Success Stories 2015 - Digital version

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Unfolding entrepreneurs, inspiring characters.

Booklet 2015

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Success Stories is published by JADE aisbl.

Rue Potagère, 119, 1210 Brussels, Belgium.

Publication Director : Alexandru-Dragos Ene, Project Manager : Clementine Wencel, Redaction : Maria Arasnolva, Communication : Kassandra Petersen.

JADE Network

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Since 1992, JADE, the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises has been actively supporting the development of students all over Europe.

As a bottom-up umbrella organization composed of 12 countries, we offer an international networking and exchange platform where they can find the right tools and contacts to grow their Junior Enterprises and individuals.

A Junior Enterprise is a non-profit company, run and managed exclusively by students, that can offer anything from consultancy services to IT products, research or even health care. Striking the ideal balance between business and education, Junior Enterprises are a best practice recognised by the European Commission and a tool to foster entrepreneurial skills. As a result, committed members become more responsible and aware citizens and therefore more successful entrepreneurs.

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The Success Stories booklet aims to inspire the next generation of business leaders. For us, entrepreneurship refers to an individual ability to turn ideas into actions. The entrepreneurship competences includes therefore transversal skills and attitudes as well as more specialized knowledge and business skills. In a broad sense, entrepreneurship should be considered as a mindset that supports everyone in day-to-day life, at home and in society. In order to inspire entrepreneurship, we have to take a closer look at role-models, and learn from them. This is what “Success Stories” is about.

Each Success Story from this booklet comes from a man or woman who considers entrepreneurship a valid career path. However, we should not forget that most start-ups fail within a very short time. This is why learning from failure is as important as learning from success. In most cases, failure at an early stage of entrepreneurship prepares you for a greater challenge. These people did not become entrepreneurs overnight. But they took their time, their patience and learning to the next level, one step at a time, all the way to the top.

Editorial

Alexandru Ene

Clémentine Wencel

Is a bright idea really all it takes?

JADE Vice President

Success Stories Project Manager

All the way

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Check out JADE website for more stories and web exclusives. Go to http://www.jadenet.org and look for Success Stories

Summary

Understanding entrepreneurship

Interview: Steven Price – CEO of EIIL 6

Interview: Patrik Kovacs, President of JEUNE 8

Success Stories

Digital

Dashmote – Dennis Tan 11

List Minut’ – Alexis Safarikas 12

In Recruiting – Matteo Cocciardo 14

WhiteSmith – Rafael Jegundo 16

Lively Labs – Michael Kwapis 17

Promoting Entrepreneurship

Pionneers – Andreas Tschas 19

Think Young – Andrea Gerosa 21

Health and Food

Kiweno – Bianca Gfrei 23

Le Boeuf Français – Marc du Gareau 25

Retail

La Cantatrice – Harmonie Koch 26

Bliq – Kamil Górski 28

Urbanism & Tourism

Heklo – Dario Sarango 30

Youlisse – Stefano Giacomantonio 32

Expert end notesInterview: Bartłomiej Gola – CEO of SpeedUp venture capital group 33

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“Junior-Enterprises could be really helpful by sharing their best practices in local communities to create new jobs for people.“ – Steven Price (CEO of EIIL and member of JADE Advisory Board)

As the CEO of EIIL, Steven Price’s purpose is to help companies to look for the future leadership in the industry. In 2007, he and EIIL started working with JADE, in order to educate the future leaders of the industry. Then came the EntEx projects, born to build successful entrepreneurs.

In your opinion, what is the state of entrepreneurship in Europe? At what extend did it change from the 90’s – 2000’s? The knowledge on entrepreneurship I have, comes mainly from the EntEx projects, JADE, and diverse panel discussions I have attended. The truth is that I have no idea what the current situation of entrepreneurship is. The reason is that there are not enough serious studies on the subject. However, the number of job offers in the public sector is decreasing, and the same is happening in the private sector. This means that there are fewer chances for youth to enter these two sectors. In front of this problem, entrepreneurship is a good alternative. But this creates also a huge black economy, on which we have no figures. Why start a business in Europe? Because it is full of Europeans! This is our culture, our people. Entrepreneurs want to deliver a service in Europe because this is a place they enjoy. There aren’t many entrepreneurs going to the Cayman Islands or other Fiscal Paradises to set up their company just because the policies are favourable.

Entrepreneurs set up their business in the environment they enjoy and in the sector in which they are passionate. How is digitalization changing the scene for entrepreneurs? Digitalization is changing the whole working industry. EIIL made a study which shows that a certain level is mandatory. As a consequence to this, the young must change their career paths. They cannot just enter the industry at any level. They can no longer start with those entry level jobs which have ceased to exist. But those big corporations must not be abandoned. They keep track of, and keep alive, small businesses created by entrepreneurs. In Entrepreneurship, digitalization changed the entrepreneurs’ life. Especially when it comes to working more efficiently thanks to new tools or even the possibility to work remotely. But in general, the social use of IT has been faster than businesses can manage. It is an amazing tool which must be used with caution.

Understanding Entrepreneurship

www.ent-ex.eu

Discover EntEx Summer Schools:

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My best advice would be to find several mentors who worked in the same type of market. It is too easy to find cheap angels that do not know anything about the market you are in. The idea is to find someone over 40, who do not tell you what to do but that will help you to explore. He/she may disagree with you but will let you do it by your way. Generally a mentor is disinterested. He/she will give ideas and advice on how to do it even better. Their role is also to make you grow as a person. Successful people can become great mentors but not all of them have the right skills to be.

