Need a business plan for your startup? How Gemmyo started

Revolutionising French fine jewellery by giving it a young, trendy image. That was the bet of Pauline, Charif and Malek, who founded Gemmyo in 2011. We met Pauline, and she told us their story.

The beginning

It all starts when Charif asks Pauline to marry him. Looking for an engagement ring on Place Vendôme, they are disappointed by the experience at the big jewellers. The atmosphere feels cold, stiff and not modern at all: they don’t see themselves in the image of these brands or in the service they offer. The idea comes out of that frustration: why not create jewellery and an experience that look like them? The concept matures: it will be an accessible, young, customisable jewellery brand, sold only online. They decide to take the entrepreneurial plunge and team up with Malek, Charif’s brother.

First steps

“We didn’t even write a business plan”

The three new partners set themselves a first goal: sell at least one ring through a website within 3 months. To meet the challenge, they have to put the site together fast and find a workshop able to make a ring. Quick and dirty, a first version of the site is online after a few weeks, on WordPress and with badly designed rings. But it will do for now. Looking for a manufacturing workshop, Pauline gets close to 150 refusals! You have to hang on. She remembers: “It only takes one”. Perseverance finally pays off and they find the workshop that agrees to make them a piece.

And then one day, a miracle: the first order comes in! Except nothing goes as planned. Pauline remembers it very well.

The first customer

“She was from Angers, she had typed ‘rose gold and topaz ring’ on the internet.” The SEO was good enough for Gemmyo’s site to show up. She finds what she wants, but when it comes to paying, things get complicated: she tries a bank transfer, but a mistake in the bank details blocks the payment. Then come manufacturing difficulties that stretch the lead time. The ring is delivered after 14 weeks instead of the estimated 10. “You learn a lot of things”, Pauline explains, looking back.

Iterate until validation

Having met the first challenge, the team sets a new goal: make 5 sales in 1 month. This lets them check whether there really is potential in this market. Once again, mission accomplished: “Yes, there really is a market”, Pauline confirms. Clear, short-term goals let them move fast and test quickly. “It gave us a framework, it let us move forward on what really mattered”. So, no need for a business plan?

Focus on what matters

“In luxury too, Lean Startup is possible. Having no starting capital forced us to innovate and iterate quickly.”

“We didn’t even write a business plan”, Pauline explains. Gemmyo’s founding team had imposed a double constraint on itself, of time and of money. A time constraint first: “My husband and I had no salary for 6 months, and we weren’t receiving unemployment benefits, so let’s just say we ate a lot of Croustibat. It forced us to do things very fast, and that’s not so bad”. On the funding side, same story: “We had each put in 1,000 euros. It’s not much, but it lets you innovate”. Hence the idea of making jewellery to order, since holding stock was impossible.

This let them test the market quickly, and also their ability to work together… and that is enough!

Start small to validate your concept as fast as possible before developing it: that is the key to the success of the trendiest jewellery brand in Paris.

And for a treat, Gemmyo’s website is over here.