Audacia rassemble les acteurs les plus prometteurs du web et leur donner les moyens de générer de la croissance grâce à des expériences de consommation digitale exceptionnelles et à l’excellence opérationnelle !
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00:00 [Music]
00:09 Hello everyone and welcome to our new show "D'il font l'actu".
00:12 Today we are with Alexandre Bonvin, founder and CEO of Audacia.
00:17 Hello Claire.
00:18 Hello Alexandre, welcome.
00:19 Thank you.
00:20 So, you founded this Swiss company in 2018.
00:24 Your goal is to acquire e-commerce companies and then support them in their growth.
00:29 Alexandre, how did you come up with the idea of founding the group Audacia?
00:32 It was pure luck.
00:34 I came across a great opportunity to buy a company in e-commerce in 2018.
00:40 After that purchase, I realized that there were a lot of things to improve in this company.
00:46 The best way to do it was to have a certain size and to create synergies.
00:51 So I immediately started looking for other companies.
00:54 That's how the idea came to consolidate companies in e-commerce.
00:58 Can you tell us a little bit more about your business model?
01:01 Yes. I created a Swiss competence pool with everything that is admin, IT, marketing, HR,
01:13 all the boring and boring things of a company's management.
01:20 To make business leaders focus on their business model,
01:24 to grow their turnover, to grow in other countries.
01:28 And then I take care of all the admin part.
01:31 So you make it easier for entrepreneurs.
01:33 That's the goal.
01:34 Ok.
01:35 Why did you specialize in e-commerce?
01:39 I came across it by chance, but it's one of the best ways to expand quickly abroad.
01:46 Today, many companies are launching into e-commerce, going from retail to e-commerce.
01:52 I thought I'd focus on it. It's really easy to cross the borders.
01:56 Tell us about your latest acquisitions.
01:58 There were several. I think there's Sticker Kid, the CBD farm.
02:02 Exactly. We bought a lot of companies, we do a lot of things.
02:07 From Stickers, as you said, to CBD, which we just bought in September last year.
02:14 I'm still looking for new acquisitions in the French market, but European.
02:21 We're still looking for new acquisitions.
02:26 What tools do you use for these companies to deploy more efficiently?
02:32 What do you offer?
02:34 Once we know how it works to open a new country, to develop a country,
02:38 we try to replicate the same model.
02:41 It's quite simple. We have the same processes for everything related to TVA, logistics, transport.
02:49 We have country managers in all the different countries.
02:52 They know how to do it for one company, and then they can do it for another.
02:56 You don't have to see them as different companies, but as different products under the umbrella of the same entity.
03:02 I imagine you must have a lot of investment opportunities.
03:06 What are your evaluation criteria when it comes to acquiring a new company?
03:11 We get a lot. I'm always looking for niche companies, where there's a little less competition.
03:17 It allows us to better control the market, but also to make mistakes.
03:21 If there's a lot of competition, we pay a lot for the slightest mistake.
03:26 Until now, all companies were based in Switzerland.
03:31 Now they should be in Europe.
03:34 I get along well with the founders who want to sell the company.
03:38 It's always a marriage, even if they don't stay and leave.
03:42 There's a whole period of transmission, and it's extremely important to have a good understanding,
03:46 and to believe in the business model.
03:48 I always look at the mega-trends.
03:51 If I have to invest time and money in a company, it's so that the product lasts long-term,
03:58 and not just be a trend in two or three years, and then it disappears.
04:02 You're interested in the quality of the product, and you also give a lot of importance to the feeling.
04:07 The feeling and also the quality of the team.
04:09 When we buy a company, we often take the teams that are in place.
04:13 They bring a lot to us. They've seen other things.
04:16 They have other experiences that they can bring to our teams.
04:20 For me, it's very important to have a good feeling with the remaining teams.
04:23 Maybe we can take this opportunity to open a door to the new talents who want to join you.
04:30 With great pleasure.
04:31 We're always looking for motivated people who want to get started, or even join a dynamic company.
04:37 Our biggest market is clearly France.
04:39 We're looking for French-speaking, German-speaking, or English-speaking people who are interested in e-commerce,
04:46 but not just the admin part.
04:48 It could be marketing or even IT.
04:50 You can go to our website to see the job opportunities, or even apply for a spontaneous application.
05:00 Great. We've launched an appeal. You know what you have to do.
05:03 To conclude, what advice would you give to people who want to open their own business but don't know how to get started?
05:12 You always have to focus on the product. It's the product that sells.
05:16 You have to know your product and your market.
05:20 Once you know that, it's much easier to consolidate around it.
05:23 I see a lot of people who make the mistake of wanting to create a big structure around their company.
05:31 It's always interesting to have a lot of employees.
05:33 They look big, but they don't necessarily know their product.
05:37 So, really know your product and know who you're selling to.
05:40 Thank you, Alexandre Bonvin.
05:42 Thank you, Claire.
05:43 Thank you for this very interesting exchange.
05:45 Thank you all for following us on this new issue of "Ile Fond l'Actu".
05:48 We'll see you again very soon.
05:50 [Music]
05:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]