Why is entrepreneurship a valid career path for young people? Let’s be realistic: if you have a fabulous idea, and you are sure to it is unique, GO FOR IT! People may have the skills to create their own company, but they may be more useful in a corporation. Corporations can help them to develop those skills and create a network they could use to be entrepreneurs afterwards. However, for many people entrepreneurship is the only career path because big corporations do not give them a chance. What is the most useful entrepreneurial skills Junior Enterprises are developing? It is definitely Management. Self, team, project and time management. You learn to get things done through other people. You gain experience in it, which you can easily reuse as a manager or as an entrepreneur. What are the new challenges the next generation of Entrepreneurs will have to face? How could the Junior Enterprise movement train them from now on? The biggest challenge, will be massive youth unemployment, which will keep increasing,

mainly because of computers. Junior Enterprises could be really helpful by sharing their best practices in local communities to create new jobs for people. Indeed, this issue will be mainly supported by a less educated population. Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or is it something we should “learn-by-doing?” Lots of skills can been learned at an early age. Children develop strong negotiation skills when to convince their parents. They learn leadership by practicing sports. The value of money is taught at schools through projects or field trip fundraising. In a nutshell, school can help you develop some skills, but teachers have never been entrepreneurs, they just give you another model to follow. The main issue is that it may not be relevant to your business idea or the market you wish to enter. I think what really teaches you are extracurricular activities: which could be theatre, sports and now Junior-Enterprises are part of it. They bring together people with a business mindset and the network is helpful at an international level.


Steven’s Advice

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“We can finally talk about youth entrepreneurship development and young entrepreneurs as a target group.“ – Patrik Kovacs, President of JEUNE

Patrik Kovacs started his own business at the age of 21. He is now managing a network, and helping young entrepreneurs in the European Union. JEUNE reaches 1.6 million young Entrepre-neurs and helps the reconstruction of the SME sector.

Please present yourself and your career path

I am an entrepreneur,I started my first business at age of 21. I experienced the lack of support for young entrepreneurs, so I decided to build a community to help each other. In the past 7 years, we managed to build an ecosystem which helps young entrepreneurs, not just in Hungary but also in the EU. The young Hungarian entrepreneurs organization which I have founded is now the largest community of passionate young Hungarians, it is also one of the key economic players. In 2014 we created 4,14% of the total of the Hungarian companies, we educated more than 2300 young entrepreneurs. JEUNE, our european organization, is the largest in Europe, reaching 1,6 million young europeans, and we are working in a network with a very high value, in order to help the reconstruction of the european SME sector.

What is the current state of youth entrepreneurship in Europe?

The current state is completely different from that of the 90’s. We can finally talk about youth entrepreneurship development and young

entrepreneurs as a target group; decision makers have also started paying attention to them and very positive processes have begun throughout Europe. Despite this, there is still a long way to go, because such support policies and legal environments have to be built into what the economic values, of the starting enterprises, and the crowds of young people could be linked to. This could become institutionalized in several member states; furthermore, hopefully we will be able to bring back the entrepreneurial spirit of the young people in Europe and stave off the obstacles that are in front of them. In addition, we must help the generational change in the SME sector; nowadays, we lose 2 out of 3 enterprises, because they cannot be handed over to the founder’s kids.

What are the main reasons convincing graduated students to start-up their own business?

A lot of young people have been looking for independence, and they want to be entrepreneurs because of the hope, and the thought of freedom, financial freedom, and self-sufficiency.


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Start your enterprise only if you love what you do. It does not matter what you do, but how you do it. Ask for help from organizations like JEUNE or other associations of young entrepreneurs; also, look at our website (jeune-europe.org) and see the organizations we have been cooperating with.

In spite of this, Europe has been suffering from a “Culture of failure,” which means that a lot of these young people do not want to start enterprising, because they are scared of failure and downfall. It is interesting that across Europe, one third of the youth thinks of enterprising, while this ratio is double among the Asian youth. Therefore, it is definitely important to emphasize the European entrepreneurial culture to the youth; moreover, we also need to put special emphasis on making them think of entrepreneurship as a career opportunity.

What could make Europe as competitive as the US in terms of start-up development?

Practically on the European level, it would be crucial to give young people the hope that they can be successful entrepreneurs and we also need more examples of European success stories. There are lot of very unique and successful young european entrepreneurs but we need to

show them to other young people. We must lead by example. Also facilitating business structures that do not only help with the start of enterprising, but with the development too, would be necessary. Besides, I believe there is a very bright future in the manufactory industry and in the production of quality and handcrafted products. The young should also change for the ’Blue Ocean Strategy’: meaning that it does matter how they do what they do, and not just what they do. If they produce quality products and work with their heart and soul, they can become successful. The ’CAN DO’ attitude must be spread also in Europe.

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, is it in our blood, or it is something we should “learn-by-doing?”

I personally believe in the method of ’learning-by-doing’. I know a lot of young people, who have started their enterprises, while they were still at school – I also


Patrik’s Advice

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Discover your rockstars and their

“With Dashmote, for the first time I had to work with people younger than me. It took me some time to get used to it.“ – Dennis Tan (Founder)

Dashmote is a search engine Platform to find pictures. It enables people to find great pictures faster, to sell or for free. The Unique internet scanner to find every picture database in one place.

Digital

How much were you involved in your J.E. / Confederation; and what did it teach you that your university couldn’t?

I was Chairman of the Rotterdam branch of UniPartners. Besides this, I also became part of the Policy team of the National board of UniPartners. The time spent in the Junior-Enterprise was a unique opportunity to be ready for the professional world, as an entrepreneur as well as within a corporation. For those who dedicate themselves to entrepreneurship, Junior-Enterprises let you have a glance at all the departments: Human resources, Project management, Sales etc. I learned to be proactive.

Personally, I was an entrepreneur before joining the Junior-Enterprise, but I worked alone; this experience taught me to collaborate, to motivate a team. Through the Junior-Enterprise events, national and international meetings, we talked to people with a business mindset, it pushed us to learn more and go further. Finally, your Junior-Enterprise experience gives you a unique story, almost everyone likes the Junior-Enterprise concept.

