Interview with Julien and Mathieu, co-founders of Compasss, the discount card for 18-25 year olds

Compass is THE back-to-school project. The concept is simple, a discount card for 18-25 year olds, valid in Marseille. It allows you to benefit from tailor-made offers from quality partners. Behind this ambitious and totally up-to-date project are three students driven by the idea of ​​helping others. Through Compass, they intend to create various events to make things happen and change our world. It was in the heart of Marseille, at one of their partners, that we met. Discover the menu through my exchange with Julien and Mathieu. We are certain that the card, once discovered, will never leave us.

Hello, can you introduce yourself?

Matthew. I'm Mathieu and I'm 21 years old. I am a business school student at Kedge in Marseille. I set up my business with my two colleagues Julien and Ryan, the company Compass, a discount card for 18-25 year olds in Marseille.

Julian. And I'm Julien. I'm at Kedge like Mathieu, doing a master's. There, I am currently on a break until December, I resume classes in January. And during my caesura, in parallel with the association in which I was, we created Compass.

Did the three of you know each other before?

J. So, with Ryan, we knew each other, he's a childhood friend. Mathieu, we met at Kedge, so in September, last year, at the start of the school year in fact. And we were able to develop a friendship through work in progress, group work. One of which related to the project of a reduction card for 18-25 year olds.

M. We were led to develop an idea for a project, and we had this idea with Julien from the beginning. We did it with the whole group and over time it germinated, it developed. There was the Covid also next door, so it was not necessarily clear. With Julien, we were both in Marseille and we had noticed that there was a need here. We ourselves, we are young and student, we need reductions. So we said to ourselves: Why not get started!

Does this fall within the scope of your studies?

J. Well, not quite. In fact, at the base, it comes from group work and then we wanted to launch it, really on our side, outside of class. To really build our business.

A project that you can keep after business school.

J. Exactly! There really is this parallel between the school and our project. It's not necessarily on the same trajectory.

M. We really developed it separately. We started the business with Ryan, so there were three of us. And there, we really launched into the big bath.

How did the construction of the project go in practice? How was the relationship with the partners, you have big partnerships. Is it thanks to the school or did you only go canvassing all three of you?

M. All three, yes.

J. It really happened alongside school. We did not rely on the notoriety of Kedge or on the fact that we are a student at Kedge, to do the canvassing. We went there almost as an independent, Compass. And we made a canvassing in physics, all three, over almost four, five months. It took us a lot of effort, to go see all the partners, to maintain the relationship with them until we signed a contract and put in place an offer with communication, etc. So it was a long-term job. Since February, we are clearly on it, working.

So in the middle of Covid?

J. That's it. In February, we said to ourselves: “We are launching the project”. On April 1, we created the company. And from that moment, we were able to canvass, quite simply, in Marseille until mid-August.

M. We haven't taken a vacation all summer (laughs). But it was a pleasure!

Do you know Marseilles?

J. I arrived in Marseille a year and a half ago, in the third year after the baccalaureate. I got to know Marseille a little bit. But by canvassing, trying to set up in Marseille with Compass, we know the city very, very well now.

Because it's true that to go and see the key places in Marseille, the places where young people usually go, you have to know the city at least.

M. We got to know the city with canvassing, in addition to what we already knew.

There was a real work upstream on that.

J. That's it. In fact, what must be said is that we did not go canvassing without having worked before. We did a huge prospecting on the internet, networks etc, to define the partners we wanted. By type of activity, whether bar, restaurant, leisure etc. And also by district, because we really worked a lot on the districts. On not having two restaurants that have the same industry. For example, two Thais next door in the same neighborhood. We really worked on that.

There are four people who have launched a concept similar to yours, it's Ambassade Marseille with the Marseille identity card, which also entitles you to discounts. Aren't you afraid that you will be assimilated a little bit to that. What makes you different?

Mr. No. So we have a common partner, it's Soccer 13 by Puma. But they are not specialized in the same sectors of activity, they have different activities from ours. And there is no age limit. On the form, they also have discounts. But we are really for young people aged 18-25. As we are between 18 and 25 years old, we directly affect a population we know. We had a need, ourselves, to have reductions. We all know it, it's vital, because we don't necessarily have the purchasing power of a 30/40 year old and we like to go out etc. So we wanted to help young people through our card.

