Audencia Club of Entrepreneurship - ACE a republié ceci
Last night, I was at Audencia Business School to give a “masterclass” to a small group of students from Audencia Club of Entrepreneurship - ACE. The idea was to share my experience on the different stages a startup goes through before transitioning into a scaleup, in a “kitchen nightmare” style. I tried to give one key takeaway for each stage. Here they are: 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 - 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱: 𝗪𝗧𝗙 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱? The product is the key to success, so confront your idea as early as possible with your target audience, and if possible, with a polished MLP (Minimum Lovable Product) rather than a half-baked MVP (Minimum Viable Product). "Go slow until you have a great product. Then go fast." 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 - 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼-𝘁𝗼-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁? Acquisition becomes the key to success. Build -> Measure -> Learn : instrumentation and data become strategic for measuring and optimizing all acquisition channels and funnel conversion rates (whether product-led or sales-led). So, instrument and track the complete user journey from the beginning (lead) to the end (product usage). "Measure, measure, measure to get data-driven decisions and find your growth levers." 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 - 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁, 𝗼𝗿𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗼-𝘁𝗼-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁! With growth, people and team alignment become the key to success. Clarity of culture (especially for recruitment) and the company’s vision/mission become essential. This is the founders’ primary mission: to provide a clear direction. "Communicate your vision effectively to bring everyone on board (and repeat it, repeat it, repeat it)" Depending on our skills and personalities, we are more or less comfortable and effective in the different stages. Personally, I love the traction phase: the artisanal, chaotic, and creative side, rather than the industrial, process-driven side of scaling. I’m right in the middle of it with my new project in the travel and GenAI space. But that will be the subject of another post in a few weeks (I’m going to need user feedback on the beta version of the app!)