What is the current status of your business? What are your next plans?

Dashmote was launched 5 months ago, we raised 450 000 Euro to build the product. For now the beta version is available, and we will release the first version to the public within 2 months. My next step will be to make people know about it.

What are the main issues you faced?

With Dashmote, for the first time I had to work with people younger than me. It took me some time to get used to it. I recognize that it has its benefit and defaults. For instance young people are more enthusiastic and motivated, however, their mood is more variable than older people. Also, they are not yet confident of their skills. Finally, I am now working with people from many different nationalities, and there is sometimes a gap. Some people, for example, will express themselves more directly than others. It takes extra energy to put everyone on the same level.

/Dashmote

dashmote.com

@Dashmote

Be smart in your way of working.

By smart I mean, do not stick to the things you like but go further and work on the things you may fail on.

Dennis’s Advice

Story origin:

Dennis Tan

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“It would have been smarter to focus completely on one objective at the time.“ – Alexis Safarikas (Co-founder)

ListMinut is a web platform that allows users to outsource small jobs and tasks to reliable people in their neighborhood. Finding a babysitter, someone to trim your hedge, to assemble your IKEA furniture or even a plumber, is sometimes very difficult. ListMinut is the reliable solution when you need a hand with those daily chores/problems

How much were you involved in you Junior-Enterprise and what did it teach you?

When I entered my Junior-Enterprise, LSM Conseil in Belgium, we were 6 students. One year after, in 2010, I became president and decided to revitalize and give a new impulsion to the Junior-Enterprise. This new start went through creating the new bases for a fading structure. The J.E. needed new processes, new strategies. The strategy we implemented worked out, because since then, the number of member has grown to 50, and the turnover is now over 150 000 euros per year.

Through putting more serious work manners into the Junior-Enterprise, making it a sustainable structure, I learned a lot. I was for the first time my own boss. I also learned to manage and motivate a team, which was a great challenge because money was not a lever for motivating and involving people.

I was also involved in JADE as International Manager for Belgium. I was especially involved in Public Affairs and network development within Belgium. Through this position, I developed my network a lot, and it showed me once more I enjoyed managing a team and

confirmed me I wanted to launch my own company.

Finally I really liked the idea that within the Junior-Enterprise, you do not have one team that acquires those skills, but it is an ongoing process benefiting to new teams years after years.

How did you think about starting your own company? Why this product?

I majored in Entrepreneurship. The main project was to build up a business plan for an invented company. Listminut’ was the project my associates, also from LSM Conseil, worked on. Two months after graduating, we decided to launch it. The fact that we had already worked together, in the Junior-Enterprise helped a lot, because we had the same methodology and the same vision.

What’s the difference between your own boss and working for a company?

Being your own boss is for the best and the worst at the same time. The best, because all your choices, success and failures depend of your own decisions. Being your own boss is also binding: it does not accept laziness. You cannot simply listen what other people ask you to do.

Digital

/ListMinut

listminut.be

@ListMinut

Story origin:

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My advice would be to define smart objectives and decide on KPI and stick to it. It especially applies to Web start-ups were everything is easily measurable, and where it is also easy to get lost by following feelings. New entrepreneurs have to listen carefully to the market and themselves and take their own decisions according to the information the market gives them.

In a nutshell, I will remember the Human side. Big corporations do not respect that. One’s opinion does not matter. As CEO, I try to put into practice what the Junior-Enterprise taught me. We do our best to motivate our employees, to give them a good experience, through our culture, to go further than their wage. We were helped by specialists in recruitments who taught us to know ourselves in order to find the right talents to recruit.

What is your current statute? Your next plan? The start-up was launched in the beginning of 2013, and after one year we had our first successful fundraising. Listminut’ has now 6 full time workers and reached its third anniversary and entered a decisive period. We are going through the mind gap between adoption markets to mass markets. This period is risky, because we need new massive

investments, but it is worth it. What are the main issues you faced? The most difficult was to take strategic decisions. We had a lot of opportunities and ideas, and we made the mistake to go in too many different ways. It would have been smarter to focus completely on one objective at the time.

Do you think entrepreneurship is something we can learn in school, or it is something we should “learn-by-doing? Honestly, the entrepreneurship classes I attended were not that useful. I reused 2% of the knowledge I got there. One reason for this is that most teachers have never been entrepreneurs. All in all, I believe entrepreneurship is about personality, most of us are self-made men and women.

Digital

Alexis’ advice

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Alexis Safarikas

a glimpse of listm

inu

t website

“I decided to co-found Intervieweb, with 5 other Italian Junior-Entrepreneurs.“ – Matteo Cocciardo (Co-founder and CEO)

In-recruiting is an Applicant Tracking System, a cloud-based application that allows Corporations (of any size and industry) and Employment Agencies to manage the entire recruiting process, from the collection of resumes to hiring, all on an intuitive and multi-language interface integrated into their corporate website.

How much were you involved in your J.E. / Confederation; and what did it teach you?

I knew J.E.To.P. attending my second year of BS in Industrial Management Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, thanks to my friend that was in JEME. I joined J.E.To.P. for 4 years and my experience was really good and formative. Often, I spent more time in J.E.To.P. than following my lectures, I dedicated a very long time working for my J.E., basically all my free time. Within J.E.To.P. I covered many roles: I started in the Sales team for the event Carriera&Futuro (one of the biggest Italian career-fair at that time), then I became Sales Manager and General Manager of Carriera&Futuro and President of J.E.To.P.. This experience taught me a lot of soft skills and competences that were not necessarily part of my degree course: negotiation, team management, the ability to take decisions quickly, with all risk-taking related, public speaking and much more.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why this product/ service?