Can you show us the map and explain why it's called Compass?

J. For the name, we searched for a long time, because we wanted a name that was simple, effective and easy to remember. And Compass came. It is the translation of compass in English and compass can be assimilated to the direction, and the direction that the project can take. The fact of developing in other cities, after, for example. It can serve as a guide. It's a bit symbolic.

M. Le guide des bons plans also guides you towards reductions.

J. This is also the definition of compass in English. The compass that crashes which delimits a geographical area, Marseille, and to have reductions in this area, for the people of Marseille. It is clearly established in Marseille, even if we are thinking of going to other cities. And if not the password which also went well in Compass.

M. For the card, it's a classic PVC card, where you have your first and last name. So it is nominative. And there is a serial number, of course, to prevent any attempt at fraud. To benefit from reductions, young people have their card and when they pay at one of our partners, they present the card to get the reduction. With our 50 partners, there are permanent reductions. And on the back of the card there are 6 welcome offers in addition to the permanent offers they have all year round. He scratches it once, for example, at our partner Burger Papa, where they have for a burger bought, a burger offered, in addition to the 20% they have for the year.

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Can you tell us what sectors of activity there are?

M. We have bars, restaurants. We also have activities and leisure, daily life. For activities: gyms, soccer.

J. Anything nautical, because we're in Marseille!

Mr. On a daily basis, beauty salons, phone repairs. The Boulanger store too, which allows you to buy household appliances. Young people sometimes need to buy a microwave.

J. When you move into your new apartment, a small fridge.

M. Bars, we have karaoke bars, pubs, a beer bar, concept bars, like here, since they also sell jewelry, bags and clothes. We also have the Rooftop, which is a nightclub.

Are these the same reductions wherever it has been negotiated with each partner?

M. We saw with all our partners and we tried to really have a multitude, a variety of offers, precisely which correspond to the place where they are.

J. Tailored Partner Discounts. Some can't afford to make higher discounts than others. It is also according to the field of activities in which they are.

M. Depending on what they offer, type of drink, food. There, we adapt to make a nice offer, on what appeals to young people.

So it can go from a free drink, to -15 or -20%?

M. Exactly!

I buy the card. How do I use it concretely, if I want to have a drink here, for example?

J. You just need to have the card, go see the partner in question, go to the counter if there is one, present it and you can benefit from the reduction.

M. At the time of the addition, for example if the waiter or the waitress comes to cash us. There, we present the card, and the price is adapted on the TPE.

I don't need to have a QR code scanned, just under presentation of the card.

Mr. No. The QR code that is present is just for the offers on the website.

J. If we scan the QR code, it takes us directly to the site and we can see all the offers available with the card.

Can I order it all year round?

J. It can be ordered all year round and there are three ways to get the card. There is the means of delivery which allows it to be collected all year round, it can be ordered at any time. There is the BDE way. We are in partnership with student offices from different schools in Marseille. If you choose the option to retrieve the card from your BDE, you just have to choose the BDE in question and then you can go and retrieve it. So either they will be on call, or they will be constantly, their premises will be constantly open and in this case, we can recover the card, perhaps all year round. And the last thing, there is also the permanence that we will be doing from September 22 at the Queen Victoria. You can pre-order the card and it will be reserved for the Queen Victoria. The person can come and pick it up at our stand, without reservation. It's a bar on the Old Port.

M. To also answer the question if we have all sold at some point, I don't know if we will recommend some, but I don't think so.

There is a limited stock?

M Yes, that's it, it's a limited stock.

How are the cards made and how quickly do I receive them?

M. The cards are already ready. They are made by a supplier. For the delay, for pre-orders, they received their card September 20. They were able to use it from the first day it was available. The offers are available from September 20, 2021 to September 20, 2022, over one year. And in delivery, it's about four to five working days, a week.

J. In BDE, it depends on how they manage to do their permanence to give them. So that is really specific to each student office.

It was you who gave them and then they manage?

J. That's it, we just need to have the number of cards that was ordered for the BDE and we give them back. Either we appoint directly, or the BDE takes care of it.

Why is the card charged, what is it mainly for and why 15€?

M. It pays off because we inevitably have costs behind, production, website, all the ancillary costs. There is also work. We really worked on it since January / February.

