a technical innovation to promote (36%).
«Meeting challenges» and «changing the rules» are the two main motivations
for entrepreneurs.
Some 50% of projects come into existence as a result of friendships and
business school networks.
06
07375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
The need for freedom
First and foremost, startup founders like to be free
and independent in the way that they work. «Meeting
challenges», «changing the rules», «being indepen-
dent» and «creating a job for myself» are the four main
sources of motivation for entrepreneurs. These results
highlight the rather dim view that entrepreneurs have
of conventional enterprise, a place where they feel re-
stricted and find it hard to bring their projects to frui-
tion. It is a view expressed many times in the course of
their interviews.
This desire for freedom at work has a price, however,
namely considerable financial uncertainty. Only 30%
of startup founders have the resources to stay in the
game for a year.
A market opportunity
first and foremost
Though the commonly held view of entrepreneurs is
that they are geeks driven by technical concepts and
lacking in knowledge and insight into the market, half
of startup founders were motivated more than
anything by their wish to engage in a market they
believe to be growing fast. Some 28% also pointed to
the size of the market as a reason for their decision,
while 36% said they were driven by a desire to respond
to a need not catered for by the market. However, only
36% said that the fact they had come up with a
technical innovation was the reason why they had gone
into business.
The increased importance attached to «market
awareness» over technical concepts is reflected in the
skills that startup founders possess. Topping that list
is business and finance (34%), followed by marketing
and communication (25%), technical development
(24%) and product design and development. This
ranking in terms of skills is backed up by the profiles
and educational background of startup founders,
more and more of whom are business school
graduates (see page 18).
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
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.4
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.0
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.8
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.2
%
19
.5
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3.
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MOTIVATION
What are your reasons for starting up your
own business?
08 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
50%
36%
36%
28%
10%
8%
3%
It’s growing quickly
We felt there was a need
that wasn’t being met
We have an innovative solution
for this market
It’s a big market
The sector appeals to us
We know this market well
We’re operating in this market and
want to launch our product
BUSINESS/
FINANCE
MARKETING/
COMMUNI-
CATION
TECHNICAL
DEVELOP-
MENT
UX/DESIGN/
PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT
OTHER DESIGN/
GRAPHIC
DESIGN
34
%
25
%
24
%
8% 6%
2%
SELECTION CRITERIA
Why have you targeted your particular market?
SKILLS
Main skill possessed by founder(s)
09375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Profiles of Simon and Augustin,
the founders of Read
The geek
and the
designer.
Made for each other
How did you come up with the idea behind this project?
AUGUSTIN: What brought us together was the fact
we’re all pretty intellectual and bookish and we all
have a thing for technology. We really have three
different profiles that complement each other well,
which makes it all pretty natural. We also wanted to go
on an adventure with friends. We’re more than just
colleagues.
SIMON: It was a couple of years ago and we were all
talking about starting our theses in economics,
philosophy and design. We decided instead to go into
business on our own because we had a passion for the
market and a desire to make a product that people
really wanted. Then there was also the fact that we
rejected the vertical organizational structures of
conventional companies.
What’s your take on French entrepreneurship?
SIMON: It’s getting sexier and sexier. A few years ago
you really didn’t get that many people coming out of
business school and starting up companies on their
own.
AUGUSTIN: We’re looking to the USA. That’s where
the B2C culture is. There’s a market there for that kind
of company and team, which you don’t have in France.
An investor can come along and make a crazy
investment in a product that you might think is risky.
We’re focusing our fundraising efforts on business
angels, who look at the team and not just the product.
imon, an MBA graduate, and his bro-
ther Thomas, who has a degree in
Fine Arts, have already designed se-
veral digital reading apps. It was at
NUMA in early 2015 that they met
École Polytechnique graduate Augustin, who
was working on a book recommendation
system. Putting their heads together, they
came up with Read, a mobile digital reading
app for e-books and documents. Now avai-
lable at the App Store, it stands out for its de-
sign, the level of reader comfort it offers, and
its ability to integrate with existing services.
S
of entrepreneurs get more than seven hours’
sleep a night (16% get less than five).
57%
FUN
FACT
10 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
10
Who am I?
The typical startup
founder
2
KEY FACTS AND FIGURES
81% of startup founders are men.
60% are aged between 25 and 34.
Engineers and business school graduates are equally represented (23%),
while sales and marketing are the most common backgrounds among
younger age groups.
