Entrepreneur's startup spotlight : ad vitam

HEC Paris alumnus Philippe Meyralbe aids families in mourning with an online funeral management platform.

Who are you?

We are a team of 3 young entrepreneurs, 1 with a business background (graduated from HEC Paris) & 2 with tech backgrounds who want to bring a real service to people. This is always a hard time to manage a funeral and making it easier is very important for us.

What is AdVitam?

Advitam aids families in mourning with a simple, personal and seamless funeral management platform for half the price of traditional services.

Why this project?

We wanted to start a project that could have a real impact on people's lives. In 2014, Philippe's best friend lost her father. While he helped her, he realized how old this market was and decided to make something. And before AdVitam's launch, Philippe lost his father as well. It makes us even more willing to bring a more simple and affordable service.

Why did you choose the HEC incubator?

As a first step in entrepreneurship, the HEC incubator was a no-brainer. We needed a long, reliable and full of expertise environment to make the company live. The HEC incubator brought us all that magic. Without it, AdVitam wouldn't probably exist today.

What are your expectations?

After a year of regulation, we launched our business in February 2016. Since then we have already accomplished a lot. Now we're working hard with banks & insurance firms to form win/win partnerships. And we'll also be looking to raise money in order to hire staff and to grow faster next year.

What is the best advice you had from the HEC incubator?

Hervé Dechene was our first mentor when we arrived in the HEC incubator and he told us to think big from day one. At that time we didn't realize it, as we needed to "test" our product first, but that's a great advice. Starting a company is a sprint combined with a marathon. You have to run fast, and for a long time. Don't be afraid to think big very early, and make money as soon as possible.

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