How to Start as a Startup? Part 2 w/ Joule

This week on Planet Odoo, we investigate the real world of startups!

We follow up on last week's chat with Partena about entrepreneurs. Today, Jordy (Joule Co-Founder) and Karim (Odoo expert) share a real-world example: a startup case succeeding with Odoo!

Discover how Joule leverages Odoo to achieve success. Get actionable tips you can apply to your own business.
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Concept and realization: Marine Louis
Recording and mixing: Lèna Noiset, Judith Moriset
Host: Richard Shall

Transcript

JORDY DE LOOSE: 0:00

The end game is that we get a person on the right bike with the most convenient service. That's our goal. It's all okay when you have a limited amount of orders, but on the moment it starts to scale, and on the moment you realize that you are putting in data all the time and you lose time to really think about the strategy of your company, that's when you know, okay, now we, we need to change.

KARIM OUASSINI: 0:28

Uh, make sure that the customer know where they want to go. Also understand why he wants to go there in that direction, because sometimes you can easily tell him why and he will tell you. Mm I don't know, but okay. So you're asking for a development that will cost you extra money, extra time on the implementation, but you don't know why. So no I won't do it.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 0:45

In our case we really needed everything. I think also we are a company that uses 80% of the base apps of of Odoo.

KARIM OUASSINI: 0:55

If you don't take the time to test, you will just go live. So we'll put the development production because you will tell us, oh, it's okay, it's working fine. And then a few days later, or maybe a few hours later, you will realize that, oh no, it's not working as I intended.

RICHARD SHALL: 1:07

Hello Oodoers, and welcome back to another episode of Planet Odoo. During last week's episode, we met with Kevin from patina, who took us on a journey that many young Belgian entrepreneurs go through when they first start their business. And we learn why having the right tools early on are essential for businesses long term success. And if you missed last week's episode, don't hesitate to check it out before listening to this one. And for today, we're here to provide you with a concrete example of one startup that decided to team up with Odoo for its entrepreneurial journey. So let's give a warm welcome to Jordy, Joule's co-founder and COO, as well as Karim, one of Odoo finest consultants that worked on Joule's implementation. Hello, Jordy, and good to see you. Karim, thank you both for joining me today.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 1:49

Hi.

KARIM OUASSINI: 1:49

Hi. Uh,

RICHARD SHALL: 1:50

Why don't you begin just by explaining, uh, Joule and Joule's mission?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 1:54

Yes, it's a question for me, I think so. I'm Jordy. I'm a co-founder of, uh, Joule. Or Joule, uh. You say it as you want. Uh, and we help, uh, companies changing their mobility by implementing bicycle plans from start to finish. Uh, and the end game is that we get a person on the right bike, uh, with the most convenient service. That's our goal.

RICHARD SHALL: 2:20

Okay, so kind of kind of custom fitting a bike to the person in their lifestyle? More or less.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 2:24

Yes, indeed.

RICHARD SHALL: 2:26

Excellent. And, uh, what was going on at joule that made you look into. Or start thinking about looking into Odoo?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 2:33

Um, well, we are a startup/scale up company. So as every startup company, we used a lot of tools for our base processes. Uh, being sales was a different tool, a different Excel sheet, uh, inventory was a different Excel sheet. We had tools for, uh, the calendar file, uh, things. So to, to manage to do's, to manage agendas. So we used a lot of things and we just were copying and pasting things, uh, all day, all night. And that's the, the, the base trigger for us to, to say, okay, we need to gain an efficiency, uh, we need to really rethink our processes.

RICHARD SHALL: 3:20

Was there like, a particular moment that you were just like, uh, you're working and you realize this is not working?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 3:27

Yes. When once you are beginning to scale towards customers and, um, it's all okay when you have, uh, a limited amount of orders, but on the moment, it's, it's starts to scale. And on the moment you realize that you are putting in data all the time and you lose time to really think about the strategy of your company, that's when you know, okay, now we, uh, we need to change something.