11375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
A young man…
The figures speak for themselves: 81% of startup
founders are men. In the world of startups the issue of
equality represents even more of a challenge than it
does anywhere else. Many explanations have been
given for this state of affairs (gender-based accounts
of what it is to go into business on one’s own, self-
censorship, and the under-representation of women
in some industries, etc.), all of which say as much
about government policy on gender equality as they
do about initiative in the business world. While, for
example, the women surveyed feel potential investors
take them a good deal less seriously than they do men,
young entrepreneurs are averse to any form of positive
discrimination in favor of women entrepreneurs (see
«Women entrepreneurs» on page 13).
Startup founders are also young: 60% are aged between
25 and 34, with a further 15% under 25 and 11% aged
40 for more. For every age group, going into business
poses a series of specific challenges (see «Starting up at
20 and 40» on page 15).
…with a business school
degree
French startup founders are also highly qualified, with
46% possessing elite-school degrees, a significantly
higher percentage than those with university degrees
(32%) or PhDs (4%). At 23%, engineering and bu-
siness school graduates are equally represented.
There are, however, a higher proportion of business
school degree holders among younger startup foun-
ders, whereas the proportion of engineers seems to
decrease with age, which undermines the idea that
entrepreneurs are geeky whizzkids and reflects the
spread of skills among startup founders, where tech-
nical development ranks only third highest, behind
business and finance, and marketing.
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
AGE OF STARTUP FOUNDERS
<20 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 >40
15
%
1%
35
%
24
%
14
%
11
%
12 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
81%
MALE/FEMALE
STARTUP FOUNDERS:
BREAKDOWN
19%
12
13375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
DomitilleFlore
Women
entrepreneurs
Profiles of Flore and Domitille,
the founders of Filoute
14 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
What are the main difficulties female entrepreneurs
face?
FLORE: The main difficulty is credibility. We’re both
women and we look about five years younger than we
actually are. People say things to us like: ‘You’re a
couple of little cuties having fun with your hands.
That’s all well and good, but you can’t make a business
out of it.’ Well, we’ve shown that we can.
DOMITILLE: They say we’re just bloggers, but we’re so
much more than that. If we were operating in a male
industry, they’d be more inclined to call us ‘media’,
not bloggers. When we meet with people about raising
funds we always have to talk up what we’re doing. We
have to make the point that we’ve looked into what
we’re doing, that we haven’t gone into this blind.
n ESSCA business science graduate,
Flore took up knitting while working
for a major fashion and luxury
group in the Philippine capital of
Manila, the simple reason being that she
needed a hobby to occupy her time whenever
there was a power cut during the typhoon
season. The holder of a degree from the
ESSEC Business School, Domitille picked up
sewing from her grandmother. Prompted by
one of their conversations lamenting the lack
of instructive sewing tutorials on the
internet, she came up with the idea behind
Filoute. After launching the first version of
the site in September 2014 and following up
two months later with a blog, Flore and
Domitille began selling patterns online in
March 2015. We asked the female tandem,
something of a rarity in a very masculine
environment, to share their entrepreneurial
experiences with us.
A What’s it like to be a female entrepreneur in France? DOMITILLE: There aren’t many women doing their own startups at all, and there aren’t many specific initiatives to encourage them either. Of the ones there
are, some might help us – but does it make much
sense to do things that help women only?
FLORE: Then there’s the fact that female entrepre-
neurs with young children aren’t eligible for day nur-
series! Some people think we’re housewives who can
just down tools when we need to.
And what do you think of French entrepreneurship
in general?
DOMITILLE: What I think is positive is that France was
a bit behind but that now you’ve got incubators pop-
ping up pretty much everywhere, and the media are
talking about it too. It’s become cool to launch your
own company and to be your own boss, which wasn’t
the case five years ago.
FLORE: It goes without saying that we’re looking to
the international market. We’re close to the fashion
world, although we’re more ‘ready to make’ than
‘ready to wear’. It makes sense for us to project a
‘Made in France’ image abroad.
People say things to us like:
«You’re a couple of little
cuties having fun with
your hands. That’s all well
and good, but you can’t
make a business out of it.»
Well, we’ve shown that
we can.
15375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Starting
up at 20
and 40
Florent
lorent was at engineering school when
he came up with an app that allowed
users with similar interests to link up
with each other.
After launching it, he teamed up with a class-
mate and founded Olea Park, a networking
application for professional events. For his
part, Matthieu spent 15 years working for a
company before deciding to team up with a
childhood friend and launch LoungeUp, a
cloud-based hospitality solution for the hotel
industry. As these intrepid entrepreneurs
show, age is no impediment to going it alone.
