A reality check on startup ideas
Issue #08: + what's more important than who 'owns' them
Ideas belong to time periods more than people.
As founders, it’s easy to get attached to an idea you came up with or feel disconnected if it wasn’t yours. But the truth is, coming up with the idea is the easy part. What really matters for your startup’s success is what comes next:
Finding cofounders who work together brilliantly
Bringing ambition and drive to every step
Executing with precision, starting with a clear and achievable first step
That’s why it doesn’t matter to us where the idea originates—whether it’s from you or from us.
To make this clearer, alongside our trademark ready-to-go ideas, we’re publishing a list of broader areas we’re excited to build in. These range from AI-native medical software and LLM development tools. These aren’t fully baked ideas but higher areas of interest, leaving even more room for founders to shape the direction.
If you’ve been mulling over a startup idea that fits one of these spaces, or even just have a spark of inspiration, we’d love to hear it.
Bring us your thoughts, no matter how early-stage. If it’s a match, we’ll build it together.
💡 Check out our areas of interest 💡
Files from Hexa
✌️ Twice’s first podcast episode by Thibaud
In this first episode of Twice ✌️, Thibaud Elzière welcomes Eduardo Ronzano, a serial entrepreneur who shares his journey: from founding KelDoc, the online appointment booking solution for hospital doctors sold to the National Hospital Mutual, to co-founding Kolet, one of the leaders in the eSIM market. Eduardo reflects on the lessons he has learned, the personal and professional challenges he has overcome, and how his approach evolved for his second entrepreneurial venture.
📥 Inside Collective (HX20) with cofounder Jean
Collective’s Jean de Rauglaudre pulls questions from our mystery box to share the real story behind the company giving LinkedIn’s freelance market a run for its money. Four years after they left our studio, the team has pivoted to a social network for freelancers. In this video, Jean reflects on Collective's journey, addressing topics such as finding product-market fit, co-founder dynamics, work-life balance, and the realities of startup life.
↕️ 100 vertical AI agents to build
2025 is set to be the year of “digital workers,” and Hexa Partner Florent Quinti has spent months analyzing the most promising AI automation use cases across industries like healthcare, banking, and logistics. He’s compiled a list of the Top 100 fundable AI agents, meeting five key VC criteria—a must-read for anyone building the future of automation.
Other files we recommend
⚒️ Clef de Voûte with Victor Gross
Hexa’s Product Lead reveals our product methodology to Timothé Frin.
🥕 Génération DIY with Yuka’s Julie Chapon
Julie reveals how Yuka took the US by storm.
🤜 Clef de Voûte with Alex Louisy
We’re having a moment on this podcast! Upflow’s Alex (HX19) dives into how he’s earned the nickname Mr Resilience.
News
💡 Hexa calls for ideas from founders
We have some ready-to-go ideas, but we want to hear yours too. To leave enough scope for this, today we’re listing our partners’ higher-level areas of interest, from voice AI to LLM development tools. More broad opportunities than fully-baked ideas, if you’ve been mulling over an idea that fits one of these spaces, or even just have a spark of inspiration, we’d love to hear it.
⚖️ LegalX calls for design partners
One of our projects is poking its head above water to find its design partners. Founder and CEO Benjamin Leiba is looking for forward-thinking lawyers to be early users of his AI copilot for legal work, streamlining how they manage emails and documents, to work faster, smarter, and more securely. If you’re interested, apply here.
⛰️ Tengo (HX24) clients win €100M worth of tenders
Just one year after launching Tengo (HX24) with Hugues Renou and Yoann Gauthier, the team has reached an important milestone: helping their users to win public tenders worth over €100M in total. Behind this figure lies a range of diverse projects that are transforming communities and businesses. Kudos to all!
Jobs
Product Manager at Hexa
Investor Relations Manager at Hexa
Fullstack Engineer at Basalt (HX24)
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or suggestions for this newsletter, don’t hesitate to hit reply. In the meantime, you can follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter.
Cheers,
The Hexa Team