I never thought of becoming an entrepreneur, because no one in my family has their own business. Moreover, at that time in Italy the “start-up movement” was not so trendy

as today. I thought that I would become a consultant, manager or whatever...exactly like many other students. My business idea was born thanks to the experience gained, especially in J.E.To.P., as a recruitment consultant. I identified a potential market into the Applicant Tracking System market because most Corporates were not organized to manage the recruiting process using specific software. I then decided to co-found Intervieweb, with other 5 Italian Junior Entrepreneurs (of other Italian JEs), and to develop In-recruiting.


In-recruiting was released in 2009 and is growing up rapidly: currently we have hundreds of clients, of any size and industry, mainly located in Europe. We are implementing new amazing features/modules for enriching our service and we are searching fund that let us go worldwide, starting from USA & Canada. Our goal is to become the new “Saleforce.com” into the Recruiting Software industry and be one of the leading ATS provider worldwide.

Digital

/intervieweb

in-recruiting.com

@Intervieweb

Story origin:

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To succeed today deep knowledge of the focused market, vision towards overcoming barriers, multicultural adaptation for understanding and anticipating global needs are necessary, so don’t be afraid to fail and have a positive mindset


In my case, one of the biggest issues we faced with was the competition from some really big players with strong brands: this issue was also an opportunity to push ourselves to do our best and think always a step forward. There is not a specific advice that I can give because there is not a unique advice valuable for all entrepreneurs. To succeed today deep knowledge into the focused market is necessary, vision for overcoming barriers, multicultural adaptation for understanding and anticipating global needs, do not be afraid to fail and have a positive mindset. An experience in a Junior Enterprise allows everyone to simulate start-up journey, it’s a gym where you can think and develop new projects!

Digital

Matteo’s Advice

Matteo Cocciardo

a glimpse of in-recruiting website

“It was a great experience, giving me all the tools to tackle everyday problems of running an organization.“ – Rafael Jegundo (Principal)

Whitesmith is a digital product studio: we develop web, mobile and IoT products for clients across the world. In part of our time, we develop our own products like http://qold.co and http://unplu.gg

How much were you involved in your J.E. ? I was founder of jeKnowledge, a tech-focused Junior Enterprise for the University of Coimbra, and remained as CEO for almost 3 years. It was a great experience, giving me all the tools to tackle the everyday problems of running an organization, from team and project management, hiring, among many other things basic financial knowledge.

How did you think about starting your own business?

Starting my own business was a natural step, as an opportunity arose to develop a startup in the energy field, which was a more compelling challenge than getting a normal job in the usual companies. This journey, which I shared with many colleagues and friends from jeKnowledge, evolved into Whitesmith.co, as we were required to bring in sales and

keep the company going. The obvious solution was to do consultancy work.


Fast forward, today we still do consulting and products. Our revenue doubled last year, and 96% of our business is from UK, US and AUS. We are starting to commercialize qold.co, a product for cold-chain monitoring for SMBs.

What are the main issues you faced? During the entire process, there were many challenges and cross-roads, from bringing in new business, to constantly keeping aligned our short-term goals with the long-term vision.

Digital

/whitesmithco

whitesmith.co

@whitesmithco

The only thing that really matters is to be resilient, and keep going, even if that requires reviewing your initial plan.

Rafael’s Advice

Story origin:

Rafael Jegundo

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“It pushed me further and gave me the chance to experiment and learn in a very organized environment. Rules and processes are clear, but it is up to you to do a good job.“ – Michael Kwapis (Founder)

Livelylabs forms solutions for everybody to make it easier to get in contact and to stay in contact with people you meet. Business and private. Focusing on Europe, lvlyBook will soon be available on mobile devices to exchange contact data with only three clicks. Socialize: Simply, safely, autonomously.

How much were you involved in your J.E., what did it teach you in general?

I have been part of the Junior Consulting Team e.V. in Nuremberg for more than five years. It pushed me further and gave me the chance to experiment and learn in a very organized environment. Rules and processes are clear, but it is up to you to acquire clients and to do a good job. You have responsibilities and the chance to reach your own pre set goals in a limited time, e.g. as a resort or J.E. leader.

What did you learn from the JE that you did not learn in university?

It was one of my first jobs with hands-on experience. No theory. Hard work and a common sense of goals with extraordinary people. At university, you have group projects where you have to achieve something because you have to. In the JE, because you want to. This makes links stronger and the will to make it is higher. A truly valuable experience.

How did you think about starting your own business?

As a consultant, I also participated in several events in Europe like the JADE meetings in Milan or Brussels and met people around the world. So did my partner Nicolai Makosch during his studies. Having collected dozens of business cards, we thought there should be a more convenient way to add contacts and keep them updated. But not only in business. It took us finally four years to realize that we wanted this idea to get on road. So the company was born in late 2014.


We are currently focused on our working prototype and on making it look better. Closed Beta is already running, so we expect to launch it soon and give everybody the chance to profit from our solution seeing as socializing globally was never that easy. Write an email, call somebody or chat via WhatsApp. You get all needed contact data via lvlyBook. For free.

Digital

Livelylabs

Livelylabs.eu

@livelylabs

In my other ventures before I made the mistake of over-engineering things. I developed a web portal for web-masters and worked nearly one year on it until I liked it. In the end, technology had changed and I could start over again. So get your product as fast as possible into your customers hands and learn.

Michael’s Advice

Story origin:

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“It has been a hurricane: why are we just doing consulting for companies, when we could start our own? “ – Andreas Tschas (Founder and CEO)

Pioneers' mission is to inspire, empower, and connect the leading startups, tech investors, and corporations to create a better future. We are convinced that innovation will solve the world's big challenges. Pioneers invests in game-changing startups, provides consulting services, and once a year gathers our global community at Pioneers Festival.

How much were you involved in you Junior-Enterprise and what it taught you? I was the co-founder of Icons, in Vienna in 2007. Actually, this experience was similar to starting your own company. All I learned as a Student Consultant was more important, and especially more useful that what University taught me. This new challenge developed skills such as making a team, convincing people. It also helps your know-how in Public Relations, Sales, and Human Resources. All of this turned to be useful in your future life, and especially as an entrepreneur. Besides it, founding the Junior Enterprise also enabled me to think about creating a vision, creating a product.