F
Profiles of Florent, the founder Olea Park,
and Mathieu, the founder of LoungeUp
16 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Tell us about Lounge Up, Matthieu.
MATTHIEU: I started it up with a childhood friend
who had a technical background, while I was more
into the product and business side. We wanted to set
up our own thing and that’s what drove us on. We
worked together every weekend for a year, with the
idea of starting a company together in B2B in mobile.
Prior to that, I did some work experience at an
incubator at the ESSEC Business School. After three
months there we had to come up with a business
project, which I did with a friend of mine at the time,
though we weren’t brave enough to go on and launch
it. Then, one day 15 years later, I was out with my
business partner Lionel, who’s a father like me, and
we were pushing our pushchairs and talking about
how we were going to start something up together.
How did you go about that?
I left my job. I handed the keys to my company car
back on September 10, 2011 and the very next day I
was at NUMA with all these ‘youngsters’. I remember
it well. Being with those young entrepreneurs and
with experts and mentors in an inspiring environment
like that was a challenge for us. We went there feeling
like we were pretty mature people with management
experience behind us, but it took us out of our comfort
zone.
So where are you now?
We’ve got a profitable business that employs about
ten people. We’re the market leaders in France, with
more than 1,000 hotels. It feels very satisfying to be
running a profit, and we’ve also managed to attract
funding. We’ve been through quite a bit of uncertainty
in the last four years, so it feels great now to have a
little bit of security.
How hard is it to deal with the stress?
MATTHIEU: Starting up a company is like running a
marathon: you have to stay the distance and not get
out of breath. It’s always been important for me to
strike a work/life balance. When I get home at night, I
switch off and try to kick back and relax. They call me
‘Papa’ at NUMA! I arrive at nine or ten in the morning
and I’m out the door at seven in the evening. It’s a real
eye-opener for me when I see all the younger entrepre-
neurs staying on virtually the whole night.
«It’s important to be
respected, by customers
and investors, even if
you’re young.»
Where did the idea behind Olea Park come from?
FLORENT: It all started at engineering school. I didn’t
know what I wanted to do in life, but then I had this
idea that I wanted to make happen: to bring people
with the same interests and living in the same area
into contact with each other. It was technically com-
plex but I started to develop it on my own, and it was
then that I suddenly realized that I was totally into it.
I spent my entire summer holidays on it and it became
a school project. Then I started on the Olea Park pro-
ject with my business partner. We reworked the origi-
nal idea based on what we’d seen on the ground. Then
we decided to move to Berlin!
What happened there?
In business terms, it was very tough, especially when
it came to monetizing the application. We tried to
raise some money but decided to stop, and the project
came to a natural and logical end. ‘Fail fast’, as they
say. All the choices we made were very instinctive.
And now? Once an entrepreneur, always an
entrepreneur?
Yes. Once you tasted the adrenaline of building a pro-
duct by yourself there’s no way you can do anything
else. I joined a startup and specialized in the product
side of things. I’ve moved on to another startup now.
It’s the start of the adventure, so here I am being an
entrepreneur again.
What’s the difference between France and Berlin
in terms of being an entrepreneur?
There’s more capital, especially from ‘consumer’ in-
vestment. Quite a few American funds come out of
San Francisco and set up in Berlin. It’s less real now.
As for ideas, Paris has a lot of interesting projects that
we didn’t see in Berlin.
17375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
FLORENT: That’s very true! One of the first pieces of
advice I’d give entrepreneurs is to not work too hard.
Olea Park has been exhausting and I lost a lot of
weight when we started out. We had to move fast and
battle it out with competitors who had more money
than us. You can’t exist like that for very long though.
It’s important to have a life, not work too late, get
some sleep and let your hair down.
Is it hard to gain credibility when you’re just 20?
FLORENT: NUMA has given us a certain amount of
credibility, which was essential given that we were 20
and didn’t have degrees. We’ve come across some cus-
tomers who like to take you under their wing and in-
vestors who try to teach you the lot. You have to stand
your ground a bit. It’s important to be respected by
customers and investors, even if you’re young. That
said, it’s also good to have mentors and experts around
you for the big meetings, people with experience and
who can explain the rules to you. We’ve never worked
for a company, so we do need help. We’re aware of
that.
«Starting up a company
is like running a marathon:
you have to stay the
distance.»
of entrepreneurs say beer is their
drink of choice
45%
FUN
FACT
Matthieu
18 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
TRAINING
What is your main degree?
