Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

1) Me & My team : After having worked in the media and innovation sphere, as a Product Manager for Canal+, Belgacom, Deutsche Telekom, Paramount Pictures and as a Broadcast Journalist these last 14 years, I’ve build a strong experience in innovative revenue-producing business development on an international level. Graduated with an MBA (Solvay Business School-Brussels) and a Master’s degree in Media Law (Sorbonne, Paris) in International Marketing (Cambridge, UK) and Political Science – (International Relations ULB, Brussels), I recently started a Coding Program at Le Wagon Bruxelles to be able to build up my MVP (Minimum Viable Product).

2) How you came to create your startup :

For a long time, I wanted to write a book about mini fitness fitting our busy daily life activities. To make a difference in everybody’s life and health when life is getting too busy. Then I encountered an article in the New York Times about the “Seven Minute Workout” App that I downloaded and use all the time. So on this hard fitness principle I saw that there was a huge opportunity for micro fitness & Relaxing exercises for daily de-stressing, where it is not a question of sweating, but strengthening the muscles.

After 3 years spent in San Francisco, I pitched back home that idea (on) the occasion of a Famous Startups event : the Startup Weekend Brussels – Ageing Population, first Edition, where we won the 3rd Prize of the contest. Then thanks to the very interesting Microsoft’s « boostcamp », we won the prestigious « Audience Prize ». This last prize came after a long run of destruction-construction-validation cycle process. A new victory symbolizing the viability and potential opportunities for our startup SPACEF!T. We are now proud to participate to the KBC Startit program to reach a new level for SPACEFiT: the app’s launch!

3) 3-4 Advises :

- Run with the right crew & Have smart people around you – It’s important to be open to ideas and suggestions from others if you are to benefit from having them on board. Allowing contributions from your team that are in line with the vision of your organization will speed up the growth of your business.

- Convey your vision clearly – Always write an executive summary so you can convey your vision in writing. The major purpose of an executive summary is to provide a snapshot of your business — investors should be able to get useful information about your startup by glancing through it without having to read your entire business plan.

- Don’t trust Friends & Family’s surveys – Surveys are a great way to get an initial feeling about your idea and the more people you’ve got on the survey the more accurate it is. But, surveys are also misleading; people sometimes answer a survey the way they believe they’re expected to answer; they want to please the person asking the questions especially if this survey is done inside your close circle. Surveys are a way to validate the idea, and help pivot it, but should be taken with caution in that regard.