Each example starts from a dated change in the market and ends with a decision.

Illustrative examples, built on public facts. None describes a client or a result. Each shows a structure: your committee’s question, what is built and operated, what you bring, the expected signal, and the stop criterion written before launch.

Nine examples, by leadership team

Levels of proof, strongest first

Payment
Pre-order
Qualified request
Sign-up

General management

Win back shoppers lost to low-cost platforms

Fashion retailBrand: NeutralIllustrative example

Market change

Since 1 July 2026, the EU has charged a €3 customs duty per item category on imported parcels worth €150 or less, until 1 July 2028 [1]. In September 2026, fashion store sales fell 17.6% year on year [2].

Your committee’s question: Does the window opened by the parcel duty let us win back, online, customers who left for the platforms, without discounting our brand?
What is built and operated: A neutral brand and its online store; a short range of basics chosen with your buyers; payments, returns, written customer service; social and search campaigns; measurement of acquisition cost, new customers and repeat purchase.
What you bring: Stock, warehouse and shipping; the media budget; textile compliance; validation of content.
Expected signal: PaymentPaid orders from new customers, then a repeat purchase.
Stop criterion, written before launch: At day 60, stop if the average cost of acquiring a customer exceeds the gross margin of their first order, or if repeat purchase at 30 days is below [threshold].

Sell in Germany before opening a subsidiary

Food, mid-sized companyBrand: Yours, the brand being tested abroadIllustrative example

Market change

55% of French mid-sized companies say weak demand weighs on their business, the main brake on their development (June 2026) [3].

Your committee’s question: Does our product sell direct in Germany, before we sign with a distributor or open a subsidiary?
What is built and operated: A German-language store: content, product pages, translated terms; local payment methods; campaigns within a capped budget; written customer service in German; a form for resellers; measurement.
What you bring: The products and compliant labelling, shipping from France, the media budget, the brand.
Expected signal: Payment Qualified requestPaid orders, repeat purchases, inbound reseller requests.
Stop criterion, written before launch: At day 60, stop if acquisition cost exceeds first-order margin and fewer than [N] qualified reseller requests have come in.

Rent electric vans by the month to tradespeople

MobilityBrand: NeutralIllustrative example

Market change

Two van and mobility subscription businesses launched by large industrial groups in 2021 were wound down in late 2025, about four years after launch [4] [5].

Your committee’s question: Before committing a fleet, a subsidiary and four years: which trade actually pays for an all-inclusive monthly rental?
What is built and operated: Offer and price grid, brand, website; booking with a deposit and capped capacity; content per trade, local campaigns, follow-ups; measurement by trade.
What you bring: The vehicles, insurance, maintenance and delivery; the validated rental contract; your dealer network; the budget. Any credit check stays with you, under your procedures, with no automated scoring.
Expected signal: Pre-orderPaid deposits, by trade and by rental length.
Stop criterion, written before launch: At day 60, stop if fewer than [N] paid deposits in the target trade, or if the cost of acquiring a contract exceeds [X] months of rent.

Innovation leadership

Fixed-price home repairs, without an insurance contract

InsuranceBrand: NeutralIllustrative example

Market change

56% of executives report a low appetite for reputational risk, up from 36% in the previous survey (April 2026) [6].

Your committee’s question: Does a fixed-price home repair service, sold without an insurance contract, reach customers we don’t, and turn them into prospects?
What is built and operated: A neutral brand, a fixed price list, booking and payment; campaigns on local emergency searches; follow-up of call-outs; collection of consent to be contacted again; measurement.
What you bring: Your network of approved tradespeople, quality control, the budget. Your legal team confirms that the service, which transfers no risk, is not an insurance product.
Expected signal: Payment Sign-upPaid call-outs, reviews, and the share of customers who agree to be contacted again.
Stop criterion, written before launch: At day 60, stop if the margin per call-out is negative, or if the consent rate is below [threshold].

Three offers in parallel, one committee

Contract cateringBrand: Neutral for consumer offers; yours for small companies, once validatedIllustrative example

Market change

59% of leaders whose companies launched three or more ventures in five years draw more than 10% of revenue from them, against 32% where only one was launched (October 2025) [7].

Your committee’s question: Of three possible businesses for our central kitchens, which one finds paying customers, and where should the budget go?
What is built and operated: Three offers, each with its brand and site: meals delivered to older people, buffets for small companies, a student meal plan. Ordering and payment, local campaigns, compared measurement. At each Monthly review, the three are shown side by side with the AI CEO’s proposed reallocation; your committee decides.
What you bring: Kitchens and production, delivery, health approvals, your business customers reached through your own channels, one overall capped budget.
Expected signal: PaymentPaid, recurring orders, offer by offer.
Stop criterion, written before launch: One criterion per offer, for example: at day 45, stop the student offer if fewer than [N] paid subscriptions. Freed budget goes to the strongest offer.