Finally, I really liked the idea that within the Junior Enterprise, you do not have one team that acquires those skills, but it is an ongoing process benefiting to new teams years after years.

How did you think about starting your own company? Why this product? Firstly, I believed I was an entrepreneur since I was a kid. But Icons Consulting helped a lot in building the idea of Pioneer. It has been a hurricane: why are we just doing consulting to companies, when we could start our own? Then, I believed that technology and innovation can resume our life and can bring humanity forward.

Promoting entrepreneurship

/pioneersfestival

pioneers.io

@Pioneers

© Pioneers/Jan Hruby/

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Story origin:

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I always advise to first find a problem, that people or business are eager to pay to solve. For instance, the example of Tesla is striking: the founder decided the Automobile industry needed to change. They launched the electric cars. Finally comes the idea of finding the right team with the good skills and the same passion. Yes, being passionate is the only thing that overcomes time, when it is not that easy.

I want my children and their children to have a better place to live. And the opportunity to use the potential of innovative minds is the solution for next generations. That is what Pioneers is about: Motivate people to create their business and connect the entrepreneurs to each other’s so they benefit from mutual help.

What is your current statue?

Pioneer Festival is probably the most famous event organized by our company, but Pioneer projects go beyond that. Pioneer Global organizes events in 60 European cities. Pioneer Discover helps communication between start-ups and the corporate world. The reality is that big corporations do not manage to innovate due to their strict hierarchy. Pioneer foster this cooperation.


When you start you company the first issue you face is finding a team with the right skills.


Andreas’s Advice

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Andreas Tschas

“Start small with the aim to become the market leader. But start small, start very small.“ – Andrea Gerosa (Founder and CEO)

“At ThinkYoung we do research and films on Generation Y and Generation Z. At Kefren we do consulting on student housing, co-working spaces and incubators for Startups. At the EntrepreneurshipSchool.com we inspire young people on how it is to be an entrepreneur. ”

How much were you involved in your J.E. and what did it teach you?

My involvement within my JE grew with time. I started from my local J.E., then progressed to the national Confederation where I spent two years (we were the first ones to rebrand the name to JADE + Country name) lastly, up to the European ExBo in 2006, where we were working full time, got a new JADE House and got France to join the network. From my experiences I learnt that it is vital to focus on very few things but big things that will have impacts on the generations to come and also be elements that people remember over time. I also learnt the importance of a team who rows in the same direction.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why this product/ service?

Starting my own company was embedded in me since I was a kid… When I joined my J.E. I got attracted by the poster “Do you want to be an entrepreneur? Come to room xyz” and from there it was a right fit to continue with my own business. Why we do what we do? Because we believe

we can have an impact on young people, make their life better by doing something that nobody does in a way that nobody is doing it.


We are growing, especially the last 16 months have been crazy, we opened an office in Hong Kong in January 2014, we started doing transnational projects for big organisations (Google, Coca Cola, UNICEF, Huawei, GoodYear), and we recently doubled the premises in Brussels. We are now looking to open another one out of Europe, you can stay tuned to see that surprise.


/thinkyoung

Thinkyoung.eu

@thinkyoungTW

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Story origin:

Andrea Gerosa

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Be humble, be poor, be cheap. Fight for your company, do not take No as an answer, be politely persistent. And have fun at the office. Nobody wants to join a boring team. Smile.

What are the main issues you faced? , what could be your advice in order to help future entrepreneurs?

Start small with the aim to become the market leader. But start small, start very small. I still remember very well my first 1’500€ invoice to a client. You can take any risk when you start small, you can experiment, you write the soul of your company and shape its future ten years. Work hard. Work fucking hard. Give up weekends, give up holidays, give up drinks with friends, give up family and girlfriend/boyfriend time. The beginning is hard, it’s very

hard and lonely, but also very exciting. Be humble, be poor, be cheap. Low profile is always a good thing, especially the first 5-6 years when you need cash for your company. Fight for your company, do not take No as an answer, be politely persistent. And have fun at the office. Nobody wants to join a boring team. Smile. How can people not smile when they are in their twenties and are part of the J.E. family?


Andrea’s Advice

Entrepreneurship School, project by Think Young

“Raising our first round of money was a real challenge – we underestimated how much time, energy and dedication is necessary.“ – Bianca Gfrei (Co-founder and CEO)

Kiweno is a B2C health-tech-startup that combines advanced laboratory testing technologies with online data visualization and web-based interactive tools. Thus we empower individuals to understand and improve their own nutritional health in a personalised and engaging way. How much were you

involved in your J.E. / Confederation; and what did it teach you?

I was with Icons – consulting by students for almost 3 years, in that time I first led the Marketing&IT department and finally was a member of the management team. As a managing director, I led a team of 25 student consultants and conducted consulting projects in various sectors, including FMCG and renewable energies. In that time I also had the honor to present my J.E. at JADE Spring meeting 2013 in Brussels, where we won the excellence award for the most entrepreneurial junior enterprise. I am still very connected to the team and my J.E. My time with icons was the best preparation for being an entrepreneur. You have to learn fast, take over responsibility,

collaborate, innovate and try things you haven’t learned in school or university and thus grow beyond yourself. I took away that believing in yourself is the initial step, that just doing it is often more important than long strategic planning and how much you can achieve in a great, motivated team.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why this product/ service? I started my business out of a personal problem – I had to do several blood tests which was not only expensive but also very time-consuming and unpleasant. Plus, I didn’t even receive my own medical reports that enabled me to understand my own health. I wondered if the process could be improved. Together with my two co-founders, an internist and a sports management graduate, we started with the idea of developing easy home-to-laboratory tests, that can be sold in pharmacies and by doctors. We soon realized that we could go even further and directly address our customers – we are entering a new area of personalized, more connected healthcare. The rise of smartphones made it possible to have a doctor in your pocket.

