As the AXA Startup Angel competition 2025 kicks off its search for this year's winning business idea, we caught up with one of last year’s top winners, Francisco Shizari of Bluco.
Co-founder, Francisco Shizari impressed the judges last year with innovative startup business, Bluco, which leverages the power of chat and AI to tackle the challenge of attracting and hiring new qualified deskless workers.
The last time we caught up, Bluco hadn't long won the AXA Startup Angel Competition. What's been happening since?
There’s been quite a lot happening, mainly the growth of our team and our client base! We achieved some excellent results with the initial collaborations we undertook. Since these were with reputable companies and well-known brands, we were able to showcase the results to the market and attract more clients. It’s thanks to winning the AXA Startup Angel Competition that we could deliver a highly advanced product to these major enterprises.
Having had your mentoring sessions with the AXA Angels, how did it go?
It was super informative!
Raphael operates in a similar sector, speaks with the same buyers, and follows a similar business model to ours. So, the advice was relevant and extremely applicable. Even through our discussions, we identified immediate actions to improve not just our sales but also our operations.
Speaking with Sharmadean was particularly insightful, as she has raised significant funding and really understands how fundraising works. Plus, she has experience managing a big team, and with our team growing it was great to get advice on that. And of course, the guys, Ian and Henry, from BOSH! have a ton of experience with partnerships and selling to customers. All three [AXA Angels] were really helpful.
Having won one of last year's top prizes, what do you think it was about your application that made Bluco stand out?
I think it was definitely our video, we made sure that what we were saying was very clear. With the written answer, we were concise and got our application to a point where you can read it and understand what Bluco does within a couple of sentences. We left the bulk of what Bluco does for the video. And we put a lot of effort into making sure that our product and the impact it has was communicated clearly.
We also featured stakeholders, including blue-collar candidates sharing their experiences in the video. I think that gave us an edge, as it’s not an easy thing to do. With text, it’s easy to write too much, but with video, you can focus in and really convey the message.
With the £25,000 prize money, how have you used it so far?
We immediately spent it. We’re pleased to be at a point where it made sense to invest the entire prize, £25,000, because we have something we can grow right away, specifically with our product and tech team. Our first collaborations were with large enterprises, so it was crucial that we delivered strong outcomes.
We couldn’t afford to disappoint, so we invested everything into the product. We didn't put anything into marketing, or sales - everything was really focused on product. And so, the product led the sales because it speaks for itself. Once we got the results, it made making new sales and bringing in new collaborations easier because people knew they were getting value for what they were giving.
What advice would you give to anyone who's thinking of applying to this year's AXA Startup Competition?
Do the application! It really doesn't matter how mature you are in your startup journey; it doesn't matter where the company is at. If you're delivering value through an idea that could be novel and impactful, or demonstrating traction through excellent execution, you stand a very good chance of winning an amazing prize and opportunity.
Even if you don’t secure first or second place, the runner-up prizes and the exposure you receive are extremely valuable for an early-stage company. So, first and foremost, submit the application. Then, focus on the video and keep your answers concise. Make sure that you can explain what you do to a five-year old, because only then can you show that you really know what you're doing.
What makes a competition like AXA Startup Angel important for budding entepeeneurs?
The low barrier to entry and the amazing support that you get. Usually, competitions involve many stages and additional requirements. [With the AXA Startup Angel Competition] the floor is open to a greater number of people. It creates a great opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to be able to apply, without having to spend too long on the process. You can be in any place in your startup journey and have the chance to win £25,000. There are few competitions with this sort of prize money, and especially with this sort of barrier to entry.
What are some personal highlihts since winning the competition this year?
Our top highlights have been the huge collaborations. For example, Amazon is now a user of our Bluco! We’ve also managed to grow the team beyond 10 people. When we started out it was just the two of us. And we love our team, we're very close! We work every single day, all together, and it’s been awesome. We were also recognised as a top 40 startup in France because we have clients there, which led to quite a few investors reaching out to us.
Another big highlight for us is that we've been able to expand the team and do that just from the revenues that we’re getting from clients. Because we’ve managed to achieve the results we achieved, we've been able to do this all ourselves - sort of really brick by brick. I believe that all this together has made the time since we last spoke a memorable period in what we hope will become a long history for this company.
That sounds fantasitic. Are there any challenges that you've faced?
The biggest challenges I would say is less of a challenge, more of just a speed bump. And those are the legal and admin tasks and barriers, setting up the company, setting up the accounting, employee contracts, all of that. It feels like you're slowing down because it doesn't contribute directly to the company.
But otherwise, the main challenges I would say have been from the tech side. Fortunately, all of them have now been solved! For example, when a client requests a specific product, it can be challenging to deliver. However, we sit down, work hard, and figure it out because we have a very capable tech team. Overall, things have been going quite smoothly!