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
12
.3
%
31
.6
%
22
.8
%
22
.8
%
27
.8
%
21
.8
%
31
.6
%
30
.3
%
37
.1
% 38
.6
%
22
.7
%
15
.9
%
3.
5%
1.
8%
5.
3%
3.
8%
0.
8% 1.
5%
4.
5%
2.
3%
7.
9%
14
.6
%
3.
4%
3.
4%
1.
1%
1.
1% 2
.3
%
2.
3%
2.
3%
6.
8%
9.
1%
0.
0%
20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39
University degree
A level/college diploma
Business school
Master
PhD
Self-educated
Engineering school
Specialized school
BUSINESS SCHOOL
MASTER’S
19375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
I met my co-founders
on my course
Networks of friends and the ties forged at universities
and colleges provide the source for entrepreneurial
partnerships in 27% and 23% of cases respectively, far
more than professional relationships (17%) and links
to the entrepreneurial world (5%), while family ties,
including spouses, account for 6% of the teams who
go into business together.
We live together
Through entrepreneurial
networks
We are parents
By chance!
We work together
I‘m a one-man band
At school
We were already friends 27%
23%
17%
15%
6%
4%
4%
2%
GETTING TOGETHER
How do founders meet each other?
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
FUN
FACT
of entrepreneurs live together,
22% of which are married
(2% say it’s «complicated»).
62%
20 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Profiles of Aleksandra and Pierre,
the founders of Kwalito; and of Meryl,
the founder of La boîte qui cartonne
Married couple
versus solo founder
ogether for the last ten years, Pierre
and Aleksandra have, for health rea-
sons, always made a point of check-
ing the composition of the food they
buy. Their concern with what they eat led to
them create Kwalito, an app that scans the
barcodes of food products and tells users
everything they need to know about their
contents. Having attracted 9,000 users,
Kwalito is now looking to raise funding.
T
How does Kwalito work?
ALEKSANDRA: The idea was to enable people to
cross-reference their dietary requirements (glu-
ten-free, pork-free, vegan, etc.) with products. It’s a
free-to-use app but our business model is 100% BtoB.
We monetize the data with manufacturers and retail-
ers using a Google analytics model, albeit for food
products. Our aim is to track the market in real time.
What does being an entrepreneur mean to you?
PIERRE: First and foremost, it’s a lot of work, but we
were working hard before anyway. Being entrepre-
neurs gives us the freedom to make the choices we
want. When we come up with an idea or put forward a
solution, we don’t have to think about whether our su-
periors are going to be on the same wavelength as us.
ALEKSANDRA: We also really want to do something
that has an impact on society. Making money is not
our main objective, though that could happen of
course. In our eyes, being an entrepreneur is a way of
helping the world move forward.
And how does being a couple fit into it all?
ALEKSANDRA: It’s pretty lonely to be an entrepre-
neur. You can’t really share what you go through every
day with your family because they don’t know what it
involves. But in our case, we have to share it!
PIERRE: We manage it pretty well and we’re very orga-
nized with our daily routine. We have children and we
get up at in the morning to get them ready for
school. Then we drop them off. That gives a structure
to our day, which comes to an end when we give them
dinner and put them to bed. We get back down to our
work afterwards, though. And we also make sure ev-
eryone has time for themselves. I play sport on
Wednesday nights, Aleksandra does on Thursdays,
and we go out for a meal on Fridays.
ALEKSANDRA: We met over ten years ago and we’ve
embarked on plenty of other major life projects
together. If this one works out, it’ll be a professional
and family success story. There is a lot of uncertainty
in terms of our income, though, because we’re both
involved in it and it’s not easy to juggle things with the
children. You need to have broad shoulders to cope
with all that uncertainty.
21375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Aleksandra Pierre
«We met over ten years
ago and we’ve embarked on
plenty of major life projects
together. If this one works
out, it’ll be a professional
and family success story.»
22 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
eryl has been living in a 15m²
flat in Paris since her student
days and knows what it means
to live in a confined space.
On learning of the home storage services
available abroad and in the USA in particular,
she decided to adapt the concept for the
French market. After studying Entrepreneur-
ship at the Sorbonne and the ESCP, she
launched her own startup, «La boite qui car-
tonne», a service that has attracted around
500 users to date and has put as many box-
es into safe storage.
M
How does the service work?