RICHARD SHALL: 3:55

It makes sense. It's a very common scenario for probably many small businesses out there. So then what pointed you towards Odoo? How did that collaboration begin?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 4:04

Well, then we met Karim. Uh, no, of course we, uh, we started to do some investigation in the market. Um, I myself, I was a consulting, consultant in SAP, uh, ten years ago. So I know a little bit, uh, about how a project or an IT project that big, for us at least, uh, needs to, uh, needs to be going, and, uh, we bounced upon, uh, Odoo, uh, by our partners, uh, by one of our partners that told you have to have a look on it. And I was just amazed by the, I think the the the the flexibility of the system and, um, the, the way the apps talk to each other.

RICHARD SHALL: 4:51

It is quite integrated. It's true. And so when you're looking at Odoo in terms of like, uh, what you need it to do for you as a business, what were your main priorities in terms of like operations or flows or departments that you're looking to get set up?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 5:05

Yeah. Um, well, we will come back on that later also. But uh, basically we we had three main priorities, uh, that we were looking at. It's, uh, our back end processes, all of the stuff of purchasing, sales, inventory, uh, accounting also very important to us. Uh, we had our front end processes. So all the things that our client sees, and we had a big need into the market to have a client portal. So, uh, an online portal where our clients could log in, see specific products, see specific prices. Uh, and the third one is our after sales, uh, services, which are, uh, I told you in the beginning, we want, uh, a person to have a bike with the most convenient service. So this will last, uh, bit, uh, is also very important to us to have this right.

RICHARD SHALL: 5:58

That makes sense. Okay, great. And so how did the I guess, the relationship begin? Do you reach out to a business advisor who then walked you through this process, or how did that look like?

KARIM OUASSINI: 6:08

So they started with Margot, a key account manager. She made a few demo and then they decided that they needed to be convinced. So they decided to go for what we call an ROI analysis. So it's a pre-sales, uh, stage where we'll really spend the time with the customer to analyze the need, list them, list the solution, but also do advanced and customized demo to really show them what they can expect from us. Of course, that's not only it, we will also give them a planning for the implementation and a budget. This way, it's very clear the implementation will cost so much you will get this and we would be able to do it in so many months. So I was leading the ROI analysis with them. We had a lot of fun, a lot of brainstorm. It was very challenging because Odoo natively is not, uh, really made for leasing. We have plenty of applications that we had to customize a little bit to answer your requirement. I believe that we did it well and that today they have a solution up and running. We still have, uh, some fine tuning to do and a lot of new things that cames up to improve the efficiency of fuel. Uh, that's always the goal. We want to improve, uh, daily workers life at Joule and also help them increase the size of the company. And once the ROI was done, um, we started the implementation. So we started in April 2023. So almost one year ago, uh, with sales, um, I believe, uh, our first e-commerce platform, really a basic one. So what we call our MVP - minimum viable product. And for that, Joule was a really nice customer because they accepted the fact that you cannot have everything, uh, at at first time. So we just gradually build up the tool to answer all the requirements. So that's how we collaborated.

RICHARD SHALL: 8:02

Sounds like a lot of fun based on what you told me. Uh, and how long did this whole process take the ROI analysis?

KARIM OUASSINI: 8:08

Um, there, we really analyzed everything. So we spent more than 200 hours, uh, doing the analysis. I believe we had all the workshop in one month or maybe six weeks. And then I spent two weeks to prepare, demonstration, do some customization, uh, do the demonstration, then another week to write down every needs, uh, make sure that it was clear. And then we had some Q&A to make sure that they also understand, because when I put something on the paper, you can interpret it as you wish. So there, Joule really decided to check every item and then to say, okay, we want to see it. We want to make sure we understand what we are paying for. And so we spent a lot of time also after the ROI analysis to, uh, align ourselves on what will be implemented.