A paid service for people caring for ageing parents

BankingBrand: NeutralIllustrative example

Market change

In 2025, deaths outnumbered births in France for the first time since the end of the Second World War; 11.1% of the population is 75 or older (January 2026) [8].

Your committee’s question: Would the children of our older customers pay for a service that handles their parents’ paperwork, and through which channel do we reach them?
What is built and operated: A neutral brand; an offer in three tiers with a price test; practical guides; website, subscription payment, a waiting list if the partner’s capacity is limited; campaigns; measurement by channel of origin.
What you bring: Distribution to your customers through your own channels, the partner who delivers the service, legal validation, the budget. No credit and no health service.
Expected signal: Payment Pre-order Sign-upPaid subscriptions, then pre-orders, then sign-ups, by channel.
Stop criterion, written before launch: At day 60, stop if fewer than [N] paid subscriptions, or if acquisition cost exceeds [X] months of subscription.

E-commerce leadership

Which second-hand model, for which customers?

Baby goods retailBrand: Yours, on a dedicated domainIllustrative example

Market change

41.4% of French online shoppers bought at least one second-hand product over twelve months (October 2026) [9].

Your committee’s question: Which second-hand format works online for our customers: trade-in for store credit, refurbished items with a guarantee, or the sale of unsold stock and returns?
What is built and operated: Three journeys on one site: trade-in estimate and shipping labels, second-hand product pages, payment; campaigns; measurement by format, including how often store credit is used.
What you bring: Distribution through your newsletter and your other customer channels, with tracked links; unsold stock and returns; quality control and warehouse; the budget.
Expected signal: Payment Qualified requestItems traded in, paid sales, store credit used.
Stop criterion, written before launch: One criterion per format: at day 60, stop the format if its margin per item is negative, or if it has fewer than [N] paid sales.

Sell where your customers now ask their questions

Garden retailBrand: Yours, on a dedicated domainIllustrative example

Market change

Since late August 2026, ChatGPT has offered advertising in France [10].

Your committee’s question: Do conversational assistants bring additional sales, or move sales we would have made through search engines?
What is built and operated: Project kits composed with your buyers; pages and structured product data written to answer questions; payment; ad creation; measurement against a control group defined at framing; tracking of how the brand is cited in assistants’ answers.
What you bring: Products and stock, logistics, media buying through your agency, the budget, validation of content.
Expected signal: PaymentSales added compared with the control group, and their acquisition cost compared with search campaigns.
Stop criterion, written before launch: At day 45, stop if the difference with the control group is not significant at the threshold set at framing, or if acquisition cost exceeds that of Google search campaigns.

Open Spain: a local site or a marketplace?

Consumer goodsBrand: YoursIllustrative example

Market change

Marketplaces account for 32% of the business volume of online product sales in France (October 2026) [9].

Your committee’s question: To open Spain, is a local site or a marketplace the better channel?
What is built and operated: A Spanish-language site, payment, campaigns; opening and running a store on a Spanish marketplace, from product pages and prices to customer replies; compared measurement of net margin.
What you bring: Stock and logistics, a seller account opened in your name, the budget, validation of content.
Expected signal: PaymentNet margin per order, channel by channel.
Stop criterion, written before launch: At day 60, stop any channel whose net margin per order is negative; stop both if both are.

What we don’t take on.

High-risk uses under the EU AI Act: hiring, credit, health, life and health insurance pricing.
Ventures that need a live connection to your information systems, such as your booking engine, ERP or tills.
The licence of a regulated activity: it stays with you or your partner, and we build and operate within that frame.

In 30 minutes, see how an operated business is built and run.

By video, with the founding team. We look together at where a first venture could sit beside your core. Under NDA if you wish.

Book 30 minutes with the founding team Write to us

Sources

European Commission, DG Trade, Access2Markets, 30 June 2026.
Alliance du Commerce, 5 October 2026.
Bpifrance Le Lab, 16th barometer of French mid-sized companies (ETI), 23 June 2026. 534 responses.
L’argus, 27 November 2025.
electrive, 12 December 2025.
WTW, 2026 Reputational Risk Readiness Survey, 28 April 2026. 500 executives responsible for risk strategy in 20 countries, companies with revenue of at least 1 billion US dollars.
McKinsey & Company, “The way to win in corporate venturing: Serial building and AI”, 28 October 2025. 715 respondents from companies with revenue above 100 million US dollars.
Insee, Insee Première no. 2087, demographic report for 2025, 13 January 2026.
Fevad, key figures 2026, reported by E-Commerce Nation, 1 October 2026.
Blog du Modérateur, 17 August 2026, updated 19 August 2026.