We deliver boxes to our customers. They fill them up
and we then store them at our secure facilities. We
also provide an online inventory of what’s in the
boxes: . Box 1086 contains customer X’s winter
things. They can get them back whenever they need.
Meryl
You’re sailing your ship alone. How is it going?
I think I’ve always known that I wanted to start up my
own company, create my own thing and be free. The
thing is, I didn’t feel like doing it all on my own. When
I was studying I set up a students’ association that
worked really well. It made me want to become an
entrepreneur. So I came up with the idea of «La boîte
qui cartonne», worked on the project and did my
market studies. I got a software developer in and got
the project up and running. The site was ready, and
then, the very next day I felt like calling a halt to
everything because I was on my own.
23375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Meryl
«It’s tough but I started out
on my own and I can take
care of things just fine on my
own. I can keep on going.»
Within a month, though, I started getting customers.
It was just me and the software developer, whom I was
paying, but she got pregnant and had to leave. I man-
aged to find another software developer straightaway,
though we parted ways not long afterwards.
How do you see the future?
There are people who keep tabs on what I’m doing but
I haven’t found the ideal partner yet. I’m always on the
lookout, even if I’m not actively searching. Maybe
they’ll come to me, though I know that won’t be easy.
The more time goes by, the harder that will be. If I
could start again, I’d do things differently. I know that
for my next company, and there might well be another
one, I won’t be going it alone.
I’ve seen that there’s a need on the market and that
people are buying into it. I’m now testing out the
technical concept at a logistical level and I’ve
improved the whole delivery process, which is the
really technical part of the project. The growth phase
comes next.
of entrepreneurs do not drink coffee
(47% drink between one and three cups a day
and 2% have more than ten)
24%
FUN
FACT
24 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
24
What do I do?
Business models,
markets, trends
3
KEY FACTS AND FIGURES
% of startups are based on a B2C business model and %
on a B2B model.
The projects encompass a very broad range of around 20 industries.
25375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
B2C is sexy
Accounting for % of business models, B2C is a
popular choice, with B2B and B2B2C being adopted by
23% and nearly 30% of entrepreneurs respectively.
The appeal of B2C to young people going into business
on their own reflects the impact of major
entrepreneurial success stories such as Airbnb or
Blablacar, B2C companies that have proved an
inspiration to this new breed.
The startups we focus on here are newly created,
however, and their founders are devoting their
energies first and foremost to developing their
products. While they evidently have a vision of their
business model and the ways in which they aim to
monetize their services, they will necessarily have to
evolve and «tilt» by switching from one model to
another. Tapping into NUMA’s services is a vital step,
therefore, in bringing projects to fruition. The
interviews conducted with entrepreneurs revealed
that after receiving the support of NUMA over a period
of several months, many of them then decided to take
their projects in a different direction, often switching
from B2C to B2B, which is more profitable and better
suited to the structure of French and European
markets: B2B startups need lower volumes than B2Cs
to make money, customers are less volatile and
average spends are higher. B2B models are also
founded more on technology than marketing
development, which is often more random in nature.
It is for these reasons that Kawet startup founder Ben-
jamin Hardy (see profile on page 27) chose to tilt a B2C
model towards a fully B2B service. The venture was
launched in 2010 on the back of a mobile app creation
service called Cashew. Over the last three years, howev-
er, Kawet has developed into a collaborative business
solution available on mobiles and tablets.
The surveys revealed that the most common way to
monetize products and services is direct selling
(%) followed by Airbnb-type sales commission
(29%) and advertising (%). Generally speaking,
most of the projects use the same economic models as
successful applications: freemium, mobile advertis-
ing, paid downloads.
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
BUSINESS MODEL
What is the business model for your startup?
19
.7
%
29
.6
%
38
.8
%
11
.9
%
B2
B
B2
B2
C
B2
C
O
th
er
26 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
MONETIZATION
What kind of monetization is your project based on?
D
ire
ct
s
el
lin
g
of
p
ro
du
ct
s
an
d
se
rv
ic
es
Sa
le
s
co
m
m
is
si
on
D
at
a
se
lli
ng
Ad
ve
rt
is
in
g
Su
bs
cr
ip
tio
n
Fr
ee
m
iu
m
m
od
el
In
-a
pp
p
ur
ch
as
e
Te
ch
no
lo
gy
li
ce
ns
in
g
Pa
ym
en
t f
or
a
p
er
io
d
of
u
se
W
e
ha
ve
n’
t t
ho
ug
ht
a
bo
ut
it
y
et
Cr
os
s-
se
lli
ng
/p
ar
tn
er
sh
ip
s
40
.5
%
30
.3
%
13
.6
%
23
.5
%
9.
