GMBA Participant Matthieu Petit Embarks on Entrepreneurial Journey with Vinerosa

Can you provide us with some background about yourself, your current
journey in the ESSEC GMBA and the process leading up to starting your own company?

I worked for 10 years in Marketing, in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods sector, first in agri-food and then in the spirit sector. In 2023, I made the decision to join the GMBA program at ESSEC to give a boost to my career and to redirect it towards the luxury sector.
However, before embarking on the GMBA adventure, I wanted to take a break to travel the world. Passionated about travel, food and wine, my wife and I decided to embark on a "world wine tour" in the first half of 2023. During this six month trip, we had the opportunity to discover amazing vineyards in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, but we were also positively surprised by Indian wines !

What inspired the idea for your company? Was there a particular experience that led you to pursue this adventure?

The idea behind Vinerosa came to us through our passion for wine and travel. During our "world wine tour," we realized how interesting it is to discover international wines and that the French market is not yet truly open to the world. Upon returning to France, we began working on our concept while trying to validate it by gathering some data about the wine market in France. And guess what? We quickly realized that there was a real opportunity ahead of us! That's how, early September 2023, we decided to actively work on the Vinerosa project, to allow French consumers to discover, learn and purchase wines from around the world.

Could you walk us through the process of establishing your company? What were the key steps?

Firstly, we had to work on the concept and the business model, which took us several months because we initially wanted to open a physical concept store. Through exchanges and reflections, we landed on our final idea of an online platform, combining content and e-commerce, dedicated to international wines. Next, we had to work on branding, including the search for a name, visual identity, tone of voice, etc. We were accompanied by a graphic designer to work on the visual identity, which we wanted to be decidedly modern, different, and more feminine than what is typically seen in the wine world. The other major steps included building the website, creating the first contents.

Regarding the content creation, it will be an ongoing process as we will add new contents regularly. We started with the wine regions we visited during our world tour and with some content about European countries. But the wine world is huge, so we will continue to add new content allowing consumers to continue traveling with us. Regarding the selection of producers, we aim to offer monthly sales focused on different countries or wine regions, highlighting one or more producers. Each month, we will offer a short selection of wines, typical of their terroirs, produced at minimum in sustainable agriculture, and mostly sold for the first time on the French market. Finding unique producers with a good value-for-money ratio, appealing to the French palate, is a substantial task. We participated in the Wine Paris fair in February to get an initial overview, in addition to the winemakers we met during our world tour. At the fair, we discovered more than 18 estates and tasted over 120 wines in 3 days. As we are truly passionate and aim to bring the best, we tried to meet as many producers as possible. My wife has a wine knowledge certification, WSET level 3, which allows her to work as a sommelier. We make the selection together, choosing wines that seem the most emblematic of their region and present a genuine interest and a different aromatic profile from French wines.

You are a current student of the ESSEC GMBA. How did your participation in the program contribute to your entrepreneurial journey? Were there specific skills or knowledge gained that proved particularly valuable?

This year, thanks to the GMBA, we not only had specialized courses in Luxury Brand Management but also more general courses such as Strategy, Innovation, Digital Marketing, and Finance. All these courses have allowed me to acquire additional knowledge to complement my professional background and our expertise in the wine industry. The Strategy and Innovation courses were particularly helpful in refining our concept, striving to offer the most relevant and differentiated offer possible for our target audience. The Finance course helped me to design a business model, utilizing a pre-order system, which is valuable in inventory management and cash flow optimization. Additionally, through the GMBA, I had the opportunity to connect with the ESSEC incubator.

In what ways did the ESSEC incubator support you in developing and growing your business?

The ESSEC incubator has been of invaluable help to us, both through the regular support provided by our coach Virginie and through the meetings with various industry experts. For instance, we were able to exchange ideas with a logistics expert, with a lawyer for personal data management and general terms and conditions, and several experts in SEO/SEA, traffic acquisition, AI, etc. Beyond these experts, the ESSEC incubator gives us access to a mentor, conferences, and many other resources that help us progress confidently in the development of our project.
Our coach Virginie is also an important support from a human perspective. She assists us with questions, doubts, moments of discouragement, and also congratulates us on our progress and achievements. When immersed in the day-to-day activities, we may not always realize the progress made or the effort put in. Virginie helps us gain perspective and sometimes reminds us of our accomplishments, which is invaluable.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an entrepreneur?

Among the biggest challenges, doubt is inevitably present. Doubt regularly crosses our minds because we have embarked on an ambitious project that we want to see succeed. However, we are aware that we cannot control everything and that we need to take the plunge, adopt a test & learn approach, and gradually refine the project's details. We are following a lean start-up strategy. Another significant challenge is acquiring new clients. The fact that our business is online allows us to reach a large number of consumers. Yet, successfully reaching the right prospects, getting them to visit the website, and converting them into loyal customers while managing the cost of acquisition is a real challenge. Undoubtedly, we will face many other challenges throughout our journey with Vinerosa!

What are your plans and goals for the future?

We are launching our first sale at the beginning of May, dedicated to a producer from Piedmont, Italy. We see this sale as an initial test to ensure that all aspects of our offer work perfectly, to validate our assumptions, and to build a long-term business model.

Our next step is to launch monthly sales starting in September, inviting our customers to travel around the world with Vinerosa. For starters, we plan to offer sales of European wines, then gradually expand the offering to include wines from "New World" countries. Our goal is to create an online club of wine lovers, bringing them together around the discovery and learning of international wines.

In the medium to long term, we plan to expand our offer by introducing physical experiences, such as opening pop-ups and wine cellars, with an ambition that extends beyond the national market.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those interested in the ESSEC Global MBA?

I highly recommend that aspiring entrepreneurs maintain faith in their abilities and projects while staying resilient. It's crucial to seek feedback and constructive criticism and remain open to refining their project outline. The journey from the initial concept to the finalized project can be lengthy and dynamic, requiring adaptability and a willingness to evolve. For those who are interested in the GMBA, I would of course recommend to follow the specific track for entrepreneurship. You will have plenty of courses to help you build your project and you will be able to join ESSEC Venture, the incubator that will help you to kick-off your entrepreneurial journey.