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My name is Jean Yves, co-founder of Capital Koala.
I founded Capital Koala with my associate Alexandre, about 2 years ago.
I have done many different things before this,
I used to work a lot with children, this is why I had the idea to start Capital Koala and saving plans for children.
I’ve worked as a camp counselor and then camp director, I used to work a lot with children education, in pedagogy and things like these.
So what Capital Koala is about ?
This is a new and innovative service in France which enables you to save money each time you complete purchases online.
Today, we are only focused on online sales.
We have agreements with 1200 internet retailers in every sectors:
Fnac, Priceminister, Rue du commerce… la redoute, les 3 suisses, the most important one.
You can complete your purchase with one of our partners, or you can start first by visiting our website before completing your purchase.
Or you can download our little "koala character" onto your navigator which will let you know if the website is one of our partners.
Once you complete your purchase on Fnac Website,
we receive a commission paid from the Fnac and we transfer a portion or all into your child’s saving account.
About the steps of the development of Capital Koala, first of all, I’ve met my associate Alex
and we started thinking together about the core idea since the beginning
and we each brought our own strengths to the project.
I brought my personal working experience with children,
my willingness to work with them
and my previous internet business experiences.
As alex will explain it to you, he brought all his previous knowledge about business.
Our first focus was about building and growing the business.
And when we started to build the website together,
neither of us was qualified in computer engineering nor programming
that’s why we associated with someone else who is currently in charge of the technical aspect.
We built the website and we wrote the proposal.
And then we started visiting retailers.
The second big aspect was about banking partnerships.
We currently have two banking partners,
but these partnerships were more difficult to work out than the partnerships we currently have with our 1200 retailers.
Because for the banks it's something new,
despite they immediately understood their interest in opening saving accounts for children.
These could turn the children into lifelong clients when they come of age,
and influence their families to become clients also.
It sounded like a good project to them, but banks are banks :
they need time to validate the project between different departments…
It’s pretty new for them.
For me becoming an entrepreneur, is not about taking a risk,
it is just the opposite.
To me It’s like playing it safe.
both on emotional and social plan.
You actually take a risk becoming an employee of a company and working there for 20 years of your life.
I have heard so many stories about people like this, looking back at the past and realizing that they haven’t done anything with their life.
Here is the risk: not acting.
When you become an entrepreneur,
yes the financial risks are great
but your experience as an entrepreneur is an asset to your career, especially if you started young.
Strong willed energetic people who create their own company at 25,30,or even 35, 40 can easily sell their previous experience.
For me, it was really not about taking a risk.
A moment comes when stars have to be aligned
and you need to ensure your ability to provide financial security.
You really have to meet the good person,
find the good idea:
you need to take into account all these criterias.
So for me it was not about taking a risk,
it was rather something like “I finally found a job I will Have fun with.”
It is almost like a weight off your shoulders.
Obviously, you can’t give up when you meet your first failure.
We met plenty of obstacles when we started the business.
It can sound easy now to sign with all these partners, but we had some slaps in the face.
And sometimes, even things Which seemed to be going well, were not.
Above all, failure is an experience.
A failure is when you set a goal which is not flexible.
If you set a goal which needs to be achieved at a specific date, there is a chance for you to fail.
Instead you should set daily goals, you cannot plan exact future.
You just need to aim at having fun every day.
If there are a few things that I could recommend to you from our short experience:
You need to talk about your idea, no one will steal it from you.
Capital Koala is a typical exemple: our idea had already been developed in the US, not exactly in the same way,
we just adapted it to the French Market.
Some people could have done it earlier on a technical point of view but
no one did because you need to have a deep motivation. And we believed in this project
We believe in saving plans for children, we could have done the same for retired people.
Maybe we will do it one day, but we currently focus on children.
We have our flame and no one can steal it from us.
According to me, artistic approach really matters,
this is something I do need to focus on.
You always need to be innovative, creative, whether on your communication, your positioning, the way you work, or your methods.
Creativity remains the most important aspect.
This is why many artists will experiment with many instruments,
various styles, will do many things, write astonishing music texts.
In my case, I rather focus on the communication aspect of Koala,
I like playing with words, finding the good words to express something simple. This is something I have learnt while writing songs.
Entrepreneurship in France is a big issue
and from what I see it’s going very well!
Many things are happening
Many people say that it is complicated in France to start a business…
This is not my opinion, there is a lot of help available in France.
We are lucky to have “Pole emploi” (french unemployement agency).
Of course it’s only for those who have already worked before,
but this is the biggest investor in France.
If you found your company without receiving any wage,
you’ll be able to live a few months, a year..
If you do it longer, 2 or 3 years, it will get harder.
So you can easily find help like subventions
We have gotten help from OSEO, Scientipole, the region, the state, the department.
Today, we are located in Neuilly City and we currently work in Deloitte offices.
Deloitte provided us offices for a 2 years period, 35m2 , with fantastic surroundings..
So you can find much help, you just need to fight a bit to get it. But it does exist.
This is a global movement, you can feel it and not only in Paris, this is pretty fantastic!
Many people contacted us from province,
there are entrepreneurship meetings many people communicate on blog, websites…on C’mon Guys !
So in France it’s going pretty well!
Of course, If you start a business in the US,
it’s always pretty huge.
In France, it will always work like this,
we cannot make the country bigger.
Indeed, we have a small market, maybe the next Facebook won’t be on the French Market,
but you don’t start a facebook business everyday and there are still many things to be done;
When you travel abroad, you can realize that people
do not only know France for Victor Hugo or Zidane.
Many things happen in France, great companies, great projects. We are pretty lucky ! So let's go !
About great stories:
we’ve spent more than a year at ESCP’s (french business school) incubator,
and we were working with plenty of start-ups.
We had really great times
playing ping pong with the table we had set up in the assembly room
or keeping the guitare close at hand to celebrate our victories whether our office mates wants to hear it or not.
We had alreaydy many friends starting businesses like us :
some were launching a tie brand, a glasses brand, running charities.
These were really good memories we shared at ESCP, we were there yesterday, we return regularly,
there a plenty of social meetings where everyone meets.
And there is many different fields.
Once again, about entrepreneurship in France, many things happen,
even if today we are a bit more integrated in that eco system
in every sectors things happen.
And you get witness to your friend’s company evolution
into something bigger, who were like just like you, who started with a vague idea and now their products are sold in plenty of stores.
These are really great memories.