9%
8.
5%
4.
4%
4.
1%
17
.0
%
4.
8%
7.
5%
Eg: Airbnb App model .: SaaS and boxes
27375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Profile of Benjamin Hardy, the founder of Kawet
Making a go of it
without raising funds
Where did the idea come from?
We gave up our jobs to create applications, get some
training and sell them. We were in «agency mode».
Then we realized that we could make the app
development process easier by creating specific tools,
a kind of Wordpress but for applications. And so,
without even trying to make it happen, Kawet was
born. The time we spent at NUMA really helped us
structure our business. Then we signed a few big
contracts before being taken over in 2013.
How did that go?
We weren’t the average company. We were a group of
friends and we all mucked in. It wasn’t your average
set-up and we put up the capital between us. Given all
that, raising funds was always going to be complicated.
awet came into being shortly after
the App Store opened its doors,
starting life as a mobile app
creation service targeted at
professionals, this at a time when apps were
being introduced at companies via their
employees. Within a few years, and without
having sought funding from venture
capitalists, the startup was taken over. Its
founder, Benjamin Hardy, walks us through
the slightly unusual story behind it.
K The idea was to move on to the next phase without bringing investors in. We wanted to go in with a group so that we could develop more quickly and enable Kawet to grow. In the end, we joined an emerging
group and we’ve kept our entrepreneurial adventure
going.
How has work changed on a day-to-day basis?
I sleep better! With the admin stuff out of the way, the
stress continues: that ongoing search for the secret
sauce that will let you scale up. Let me put it like this:
we were crossing the Atlantic in a little boat and an
ocean liner came along and took us with it! All of a
sudden we have the security of knowing that at the
end of the month all the employees will get paid and
that the company will keep on going. With the buyout,
the roadmap was laid out for two years; all we had to
do was put the battle plans into action. Finally we
could concentrate on execution.
Why didn’t you try to attract investment?
Raising funds requires a lot of time and energy, which
is something that you don’t always appreciate when
you’re a young entrepreneur. Time and energy are rare
commodities when it comes to startups. And then
there was the fact that after three years we were no
longer willing to rip everything up and start again.
How do you feel about being an entrepreneur in France?
Three years ago I would have said: ‘I want to go to the
US and set up my own company there, mainly because
of the ecosystem.’ But now I think it’s entirely possible
to achieve big things in France. The ecosystem has
developed a lot and it’s all very positive.
28 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
A variety of target markets:
a result of the potential for
disruption
Newly created startups operate in a very broad range
of target markets. While French startups have enjoyed
well-documented success in high-profile industries
such as health and biotechnology, sustainable
development, and e-commerce, the fact is that new
startups pursue business opportunities across a much
wider spectrum that includes design, lifestyle,
professional services, media, leisure and social media.
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
SECTORS
What is the target project’s sector/market?
There is hardly an industry into which young people,
in their desire to explore every sector open to them, do
not venture. Given that market opportunities are a
prime motivation for entrepreneurs, the industries
they choose to operate in are the ones they see as
offering the greatest potential for disruption.
The importance of lifestyle, leisure and consumer
goods explains the prevalence of B2C business models
in these projects, as does the profile of entrepreneurs,
who embark on projects that respond to their needs as
young, city-based graduates.
Li
fe
st
yl
e
an
d
le
is
ur
e
A
rt
a
nd
d
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ig
n
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ns
um
er
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oo
ds
M
ed
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at
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n
Fo
od
Pr
of
es
si
on
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er
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ce
s
M
ar
ke
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&
c
om
m
un
ic
at
io
n
Fa
sh
io
n
an
d
te
xt
ile
s
So
ft
w
ar
e
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av
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a
nd
to
ur
is
m
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a
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h
om
e
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ea
lth
En
er
gy
Tr
an
sp
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ity
/N
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ia
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s
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cu
rit
y
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th
er
s1
2.
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11
.8
%
8.
4%
7.
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6.
4%
6.
4%
6.
4%
5.
4%
4.
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4.
4%
3.
7%
3.
0%
2.
4%
2.
0%
2.
0%
1.
7%
1.
7%
1.
4%
8.
8%
Roland Berger / NUMA
29
45%
say blue is their favorite color
(followed by red and green)
FUN
FACT
375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
30 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
30
How can I help
myself?
