Booster Labs is a product innovation consultancy whose main focus is on financial services. The company facilitates the technological deployment of deeptech by promoting collaborative innovation and dynamic management.

Main Values

The main value of Booster Labs is to foster collaborative innovation by putting in place the tools and work processes that allow the establishment of an environment of trust between actors and start-ups.

“In addition, we pay particular attention to the implementation of a dynamic management within these eco-systems so that the technological deployment is as agile as possible.”

For this, the experience of its founders in entrepreneurship, accelerator, and cluster creation is crucial. Jean-Baptiste Bardon, one of the co-founders of Booster Labs, pays close attention to the application of these values in his role as a Senior Coach for InvestHorizon and BPIFrance.

Example of a Beneficiary

“To illustrate this, we can talk about one of our last examples with an IOT start-up. The first job after the listening sessions was to define a shared vision within the start-up, and then to screen the existing eco-system to complete it,” shares Jean-Baptiste Bardon.

Next, Booster Labs proceeded to work on the intellectual property strategies, using design methodologies to organise and prioritise R&D and technology deployment.

Afterwards, the team focused on the financial plan using a survey of the different types of individual and collective grants, and the right time to participate.

Finally, Booster Labs set up the management processes in relation to human resources and corporate governance.

Personal Leadership

“On the subject of leadership, let us first agree on a definition. For us, a leader is someone who inspires his or her colleagues and gives them a vision,” explains Jean-Baptiste Bardon.

He or she must be able to draw out the full potential of his or her employees, both individually and collectively. He or she must be the one who reassures the team in case of a negative event, and the one who keeps his/her cool in case of a positive event.

To achieve this, the leader must be able to rely on the implementation of a governance system and in-depth knowledge of the profiles of his/her employees, both in terms of hard skills and soft skills. This will enable him/her to have dynamic management of their company.

A Story That Impacted Bardon’s Vision

“One example that strongly impacted my vision on this subject was my experience as an incubator/accelerator designer for Agoranov,” says Mr. Bardon.

This incubator is among the best in Europe for the quality of its deeptech start-ups.

However, a certain number of very high-quality technological projects have not been able to pass through the stages due to a lack of organisation, leadership, and governance. This has had a negative impact on the technological deployment and the sustainability of the start-up.

In other words, the risks are not only financial or technological but mostly human.

Biggest Achievement

“Since the creation of Booster Labs six months ago, our greatest success has been the number and quality of clients who have trusted us,” says Jean-Baptiste Bardon.

Indeed, Booster Labs is not exclusively aimed at start-ups but also at other companies, including research laboratories and institutional actors of innovation. Thus, Booster Labs count as clients European and international companies.

It’s obvious that this has been made possible not only by the quality of their past experiences, but also by the success of their current clients in their joint work.

Connection with InvestHorizon

“To be a Senior Coach for BPIFrance and InvestHorizon is an honour because the InvestHorizon process is very well done. It allows us to share our values in a process that gives back its nobility to what we should be brainstorming,” shares Mr. Bardon.

In InvestHorizon’s framework, it is entrepreneurs who help other entrepreneurs with questions about their future fundraising. This allows for a good transfer of knowledge and encourages the practice of leadership and governance.

In effect, solving the challenges that focus on one of the company's issues allows the leaders to refine their vision and strategy for their company. This, in turn, has the effect of lowering the risk for an investor and making the investment more desirable.

On one hand, the collaborative nature of programme best prepares the company for its roadshow while allowing it to develop its eco-systems and organisational skills.

“On the other hand, the quality of the InvestHorizon consortium and the quality of the support functions, such as experts and coaches, greatly facilitates the establishment of a space of trust conducive to creativity and good governance,” concludes Jean-Baptiste Bardon.