Maxime, Master student in innovation, launches his app

Maxime Brun is a third-year student in Master in Management (PGE 3) with a specialization in Innovation. In November 2017, he launched is mobile app PickPackGo. Let’s hear about it!

Hello Maxime, can you tell us about yourself?

Hello! I’m currently in my third and last year of Master in Management. After my IBPM degree at Rennes School of Business, I immediately wanted to work in an innovative company to create new products or services. That’s why during my gap year, I joined a startup as a Business Developer to launch a new market and then a consulting firm in innovation strategy as a junior consultant.

Can you tell us about your project PickPackGo?

It all started when I met Simon Ravelo, a student at Toulouse Business School, during my first internship. Our passion for travel and entrepreneurship drove us to work together.

Maxime and Simon, when they first met

What to do then? Simon traveled alone in Vietnam, shared his amazing experience as a backpacker and gave us a precious line of thought. This track was confirmed when I spoke with Rennes SB’s international students.

Eureka! PickPackGo was born: encourage worldwide travelers to connect with each other according to their destinations and their centers of interest.

We launched a website and collected over 2,000 email addresses in less than a month. We had to go to the next step: find someone to develop the application.

Quentin Tournier, a computer science student at Lille University, became the third co-founder of the project. All of us worked hard for 5 months to release a first version of the application!

Did your study at Rennes SB help you with the building of this project?

The concepts seen in classes have helped us a lot, especially the marketing and innovation courses. At the beginning of the project, competitive analysis, the construction of our competitive advantages and the identification of its first users are essential. But the practice is very different from the theory, it brings its share of surprises. Entrepreneurship is above all the school of cleverness and creativity!

Any advice for current or future entrepreneurs at Rennes SB?

The first advice I may give is that anyone can be an entrepreneur. No need to have a revolutionary idea, on the contrary, it’s with the repetition of an idea that it can turn into a business. The best way to see if your idea can interest people is to launch a website with a fictitious product and see the number of email addresses collected. This is an interesting first insight. Then you need to surround yourself with trusted people in order to develop the application, product or other.

Finally, do not be afraid to launch a first version of the product on the market even if you are not satisfied with it. It allows having visibility & awareness on the market, building a network and above all, gathering various feedback.