Wessel
P2P ride-sharing service Voiturelib.com : an outsourcing success story
In today’s article, we’re taking a look at a French startup called Voiturelib.com – a P2P car sharing service. Founder and CEO Paulin Dementhon tells a fascinating tale on how he started Voiturelib and how he successfully outsourced his web development as a business guy by himself. Paulin Dementhon, a 33 year old HEC graduate, […]
KissKissBankBank – The startup from Europe that got cloned by Kickstarter
KissKissBankBank is one of the oldest crowdfunding websites in the world. The idea was loosely based on SellABand, who were the first one ever. They started seriously working on the idea 6 months before Kickstarter. What is crowdfunding? Crowdfunding comes in four flavors: P2P lending, philanthropy, rewards, and microventure. They are in the most popular […]
Review of Start In Paris – a recurring Paris startup event
Start In Paris is a quasi-monthly Paris event where people get together, and startups pitch their ideas. Started by Laurent Kretz and partner-in-crime Jonathan Benoudiz, the format is inspired by Laurent’s experience with New York Tech Meetup while living there. They also have a successful mobile startup together called FreeApps365. Bringing the event format to […]
French discount aggregator Miwim gobbled up by US based WhaleShark Media
Miwim, a Vannes-based discount aggregrator for the French consumer market, has been acquired by US based WhaleShark Media for an undisclosed sum. Miwim, a twenty-person company based in Vannes, is two years old. It operates under several brands, such as Bons-de-Reduction.com, Poulpeo.com, and super-comparateur.com. Miwim reportedly had 2 million euros in revenue in 2011. Miwim […]
Appsfire: App recommendations the clever way
Whenever I am asked to look at a startup, whether as a mentor at an accelerator or startup event, or whether as a potential client for my web development firm, I always look at the same criteria. I first ask for a summary of the idea as well as the team behind it. I look […]
MyBee: Intelligent payments the easy way
Wessel Kooyman uses his startup assessment criteria on Mybee, looking at their team, problem/solution, competitive landscape, strengths & weaknesses, as well as sharing what we hopes to see them accomplish in the next six months.
SFR's new CEO gets ready to beat back Free Mobile
Michel Combes, former CEO of Vodafone, takes the helm at SFR. At 50 years of age, he has tons of telecom experience, including a long stint at France Telecom. SFR has been battered in the market by Free Mobile. They lost 200,000 clients in the first two months after Free’s launch. Free Mobile covers 30% of […]
Geeklist – the Geek community website that finds you the best geeks for your team
Geeklist is building a community of developers, where, through an elaborate system of cards, high-fives, contributions and creds, everyone can express their geek achievements in a crowdsourced, social way. As a developer, I can say “I built XYZ using ABC technology” on the Geeklist site. People can then validate that (the more the better), or say […]
Recruiting a developer in France [SERIES 4/4] – Making the offer
In previous articles, we’ve talked about creating a job profile, getting it seen by the right people, selecting CV’s, and doing interviews. Our final installment talks about making actual offers to candidates, and the responsibilities, cost, and risks as an employer. Step 1 – Know your real cost The real cost of employing someone is […]
Recruiting a developer in France [SERIES 3/4] – Getting your Job in Front of the right People
The previous articles in this series discussed the creation of a job profile and performing a job interview. In this article, we’ll talk about getting your job posting to your target audience – the job seekers. First Option: Use a Recruiter Now here’s a tough question. Recruiters are expensive. They will ask 10-15% of the […]