Level 1: GENESIS (why we started working together)

G r e g
G r e g
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

If you’re new, welcome. Maybe you’ll want to catch up and read level 0.

Anyhow.

The project was born when two dudes met at a party and realized they owned what the other one needed (sounds weird to put it this way but trust me okay). Valentin and i knew each other a little bit, but we had no idea we had similar ideas, goals, and that we were interested in the same kind of business.

<div style=”width:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:62%;position:relative;”><iframe src=”https://giphy.com/embed/CVwMYz0ge2mqc" width=”100%” height=”100%” style=”position:absolute” frameBorder=”0" class=”giphy-embed” allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p><a href=”https://giphy.com/gifs/supernatural-ash-spng-CVwMYz0ge2mqc">via GIPHY</a></p>

SIMILAR IDEAS — Move Fast(er).

As business school students, we have a confortable amount of free time. We both feel that this free time is an opportunity to learn more, experiment more, and start preparing ourselves for when the real fun begins — after we get our diplomas.

SIMILAR BUSINESS INTERESTS — Fullfilment by Amazon.

We obviously had too little knowledge, experience, and money to start an entire brand from scratch. For those reason, we were both interested in FBA. FBA (short for Fulfillment By Amazon) is a service that allows any online merchant to use amazon’s assets (awesome logistics, awesome customer service, gigantic customer pool).

“hey, pssst, wanna sell your stuff to my 500.000.000 customers ???”

— Amazon 2018

This is of course a huge opportunity, and the FBA model has become more and more popular through the years, with an increasing number of gurus pushing “miracle online programs that will make you rich”.

https://trends.google.com

SIMILAR GOALS — the turtle always wins

Now you may ask “but hey, looks like you just jumped to catch a trend and make some free money, right?” and you’d be 25% right. The FBA system is amazing, sure, but we only want to go through FBA on the short to middle term. Long term, we wish to build a real brand and a real company. And to do so, you’d better get off Amazon :).


Back to how we decided to work together

  • I had a product idea, but I lacked the tools to know if it was a good one.
  • Valentin couldn’t find a good product, but had the tools required to check if the idea was doable. (see matrix)
really comprehensive matrix

Also, and most importantly, we were both afraid to get started on our own. We needed to be held accountable by someone else, to share responsibilities and to rely on someone.

Of course, it greatly reduced the initial investment for each of us, from approximately $4000 to $2000 per person (that I will break-down in details in a future post). I mean just look at this great graph.

When you’re getting started,and have no idea what are the odds, well a thousand $ is already a huge amount of money. So …

really comprehensive graph
this would make for a really deadly crossroad btw

And the team was born. Like most cool things in life, it happened at the crossroads of timing, opportunity, and common goals.

such a poet


You have a good day, I have a good day, we all have good days, now go kick some butts and bye bye, love ya’.

G r e g

[UP NEXT: BRAINSTORM AND STUFF]

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