Food & Health

/kiweno

Kiweno.com

@mykiweno

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Story origin:

Bianca Gfrei

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My advice is to be open – talk to people about your idea, nothing is more valuable that honest feedback that brings you further, don’t be afraid of criticism – learn from it, but never let others get you down. It takes time and endurance - so believe in yourself and your idea. And finally, the best advice is probably to just get started - you just have to say let’s do it and give it a go!


We have done more than 2,5 years of research and development, conducted a one year test period in the pharmacy market and are now operational with our consumer brand Kiweno. We received a mid 6-digit funding at the beginning of 2015, won a startup challenge at the Pioneers Festival, Europe’s leading tech conference, and thus received a lot of media attention. Before we even officially launched our online platform, our sales already exceeded our expectations and our team will have tripled by the beginning of summer. We are happy with the current status.The next step will be the launch of additional self-tests in summer, development and introduction of new online

features and the introduction of our iOS and Android app by September. We also plan to enter new markets by the end of 2015.

What are the main issues you faced? Raising our first round of money was a real challenge – we underestimated how much time, energy and dedication is necessary. It is challenging to find the right people that really believe your idea and the team and not only want to squeeze money out of. I also learned to trust my instincts and listen to my gut feelings in that time.

Food & Health

Bianca’s Advice

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a glimpse of Kiweno website

“I work thanks to a “lean start up” model. I test, validate then test and validate again hypothesis.“ – Marc du Garreau (Founder)

Le Boeuf Français is a collaborative platform which allows to buy a local, healthy meat directly from family farmer (B2C).

Meat Me is a brand of food which makes and sells healthy, greedy and design delicatessen meat for the aperitif (B2B2C)

How much were you involved in your J.E. and what did it teach you?

I discovered an amazing world of learning when I started to study in Kedge Business School: the Junior Enterprise world. Marketing Mediterranée is great, old and very professional J.E. When you choose to engage yourself in Marketing Mediterranee, you have no choice: you have to work a lot to satisfy your customers and develop projects! It’s really great because you are in a hot group during two years, so you work hard, you learn a lot and you play hard too! What an enriching experience!

This great experience strengthened me in my will to create my own business. First I launched Le Boeuf Français during my gap year. It was for me the opportunity to discover the food sector, to meet some farmers and to highlight what real meat is. I wanted to change the way we consume food by showing that products are good for the planet and are good for humans and firms too. Everybody should have the possibility to eat a delicious, healthy, sustainable and cheap food.

Then a friend came to me with a great idea of business: make French people discover some biltong, a dried meat from a South Africa recipe. It’s really delicious, very low fat and full of proteins. We want to become

the European leader of healthy delicatessen in two years.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why this services?

I always wanted to create my own business. The J.E. environment helped me because it allows to learn to manage a business and develop projects. I chose the food sector because I think we have to change our way of eating and consuming. Food has a real impact on our body and on our planet. We can limit waste, we can limit transport and we can choose a sustainable food. To really change our approach, I think firms have to find ways to reduce costs and to consume local. Let’s do it !

What are your next plans?

I work thanks to a “lean start up” model. I test, validate then test and validate again hypothesis. Le Boeuf Francais is now able to respond to a growing demand of transparency and healthy, local meat. Meat Me is coming to the market after succeeding in selling its 1000 first products on a crowdfunding platform. Next year, you will be able to find our products in more than 300 groceries in France. Then, we will begin to sell our products in England, Spain, Italy, Belgium and creating a laboratory for Research and Development.

Food & Health

Meat-me.fr

Leboeuffrancais.com

Story origin:

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“Overall I am really pleased with my entrepreneur experience and don't and won't think of going back to employed life no matter what!“ – Harmonie Koch (Founder)

La Cantatrice is a craft shop located near Barcelona. We sell products to knit, crochet and sew in the store and online through e-shop.lacantatrice.com We organize more than 150 workshops each year and provide services to businesses as well. We are present on Facebook and Instagram with a large community of Spanish craft lovers.

How much were you involved in your J.E. ? I was involved in the J.E. from 2006 to 2008. I was responsible for the communication of the structure as well as managing my own clients and companies willing to implement market surveys. It was a really intense job but I loved every second of it. I loved being in front of business customers and being able to promote and sell them our work. From an early age I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and being part of the J.E. was a good first step.I then left the business school to get a MBA in the US. There I was able to confront myself to a new teaching approach and complement my education. I stayed 2 years in Boston and then moved to Spain with my soon-to-be husband. How did you think about starting your own business? Arriving in Spain, I worked for a big fashion company as a product manager. I enjoyed the experience but being part of such a large structure I was missing the thrill of direct commercial relations and immediate results. After two years, I quit my job to create La Cantatrice. I have always been passionate about craft. I am self-taught and I love discovering new techniques, materials and create new things. I decided of building a craft shop and

organize workshops to be able to combine this urge of creating something new while benefiting from the boom of the DIY (do it yourself) market. I design some exclusive products called “Kits” where people get a nice box with every material needed to complete a project like a knitted sweater or a sewed bag. What is the current status of your business? What are your next plans? The first year was really successful. People were impressed with the product range and eager to try everything. We opened the online shop one year later to be able to attract clients that are away from Barcelona. This year I started to develop collaborations with other companies including exclusive product development or communication strategies for businesses within the craft market.

Retail

/lacantatricebotiga

Lacantatrice.com

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Story origin:

Harmonie Koch

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In the future, I will certainly try to share some of the work load to be able to get a better balance.


