Interview with Ahmed CHAIEB – Founder & CEO of BOX2HOME
A few years ago, I listened religiously to Xavier Dalloz (official representative of CES Las Vegas in France) who explained that the barbarians were arriving and that they were going to disrupt all universes, that not a single economy would escape and that the A leader's job should be to identify his killer as soon as possible.
So we could say that it's exaggerated, whatever, but without going that far, we must admit that responding to frustrations has been the main source of startup creation for many years. This is typically the case with Uber and the bad experience with a taxi of its founder, Travis Kalanick.
Well, who has ever bought a piece of furniture on the right corner without knowing how to get it? Who has ever had to rent a truck to transport a newly purchased sofa? It must be admitted that the “delivery for 2” market segment was due to undergo its revolution and this is the case, new barbarians have entered the market.
Independents like Trusk, created in 2015 around the world of moving, or MonGege founded by VIR in anticipation of transformations in the sector. Today I invite you to take an interest in Box2Home and its ultra dynamic manager, Ahmed CHAIEB.
Interview
SprintProject: Ahmed, what is'history of Box2Home?
Box2Home is an extension of my entrepreneurial journey. I started in transport with CTI Transport and managed a fleet of 25 vehicles, then on this basis I created a startup dedicated to pastry professionals, CTI Gourmet. A few years later, I felt a revolution coming in the world of B2C single parcel delivery but I quickly understood that entering this market would consume a lot of cash. I briefly tested a B2B2C model with IKEA but it didn't work with our app and ultimately we found the model by installing corners directly in stores.
SprintProject: And today'today?
In 2017 we achieved €450k in turnover with 20% gross margin. We joined the Paris&Co incubator of the Paris town hall then that of LeBoncoin where we are still currently based.
Our IT team is based in Tunisia even if our CTO is in Paris.
We currently reference 500 service providers and only operate in Ile de France.
Our promise is “a truck in less than 30 minutes and a driver in less than 5 minutes”.
With numerous commercial conquests such as Metro, Ikea, Conforama, Bricoman and of course LeBonCoin we should achieve around €1.8 million in turnover in 2018.
SprintProject: C'what is it'future for Box2Home?
The market is there, we have great traction and the growth in our turnover demonstrates it, but for the moment we are self-financing and to support demand we will have to raise funds.
Our model itself is a subject. Corners in stores are effective but expensive in human resources; we are therefore studying alternative models.
Then, growth is good but we must not neglect the quality of our services. Not only does our application allow us to rate our services (our customers give us a rating of 4.7/5), but at the same time we founded the Box2Home academy to train our delivery people.
SprintProject: Ahmed is an ultra dynamic boss and totally anchored in his times. Even though he is young, he is already a knowledgeable and experienced entrepreneur. He knows how to surround himself, listen, always take measured risks and master his fundamentals. There is no doubt that Box2Home will be one of the companies to follow in the years to come and that it will be among the entrepreneurs who will pivot the two-person delivery professions, difficult professions which will have to experience their revolution by drawing inspiration from what it has been happening for around ten years in the world of single-parcels. Wait and see…
See you in 15 days for a new interview
#staytuned
