Nobody cares about your idea (yet)
It’s a hard truth, but one every founder needs to hear. The good news? There are ways to avoid that cold shower.
Pitching your product is good…
Understanding what your customer really wants is better.
Some talks leave a mark with beautiful slides. Others with a charismatic speaker. And then there are those that hit you in the gut, the kind every founder should hear as early as possible. That’s what Gerald Vanderpuye delivered at the Incubateur HEC Paris a month ago. Not to impress. Not to sell a dream. But to share a failure.
A real one. 💔
A founder who did (almost) everything right: 120 interviews. A polished product. A go-to-market plan. And yet: not a single customer.
Why?
Because he confused listening with getting validation. Because he asked the wrong questions. Because, as he put it: “I talked about my idea. I didn’t ask about their problems.”
A founder should act like a scientist. 🧪
Testing hypotheses, observing real behavior, not trying to get their pitch approved. As Gerald reminded us: “Just because a problem exists doesn’t mean people care enough to solve it.”
Today, anyone can build a product. No-code tools, APIs, AI… The technical barriers are lower than ever, and this is just the beginning, as Sam Altman reminds us in “The Gentle Singularity”.
But building something people actually want? That’s still rare.
That’s why at the Incubateur HEC Paris, we create so many opportunities for our founders to test, learn, and grow — like the Demo Day this Monday evening featuring startups from our International Program with JETRO Startup at Station F, which you can explore below.
👉 Want to dive deeper into Gerald’s talk? Click here
Pitch Night: Japan Meets Europe at STATION F 🇯🇵
9 Japanese startups took the stage as part of our International Program with JETRO Startup and STATION F, sharing their bold visions as they prepare to expand into Europe, with France as their entry point.
The entire HEC Paris – Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute community came together to support these founders and celebrate cross-border innovation at its best.
Below, you’ll find a short summary of what each startup is looking for — whether it’s clients, partners, talent, or funding. If you can help (or know someone who can), feel free to reach out directly.
Now, it’s time to turn inspiration into action! 🔥
💊 Aquila (Healthcare & SaaS)
What they do: Optimizes surgical and clinical operations in hospitals through AI and constraint programming-based automation tools.
Business need: Looking to connect with operating room managers or those in charge of scheduling and resource allocation in acute care hospitals.
Funding need: Raising €3–4M from healthcare-oriented VCs or CVCs.
Recruitment need: They are hiring optimization engineers and country managers.
👉 Website
🎨Creatant (Creative Tech)
What they do: Empowers creative teams with an AI-powered visual workspace to efficiently organize, collaborate on, and share digital assets.
Funding need: Raising their next round and inviting early-stage investors in AI, productivity, and creative tech to help build the future of creative work.
Recruitment need: Hiring for key roles including Creative Director, Full Stack Developers, Evangelists, and top-tier interns.
👉 Website
CrowdChem (Materials Informatics)
What they do: Accelerates the development of new materials through an AI-driven platform that leverages chemical and patent data.
Business need: Looking to connect with R&D Directors or Operations Directors at companies across the chemical industry — including resin, cosmetics, automotive materials, batteries, and more.
Funding need: Raising €3–5M from international deep tech investors.
👉 Website
💻 datagusto (AI AgentOps)
What they do: Delivers an intelligent AgentOps platform to monitor, interpret, and resolve real-time production issues in AI systems.
Business need: Looking to connect with Product Managers or Product Owners at companies that have deployed Agentic AI functions, either in their products or for internal use cases like customer support.
👉Website
Innophys (Construction/Robotics)
What they do: Enhances workplace ergonomics with wearable exoskeletons like the “Muscle Suit” designed to reduce physical strain.
Business need: Looking to connect with professionals — such as Health & Safety Equipment Managers — at companies familiar with PPE products or operating in logistics, warehousing, or manufacturing. The goal: helping prevent lower back pain and stress from repetitive heavy-load tasks.
👉 Website
Lipper K.K. (Sustainable Materials)
What they do: Creates eco-friendly tire materials by replacing carbon black with natural reinforcements, reducing CO₂ and microplastic emissions.
Business need: Looking to connect with individuals experienced in the sales or commercialization of materials — especially new or innovative chemical products.