RICHARD SHALL: 8:53

And so without the ROI be much more difficult to really put further forward a plan of action and how to implement this fully right.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 9:00

Well, I think that it was also a difficult decision for us to, uh, to say yes to Odoo to do an ROI because it costs some money. But in the end, after one year, I'm, I'm really convinced that it's it was a must for us to do and to spend some money at first without having any, anything physical, without having a product, uh, in order to, uh, to, to get a good base of the project and of the project management that needs to happen after that. Um, as an entrepreneur, I'm a very chaotic guy. I have a lot of ideas. I come up with a lot of, uh, new things sometimes, uh, and this gives us, the ROI, really give me at least the structure. Uh, on the one hand, and on the second hand, then the budget, as Karim explained, uh, in order to decide, okay, what is really, uh, priority, um, and where where can we wait or what feature we do not really need at today, maybe tomorrow, but not today.

RICHARD SHALL: 10:07

And do you feel as if the ROI really saved you time or money later down the line?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 10:11

Yeah, I'm sure that's very short answer, but yeah, I'm quite sure of that.

RICHARD SHALL: 10:17

So then you recommend it for everybody to do an ROI?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 10:19

Well, I think it depends on the complexity of the project. Uh, if you have a simple, uh, implementation of a purchasing application, it's not really needed, i think, it depends on what you need. In our case, we really needed everything. I think also, we are, uh, a company, uh, that uses, I don't know, 80% of the base apps of, uh, of Odoo. Uh, so, um, this describes a little bit the complexity of the whole project, uh, for us. And in that case, I would really recommend it. Yeah.

RICHARD SHALL: 10:53

Amazing. So then how is it going right now? What's been done? What's been what still needs to be done? How are the pain points handled? Kind of a big question.

KARIM OUASSINI: 11:02

Well, so as I said, we started with the sales application because the I believe that the bottleneck was it taking too long to create a sales order, a quotation, and especially as they are doing B2B leasing, they need an approval flow.

So as an employee you cannot say: 11:17

"Hello Joule, I want this bike and that's done".

No, you say: 11:21

"Hello Joule, I would like this bike. I have this budget and now my fleet manager needs to approve it. And when he has approved it, then we can get the bike. But then you'll also need to check for the insurance and so on". So there was a lot of things and disruptive things to do to get to the sales order. And so we started by that. And then as soon as it was done, Joule told me, okay, but Karim, our main business now is e-commerce because people will, uh, do everything digitally. Uh, we don't have any shop. Um, we have a warehouse and they have offices, but they don't have any shops, so the experience has to be digital. So we attacked the e-commerce part, then the replenishment as well. Uh, okay. If we sell bike, we need to purchase them. Um, and then we also, uh, did implement the inventory application because okay. That's nice. We can sell and we can purchase bike. But how do I know if I have a bike on stock? How do I know that I have a sale number? And then it was okay. But you know, it's leasing. So when my bike is in stock, I have to value it in my stock. But when I deliver it and add the subscription so the leasing starts running, I need to manage the asset. So can we also discuss asset management. Um, and then as soon as we could sell the bike, manage the asset, manage inventory, it was like, okay, but you know, our main, uh, focus is also giving the right services to the to our customer. Uh, it's really premium services. Uh, we need to manage that in Odoo. For the moment, we have a different tool, but we'd like to replace it again to win time and do less copy paste. Um, so we did all the, uh, field service application, repair application, so that they could handle this. And now we are also doing a lot of integration with, uh, payroll tools. So not only to make the life of Joule easier, but to make the life of the customer easier, meaning that the fleet manager doesn't have anymore to enter the information of the bike and its employee on a payroll tool, because Joule is now integrated with some of them. So really nice to to to deep dive uh, in all those flows, find solution and then see that people are happy with what was delivered. But maybe you already you want to add some comment on that.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 13:37

Yeah. For me um, more on a helicopter, uh, level, uh, the status of the project is that we have a very good base, a robust, uh, base, uh, in terms of, uh, back end processes, in terms of front end processes and in terms of after sales processes. Uh, and this is the base we need, uh, in order to build, uh, upon it. Um, to give two examples, maybe on the front end, uh, we have a good base in terms of the client portal. So the functionality is there. It's really it's really nice, the functionality. Uh, we have to work a little bit on the UX. Uh, and this is we need that good base in order to uplift the client experience really in the front end. So, uh, this is where we are working on, uh, right now. And same goes for the back end process. We have a good base. We know, okay, we can optimize some things, but we first need it. We we also are we are a startup company. So we are still working on our processes. Processes change very fast. So we first really need to validate. And this is where Odoo also helps us to validate our processes, to rethink some of the processes, um, to use them manually in order to get to a point where you can optimize some of the things.