What new startups need
3
KEY FACTS AND FIGURES
According to startup founders, market expertise (%) and technical
expertise (29%) are their two biggest needs.
Essentials such as offices, networking and project support are also very
important.
62% of teams take their decisions alone, without seeking external advice.
31375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Technical support and
market knowledge: two
key needs
When asked what type of mentor they would need to
advise them, % of startup founders said they
would opt for a market expert, with another 29% choo-
sing a technical expert. At first sight, these responses
might seem contradictory, given that most startup
founders choose to go into business in what they per-
ceive to be growing markets. In reality, however, young
entrepreneurs at the helm of newly created startups
have identified – often through a very innovative ap-
proach to a market – opportunities in markets in
which they lack specialist knowledge, hence the need
for expertise. The creation of closer ties with major bu-
siness groups would offer startups a potentially useful
means of accessing this kind of expertise.
In contrast, only 15% of respondents said they would
like advice on economic models, while % expressed
a desire for help with drawing up a business plan. As
for legal expertise, there was barely a mention. Entre-
preneurs are focused more than anything on the deve-
lopment of their products and their growth, with reve-
nue models and fundraising being seen as almost
natural consequences of placing the right product in
the right market.
Core essentials
Aside from the need for technical and sales support,
entrepreneurs expressed other basic requirements
ranging from networking and office space to the
weekly monitoring of projects and help with attracting
customers.
What young startup founders need, therefore, is ge-
nuinely global support based on two complementary
factors: infrastructure and the network on the one
hand and strategic aspects (technical and commer-
cial) on the other.
MENTOR
What type of mentor would you need as a priority?
M
ar
ke
t e
xp
er
t
Bu
si
ne
ss
m
od
el
M
ar
ke
tin
g
&
C
om
m
un
ic
at
io
n
Fi
na
nc
e
Te
ch
ni
ca
l e
xp
er
t
U
X
&
D
es
ig
n
Bu
si
ne
ss
p
la
nn
in
g
Le
ga
l
32
.6
%
29
.0
%
13
.2
%
9.
6%
4.
2%
9.
0%
2.
1%
0.
3%
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
32 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
Support with decision
making
Some 62% of young startup founders make decisions
on their own or with their co-founder. Only 20% of
them call on an advisory committee to discuss strate-
gic courses of action, while 18% seek advice from their
connections outside the company.
Entrepreneurs often point to the fact that taking
decisions on their own is the biggest obstacle they
face, especially at the start of the process, when
startups are at their most vulnerable. Support with
decision making is therefore one of their most
pressing needs in these initial phases.
NEEDS
GOING IT ALONE
What other forms of support would you need?
How are you going to make your decisions?
Source: NUMA; Roland Berger study
N
et
w
or
k
H
el
p
w
ith
e
xp
an
di
ng
o
n
th
e
in
te
rn
at
io
na
l m
ar
ke
t
H
el
p
w
ith
e
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an
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ng
o
n
th
e
Fr
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ch
m
ar
ke
t
A
ss
is
ta
nc
e
w
ith
th
e
bu
si
ne
ss
p
la
n
O
ff
ic
es
W
ee
kl
y
pr
oj
ec
t s
up
po
rt
Pr
oj
ec
t s
up
po
rt
o
n
de
m
an
d
D
ai
ly
p
ro
je
ct
s
up
po
rt
74
%
61
%
53
%
50
%
34
%
47
%
30
%
10
%
W
e
m
ak
e
ou
r o
w
n
de
ci
si
on
s
W
e
ha
ve
a
n
ad
vi
so
ry
c
om
m
itt
ee
W
e
as
k
ou
r c
on
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fo
r a
dv
ic
e
62
%
21
%
17
%
Roland Berger / NUMA
33
The digital era has seen markets reinvent themselves
completely, creating new areas for exploration into which
pioneering young entrepreneurs are now venturing. In view
of this, there are several significant conclusions that can be
drawn from this maiden study of young startup founders.
Support French entrepreneurs and help them
diversify
An entrepreneur’s main strength lies in his or her ac-
ceptance of the simple fact that they cannot succeed
alone. On top of that, it is also true to say that there
can be no innovation without diversity.
This study reminds entrepreneurs of the importance
of not going it alone in their business ventures, a jour-
ney that involves no shortage of pitfalls. If entrepre-
neurs are to succeed, they must call on the support of
others, seek advice and back up their hunches with
the views of experts, of people well versed in the ways
in which all these fast-changing industries now ope-
rate in this the digital era. Successful startups are
founded on a broad and complementary range of
skills, on a raft of business, technical and creative pro-
files.
