Digital start-ups: the difference between a “good pitch” and “a lot of hot air”

Digital start-ups: the difference between a “good pitch” and “a lot of hot air”

By RateAndGo Comment Closed
  In an increasingly competitive context, it has become essential to offer an objective analysis of the digital start-ups market. Objective: to equip players with the tools to identify, select and support an investment project. Supply has caught up with demand. According to some observers, there are 60,000 French start-ups on the market. It’s not surprising therefore that the average Business Angel cannot find their way around it. At the same time, the hyper-publicised national and local large gatherings of the new wave of start-uppers have become commercially successful, filling the disused buildings in our industrial wastelands. But how can these gatherings help investors to identify the most promising projects? And how can customers find their way in this market, where horse traders, experts in delivering a pitch, pumped up on marketing steroids from the FrenchTech incubators, try to persuade you that an old mare is actually a racehorse? Potential investors cannot even examine the horse for themselves, as the information being conveyed...
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3 advantages of using the RateandGo rating for your start-up

3 advantages of using the RateandGo rating for your start-up

By RateAndGo Comment Closed
Capturing customers, finding good investors, strategy… a start-up involves a succession of challenges. The main challenge is proving that you are serious and can inspire confidence. To help you do this, exaegis has developed the Rateandgo rating service. 1. Understand your strengths and weaknesses to make progress RateandGo is a free rating service that can be used by any start-up. The assessment takes around one hour. It consists of around 50 questions and a more in-depth analysis with verified documents and three video interviews. The RateandGo rating is based on good business start-up and management practices, mainly drawn from exaegis’ research and also inspired by books such as “Business Model Nouvelle Génération1” and “Backpack2”, plus more academic studies such as “Management Control Systems in Early-Stage Startup3” and “Stratégie pour la création d’entreprise 4”. Since a start-up remains, above all, a business! With RateandGo, Exaegis has constructed a genuine standard of reference to assess the maturity of a project. Specifically, the questions relate to the...
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Start-up failure: the 20 errors to avoid

By RateAndGo Comment Closed
“In the life of a start-up there are two key periods: before adjustment of the product/market pairing, and afterwards. Once the pairing is properly adjusted, success is generally guaranteed.” Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Mosaic and founder of Netscape. For a company starting up in the digital sector, the first five years are the real test: only two start-ups in three survive them. However, failure is not inevitable. It’s always possible to reduce the risks, but first you have to know what they are! To help, exaegis has identified the 20 most frequent causes of start-up failure1. At the head of the pack is a poor understanding of the market, weak cashflow and an unsuitable team. Errors that sometimes could have been avoided: success requires planning. Not responding to a precise market need (42%) Success involves identifying a genuine customer need. Lack of cash (29%) To have a solid foundation, you need to have good capital, know how to convince investors and...
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Access a semi-public market thanks to the exaegis Operational Guarantee

By RateAndGo Comment Closed
Business Case Sector of activity: SaaS start-up in the Training Management sector Size: 2 years in business, turnover of €150K (mainly from consultancy), 8 members of staff Context: a start-up offering training management services to employees, with an innovative and highly price-competitive offer. The HR Director of a semi-public organisation, managing 600 members of staff, is interested in the functionalities and ergonomics presented by the young company, promising a rapid ROI. The Purchasing department and the IT department have reached an impasse about confirming the order, as they need to be assured of the supplier’s viability and the future of the solution and the data if the start-up disappears. Our job: Audit and Rating of the start-up by exaegis, resulting in awarding of the StarTRUXT label. Security for the young start-up and subscription by the customer to the Operational Guarantee. The audit also highlighted the need to introduce an IT continuity plan for the start-up. Results: After reading the Rating audit report (α2), and reassured by...
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Investment funds: simplify your life with RateandGo

By RateAndGo Comment Closed
Every year, thousands of start-ups are born. Yet only 40% of them survive beyond five years. The RateandGo rating service, designed by exaegis, has finally produced a precise classification of business projects and their viability. The key benefit is a reduction in financial risk. The RateandGo rating procedure is quick and easy. The start-up answers a questionnaire of around 50 questions, records three video interviews and, after analysis by an exaegis consultant, receives its RateandGo passport free of charge within 48 hours, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. A genuine reference standard of entrepreneurial best practices Ratings are produced as a genuine standard of reference, based on books and academic studies identifying entrepreneurial best practices in the areas of strategy, the market targeted, the service offered, the founders, threats and management. The responses are submitted to an algorithm which weights the score according to the stage of development of the start-up being assessed, ensuring maximum adaptability to each situation. Only the passports of start-ups with...
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