Objectif 100 M€ Jour 1 : j'ai tout coupé à 100 k€ par mois

Summary

At 23, Matthéo Cauwet says he chose to shut down an online training business that was generating more than €100,000 per month, despite it performing well. His aim is to move from a fast-growing but volatile online model to a durable home-services company in France, with a long-term ambition of building a business worth €100 million or more.

Strategy and business rationale

• Shift from online training to home services: He sees training and information-product businesses as vulnerable to platform changes, constant content demands, and dependence on the founder’s personal presence. He also questions how much durable, organic growth and word of mouth those businesses can generate.
• Build in a lasting, practical industry: His chosen sector is home services—work such as painting, air-conditioning installation, roofing, and flooring. His thesis is that demand for these services will persist, and that many French tradespeople have strong craft skills but lack entrepreneurial and business capabilities.
• Apply online-business skills offline: He expects to bring his experience in marketing and online growth to a traditional, regulated industry. He has not yet revealed the specific service or detailed business model.
• Optimize for long-term ownership and scale: He wants to build an organization that could still exist in ten years, rather than maximize short-term income. His vision includes offices, branded trucks, employees earning good wages, and a company culture with shared activities.
• Choose a business that fits his preferred work: He says the motivating part of entrepreneurship is building and improving something through daily setbacks and wins—not luxury, travel, or a high monthly income alone.

Frameworks and operating principles

• Long-term business test: Before choosing a venture, ask: Will I still want to run this in ten years? Consider whether the business can scale and potentially be sold.
• Durability over volatility: Evaluate a business not only by its current earnings, but also by its resilience to platform changes, founder dependence, and shifts in technology.
• Translate existing capabilities into a new sector: Use skills gained in one business—particularly marketing and execution—in an industry with different operational needs.
• Think beyond founder-led marketing: A sustainable company should ideally develop employees, operations, and word of mouth rather than rely entirely on the founder’s social media presence.
• “Pay the musicians at the end of the dance”: He argues that high short-term earnings do not necessarily indicate lasting business value; decisions should be assessed over a longer horizon.

Metrics, targets, and costs mentioned

• Past online-business results: He says he made over €1 million online over several years and was earning more than €100,000 per month before shutting the business down.
• Advertising performance: He reports spending nearly €1,000 per day on advertising and earning €5 for every €1 spent. This is an advertising return figure, not a stated profit margin.
• Long-term target: He wants to build a business worth €100 million or more, with a ten-year horizon in mind—roughly by age 30.
• Exit costs from Dubai: He estimates around €15,000 in remaining rent for six months, plus approximately €4,000 in company-related fees, bringing the cited costs close to €20,000. He also mentions other cancellation and relocation expenses.
• New venture status: The French company is not yet launched. He says incorporation, insurance, banking, and vehicle arrangements are taking time, partly because home services are regulated.

Concrete examples and execution challenges

• Closed the online business at its peak: He emphasizes that he did not shut it down because it had stopped working; he says performance was near its best. He presents the decision as a deliberate strategic reset.
• Relocation and setup friction: After moving from Dubai to Toulouse, he encountered difficulties renting housing, arranging banking, setting up a French company, obtaining insurance, and buying a company vehicle. He describes these as early operational bottlenecks, not evidence that the new business has already failed.
• Market-entry opportunity: He believes a company that pairs skilled tradespeople with stronger marketing and business operations could stand out in France. This remains a thesis to validate; he has not yet provided customer research, unit economics, or a launch plan.

Presenters and sources

• Presenter: Matthéo Cauwet
• External sources: None cited.