The main issue I face right now is being alone in this adventure. Being relatively new in Spain when I started I did not manage to get myself a business partner. Running a shop with extensive business hours is quite exhausting when you are on your own and not able to contract someone. In the future, I will certainly try to share some of the work load to be able to get a better balance.

Overall I am really pleased with my entrepreneur experience and don't and won't think of going back to employed life no matter what!

Retail

Harmonie’s Advice

“I believe that being open-minded, flexible and not too conceited are the most important qualities you need to have to be successful.“ – Kamil Górski (Business Development Manager)

Bliq® is an innovative brand operating in the Polish electronic cigarettes industry, highly focused on positive user experience and design. We create beautiful and useful products for people who love them.

How much were you involved in your J.E. / Confederation; and what did it teach you? I had been working in Polish JE ConQuest Consulting from year 2009 to 2011 and conducted more than 20 projects with teams from 3 to 11. It was my first professional job and within that time I have gained a vast experience in entrepreneurship and project management, learning how companies operate on the market and discovering different business models. This was a great adventure, which taught me how to cooperate with people of different personalities and showed the specificity of B2B and B2C businesses. How did you think about starting your own business? Why this product/ service? That experience had let me conduct Foodbroker® startup operating in HoReCa branch, where within a year we managed to generate a monthly platform turnover of about

50k PLN and gain more than 40 clients – which was quite an achievement on hard Polish market. After this experience in 2012 I decided to set up my own company – Bliq®, a modern brand of electronic cigarettes which were very popular then and are still attracting customers, especially in Poland. I have decided for this kind of B2B business because personally I love product design and Polish market lacked high quality e-cigarettes at this time. Setting up my own company and creating its product was a great and enriching experience, even though there were many difficulties – both with our Chinese suppliers and Polish clients. Calling the cooperation with Chinese companies ‘hard’ would be insufficient but delays in payments from our clients were even worse. This experience has inspired us to create a modern product aimed at more developed countries like the USA or Germany.

Retail

/pioneersfestival

pioneers.io

@Pioneers

Story origin:

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There is nothing worse than losing the chance of winning because of the leader being too assuming and not adaptable enough. There’s no such thing as universal key to the success so you need to try many different paths to find yours.


Therefore, after months of hard work, we are now awaiting for the first investment round from a venture capital fund, which will allow us to enter the US and Western Europe markets. VC financing is the only option for this kind of risky enterprise, we believe however that our product will win competition with Chinese low quality mass products.


Running your own business is really challenging and requires many different skills – I believe however that being open-minded, flexible and not too conceited are the most important qualities you need to have to be successful.

Retail

Kamil’s advice

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Kamil Górski

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“As a former Junior-Entrepreneur, I had inside me all the ingredients to take this path, and I did it.” - Dario Sarango (Founder)

HEKLO is the first urban cycling luggage usable as well for travel as in your daily life (shops, sport, work). It has been designed to improve riders’ comfort, security and flexibility. Folding, modular and customizable, HEKLO will ease the urban mobility on foot or by bike.

How much were you involved in your J.E. and what it taught you? I am Dario, I was the head of the Audit team of my J.E. in a French Business School (Reims Junior Conseil). My role in the team allowed me to be very involved in the management and the decision taking. I had also the opportunity to become auditor for the French National Confederation of Junior Enterprises (CNJE), thanks to which I met a lot of enthusiastic students all over the movement. I audited and advised in total half a dozen of organizations, from the early-stage J.E. to the national’s most prestigious ones. Thanks to this experience, I learned to work in an autonomous way, among other students without rigid hierarchies but with a lot of responsibility lying on me. If this experience is a success, it will make you feel much more confident once you get into a company, and that happened to me.

How did you think about starting your own business? Why this product/ service? Actually, the idea that I could become an entrepreneur and launch my own business was born a few months after I left the JE. I felt working for a company was very different from the JE. experience: I was just an intern accountable to my boss, working on little parts of some operational projects and without opportunities for taking disruptive initiatives. Since I wished to live a stimulating and challenging experience, full of creativity and within an innovation environment, I concluded that startups were one of the best vehicles for it.

The entrepreneurial spirit, the willingness of meeting challenges and be part of a human and collective adventure, the belief that I will enjoy this way of life… As a former Junior-Entrepreneur, I had inside me all the ingredients to take this path, and I did it.

Urbanism & Tourism

/heklo

@heklo

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Story origin:

3031 3030 30

I do not really like giving some advice, but anyway let’s say two things to future entrepreneurs: failure is just the first attempt in learning, do not be afraid of failure and be even proud of it. And then that you have the power to make a better world. Let’s build your dreams!

So I thought it would be a pretty seducing idea if one of my passions becomes my first job: biking. What my startup is doing, is celebrating urban bicycling as the new urban lifestyle. Life as we want involves more bicycling in our cities. So we want people to be able to use their bikes with freedom in their daily life. That is why HEKLO exists.

What is the current status of your business? What are your next plans? Our business team is working on the Business Model to be able later to raise funds among Business Angels and public institutions. These investments will accelerate the fabrication of our prototypes designed by our technical team and also to file the patent. Once we have identified our industrial partners for the large-scale manufacturing, we will be able to launch a crowdfunding campaign to communicate among the biking community

worldwide, raise more funds and start the activity! What are the main issues you faced? The main issues are working hard and keep going! Why? Because when you are developing an innovative project, you must be prepared to meet some skeptical or uninterested people. If you are not strong enough, they will contaminate you and kill your motivation! So the tip is to go back to your desk and work harder than the day before, and to do it until you convince clients you are the best for them.

Urbanism & Tourism

Dario’s advice

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“I am fond of being an entrepreneur: it allows you to have a 360 degrees perspective on the company and the business.“ – Stefano Giacomantonio (Founder)

Have you ever desired to make your travel an experience worthwhile sharing? Have you ever dreamt of discovering unexpected places? Have you ever wanted to contribute to the growth of new businesses ? Test your entrepreneur-ship spirit and become our partner.

