On Tuesday 6th of February Betacowork and  BeTech,  had the pleasure of hosting the 20th BeTech First Tuedays. We’d like to thank everyone for coming and a special thank you to our speakers Toon Vanagt (Data.be), Guillaume Tourniaire (Hoolders), Kevin Françoisse (Sagacify), JC Conticello (Wemanity) and Louis Cornet (Movify), for sharing their experience and knowledge with us. 
Below you will a little taste of the entrepreneurial advice given that evening.
 
 

 

JC Conticello (Wemanity) : “test your ideas”

First,  JC advised us  to not be scared to share our ideas with others, and that keeping them hidden from the world won’t get your business very far.  And you should test your ideas as much as yo
u can before investing. He says with just a pen and piece of paper you can go out there and test your idea!  
In the end of his talk, JC was asked “when do I know when it’s the right time to expand ?”,and his answer was “there is no right time”. However, he stated one criteria you should fill before doing so : be strong in your own country.
 
 
 

Louis Cornet (Movify) : “ people are key to every business”

Louis suggests you should  put your employees before your customer because the people and culture in you company will be a key factor in your company’s success. And so Movify tries to give great talent autonomy, trust and freedom so they can do their best work. For example He says his consultants get to choose their own projects when possible  so they can stay motivated by working on a project they genuinely enjoy.
 

 
 
 
 
 

Guillaume Tourniaire (Hoolders) : Market and trust

Guillaume explained to us that the main issue he faced when starting his co-funding platform ,Hoolders, were reaching the right market & gaining their trust.  
To reach his niche market he used data analysis to target the right markets. And he them automated the process of sending the right message to the right people.
Thanks to his data anaysis he was able to develop, in parallel to Hoolders, the company Ipoome. Ipoome targets a complementary but different audience.
And  regarding the trust, the trick is to value  your network  clients and built a relationship through them and for them.

 

 

Kevin Françoisse (Sagacify) : “so many failures but learned a lot”

Kevin explained how his company had many struggles in the first few years of business. These struggles were mainly due to the fact that him and his partner had great technical knowledge but lacked sales and marketing experience. They’d built ambitious products before thinking about how to sell them. Also they sometimes would partner with people because they were “blinded by their vision and their experience”. As you can imagine it wasn’t a great mix…
However,   today Sagacify is a successful company balancing a dual  product and service model, that according to him was possible  thanks to key hires. He says it’s worth investing in great talent, even if it hurts your wallet at first !
 
 
 

Toon Vanagt (Data.be) : “have fun !”

Toon started his talk by raising awareness to the fact that women are still a small minority in the tech world. He illustrated his point by
bringing attention to the fact that over 90% of the participants of the event  were men ! Toon then went on to talk about his entrepreneurial story like the other speakers.
Here is his “recipe” to entrepreneurial success :

• Align a great team
• Have the skills necessary for your activity
• Remember that scale is key to taking a market but don’t  prematurely scale.
• Don’t forget to exit when it’s time to.
• Find a balance between professional and Private life. “Get a hobby” and “take holidays !”
• Focus on one activity to start with and take action if you want to succeed
• Have fun ! Enjoy the journey.

 

#GrowingTogether

We hope these tips gave you some new ideas about your own business. You’re always welcome to join us at our future events. Check out the calendar here.
Also, all of our speakers work and network within the ICAB/Betacowork ecosystem. If you’d like to come discover it, try out a free day of coworking with us  by signing up here