RICHARD SHALL: 14:57

So that sounds like there's a lot of moving parts. And it's also it is quite often that a client will tell us, I need to go live with everything right away. How did you fight the urge to just go with the Big Bang approach and prioritize the smaller pieces individually?

KARIM OUASSINI: 15:11

I believe that the ROI really helped for that because they could really see, okay, if you want to implement the sales application, it will take five days, for example. I don't remember exactly. If you want that development, it will take three days, one day, etc.. So first we have you know what we can do. You know what we cannot do and you know how much it will cost. So you can really say, okay, for the moment I have this budget and I need to really solve this problem, this one, I would like to solve it as well. But in the end, if I look at the time that I lost, uh, with this problem and the money it will cost, maybe I can wait a longer, a longer time to implement that. And yeah, then I believe as well that as you said, it was a consultant before. So all of them, all the guys I met at Joule are also, um, really smart. And they understand that the ERP work a certain way and that you are the one that has to adapt to Odoo and not the opposite. Of course, we can always meet midway, but it's really Odoo that should help structure company and not your company that should structure Odoo.

RICHARD SHALL: 16:16

So essentially, with enough planning and budgeting, you can really transform or shape how you approach the project as a whole. And of course, with experience you had the right mindset to to tackle it. And what was the biggest challenge for you when it comes to this approach?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 16:30

For me, it was more internally to, uh, have uh, the internal, uh, some of the people that, for example, we had a problem in accounting, uh, to really explain to the people, uh, that we need to wait, that we first need to do other things in order to have this right, to have a good base. Again, I'm also always talking about the base to have the good base structure in order to build on it. Uh, uh, it's about change management. Uh, that's more, uh, internally, uh, maybe Karim can, uh, give an example of something more technical, but.

KARIM OUASSINI: 17:05

Um, technically, yes. Uh, for example, you cannot also say, oh, I want to implement the after sale service. If you don't have the sales in Odoo. It doesn't make any sense. I mean, sometimes it could be possible. But no, let's learn how to walk before starting to run. And that's really what we did there.

RICHARD SHALL: 17:24

And so then how long between go lives of like phase one, Like the sale versus the phase two?

KARIM OUASSINI: 17:30

Um, if I remember correctly, the first go live was done in September.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 17:33

Yeah.

KARIM OUASSINI: 17:34

So we started in April and then it was in September about sales, e-commerce. Um, that was mainly maybe inventory.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 17:43

Yeah. No, no, I think, uh, we started, uh, working in March already, and the first go live was just, uh, the start of Q3 of the year because we went live immediately with the accounting part as well. Um, second go live was, uh, just after summer September. Indeed. And, uh, the third go live was on the after sales services and that was, uh, January, this year.

RICHARD SHALL: 18:09

So quite quickly.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 18:11

We did a lot, a lot of stuff in one year. I'm quite amazed. Uh, if you are looking back one year ago, how we did things and how we do how we do them now, it's it's quite amazing.

RICHARD SHALL: 18:24

I imagine, uh, running a business, you have you're really busy and common, uh, thing that a lot of our clients say is I don't have the time. How did you juggle that? To take on the project? Very quickly, but still manage the business at the same time?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 18:38

It's a good question. Um, but let's be honest, the certainly the first go live was really intense, uh, for us. I spent a lot of hours. The team spent a lot of hours, uh, in, uh, in going live basically. Certainly the four last weeks, uh, because we had, uh, also the accounting part that it's quite, uh, if that goes wrong, everything goes wrong. Um, so, uh, we, uh, we had a couple of hard, uh, weeks, certainly for the first go live, uh, because it was the most important one, because you had the your base processes of your company. Uh, so, yeah, if you go live with the website, you can still it's not it's not the end of the world. If you go live with an accounting system and it goes wrong, uh, in inventory or in your prices or somewhere. Yeah. Then you are really, uh, then you really into shit. So it was quite, uh, challenging. Uh, yeah.

