Don't be a sheep. 🐑

Following the trend is fine, as long as you know how to move beyond it, own it, and turn it into lasting success.

Apr 10, 2025

Why Does Differentiation Mean Knowing How to Innovate?

You've probably noticed: in recent days, LinkedIn has been flooded with a peculiar trend: creating your own "action figure" using ChatGPT. A curious fad where practical value is near zero, yet ego (or fun) soars to new heights. 💯

This phenomenon raises an essential question: Is riding a trend merely opportunistic, or is it genuinely innovative?

When launching a startup, this question becomes critical. Some entrepreneurs strive to reinvent the wheel, even risking being too far ahead of their time. However, innovating too early can leave you facing an immature market, significantly increasing the risk of failure.

On the other hand, others choose to identify and capitalize on emerging trends. While this approach quickly attracts an already aware market, it also comes with a major risk: intense competition.

Only a clear differentiation ensures sustainable success.

The real challenge lies here: having a strong enough value proposition to stand out. This is what captures customer attention, attracts investors, and appeals to top talent.

Differentiation means skillfully navigating between radical innovation and smart opportunism. You need to catch the right waves, anticipate the next ones, and crucially, ensure the wind continues blowing your way—avoiding the "Clubhouse" effect. As the founders put it, they now have "several years" of cash runway to find a good idea.

Be yourself, be remarkable. Don’t just settle for being noticed. ✨

The man who revolutionized entrepreneurship in France

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Robert Papin, an iconic figure at HEC Paris and founder of the program «HEC Entrepreneurs» now «X-HEC Entrepreneurs». At a time when the ultimate ambition was to join the largest CAC 40 companies, Robert Papin chose instead to offer an educational approach grounded in concrete experience, real-life challenges, and teamwork to solve genuine business problems. The «Learn by Doing» methodology was born.

Thanks to him, thousands of students learned the audacity, realism, and ethics required of true leaders. His innovative, pioneering, and experiential pedagogy has influenced schools around the world and profoundly shaped French entrepreneurship.

Robert Papin was not simply a professor: he was a bold, generous, and provocative mentor. His legacy is immense, and many entrepreneurs today owe him their journey, their success, and above all their courage to create and dare.

Thank you, Robert. Your memory will be preciously cherished by all who had the honor of crossing your path and by all the ones that will follow the entrepreneurship path you have created.

🚀 25 out of 100 - not bad, right?

The latest Challenges Magazine ranking is out, and it’s a big win for our community.
25 come from the HEC Paris and HEC Paris - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute ecosystem! 💯

From Medtech to Fintech, Greentech to Deeptech, these startups are not just innovating, they’re shaping the future.

👉 More details

What a ride! 🚀

Last week, the HEC Paris Startup Launchpad Demo Day brought an electric atmosphere to Station F, as 10 promising startups took the stage to pitch their vision of the future. The results are in and the winners are…

🥇 Jury Prize: Siva
An AI assistant that automates admin tasks for caregivers, helping them focus on what matters most: caring for people.
Congrats to: Ugo Benazra | Ruben Weinstein | Samuel Mesguiche

🥇 Audience Prize: Solfair
The smart brain for energy purchasing, making it easier than ever for SMEs to switch to renewable energy.
Congrats to: Elif Dinç | Pedro Gomes Menezes | Fynn Fröhlich |Anthony Ferrara

Both teams have earned their spot for a 4-month incubation at The Incubateur HEC Paris 🔥

👉 More details

🇧🇪 Belgium, you were ready!

On April 3rd, six game-changing startups from the Incubateur HEC Paris took the stage in Brussels for an exclusive pitch session in front of the HEC Alumni Belgium network! 🎤

💡 What happened?
✔️ Investors – Got early access to high-potential ventures and future success stories.
✔️ Business leaders – Discovered new opportunities for collaboration and growth.
✔️ Entrepreneurs – Showcased their vision and connected with decision-makers.

🚀 The spotlight was on these inspiring startups:
👩‍💼 Brio – #HRTech: AI-powered mock interview coaching
🏗️ Freeda – #Proptech: Detecting design issues in real estate
🥐 Helean – #Foodtech: AI-driven daily demand forecasts for bakeries
🌾 MyEasyFarm – #Agritech: AI-driven daily demand forecasts for bakeries
📊 Pitch and Rise – #MarketIntelligence: Mapping startup ecosystems
🚴‍♀️ Wilma.cc – #Femtech: Sports equipment designed for women

A big thank you to our jury:
Alain Heureux, Laurent Didier, Antoine Mahy, and Joel Amar. 👏

Decode what’s not being said. 🤫

Whether you’re pitching to investors, negotiating with clients, or leading your team, success often comes down to what isn’t being said.

On April 16th at Station F, join us for an exclusive workshop with Herman Ilgen, expert negotiator and founder of the INSA Method. Learn to:

🧠 Decode subtle signals in real-world conversations
👀 Recognize facial patterns to better understand your audience
🤝 Leverage connection and affinity to influence decisions

📍 Station F
🗓️ Wednesday, April 16 | 5:30PM
👉 Register now

🚀 Qevlar AI secures €13M to build a European cybersecurity leader!

Two years after its launch, Qevlar AI is already protecting major European companies with its autonomous AI agents dedicated to cybersecurity. Now, they’ve raised €13 million to scale across Europe and the US.

Led by EQT Ventures and Forgepoint Capital, with top-tier business angels including Florian Douetteau (Dataiku), Olivier Pomel (Datadog), and Mehdi Ghissassi (ex-Google DeepMind), this round marks a major milestone.

Qevlar’s AI agents autonomously investigate thousands of cyber alerts daily, reducing response times for cybersecurity teams across the CAC 40 and beyond. With 25 open positions, they’re rapidly scaling their product and engineering teams to meet growing demand.

Congrats to Ahmed Achchak | Hamza Sayah

👉 Read the article

Turn your community into your best growth driver 🚀

Community engagement remains an untapped opportunity for many brands. As we all know, acquiring a new customer is 5x more expensive than keeping an existing one. That’s exactly where Contestio steps in.

👏 Big shoutout to: Killian Olivier | Rémi Labatut

🚀 Join the HEC Paris Incubation & Acceleration Center!

We’re looking for an Experts Community Builder to grow and engage our network of over 1,000 experts.

Your mission?
Identify, onboard, and activate top experts to support the startups of The Incubateur HEC Paris and our acceleration programs.

The goal?
Help entrepreneurs achieve in 4 months what would normally take a year.
👉 Discover the role and apply here

🎉 Opportunities to join our startups:

Paradigme is the dedicated platform for pre-loved clothing and accessories from premium brands.
👉Join Paradigme | Intern

Toore seeks a sales manager to drive customer acquisition for its real estate mandate management platform.
👉 Join Toore

PEEL Lab is hiring a Business Development Manager to drive European growth for its plant-based leather solutions
👉 Join Peel Lab

Financing the Future: Joseph Choueifaty’s TEDx Talk on Sustainable Investing

Joseph Choueifaty, the founder and CEO of Goodvest, an innovative fintech democratizing sustainable and transparent investing, took the stage at TEDx to deliver a powerful message: it's time we all knew exactly where our money goes.
His TEDx talk is not just an exposé of finance’s role in climate change, it’s an empowering call to action for investors everywhere.