This Kedger founded RAVACAN in the USA and has raised $1.6M!

1️⃣ To begin, tell us about your educational background. What did you study, both before and at KEDGE?

After getting my high school diploma with a focus on sciences, and after taking prep courses for business school (HEC) in Rennes, I started at KEDGE in Bordeaux in 2004, specialising in Industrial Management. I was lucky enough to get my gap-year internship at SNCF with an exciting position in logistics. That was the first time I encountered purchasing. I then did an Erasmus exchange at ICADE, Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid, and did my end-of-studies internship at GDF Suez in Paris in its IT purchasing department. After I got my master degree in management from KEDGE’s Grande Ecole Programme (GEP) in 2008, I continued my studies and did KEDGE’s Master in International Purchasing & Innovation Management programme (MAI) in 2008/2009. 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KEDGE'S MAI PROGRAMME

I also joined the MEDIA student association from my first year at KEDGE. I loved making videos for the other student association BDS (sports), BDA (arts), and Junior Enterprise, and different events at the school. We even filmed Franck Dubosc and Jean-Pierre Papin!

2️⃣ Tell us what you did after your studies were finished. What positions have you held? What did you learn in those positions?

After I finished the MAI programme, I joined the Global Purchasing team at Reckitt Benckiser in Barcelona. I immediately liked working in this experienced and ambitious team. The MAI teaches us how to be immediately operational in this kind of environment. However, as a teenager, I had always dreamed working in aeronautics, so when the opportunity to work for Rolls-Royce in Germany came up, even though I didn't speak German, I immediately seized it and became the Vendor Manager of the largest commodity for two years. After that, I became the Buyer for titanium and composite “fan cases”.

After three years of aeronautics, I wanted to work at a company where the product cycles were shorter. That’s why I took the job as in purchasing with Visteon at its Berlin location. Then I became the Reduction Manager for four countries: Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Russia. Visteon wanted to sell its “interiors” division and its cost-reduction objectives were huge: 20% over two years. This position combined everything I liked about purchasing: analysis, creativity, travelling, and teamwork.

I caught the entrepreneurialism virus while working in Berlin - one of the most dynamic places for start-ups in Europe. I started my first business, Food Tuner, with a friend in 2014. Then one day, I was playing with a Google Cardboard and was completely captivated with virtual reality. A Chinese friend and I created prototypes and launched a production line in China. For three years, we produced VR helmets for Google, Infiniti, Salesforce, Saint Moret, and other name brands. In 2015, I moved to the United States and, in 2017, I went to work for Fitbit as Senior Global Commodity Manager Innovations. My role was to find and launch new materials and technologies for smart watches and other concepts.

ANNE-SOPHIE LE BLOAS - LINKEDIN

3️⃣ What are you doing/what is your situation today? What gave you the idea and the desire to do what you’re doing today?

Today, I’m based in San Francisco and am the founder and CEO of Ravacan. Ravacan is an analytical and collaborative tool for industrial buyers based in San Francisco. In every position I have held, no matter what the sector or company size, I’ve had to create cost analysis tools, business cases, make-or-buy scenario calculations, return on investment, performance tracking, etc, using Excel. When I started at Fitbit, I really thought they would use a tool developed by a startup in Silicon Valley. Seeing that, even at Fitbit, buyers were spending a lot of their time doing data entry for reporting purposes, trying to update Excel spreadsheets to compare bids or track the progress of tenders, I decided to do something about it.

Vendors have CRMs, engineers have PLMs, project managers have their tools, even direct buyers have an alternative to Excel and email. For the last 20 years or so, there have been tools for indirect/non-production purchasing, but they’re not adapted to direct/production purchasing. Excel is a fast solution, but doesn’t perform as well, nor is it as collaborative and secure as software does. 

The Buyer job is such an important and strategic one that it is vital to avoid wasting valuable time on low value-added tasks, such as you do when you use Excel. Not only that, the use of spreadsheets often leads to errors, communication problems, and misunderstandings, which actually increase operational risks. The company can also lose a lot of information when an employee leaves and the data contained in emails and files are destroyed. That's how I started talking about my idea with people in my network.

At the same time, I took a coding course and launched a prototype in the summer of 2019. I signed our first contract with a tech company in San Francisco a few months later. With Ravacan, buyers can import parts lists (Bills of Materials) and generate demand forecasts, and share them with their suppliers. They can also issue new tenders and analyse the responses, and can automatically request and approve updated prices, delivery times, minimum orders, and capacity levels for their suppliers every quarter. And finally, they get real-time reporting of the cost of finished products as well as a complete dashboard of the purchasing portfolio structure by supplier, commodity, and product in order to easily and efficiently prepare purchasing strategies.

RAVACAN.COM

4️⃣ What are your development objectives for the future?

Our first customer saved nearly 1 million dollars with our solution, despite COVID-19, and our users include Foxconn and other major electronics companies. We’ve just raised 1.6 million dollars from reputable investors and are ready to expand our product to new customers. Our goal is to continue to grow and help even more buyers no matter what industrial sector they are in.

ARTICLE RAVACAN - FORBES

5️⃣ If you were to give advice to any KEDGE graduate who wants to do something similar, what would it be?

A long time ago, I asked a well-known politician this question and she replied, "There is no model, everyone makes their own path". I thought that was a bit harsh at the time, but looking back, it's so true. You get better results when you trust yourself and stay true to yourself. As the saying goes, "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”.

As far as education is concerned, the MAI, in particular, has been a great fit for my career. Even 11 years later, I’m still using what I learned.

6️⃣ Anything you’d like to add? A message to pass on?

Thanks to the fundraising, our teams are growing, and, with an office in China, we have the opportunity to take on new clients. We are also looking for partnerships with consulting firms. Don’t hesitate to contact me for a demo or let me know your needs. 

FIND OUT MORE   RAVACAN - LINKEDIN