Sprint Program: A day to build your equity story

On September 30th, entrepreneurs from the 21st by CentraleSupélec Sprint program dedicated an entire day to a critical question for any deeptech startup: how do you convince investors and build your company's story, round after round? The agenda featured a VC Talk with early-stage investor Dominique Vidal, followed by a masterclass on the fundamentals of fundraising led by Cédric Curtil, Director of CentraleSupélec Ventures.

Sprint: A program to shift into high gear

Sprint is the intensive support program from 21st by CentraleSupélec, designed for the most advanced projects in the incubator. Its goal: to help teams validate their market, structure their product, and accelerate their transition to full-time entrepreneurship. Throughout the program, thematic days allow entrepreneurs to dive deep into key development challenges. With Equity Story day, the focus was on fundraising.

VC Talk: Inside the mind of an investor

The morning kicked off with a VC Talk bringing together early-stage entrepreneurs from the Sprint program as well as more advanced startups (seed and Series A) supported by our accelerator at Station F.

Our guest, Dominique Vidal, is a CentraleSupélec alumnus (class of 1988). A former Partner at Index Ventures, he has made early-stage investments in companies such as Criteo, BlaBlaCar, and Squarespace. Before entering the world of venture capital, he spent ten years at Schlumberger and then co-founded Kelkoo, which he helped grow from 0 to €100 million in revenue across nine European countries until its sale to Yahoo. This dual background as an entrepreneur and investor gives him a unique perspective on what makes a startup succeed—or fail.

Among the lessons shared with the entrepreneurs:

• Show what is exceptional from the very first meeting. A track record, a vision, a team, a technology, a market: one element must spark the desire to learn more. "Good is not good enough."
• Don't underestimate the market. Remarkable technology is not enough. The sector it operates in and the momentum it can capture remain a major investment criterion.
• Decide, then move forward. Uncertainty is a constant in entrepreneurship. A decision becomes a good one based on how it is executed.
• Build a cohesive team capable of scaling. A very tight-knit team can become a limitation if it discourages the addition of complementary profiles.
• Keep a sense of wonder. Experience helps identify what doesn't work, but it can also lead to dismissing opportunities that fall outside the box too quickly.

Dominique Vidal's message is simple: don't look for perfection, look for the exceptional and build around it. The discussions continued over lunch with the entrepreneurs.

Masterclass: The fundamentals of fundraising

In the afternoon, Cédric Curtil, Director of CentraleSupélec Ventures, led an interactive masterclass for the Sprint program entrepreneurs on building a solid funding strategy ahead of their roadshow.

First, the context: out of the 22,000 active startups in France, 4,600 have opened their capital to an external investor, 2,300 are funded by the most active French funds, and only 900 by the 15 most active VCs. In such a selective environment, preparation makes all the difference.

The core theme of the masterclass was simple: you don't just prepare for a fundraising round; you prepare the company's equity story across multiple rounds. Each round must reach a specific milestone (technological validation, initial contracts, commercial traction, team strengthening) to pave the way for the next one.

Cédric Curtil then detailed several key points:

• Target the right investors. Before sending a deck, you must study the fund's investment thesis: sector, geography, stage of development, and ticket size.
• Structure love money intelligently. Segment your investors, prioritize those who bring useful skills, properly value the idea and the work already accomplished, and clearly define everyone's rights.
• Address the "6 Ts" that VCs look for. Team (who is leading the project and what are their skills), TAM (the actual size of the addressable market), Traction (tangible proof of adoption and growth), Tech (innovation and the ability to turn it into a business), Timing (why now), and Ten X (the potential for large-scale value creation).
• Ensure that every euro raised helps reach a new milestone. The question isn't just how much to raise, but what proof this funding will provide and how it will make the next round possible.

The session also covered the KPIs expected by funds and the essential elements of an effective data room, ensuring everyone left with a structured vision and concrete action items.

‍

A shared conviction

From the investor's perspective to the fund's methodology, the day's two highlights converged on one point: technology, no matter how brilliant, is not enough. It is the market, the team, the traction, and the ability to tell a credible story that convince investors.

A big thank you to Dominique Vidal and Cédric Curtil for their generosity and the richness of their discussions with the entrepreneurs supported by 21st by CentraleSupélec.

‍