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PropTech Flash Talk #08 Studio 5253

In today’s Flash Talk, we introduce you to STUDIO 5253 from France, and it’s managing partner, Etienne Valette. The company plays a leading role in the architectural visualization market and has a broad experience in the real estate business.

WHAT IS THE COMPANY’S MAIN OBJECTIVE, AND WHAT IS YOUR ROLE WITHIN THE COMPANY?

We strive to play a big role in the architectural visualization market, in France as well as other countries in Europe. We have already established ourselves in Australia; our first location. 

My position is the Managing Partner and I develop every aspect within my role. 

HOW DID YOU GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?

I have a financial and business development background. When I was offered this position by the CEO of the group; an architect with 20 years of experience, and also a member of my family, I embraced the challenge. The activity area which I knew was evolving strongly with the arrival of Proptech on the market. The family aspect gives us a solid cohesion. 

WHO ARE YOUR TARGETED CUSTOMERS? 

All the people who use some 3D architectural visualizations, which are mostly developers, builders, architects, marketing companies dedicated to the real estate market, but also Real Estate Program Directors, Marketing Directors and Partnerships Managers, etc. 

WHAT ARE THE MAIN PROBLEMS YOU SOLVE?  

Marketing and communication.

WHAT IS MOST INTERESTING IN YOUR SOLUTION? WHAT ARE YOU PROUD OF?

Our quality of work, our rates and our delivery delays (photorealistic quality for all of

our products, rates around 45% below the French market and delivery delays split by

half).

HOW CAN THE BENEFITS OF YOUR SOLUTION BE MEASURED? 

95% of our customers have become loyal, which is fantastic. The remaining 5% is made up of two who decided to internalize these subjects as part of their development.

WHAT DO YOUR CUSTOMERS APPRECIATE MOST ABOUT YOU?

Extreme reactivity and continual availability.

LET’S TALK RATES! CAN YOU SHARE WITH US YOUR CURRENT RETENTION RATE, GROWTH RATE, AND THE NUMBER OF MARKETS/CUSTOMERS YOU CURRENTLY HAVE? 

We are well implanted on 4 markets (Australia/New-Zealand, Singapore, UAE, and more recently France/EU) and we have around 150 clients; which mainly consist of big developers. Speaking specifically of the French market, we have about  25 clients, we grow approximately  50% YoY.

IF YOU COULD GIVE YOURSELF A PIECE OF ADVICE WHEN YOU STARTED THE COMPANY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

To mainly focus on marketing and communication.

WHAT IS YOUR MAIN CHALLENGE NOW?

Increase our visibility on the European market and continue our French growth.

HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF FROM OTHER COMPETITORS? 

We have an international strike force, and 100% of our production is made in India, which is a pool of expertise when it comes to IT. That gives us the possibility to provide very affordable solutions because of the low level of business expenses there and to always be at the cutting edge of technology in our activity area. The family aspect spoken above, and the small number of hierarchical strata give us the possibility to make decisions very fast which is a huge business accelerator, as each Managing Partner has complete freedom in his/her geographical area.



ARE THERE DIFFERENCES IN YOUR BUSINESS SEGMENT BETWEEN THE MARKETS YOU SUPPLY?

There is a huge difference between the French market and the others, in their way of doing business and general way of thinking.

Generally, any post on social networks would bring us some inquiries, at the very least; in France, we are facing people with a different state of mind, they assume that one “like” will trigger a commercial action, they don’t want to be bothered.  Changes are not seen the same way, they are considered risky and not worth it.

WHAT CUSTOMERS BENEFITS AND SERVICES DO YOU PROVIDE? 

To us, the client is king! We provide everything they need, a lot of them really appreciated, for example, that we could work on weekends to be able to deliver on time, so they could on their side be able to present the project to the urban planning services and win the building permit. We basically never say no, if it’s technically and humanly possible.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE BIGGEST SUCCESS/FAILURE OF THE COMPANY?

Our big success is the client’s retention, to collaborate one time with us is in 95% of the cases to stay with us.

Failure would be that we haven’t managed to get some solid national framework agreements with the big real estate actors, we work mostly with the regional offices.

WHAT TRENDS DO YOU SEE IN THE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS? 

We are a part of the BIM method which is without any doubt the future of the real estate business.

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS? 

Our objective is to first achieve the same results in France as in Australia, and secondly to become a key European player in the architectural visualization sector. By continuing to create new products as often as the technology will allow us. We are very involved in the development of virtual reality and augmented reality, which is only at the beginning of what they can bring to the real estate sector. We ideally want to continue in that direction.