Interview with Cyprien Geze, founder of Toutes Mes Aides, SocialTech & AI startup supported by the HEC Incubator

Read this interview of Cyprien Geze, H2014, CEO of Toutes Mes Aides, a french startup enabling people to search for all the social benefits and subsidies they are eligible for, thanks to an Artificial Intelligence.

After graduating from HEC in 2014 and from La Sorbonne (Master of Law), Cyprien Geze worked in a receivership firm where he helped companies in bankruptcy to recover. He then joined a startup as a head of sales. Finally, he launched Toutes Mes Aides in April 2018.
He has always been interested in coding. That's why he decided to create a startup that requires both computer programming and legal skills.

Why did you decide to "make the jump" to start a business?

I always wanted to start a business, but I was waiting to find the idea for which I was convinced of the need.
The idea of Toutes Mes Aides was born a year ago during a volunteer activity with the Red Cross. I regularly participate in a social service to support people in precarious situations in their administrative procedures and social benefits applications. Through this experience, I realized 2 things: The first one is that there are more than 6,000 social benefits in France, so it is impossible to know all of them. The second one is that administrative procedures are often extremely complex.
I then imagined a system capable of determining what social benefits/subsidies anyone is eligible for. And to make life easier for people, we have a team of lawyers who can carry out the application procedures in their place.

Can you present your company in a few words?

Toutes Mes Aides is the first startup enabling people to search for all the social benefits and subsidies they are eligible for, thanks to an Artificial Intelligence.
Our smart robot, Lisa, finds all the social benefits and subsidies that individuals or companies can get from more than 6,000 available. 
Then, our users have the possibility to receive the money without taking any action: a lawyer can carry out all the administrative procedures and send the application to the right public administration.

At your level, how would you save the world? 

Every year in France, 15 billion euros of social benefits are not claimed from the State. Our objective is to make access to social benefits easier, and to allow all French people to benefit from their rights.
Our final goal is to make the administrative steps simpler for any type of procedure: application for social benefits, visa, passport, driving license, etc.
What are the main difficulties you have encountered?
The main difficulty is certainly recruitment. Developers are rare, hence good developers are very difficult to find. Today, I am very happy to have created a team of excellent talents, thanks to whom we were able to build this product.

How did you finance the first steps?

We were lucky to have an investor who trusted us very early on: a subsidiary of the Teleperformance group. This support has allowed us to quickly develop our technology and release our current website.

What are your latest news?

Toutes Mes Aides has just launched the first website that allows everyone to know and receive all the state social benefits to which they are entitled: toutesmesaides.fr.
Every week we have 1,500 new account creations on the platform and many applications for social benefits are sent every day by our lawyers.
Our next step is to raise funds (in seed) to accelerate our development and scale our business model. To date, we have already secured half of the financing sought.

Start! Start your project! You don't need to start a business, you just need to start a project.

Why have you chosen to join HEC Paris?

The HEC incubator is a great opportunity for our startup. In addition to putting us in direct contact with investors and strategic partners, the incubator provides us with numerous experts who advise us on essential topics for the development of the startup (website design, communication strategy, marketing, etc.).

What are your links with Alumni and the HEC Paris community?

The HEC Alumni network has contributed a lot to the launch of Toutes Mes Aides. I received valuable advice from HEC alumni, particularly through the Entreprendre Hub. I also took advantage of the co-working office provided by the Foundation before arriving at the HEC incubator.
The best advice / the best anecdote / the most memorable memory you remember from your stay at HEC Paris? (pour la com de la Grande Ecole)
I regret not having launched my startup during HEC. It's an excellent moment to start a project because you have time, a stimulating ecosystem and no social pressure if you fail. You shouldn’t wait your graduation to start doing what you really want to do.

What is your first advice to entrepreneurs?

Start! Start your project! You don't need to start a business, you just need to start a project. It can be an association, a free website, a Facebook group, or even a simple Excel sent to a few people.
The only condition is that this project must allow you to test your market, to validate the need. Your ideas must not stay in your head or on your computer.
This is the best way to check whether this project deserves to be turned into a business.