#InterviewAlumni — Benjamin Caron (BSB'08): “I clean up your emails and it's good for the planet!”

Founder of Neety

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Who are you, before being the founder of Neety?

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I am Benjamin, I am 36 years old, adopted from Lyon for 4 years but I lived mainly in Haute-Savoie until 30 years old. Above all, I am someone who is passionate about nature, the environment and technology.

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And if not, what do you do for a living... professionally? What is your daily role?

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I make the company I founded work, Neety. I define its development strategy, I imagine how it can develop, I touch on everything, whether it is financial aspects with fundraising and accounting, but also marketing and communication dimensions. We are a small company, so we have our nose everywhere to make things happen from day to day.

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A word about your background between BSB and your current job?

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I have a slightly unexpected background. At least when I left BSB I thought it was all over but in the end that's not really the case. I was first a product manager and marketing manager in the wood industry, then looking for a job before providing entertainment at a tourist office. So today I am an entrepreneur, but also a temporary professor at BSB.

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What if you had to introduce Neety to a kid?

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Neety, it's used to clean up email boxes and it's good for the planet. And if I had to develop for his parents, I would specify that it is a web solution that will make it possible to clean the email boxes: based on a scan of the latter, we make suggestions to keep only relevant emails, by proposing a certain number of actions according to the customer's expectations. An email consumes about 10g of CO2 on average, and it can rise much higher with attachments. By saving on storage by blocking or deleting useless emails, these are all actions to preserve the environment.

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A striking anecdote to tell?

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In fact, Neety was born at BSB during a Startup Weekend in 2015. I pitched it at that moment and started working on it right away.What's the latest or greatest success/greatest pride that you should have celebrated more? The marketing of Neety last summer. We didn't celebrate it but we should have, because it's a lot of work and effort.

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What's the biggest challenge you've had with Neety so far?

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Develop a B to C entrepreneurial project in an environment where you are not used to paying. For people, emails are free. You have to be able to create and offer a product with significant added value so that they are ready to pay.

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What is an actor of change for you?

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Someone who will break the rules, who dares. As soon as you dare, whatever you do, you participate in change, in making things change. An actor of change who inspires you? Recently, I think of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an American politician, the youngest candidate ever elected to Congress. In my opinion, it stirs up the political class in the United States a bit and contributes, in my opinion, to changing mentalities.

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Your morning routine to have the energy to change things every day?

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Every morning when I go to work, I put good music in my ears, hip hop or reggae, I take my skateboard, and on the way I feel like I'm in the mood.

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The event that made you want to contribute to change?

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At some point, when I was working in a marketing company, I realized that I could do a lot more than what was given to me within the limits defined by the company. I was not having fun, I felt a bit cramped in my status as an employee. I needed to create my own framework, and in fact that's what naturally led me to entrepreneurship.

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What kind of student were you?

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I was a very quickly disoriented and deconcentrated student, unless the teacher managed to interest me. And not at all academic: already, I didn't really like the frames.

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If you could relive your student days, what would you do differently?

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I would take advantage of this to start a business. At the time I did not dare. Today, it is easier to start a business during your studies, times have changed and schools have adapted. So that's what I would do.

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What was the choice of path or the action taken when you were a student that served you the most?

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To go abroad before joining BSB. I went to Sweden when I was in my Bachelor's degree, I met a lot of people, it was really great. It may sound like a trivial thing to say that, but yes, traveling abroad and having international experiences opens the mind and is ultimately very beneficial.

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An encounter that particularly inspired you during your time at BSB?

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Christine Lagarde had come to give a conference at the School, she was Secretary of State for Foreign Trade at the time. I said to myself wow! , great presence, she masters her subjects, there is a level!

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Your next big ambition?

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Simply carry out what I am doing with Neety, that the business grows. We have just launched marketing, I want to continue this adventure.

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Why this choice of visual representing you?

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For me it symbolizes the almost daily emotional lift associated with the launch of an adventure like Neety. In this kind of project, on a market that is almost non-existent, with an innovative product, we can go from a state of intense joy, selecting for a show like the WebSummit, in the same day, to questioning the entire product or our business model. And it's in these moments that you have to know how to keep a cool head, make the right decisions — or at least make some! — and above all stay optimistic and motivated, without losing sight of the “why” we are doing this.

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Any advice or a message for a BSB student?

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Trust yourself, be curious and dare, get out of the box!

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More info on Neety

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Sito web: neety.email

Blog: blog.neety.email

Facebook: facebook.com/NeetyApp

Twitter: twitter.com/NeetyApp

Instagram: instagram.com/neetyapp