RICHARD SHALL: 19:42

But you made it out in the end. It was fine.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 19:44

Indeed. Yeah.

RICHARD SHALL: 19:45

And when did you start seeing the ROI or like the added value of the system once it went live?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 19:51

Um, I think, uh, it's always on the moment when you are over budget, uh, that you look again. Okay. What's, what's what's our plan here and where we need to, uh, where we need to focus on. And that's an immediately the second advantage of the ROI analysis. It's the focus, the. If you don't have a focus in a project, then then you spend a lot of time on on things you don't need.

RICHARD SHALL: 20:17

Yeah. And so you saw the added value almost immediately. So the time savings, the efficiency gained etc..

JORDY DE LOOSE: 20:23

Yeah, indeed. It's, it's uh, time savings on the one hand, but also just project management on the other hand. It's, it's time and it's budget. And as a startup company, also the second one the budget, it's quite important.

RICHARD SHALL: 20:38

Fantastic. So what's next? What's on the horizon.

KARIM OUASSINI: 20:42

The user experience and the website. So currently, uh, they have two people working on the design of the website at Joule. And then we will give an estimation to do the full design because Odoo also offer web design services. Then we'll see again, we will give them the budget for the full website, and then we'll see if we go for that step together or not. Um, there is also a few process we'd like to automate, like the end of list process, which is quite complex, but I like complexity, so that's why I love to work with Joule. They have always a few challenges in their pocket for me and always some surprise. Um, the last development was also super fun. Uh, the, uh, the list price computation, because they had a complex Excel file and quite complex formula that we had to implement to be able to say, okay, if this price or if this bike costs so much, I want to sell it that much. So that was quite complex computation, a lot of fun. And there we can also see that Joule team like to solve problem because they were really involved. Or maybe we can do it like this and maybe we can do it like this. And our suggestion. So it's really nice to see that we can really collaborate on the project. It's not only what we want this please do it. It's like we want to do this. We think that we can do it like this and what do you think? And so on. But so yeah, the next step is really, uh, providing a seamlessly user experience for all the customer, uh, with a nice design because currently the website, uh, as you already said, is working. It's functional, but it could be better. Uh, it's really the, the basic of Odoo website, but there is no design and so on. And then, uh, all the accounting at the end of lease flow and all the integration with the different, uh, insurance, uh, payroll, uh, offices and so on.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 22:29

Indeed, we, uh, are building some API integrations as well. Uh, and, uh, yeah, we see also this is working quite well. I like the, the plug and play, uh, things of, uh, Odoo.

RICHARD SHALL: 22:42

So imagine that this project is almost never over. There's always something in the horizon to look forward to.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 22:48

Well on the horizon is a is a plan for us. It's a two year plan. Um, still to go now. So we we look two years ahead and there's always something going on, uh, in, in the world of IT, uh, certainly for us, we we we were, uh, I have the feeling that we are going from a classical service company where you have the bike and, and the service, uh, towards, uh, maybe a semi tech company where you are, uh, an integrator, uh, um, where you have, uh, uh, where you guide the clients online towards, uh, the right bike. Uh, so, uh, that's, uh, an interesting idea to build upon for us.

RICHARD SHALL: 23:33

Makes sense. And do you wish you had Odoo when you first started the business?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 23:38

Also, a good question in terms of budgets, maybe the things we have today, uh, it's, uh, uh, it was not possible for the for the, the need we have today. On the other hand, uh, you have some applications that are free at Odoo, I think, um, and there. Yeah. If I would, uh, if I would have known Odoo, uh, sooner than probably we had some, uh, some of the things that we did in Excel's, uh, we, we would do in Odoo, I think. Yeah. So, uh, yeah.