Stefano has launched two companies, the first one, Lovin’Com, two years after leaving university, and one year ago, YoUlisse.

How much were you involved in your J.E? I have been involved in JEME Bocconi for 4 years: university was only about theory, and this was especially the case in Italy compared to other European countries. The Junior- Enterprise experience enabled me to get a business mindset: I am a proactive and creative person, and this helped me in giving a structure to the companies I founded afterwards. University was only about theory, and it is especially the case in Italy compared to other European countries How did you think about starting your own business? Right now, I am working as a Marketing Director in a big corporationHowever, I have a strong entrepreneurial spirit: i founded some years ago Lovn’Com, a marketing consulting firm from the original brainstorming idea. While I altro do my best to be entrepreneurial in my daily job, I maintain my entrepreneurial spirit: I am founding another company now, YoUlisse, thanks to the experience acquired with

Lovin’Com and to the perspective acquired working for a multinational firm. What’s the difference between your own boss and working for a company? For me, it is more of an aptitude, not a job position. It means understanding your business, checking everything about the market you are in. As an entrepreneur, the first skill you need to have is being good at sales: you need to sale yourself as a potential partner and a credible supplier of services and products, your team and your idea as the solution to you client’s problem. You get the complete vision of where you want to go and how to get there. What is the current status of your business? What are your next plans? I sold my shares in Lovin’Com and started to working on something new: YoUlisse, a startup in the travel and tourism industry, willing to provide people with the best and most unique travel experiences. We have recently started to work on the project, and we are receiving amazing feedback. I hope to see all you you soon as out travellers!

Urbanism & Tourism

[email protected]

Youlisse.net

@

Story origin:

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“I believe that startups are for grown-up men, those, who have already achieved something. “ – Bartłomiej Gola (Managing Partner and CEO)

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Bartłomiej Gola is the Managing Partner of SpeedUp Venture Capital Group. It‘s a venture capital company. They have four funds and invest in early stage tech startup.

Please present yourself and your career path

I started as an advertising guy. Right after finishing my studies, I worked as an account manager for a couple of agencies. After that, I and my friends founded our own agency. We specialized in below-the-line direct marketing and promotion-related activities. We were successful enough to sell the company to Omnicom, which is the biggest advertising group in the world. Then, we were responsible for developing Tequila brand in Central and Eastern Europe. Finally, in

Expert end notes

33

2008, I created SpeedUp as my new venture.

What is the median age of founders you have invested in? How does age change your judgment on investment decision?

I would say that the average age of founders is around 30, but I think that one of the biggest misconceptions people have, is that startups are only for very young people. Of course, we all know the example of Mark Zuckerberg and other guys, who started their companies while still being at university, but these, in my opinion, are rather exceptions, not rules. I believe that startups are for grown-up men, those, who have already achieved something. The most successful companies we have, are these founded by people, who have very diversified professional backgrounds, e.g. entrepreneurs, who have worked for corporations, top managers; having these kinds of experiences, will increase your chances to succeed. Of course, the older you are, the more you have to lose. That's why it's so difficult for people to change their lives when having two kids, mortgage and many other responsibilities. It's very risky to start a company at this point. Generally speaking, the best founders, in my opinion, are people with big experience.

Bartłomiej Gola /speedupgroup

speedupgroup.pl

@speedupgroup

33

The best advice for entrepreneurs is to not go to investors as the first part of your plan. Develop your product, and go to your clients – these should be your first steps. Only then, seek the investors. People tend to mix these up, and they think that having an investor is doing the business – no, investors are only one of the elements you need in order to build your business. The most important part is to persuade your clients to use, or buy your product.

Do you use any criteria for measuring management effectiveness and risk awareness? I’m not sure if I get this question right, but the main measure, for us as a fund, is return of investment. We invest other people's money, so we have to give them back. Hence, our main effectiveness measure would be as follows: give us your money for 8 to 10 years, and we'll give you back three times of what you invested in the fund. The awareness of the risk is very high. The risk is high and the awareness is high. We know that most of our investments fail, however, it's not our fault. It's the type of business we do. Therefore, we focus on these companies, who can really succeed and grow to be strong enough to repay the fund – we've learnt that over the years of running the fund. Of course, this is something what we have to teach our investors, by telling them 'do not worry if most of our investments fail because we will find one or two, who will repay the whole fund'. That's the way we deal with risk.

Are investors investing in a company or its leaders? The younger the company is, the more its founders matter. Because 99% of companies are not sticking to their initial plan, we mostly invest in their ability to change, adopt and, only then, execute the original plan. Therefore, we invest in market, leaders and, lastly, the solution, because the solution will change for sure. Therefore, we invest in the ability to change.

Entrepreneurial spirit: can you select 3 characteristics you are looking for in young entrepreneurs? I'm thinking... determination. That's the most important thing. You also need to be able to sacrifice everything and persuade the world, which will be against you. Everyone will tell you it's impossible and point out your initial failures, because people will rather not be supportive of you, except for your family and friends, of course. So I think – determination, then, I'd say, ability to sale – being a good salesperson, who's capable to persuade

others to their vision. I'm not talking about selling in terms of a process of convincing someone to buy your product, because if you're B2C, you aren’t trying to get people committed to buy your products, at least not yourself. However, you have to be able to persuade the world to your vision; investors, people, media, employees – it's also very important to hire the best people, even if you cannot offer them the best working conditions right away. Summarizing, the first factor is determination, the second one is ability to sale and evangelize people with your vision, and the third thing is ability to listen. What I mean by this is that being an entrepreneur is a tough thing, because you are on edge; on the one hand, you have to be self-confident and sure of what you do. You obviously cannot let others to steer you, but on other hand, you still have to to listen to others' feedback and adjust accordingly. It's really hard to balance these two.

Expert end notes

Bartłomiej Gola’s Advice

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