Copyright Yseop 2010 – Confidential1/11/2010
John Rauscher
CEO – Yseop
European Entrepreneurship & Innovation Thought Leaders Seminar
Stanford School of Engineering, Dr. Burton H. Lee
Second session - Monday, January 11th, 2010
Managing Software Innovation in France
2Yseop © 20101/11/2010
John Rauscher’s Key Career Points
Serial entrepreneurs are not common in France essentially for
cultural reasons
Cyrano – did IPO 5 years after startup - Exit valuation 185 M€ - 1998 – COO International Operations
Sunopsis – private company – strong profitability – acquired by Oracle – high valuation - CEO
Yseop – 20 years of R&D - University spin out – starting now the 2nd year of sales – currently B to B - 10
existing French customers – disruptive technology for every business and individuals – patent pending USPTO
John is CEO and founding investor – based in Lyon
Became a serial entrepreneur with:
Paris University – Business Administration with minor in Computer Science
Author of 2 published business/marketing books (1999 and 2008)
Worked for large US companies in France:
Xerox – Laser printing division – #1 Sales Rep in France in 1986 (out of 1,000 SR)
Sybase – Startup of the French subsidiary to 50 M€ - VP Sales – 1989 to 1995
In a nutshell
3Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Difficulties of Starting a Business in France
It is a cliché! In fact, it is cheaper than in the US, even if it takes more time
Starting business in France is not that difficult
Employees are generally not
entrepreneurs – mainly in latin countries
Europe is a set of markets, not a
unified market
European VCs are bankers, not risk
takers
However, the 3 main challenges
you may cope with in France &
Europe are:
Highly qualified people at reasonnable
cost and low turnover – mainly in France
Spending on structure and marketing is
lower in Europe
Educated markets
But, benefits of setting up a
business in France & Europe are:
4Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Yseop Key Facts
Addressing a €10 Bn Enterprise Software Market Globally
10 existing customers in France, annual revenues of 250K€ for the first year
First large scale customer in production
Angel investor
10 employees
Potential exit: IPO or acquisition by a large software or Internet player
Achievements:
Founded in 2007 after 17 years of R&D from a team coming from ENS Cachan University
First year selling products in 2009
Enterprise software solution aimed at:
Automating value-added service activities that require the use of spoken or written language
Conveying expertise to others automatically
Applying a context to a knowledge database to get a personalized answer to a request
Company Overview
5Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Application example #1: Automatic Car Sales Recommendation Expert
(1/4)
Hum
I want a red one
…
Hum…
With enough space for my
dog
And low gas consumption…
Hum… my new car will be great!
Wish List Questionnaire (filled out by prospective customer)
1
6Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Application example #1: Automatic Car Sales Recommendation Expert
(2/4)
Wish List Questionnaire (filled out by prospective customer)
1
Automatic Vehicle Scoring
of 5,800 car models with Yseop
2
7Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Wish List Questionnaire (filled out by prospective customer)
Automatic Vehicles Scoring
of 5,800 models of cars
2
1
Application example #1: Automatic Car Sales Recommendation Expert
(3/4)
Personalized recommendation
written automatically by Yseop3
Sale!
8Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Application example #1: Automatic Car Sales Recommendation Expert
(4/4)
Wish List Questionnaire (filled up by prospective customer)
1
Automatic Vehicles Scoring
of 5,800 models of cars
2
Personalized recommendation3
Automatic one-to-one follow up4
Value added: Greater market penetration and lower customer acquisition costs
When a new car
is in inventoryCustomer
Wish List
Car sold!
9Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Application example #2 :
Field service and maintenance assistant for home broadband equipment
repair
Customer
Assistance
department
Hi, I get a problem
connecting to
Internet….
Yseop Virtual
Expert
Contextual customer
data
Expertise database
Enterprise best
practices
She has
broadband
network issue…
Quicker customer support and problem resolution, at least 50% reduction in
field service visit costs, higher customer satisfaction
10Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Application example #3: Business Intelligence
Automated Generation of Company Annual Reports and Audits
• Spreadsheets & graphics without comments,
analyses, diagnoses or recommendations
Spreadsheets & Graphics
Individualized comments in natural language
Prospective analysis
Customized diagnosis
Possible action plans
Yseop creates automated “life-like” communications, just as a highly-skilled expert would
The Traditional Business Intelligence
Approach…The Yseop Approach: Data +
Interpretation + Diagnosis + Action Plans
11Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Other examples of applications:
ENABLE ONE-TO-ONE
MARKETING
COMMUNICATION
SET UP A NEW
GENERATION OF
INTELLIGENT IVR
ASSIST CALL CENTERS
PERFORM LIKE EXPERTS
WITHOUT TRAINING
AUTOMATE DELIVERY OF
PERSONALIZED ADVICE
WITHOUT HUMAN
INTERVENTION
FULLY AUTOMATE
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
ON INTERNET: EMAILS, FAQ
12Yseop © 20101/11/2010
Conclusion
Gutenberg accelerated the
transmission of static
knowledge
The Internet digitized
information and made static
knowledge easy to access
• Cuts the cost of transmitting expertise to employees & customers
• Dramatically enhances customer experience
• 2 to 10X boost in productivity
Yseop goes one step further:
it automates the transmission
of contextual information,
know-how and personalized
expertise instantly