RICHARD SHALL: 24:11

Great. Uh, because it is quite important to make sure you have the right tool early on to shape how the business goes.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 24:18

That's, uh, totally correct. And Odoo was also a very strategic choice for us. It's not only the project today, but it's really the tool that that will shape your company. And we really choose, Odoo not only for the features that they have today, but because of the fact that they are constantly working on new features. Uh, the Odoo 17 will have features that we can use and we can use them without an extra cost. Basically, we can just plug and play them once they are there. And it gives a big advantage as a, as a as a scale up company. I can say for us, uh, to, to just go to the new version of Odoo and to see, okay, this is new or uh, they have uh, now, uh, what is it, a web, uh, WhatsApp or an AI based technology, and you just have. It's there. You don't have to work on it as a company. You don't have to lose time and money on it. So that's why we, uh, we, uh, we are looking forward.

KARIM OUASSINI: 25:19

What was quite impressive is that you'll send me a list of website requirement improvement for website. And then I looked at the B-17 and was like, oh, this is standard. This is standard, it's standard, standard, standard. Oh, actually it is just one point we have to develop anymore out of 5 or 6 requirements.

RICHARD SHALL: 25:35

So amazing. So in a way, as Odoo evolves, businesses evolve, which is yeah that's for sure. Yeah. Very cool.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 25:43

It works in two ways, I think. I think we, uh, sometimes have ideas that can help you as a company. Uh, but the other way around is also true.

RICHARD SHALL: 25:52

Which is why it's super important to get all the businesses feedback so that we can always constantly improve the product.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 25:58

Exactly.

RICHARD SHALL: 25:58

Speaking of features, was there a feature that you and your team was were most surprised by or found that you really loved?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 26:05

Where did I smile when you get, uh, where did I smile when you told me that solution? Um, uh.

KARIM OUASSINI: 26:14

You don't smile a lot, Jordi. So, um. Yeah, I remember you were quite happy when you could see that, uh, for example, we could just have the customer going on the on the website and saying, I would like this bike and this service package, and then that it was done, and you could really tell to, uh, your employee in the warehouse. Oh, guys, you have to pick up this bike and you have to put this, uh, chain, this, uh, bell and this seat on the bike. Uh, and when you confirm, I will then see that I can deliver the bike. Um, the dropship feature. I think that you like it as well to to say, oh, the customer want to, uh, get the bike. And I will actually tell my supplier that he should deliver the customer because, as I said, they have no physical shop, but they do work with a lot of, uh, different physical shops. So, again, to provide the best experience to, to the customer, they want to allow the customer to actually, I would like to get a bike from this shop. Can you lease it for me? And then you'll say, yes, we can lease it for you and you can pick it up in your shop. But then they purchase the bike to the shop and the customer can just go to the shop and pick his bike, and also get all the advantages of picking the bike to a local shop to discuss with the, um, the technician, and so on. You also have a panel of experts that can help you with the bike. But yes, some people just prefer to go around the corner to get the bike fixed and so on.

RICHARD SHALL: 27:38

You almost sound like you work there.

KARIM OUASSINI: 27:40

Almost. Yeah, almost. Uh, I'm working 2 to 3 days a week, uh, on the, on the Joule project. So. Yeah, we spend a lot of time with, with them. I remember during the analysis it was you or Laurence that told me. Hey, Karim, I believe that I see you more than my girlfriend. But we see each other a lot. But it's nice.

RICHARD SHALL: 28:02

That sounds like a lot of fun, actually. So then, uh, with all the time savings you've gained from implementing Odoo, how has that helped you? Like, focus on other things on your business or other aspects?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 28:13

Um, well, myself by, um, we, uh, we came to a moment that everybody knows Odoo and, uh, the working and the processes in Odoo, and it helped me as an entrepreneur then to, uh, to get, uh, time free my, to have my mind free, because I know that the operational processes will be, uh, will be going. I can follow it on my phone. Uh, I can follow the reports. I can follow the the number of open orders. Uh, I can follow the numbers that are in either or the orders that are in delay, uh, operationally, but also towards, uh, the client, uh, towards the clients. And it gives an it gives like an ease of mind because you have a lot of control and, and because of the fact that you are have an ease of mind on the, on the processes, uh, you have time to, to to think about other stuff, uh, innovative, uh, stuff. Uh uh um, uh, and it will, uh, yeah, it will help, uh, being better as a company on the, on the, in the long, uh, in the long, uh, in the long end. How do you say that?

