A look back at the career of an HJC alumnus: creating his own start-up
Clara Meurer, co-founder and co-CEO of Buddy, is an inspiring example of an HEC Junior Conseil (HJC) alumna who has drawn on her associative and professional experiences to create an innovative company. Graduating from HEC Paris in 2021, Clara followed an atypical career path, moving from law to investment banking, then to teaching in a ZEP before launching herself into entrepreneurship.
Introducing Clara Meurer, Buddy founder and co-CEO
"After my two internships, I decided to do a skills assessment, asking myself, "What do I like to do, and more importantly, what am I good at?" During my internships, I felt like I could be replaced, and I didn't want to wait for decades of professional careers before I didn't feel that way anymore. I didn't feel that I was using my specificities, my particular qualities in law firms or investment banks."
While her professional experiences have enabled her to get to know herself better, it's above all her experiences with associations that have opened her eyes to entrepreneurship.
"I finally realized that what I loved doing was balancing a bit of strategy with a bit of fieldwork, and that's all I was doing at Junior Entreprise. As a member of HEC Junior Conseil's 2019 mandate, I began to get the intuition that entrepreneurship would appeal to me."
Clara emphasizes the importance of her organizational skills during her tenure. "What I was doing was a bit like CEO duties during our campaigns to become a member of HEC Junior Conseil. I had to coordinate our team, motivate them, organize everyone's days and give them clear directives. I was good at uniting a group and being both organized and ambitious, two qualities that Junior Entreprise demands and reinforces."
"With this budding intuition for entrepreneurship, I decided to take the XHEC Entrepreneurs Master's program, a veritable condensed learning experience about oneself, others and the entrepreneurial professions. We even get help setting up a company during the course!
The genesis of Buddy: a response to a personal problem
The idea for Buddy was born of personal experience. On returning from her internship in the United States, Clara was faced with a real administrative headache, a situation she shared with many of her friends.
"I wanted to be a good citizen, but I didn't know how to go about it. It was extremely stressful... There were no clear resources."
With her two associates, Céline Bertrix (H.22) and Mehdi Benharrats (X-HEC. 22), whom she met during the X-HEC Master's program, Clara decided to launch Buddy, a platform dedicated to centralizing and simplifying administrative procedures for young people (social aid, access to housing, rental files, etc.). Buddy began with a newsletter and now has over 25,000 users. The free application will soon be launched, and promises to help young people manage their administrative obligations more smoothly.
"Our aim is to warn each young person about their situation, what they can and should do, and help them to do it."
The formative role of HEC Junior Conseil in her entrepreneurial journey
Her experience at HEC Junior Conseil played a major role in shaping her entrepreneurial spirit. As General Secretary, she learned to manage a team, coordinate projects and make strategic decisions.
"Junior Entreprise was one of the many seeds that planted the seeds of entrepreneurship in my head. There are a lot of similarities with what I'm experiencing now thanks to entrepreneurship: you have carte blanche to grow the Junior Entreprise (and respectively your start-up). It's a bit like the motto of the Master X-HEC Entrepreneurs: "Throw them in the water and they'll learn to swim." And that was totally the case for Junior Entreprise."
The skills he acquired at HJC, particularly in project management and understanding customer needs, had a direct impact on his ability to structure Buddy.
"It's a bit like user search. You have to understand the customer's need more than you talk about yourself. Dig as deep as you can into the 'why' they need this assignment."
The challenges of entrepreneurship and the support of the HEC network
Like any entrepreneur, Clara had to overcome a number of challenges in creating Buddy. In particular, she underlines the importance of the HEC Junior Conseil network in launching her company. "Junior Entreprise helped me a lot: we were at the heart of the professional selection tests for the new mandate. Students wishing to join the Junior Entreprise had to pitch Buddy to strangers. This gave our start-up a real boost, even though we were only at the beginning of the project!"
She also mentions the role played by the HEC incubator, based at Station F, which contributed greatly to the development of her project, thanks to the advice of numerous professionals.
Clara was also able to draw on the lessons of the X-HEC Master's program and the confidence gained from her first calls as a project manager at HJC, which prepared her for the constant challenges of entrepreneurship.
"In entrepreneurship, it's a rollercoaster ride, but you have to stay motivated and organized."
What does the future hold for Buddy?
In the coming months, Buddy plans to launch its application in France and expand internationally, particularly in the United States. The fund-raising currently underway will accelerate this expansion.
Clara also remains very involved with HEC Junior Conseil and hopes to contribute to its development by staying close to new mandates and the alumni network, a real strength for the association which this year celebrates its 53rd anniversary.