Encourage cross-fertilization between startups
and conventional enterprise
Just as young entrepreneurs need major corporations
and experienced elders to lend solidity and weight to
their projects, so public and economic decision-ma-
kers – and here’s a first! – need young entrepreneurs to
promote new ways of creating value (business models,
products that respond to new consumer habits, and
organizational, management, thought and exchange
systems, etc.). Incubators, intrapreneurship, reverse
mentoring and open innovation all exist with the aim
of making that creative mix possible. This is the cru-
cial consideration in shaping both a world that is eco-
nomically efficient and competitive and a harmonious
society.
This study thus sends the message to the ecosystem’s
stakeholders and to public and economic decision-
makers that there is a need to work together in actively
promoting cross-fertilization in the entrepreneurial
world, as has been achieved in many initiatives in the
French ecosystem. To achieve this we need a blend of
profiles, cultures and genders as well as a combination
of different generations, styles and economic
environments.
Reinvent the concept of work
Ultimately, this study poses society a key question re-
garding the future of work and in particular work in
the business environment. As far as these young en-
trepreneurs are concerned, creating a startup is their
way of expressing freedom, meaning and creativity.
The question is, why can they not find all this in
conventional business models? Work remains a
strong indicator of identity, and responding to the ex-
pectations, desires and inner motivations of this new
generation is a decisive challenge.
Startup founders have the freedom to explore beyond
the world of entrepreneurship. This study reveals the
social mission that falls on entrepreneurs, who
possess an unobstructed vision of a society in the
process of being reinvented and who must seek to
inspire key economic players and public decision-
makers.
A powerful, unstoppable movement is on the rise.
Let’s take it forward together!
375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
34 375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
Roland Berger / NUMA
EDITOR
Roland Berger
62-64, Rue de Lisbonne
75008 Paris
+33 1 53670-320
AUTHORS
Roland Berger
Charles-Edouard Bouée, CEO
@
Anne Bioulac, Partner
@
Nicolas Teisseyre, Senior Partner
@
INTERVIEWERS
Roland Berger
Anne Dujin
@
MEDIA CONTACTS
Roland Berger
Agathe Lélu
01 53 67 03 57
@
PHOTOGRAPHY
Jacob Khrist
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all the startupers and startups
who agreed to appear in this study.
NUMA would also like to thank its partners:
Google for Entrepreneurs, BNP Paribas,
L‘Atelier BNP Paribas, CISCO
© 2016 ROLAND BERGER GMBH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NUMA
Marie-Vorgan Le Barzic, CEO
@
Lucas Francou, Head of Strategy and Development
@
Elise Nebout, Head of Resources Strategy
@
NUMA
39, rue du Caire
75002 Paris
NUMA
Elise Nebout
@
NUMA
Arnaud Chaigneau
06 63 73 12 78
@
Roland Berger / NUMA
35
About Roland Berger
Operating in France since 1990, Roland Berger is the world’s leading management
strategy consulting firm of European origin and boasts 2,400 employees at
50 offices in 36 countries. Our Paris office employs some 300 of them, including
240 consultants and 29 partners, and advises major French and international
corporations on key business issues. Roland Berger is the creative force behind the
Terra Numerata™ digital network, an open and non-exclusive partnership platform
pooling skills and expertise that industry, associations and public institutions can
draw on for their digital projects.
About NUMA
A major player in the digital ecosystem for the last
15 years, NUMA brings together inventors, entrepreneurs
and startup founders with the aim of enhancing and
showcasing innovation. With offices in Paris, Moscow,
Bangalore and Casablanca, NUMA pursues three main
goals: the event-driven nurturing and structuring of
communities (it is the founder of the “Cantine Numérique”
(“Digital Canteen”) and staged 1,500 events attracting
80,000 people in 2015); the acceleration of startups
(having provided such a service to 104 of them since 2011,
and over 200 mentors); and the digital transformation of
companies (NUMA supports one third of CAC 40
companies in their digitalization and also set up the first
public/private multi-partner program) through open
innovation and experimentation.
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375 startupers: profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
37
5
ST
A
RT
U
PE
R
S
- P
or
tr
ai
ts
, t
en
da
nc
es
e
t p
ar
ol
es
d
e
st
ar
tu
ps
Profiles, trends and startupers
in their own words
375
STARTUPERS
375 STARTUPERS
Profiles, trends and startupers in their own words
ROLAND BERGER / NUMA