J. That's it. And then there's all the loyalty work that we've done with our partners. That we will do all year because there, the project started concretely. All prospecting work. We do this to offer discounts to people and that's the quid pro quo. I think that €15 for all the offers on the menu is something that is, that can be very, very profitable over a year. It is a very reasonable price. And that largely covers our costs.

M. For example, for the profitability of which Julien speaks. On the back of the card, just the welcome offers, it's equivalent to 50€ offered for the card which costs only 15€. The example that I take most often is that of a person who does not have his license and who saves €300 with the card. It is directly profitable, it is amortized.

Do you plan to develop other partnerships in Marseille during the year?

J. So we have been in contact with more partners than the 50 who are there. Some could not set up the partnership now, for various reasons. They recommended that we come back in September or from September to discuss a partnership again. So for what we think is interesting to add, yes, we will add them over the course of the year. But the goal is still to keep a reasonable number of partners to be able to do all this loyalty work correctly and to keep only qualitative offers.

Why did you choose this age group, 18-25, and not just students?

J. We think that a person who leaves his baccalaureate, will perhaps continue in his studies or not. Maybe she'll be self-employed or work for someone. She certainly has the same needs as a person who is a student, whether in DUT, college or school. So we put everyone in the same boat by giving the possibility of having this card.

The Covid and the difficulties encountered by some students, did that also motivate and push the project?

M. Clearly! The fact that there was student insecurity, among young people in general, that touched us. And we said to ourselves that there was even more need than usual, because there is always a need for young people. But there, the fact that there was the Covid, it was really an additional motivation to help. And then, on the side of our partners, helping them because they too have experienced difficulties.

Do you plan to repeat the experience next year? Will it take the same form or are you already thinking of a different version?

J. Yes, we would really like to be able to keep the project alive. In the same way with a card to present to our partners.

Next year and as many years as possible?

M. If it works and it still pleases, we will still be there to work as we do. It would make us happy. It's already a pleasure to have feedback from young people who tell us "Ah, that's a great idea", because we worked a lot on it, a lot of headaches, questions, etc.

Have you had any feedback on the map, the instagram page or the website?

J. We were told that the idea was brilliant and that people were happy to have it. Compared to the website, the feedback we've had is very good because it's pretty clean, it's qualitative. Same for instagram. We tried to do something that differs a little from what we can see in general and to have a framework that follows throughout. And that, too, is really nice. For the customer experience, the person who buys the card, who goes on Instagram, it is very readable for them, to discover all our partners and discover the offers.

You told me about it a little earlier, would you like to launch the project in other cities? Do you have a development plan, starting with the towns around Marseille, or maybe where you come from?

M. If it works well, why not consider other cities. We had especially thought of Aix-en-Provence which is next door and it is a common campus. So to be able to also allow Aixois and Aixoises to have the Compass card, which would allow them to have reductions in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence and vice versa for the Marseillais, Marseillaises.

And why not in student towns, such as Toulouse, Lille…?

M. Yes, we would of course like that. We have little visibility on what we are currently doing in Marseille, we will have a little more in a few months. But of course, if it's possible, it could be a great experience since we would go to cities we don't know to develop our business, so that would be nice.

J. What also makes the difference is a question of proximity to our partners. When I was talking about loyalty, I think it's something that is very important in general for the project. So we can't have our heads everywhere and we have to, I think, already focus on what we have there. And that we seek to develop it, to make it work well, that it pleases people, partners, all stakeholders and we will see to possibly develop it elsewhere.

See what happens locally and why not, then install it permanently and even hire people, why not!

J. Very clearly!

Do you have a short word for the end, for the readers?

M. Thank you for reading us, it's a pleasure that the project pleased the readers because if they read these lines, it's because they liked it. And we hope they find the concept cool. We are happy to help young people!

J. Don't hesitate to come to Marseille, it's a great city that deserves to be highlighted.

Thanks to Julien and Mathieu, to Ryan also who unfortunately could not be present.

Thanks to the Double Je concept bar team.

If you are from Marseille, do not hesitate to order your card on the Compass site, for others, you will have to wait a bit! In any case, it's a project to follow very closely with three highly motivated entrepreneurs full of ideas.

To follow them on instagram @cartecompass

Go OM, Go Saint-Etienne!