Duration: 27:35
PART 1 — Analytical Summary 🚀
Context 💼
Two young founders, Émile and Hugo, walk the audience through the behind-the-scenes playbook of their agency, Expandia—from zero to €3M+ annual revenue in three years. Speaking at a live session with Q&A, they outline how they structure, differentiate, and scale an influencer agency with a lean team and a process-first mindset. Why it matters: their story illustrates how discipline in market focus, operational excellence, and tooling—especially centralization on Odoo—can transform a high-variance services business into a repeatable, scalable operation.
Core ideas & innovations 🧠
The duo began in e-commerce at 15, discovered the outsized impact of influencer marketing, and pivoted from being a brand to becoming the intermediary after a turbulent attempt at international scaling (including a logistical adventure in the UAE). First iterations (brokering for e-commerce brands; then a Wallonia-only agency model) taught them hard lessons about market maturity and client stability. The turning point came when they began managing deals for a prominent business influencer (Ibrahim Kamara), leading to a first significant collaboration with Odoo—a clear signal of market fit. From there, they went deep into niche specialization (business/tech/BTP/daily tips/storytelling/auto…) while formalizing a mission: help creators maximize and diversify revenue so they can focus on what they do best—creating content.
Their operating model blends strict selection of creators (using niche benchmarks, CPM expectations, and an internal scoring model) with full-funnel strategic support: outbound prospecting, deal-making, brand building, and long-term projects for creators. Execution velocity is a theme—minimizing the gap between idea and action. They run 100+ monthly campaigns, manage ~50 exclusive creators (~80M cumulative followers), and maintain near-100% creator retention by being both results-driven and human in their approach.
To break away from a low-barrier market, they chose tech as their differentiator. Expandia built a proprietary internal platform (not commercialized) to centralize campaign workflows, conversations, and revenue tracking for creators. They also embedded AI to automate tedious checks—like validating that creator scripts match brand briefs—and to automate reminders and follow-ups. Critically, they consolidated operations onto Odoo as their central system, reducing tool sprawl (moving away from tools like HubSpot and separate billing systems) and complementing it with a documentation hub, Lexi (for call recording and AI summaries), and Lemlist for outbound sequences.
Scale, of course, depends on people. Their hiring philosophy: only “A-players,” even if it means 50–60 interviews without hiring. They built a transparent, meritocratic compensation grid with clear progression tied purely to KPIs, not negotiation. Employer branding on LinkedIn fuels talent attraction, while weekly management reviews enforce a discipline of measuring everything (from emails sent to talk time in calls) and prioritizing via the Pareto principle. Annual three-day strategy retreats (devices down) help the founders realign on vision, values, and the next scaling levers.
Impact & takeaways ⚙️
Expandia shows how a services company scales by systematizing what typically stays ad hoc: rigorous creator selection, KPI-led sales operations, niche-focused positioning, and a proprietary layer of tech and AI. Centralizing on Odoo gives them one operational backbone for CRM, campaigns, and finance, making speed and visibility possible as volumes rise. The result is tighter execution, higher creator satisfaction, and compounding growth, powered by a compact team (10 people; 6 BDs plus campaign operations) and an intentional culture (curiosity, efficiency, transparency, excellence). They aim to continue doubling annually and reach a larger multi-million milestone by 2027—without external funding, leaning on solid processes, technology as an accelerator, and top-tier talent.
Additional Q&A highlights 💬
Selection blends financial potential (by niche CPM benchmarks and an internal margin-based scoring model) with a deep mindset interview (1h+ discovery calls). A typical BD’s day mixes creator management, brand negotiations, prospecting, and reporting; campaign managers orchestrate briefs, scripts, approvals, and publishing cadences. For B2B go-to-market (e.g., HR tech), they favor creator collaborations on LinkedIn plus outbound with Lemlist. Above all: work the numbers (volume + conversion), track everything, and keep improving processes as the team scales.
PART 2 — Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo's vision.
Simplicity at scale is the hardest kind of simplicity. What I like in Expandia’s story is the discipline: focus on niches, measure everything, and cut time-to-action. Consolidating on Odoo is precisely about that—one source of truth that keeps teams fast as complexity grows.
Building an internal platform on top of a unified backbone is a very Odoo way of thinking: automate what’s repetitive, give creators and brands clarity, and keep humans focused on high-leverage work. It’s also encouraging to see transparency and community-minded values at the center; that’s how you build durable ecosystems, not just revenue.
PART 3 — Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
Expandia demonstrates strong product thinking for an agency—clear ICPs, standardized processes, and technology leverage. Centralizing on a suite like Odoo is smart for speed. As volumes rise, the next challenges will be multi-entity scale, more sophisticated compliance (GDPR/DSA/advertising disclosure), auditability, and brand-safety controls. These are solvable, but they require robust data governance, permissions, and financial controls as the operation matures.
The UX differentiation is noteworthy—creators want frictionless workflows. The real test is scaling that experience across geographies and verticals without fragmenting tools or creating data silos. Agencies that marry a great user experience with enterprise depth—scalable workflows, integrations, and compliance-by-design—will have a durable edge.
Disclaimer: This article contains AI-generated summaries and fictionalized commentaries for illustrative purposes. Viewpoints labeled as "Odoo Perspective" or "Competitors" are simulated and do not represent any real statements or positions. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.