👉 Website
Wota (Water Tech)
What they do: Designs compact, autonomous water recycling systems that provide sustainable water access through advanced reuse technology.
Business need: Looking to connect with companies, stakeholders, public authorities, and government agencies involved in decentralized water and energy infrastructure, disaster resilience, real estate development, and tourism.
Funding need: Exploring partnerships with international climate and impact investors to support the deployment of decentralized water reuse systems.
Recruitment need: Open to passionate individuals interested in joining the WOTA team.
👉 Website
Zeteoh (Construction, Defense, AI)
What they do: Enables precise 3D indoor tracking in GPS-inaccessible environments with its AI-powered positioning system.
Funding need: Looking to raise €1.5M from international VCs and CVCs.
👉 Website
🏓 Ping Pong & Global Connections: A Night of Impact
At the Incubation et Acceleration Center we’re not just pitching or accelerating startups, we’re building a truly international founder community. 🌍
Last week’s Ping Pong Social Night was more than just a friendly competition. It was a vibrant moment of connection, bringing together entrepreneurs from France, South Korea, Japan, and India — a powerful mix of cultures, industries, and ideas across tech, design, and deeptech.
We’re proud to support startups backed by leading international programs like JETRO Startup, KOSME (Korea SMEs & Startups Agency), and IndiaAI, and to provide a common ground where entrepreneurs from around the world can build, bond, and scale, together.
👉 Watch the video
🚀 From the Incubateur HEC Paris to Forbes Africa 30 Under 30!
A 2024 finalist of the WomenEntrepreneurs4Good (WE4G) program, Dr. Comfort Ayikoru has just been named to the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 – Class of 2025!
A Ugandan medical doctor, Comfort co-founded Kanga-Care with just $100 and a mission: to save premature babies using hand-knitted baby carriers embedded with vital sign sensors. A life-saving innovation born from tragedy.
🏅 Comfort’s story is a powerful reminder of how far impact-driven innovation can go when guided by purpose and given the right support. Bravo, Comfort!
💰 Noota raises €3M to turn conversations into insights
Big congrats to Noota, an alumni startup of the Incubateur HEC Paris, on its latest €3M fundraising round!
The fast-growing #AI company transforms every professional interaction — from calls to video meetings to in-person discussions — into secure, actionable insights. With 100,000 active users, 3,000 corporate clients, and over 50,000 transcriptions each week, Noota is redefining productivity.
👏 Congrats to Alexandre Duffaut, Darius Alnaddaf, and the entire team on this amazing milestone!
📚 Revyze in Le Monde: A New Chapter for Education
With over 2 million users and 25+ minutes of daily usage per student, Revyze is gaining strong traction among students, while some educators question its pedagogical value.The team’s answer?
The future of education lies in the combination of humans and technology. On Revyze, teachers explain, peers support each other, and AI personalizes each student’s path. A message that’s sometimes misunderstood, but crucial if we want to build the school of tomorrow.
👉 read the article
🤝 Buddy partners make volunteering easier for young people.
Incubated at HEC Paris, Buddy has teamed up with JeVeuxAider.gouv.fr, the official French volunteering platform backed by the Ministry of Youth.
The goal? To make civic engagement simple, accessible, and meaningful for young people, with thousands of missions available across France.
👉 Check out the initiative
♻️ BOTTLESS : Top 12 Circular Economy Startups in France
BOTTLESS, a Korean-French company from our KISED program, has just been recognized by F6S.com as one of the Top 12 Circular Economy Startups and Companies in France – May 2025.
Born between Korea and France, BOTTLESS is reinventing packaging for a more sustainable future. This recognition highlights their commitment to smart design and real impact in reducing waste.
👉 Read the full announcement here
🧭 Delegating Better with the 7 Levels of Autonomy.
After 10 years as an entrepreneur, this may well be the most useful management tool he’s discovered: the 7 levels of delegation.
Adrien Salamon, a former founder from the Incubateur HEC Paris, shared how this simple visual tool helps him clarify autonomy expectations with his team on a daily basis. Because what a manager thinks they’re delegating… isn’t always what the team perceives. Making it explicit changes everything.
👉 Discover the full post
“Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.”
Uri Levine, Co-founder of Waze
