Present mainly on the French market and with some major clients in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Verviers-based start-up Simple CRM is attempting the American adventure.
Simple CRM had already conducted an initial 6-month exploration of the US market in 2014. This experience conducted in New York aimed to gain a better understanding of this economic area.
"The USA is an astonishing playing field. It is extremely competitive but, nevertheless, a simple Tweet brings about a dozen leads, whereas in Europe, Twitter has a ridiculously low ROI. It is an extremely expensive market because everything goes through business lawyers, the rents are dreadfully high and a trainee in Silicon Valley costs the same as an employee in Belgium. Alongside this, there is almost no concerns about non-payment because US companies respect the value of a contract!", explains Brice Cornet, CEO.
This first experience helped to identify what was needed to launch on the US market and build a strategic plan. The conclusion was incontrovertible: impossible to tackle the United States without a large amount of capital.
In April 2017, private investors from Silicon Valley contacted Brice Cornet: "They are conducting a very detailed surveillance of artificial intelligence. They were interested in our AI, HaPPi, which is the first artificial intelligence in the world to be used by companies everyday. I contacted the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency which put me in touch with its agent in San Francisco. Baudouin de Hemptinne was really great. He devoted his time and expertise to helping us understand the "habits and customs" of US investors, which are very different from the caricature that we have of them in Wallonia. One month later, the investors were in Verviers and we were able to start discussions".
Simple CRM is currently working on the Americanisation of its solution with its new partner. However, there is no question of letting Belgian know-how escape to the USA: "This is the most delicate aspect, of course. I want the founding associates to remain majority shareholders so that R&D remains in the province of Liege. The priority continues to be to grow in Belgium and to establish our jobs here.", explains the CEO.
In parallel, Simple CRM preserves its main strategic focus, the French market. "We have worked a great deal with the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency and without them we would not be where we are. We hope that, this year, we will be able to do even more great things because the arrival of the GDPR has created a blatant need for a solution. In February 2018, we are going to release version 7.0 of Simple CRM, which contains a tool devoted to the setting up and coordination of a GDPR policy. We are also going to expand in the African market, which currently represents 8% of turnover. For that, we would like to raise about €400,000, 25% of which would be devoted to a stronger positioning in the Sub-Saharan region", concluded Brice Cornet.