RICHARD SHALL: 29:28

Long run.

JORDY DE LOOSE: 29:28

In the long run. Thank you.

RICHARD SHALL: 29:30

You're welcome. Fantastic. It's good news for everyone, I guess. Uh, so then I guess final last question. Do you have any final words, advice, tips or tricks for anyone who is either looking to implement Odoo implementing Odoo now? Or what do you say?

JORDY DE LOOSE: 29:45

Um, I think when you have a project, an IT project that is quite complex, it's a good idea to make a roadmap. Uh, a roadmap for yourself internally. It starts for yourself in your own company. Because it's. Of course, you have Odoo, but you may have some other things that you want to do on the long end, like the API integrations. It's not only Odoo, it's working together with other companies to have that view on where you want to go and when, when you want to do it. Um, and I think then it's just a good idea to, uh, to have a look at the features of Odoo. There's a lot of stuff on the website, and if you feel okay, this could be a solution for me just to have a talk with Odoo. You are always open to, to talk uh, to, to, uh, to give advice, uh, and if needed, to do an ROI analysis, uh, and then then you can start.

RICHARD SHALL: 30:44

Great advice. And do you have any advice for any partners or consultants who are implementing Odoo?

KARIM OUASSINI: 30:49

Yeah. For consultant, I would say just, uh, make sure that the customer know where they want to go. If you feel like the customer doesn't know where you have to go, take the time to discuss with him to know where he wants to go. Also understand why he wants to go there in that direction, because sometimes you can easily tell him why and it will tell him, hmm, I don't know, but okay, so you're asking for a development that will cost you extra money, extra time on the implementation, but you don't know why. So no, I won't do it. And then you can have a discussion. Uh, what I will also recommend to, uh, our customers or our future customers is to take the time as you decide to align themselves internally, they need to know more or less where they want to go. If they tell us what they want, we can tell them, or we can do it and that just that. Know what you want and why, and we'll tell you how and we'll help you implement will accompany you during the whole process and then enjoy the process. Involve yourself. I know it takes time and it's not always easy as an entrepreneur to say, oh, I have to dedicate, I have to work this week for Odoo. I don't know where I will fit that in my agenda, but it's really important. We saw that, um, with the testing, for example, when you ask for customization, we will do it. But of course you need to test it and to validate the processes. And if you don't take the time to test, you will just go live. So we'll put the development production because you will tell us, oh, it's okay, it's working fine. And then a few days later, or maybe a few hours later, you will realize that, oh no, it's not working as I intended. So we have to go back to go back to take time. And maybe as we are already in production, you will lose even more money. So take the time to think, to rest, and to know where you want to go, why you want to do things. And then again, trust Odoo. We have a bunch of experts that can that can help, and especially if you feel like the product is bad, tell us. Give us feedback when we discuss the leasing flow and so on. Something we're not good at all and we just discuss them. We found some solution, some workaround, sometimes in standard like, okay, we can do this, blah blah blah. But then we also discuss with the expert and the R&D that's I believe our strength as the editor is that you can directly as a customer, impact the product and the next version. So just be totally transparent and involve yourself in the project.

RICHARD SHALL: 33:09

That's a really great advice, both of you. Thank you so much. Uh, I appreciate you both for showing up here today and talking about this subject. It's quite fascinating and I'm sure our listeners feel the same way. So thank you again.

KARIM OUASSINI: 33:20

You're welcome. Thank you for your time.

RICHARD SHALL: 33:22

Well, that's all for this week. We hope you found the second episode on entrepreneurship valuable and insightful. Maybe you even gleaned some insight into how to start your successful business with Odoo. As always, stay curious, stay passionate, and most of all, stay awesome.