BEING HUMBLE is important to BlaBlaCar’s culture. It’s important to not be blinded by the wrong metrics or aim for vanity figures and results that simply flatter the ego. In fact, reality checks are critical for growth and it’s what keeps things moving in the right direction. That’s why one of BlaBlaCar’s core values is “Vanity :( Sanity :| Reality :)”. As a data-driven company, Key Performances Indicators (KPIs) are at the forefront of all activities at BlaBlaCar — from marketing campaign rollouts to investment rounds.
In order to grow, the team is encouraged to look at the right metrics and improve them. To do this, it’s important to understand the various types of indicators in any activity. “Vanity” data refers to data that sounds great but is not actually useful in determining performance. To put this into perspective, BlaBlaCar is proud to count over 40 million members in its community, but this number would be meaningless if members weren’t using the service frequently. Other indicators are closer measures of efficiency, and are referred to internally as “sanity” data. Finally, there are some real indicators of performance that BlaBlaCar follows on a daily basis, known as “reality” data. In this case, the number of rides actually conducted and the number of people effectively travelling with BlaBlaCar are a much stronger metric to follow.
Being data-driven helps the team be effective internally, but it also helps when fundraising and talking to investors externally. With investors needing substantial data to make decisions, it encourages the team to dive into the metrics and build a strong case based on a thorough understanding of the activity.
Learning the hard way
When Co-Founder Nicolas Brusson arrived in California in 2000, everyone was talking about startups, stock options and venture capital. Despite it being a whole new world, he soon got caught up in the tech bubble and joined a telecommunications startup in Silicon Valley as employee number thirty-something. Although there was no business model in place, the company was raising tens of millions of dollars from top tier VC firms and kept on hiring people. In a matter of months, the company had grown to over 150 employees. And that’s when the tech bubble burst. With rounds and rounds of layoffs taking place, Nicolas sometimes felt he was in a bad dream as he witnessed people losing their jobs and given a cardboard box to pack up their belongings. A totally different culture to France, it stunned Nicolas that most people thought of it as fair game and simply moved on. Soon the number of employees dwindled down to just 10.
Sitting in an empty building that they couldn’t afford, the company filed bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 before management restructured it and a new acqui-hire eventually lead them back to success. Fortunate enough to be a survivor, 23-year-old Nicolas had witnessed a business go through an entire life cycle all the way from startup to growth to decline and then rebirth. During this intense period, Nicolas picked up some powerful learnings, which has shaped him over the years, and today is reflective of how he drives the growth and international expansion strategy at BlaBlaCar.
Exploring the world of financing startups
In 2009, BlaBlaCar was bringing in approximately €10,000 per month from sales of its platforms to businesses. The founders anticipated that they’d be able to operate until mid-2009. With that in mind, it was time to fundraise. After pitching BlaBlaCar to several business angels and venture capital firms, one group could see the potential and were willing to invest. They proposed a first investment of €300,000 which was contingent on the team finding an extra €300,000 within six months. Founders Fred Mazzella and Francis Nappez gathered €150,000 from friends of BlaBlaCar (fondly known as “The Believers”) and Nicolas, who had just taken up a position within a venture capital firm in London, set out to find the remaining amount.
