Please explain using a few words how the company started? (team, origin, originality of the project)
Smart Pap was born from a volunteer lesson program in which I took part. I was helping a group of 15 children in a housing project in my town in the 93rd department.
As a pupil, when you do not understand a mathematics chapter, the essay’s method or how the English grammar works, you must react really quickly! The faster you get support, the less those difficulties will pile up over time. However, both father and mother have no time and they especially don’t always have a network they can rely on to find an affordable and qualified tutor. In parallel, a set of lessons as flexible as possible was to be established, allowing self-paced private lessons.
In 2015, Maximilien, Mathieu, Valentin and I did create this solution: Smart Pap. The first service ever which selects, on-demand, an excellent tutor for lessons at your place. From the mobile app Smart Pap or the website smartpap.fr you are able to book your Pap’, one of our selected private teachers, for unit-lessons when you really need it. Incoming final exam? Homework assignment to be done for tomorrow? Order your Pap’, and he will be there to help you whenever you want!
For our launching, 150 Pap’s were ready to intervene in the whole Lille region from elementary school to high school tutoring lessons in all subjects. They are hired by validating tough exams and rigorous checks. Thus we only select the most brilliant profiles with the best teaching skills. Smart Pap is recognized as an official service-provider to individuals, allowing families to get significant tax reductions on every lesson.
Which initial assessment can you learn from this entrepreneurial adventure? Any advice for young entrepreneurs?
For our company, the most valuable performance indicator is the success of our students. The delighted feedback of the families encourages us to work twice as hard for our home tutoring to be always more effective and more relevant. In Lille, pupils from primary, middle and high schools are already making progress thanks to Smart Pap: we do have an impact on their success!
We, as well as our students, are making the most of this adventure in a pedagogical way. My background is a dual curriculum business / law (EDHEC BLM cursus) and Smart Pap is the direct application of my knowledges in Corporate and Labour Law, as well as in Marketing or in Business Development.
A positive assessment that lets us dream bigger for the future of our EdTech startup.
My advice to entrepreneurs is nothing new, but it is to my mind the key to success.
What have you done concretely? Here is the question that every partner, coach, mentor and, later, investors will ask you for sure. In hearing the term “concretely”, a lot will think about a product, a website, a piece of software, a business plan or more generally everything which would give to your project the appearance of an established company. Don’t pay attention to this. Initially, the only “concrete” to be discussed is “have you sufficiently tried out your market?” More directly, “how well do you know your target customer?” To answer those questions, unveil publicly and at the embryonic stage your project to your relatives, to your city, to France! Moreover, it will be the perfect occasion to investigate your field of activity through call sessions, networking and meetings. This step, preliminary and essential, will ensure you future success by developing not only an offer for the customer, but an offer with the customer.
At some time or another, have you been able to take advantage of EDHEC’s alumni network?
Beyond the precious support of both EYE incubator and JEF Label, EDHEC Business School opened us the gates of a huge network made of professionals. The latter gave us useful advices on how to manage a company. Not only that, we also have had real business opportunities as well as potential supports for financing.
What are the next steps for your company?
We are currently in discussions with a number of investment funds with the aim of running a fundraising event in 2017. Smart Pap hope to duplicate it’s model in every major city in France. Driven by our established teaching activity in Lille, we are currently launching recruitments in Paris, looking forward to a deployment of our Pap’s in the next few months. At the same time, we will unveil new on-demand lessons in order to diversify our scholar teachings and to reach new markets. Many possibilities all around the same label, Smart Pap, which we wish to raise as the reference for private tutoring.
Links
Web site / Mail / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn Smart Pap/ LinkedIn Vincent Babin
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