François Vandeplanque

Chief Product & Technology Officer - Co-founder

POPSELL

Currently conducting a spin-off opportunity of Popsell from its shareholders, to take over the company and its assets (5+M€ investment), and move forward on a new go-to-market strategy with an extensive adoption of Artificial Intelligence.
I'm considering carrying out this shift as part of an alliance with another tech company to enhance its offering, gain a competitive edge and cross-selling opportunities, while offering Popsell a framework for fast deployment and fast commercial growth of its solution.

Owner, CEO

Leads the development with Thom Group's retail teams of a new 'Personal shopper' platform (conversational & affiliation platform + omnichannel scenarios + AI components). 5.3M€ investment. 

Technical achievements :

	• Highly scalable and secured infrastructure, high performances,
	• Dev-ops best-practices, infrastructure as code,
	• Latest frameworks (solving technical debt), API-based, MACH architecture,
	• New Business Intelligence platform,
	• Implementation of new AI-based scenarios (Chatbot, co-pilot, data analysis) 
	
Business value proven :

	• Platform deployed at Histoire d'Or (France) and Stroili (Italy)
	• +67% Average basket
	• +60% Drive to Store
	• 4.8/5 Customer satisfaction
	• 55% reduced staff turnover
	• +60% revenue vs competitor (iAdvize)

From October 2024 to March 2025, leads the integration of the Popsell platform within Thom Group's Digital Factory teams, prior to taking over the company as a spin-off.

Chief Executive Officer

POPSELL "Human Powered Commerce" is an innovative Social Commerce platform designed for store retailing, e-commerce & direct-selling businesses.
Brand Communities | Social selling | Direct selling | Influence Marketing | Employee and Customer Advocacy | Loyalty | Gamification | Multi-channel Digital, Phygital & Stores.

Roles at Popsell :
• Overall company strategy, business development & fund-raising, sales and partnerships. Focused on bringing high value to clients, increasing ROI and optimizing MRR & Churn.
• Head of Product in charge of Roadmap, Specifications and Strategy
• Chief Technical Officer : Leads the development team | Agile project management | Technical architect (Cloud services, Web frameworks, Web design) | Management of technical partners.
• Account management with major accounts (CxO, IT and Marketing execs).

Achievements:
• 2016 > Successfull launch of the V3 platform: up to 90% increase in transformation rates in store retailing, and 30% sales increase in direct selling businesses.
• 2020 > A brand new Social Commerce platform V4 was launched in 2020, including community, gamification, personal online shops, products, integrated checkout & payment.
• 2022 > A new "personal shopper" service specifically designed for store sales forces launched in 2022, co-developed with Thom Group.

Popsell's clients include major B2C and B2B companies, in France and abroad :
Kiabi | Vente-privee.com | Yves Rocher (Romania) | Guy Demarle | IRCEM | FNAC Spectacles (Belgium) | Maisons du Monde (Italy) | Victoria (Benelux) | Naf Naf | Devred | CDiscount | Pierre Fabre / Avène (Spain) | Ba111od, Bomberg (Switzerland) | Histoire d'Or (France) ...

Co-founder - Chief Product & Technology Officer

MICROSOFT France

Technical and Strategic Advisor to Business and IT Decision Makers, on a scope of 60 major accounts in France (80% Retail sector, 20% Manufacturing)
Accountable for € 20 Million Revenue/year (Software, Cloud Services and Consulting Services)

• Committed on the adoption and the broad deployment of the Microsoft technologies and services, leading to an increased customer satisfaction and trusted relationships with Senior Executives. Focused on business strategy and stakes, Security, IT optimization, and driving innovation.
• Driving awareness on the Microsoft Business value, through ROI/TCO metrics, and customer case studies.
• Identifying and driving opportunities, ensuring the coordination of an extended team composed of 60+ people, Technical Specialists, Solution Sales and Service Executives.
• Collaboration with Microsoft partners : Business development and regular business reviews
• Leveraged Microsoft optimization programs, Microsoft Resources & Microsoft Partners to accelerate sales and adoption.
• Organized 5 marketing events for the customers in Redmond, USA

Accountable for €20M ($25M) Revenue/year, made up of 95% new business every year
Achieved Growth up to 14%
Highly competitive environment (Google, Open Source, VM Ware, Salesforce)
Several significant winbacks on new strategic focus areas for Microsoft : Unified Communications, Cloud opportunities (Office 365 and Windows Azure)

Key accounts : Mulliez Group (Auchan, Decathlon, Adéo, 3 Suisses …), LVMH, Leclerc Group, Pernod-Ricard, Galeries Lafayette, Darty, Center Parcs, Tereos, Seb, Roquette ...

Strategic IT Advisor - Major Retail & Manufacturing accounts

• In charge of technical pre-sales for major accounts based in the North region of France (50 accounts)

• Sectors : Public Sector (Hospitals and regional authorities) and Retail (store & non store retailing, multi-channel, e-Commerce)
• Involved in all the IT areas : Desktop Management, Servers and system management, Identity Management, Security, Productivity tools, Intranet, communication & collaboration, CRM and ERP, Software development, Business Process Management, Databases, Business Intelligence, etc.

• Built trusted relationships with the CIOs, CTOs, Business Decision Makers and IT Decision Makers,
• Strong collaboration with local and global partners : Shared business development, and regular business reviews.

• Accountable for € 16 Million revenue/year
Highly competitive environment (Open Source, IBM, Oracle, etc)
Successful win back deals : Office vs OpenOffice, Exchange vs Lotus, SharePoint.
Significant new global Enterprise Agreements signed in several Public accounts and retailers.

Achieved a 2 digits revenue growth every year, up to 25% Public sector, and 45% in the retail sector.

Account Pre-Sales Engineer, Retail & Public sector

IBM Global Business Services

Technical Architect specialized on Lotus and WebSphere Software :
 - Architecture design of messaging and collaboration infrastructures, migration processes
 - Software design & development, project management : Collaborative, Content Management & Workflow applications, Intranet & Web applications
 - Change Management

Business development : 
 - Lotus software pre-sales
 - Response to RFPs, improvement of the billing rates,
 - Coaching and staffing of IBM consultants

Major projects:
 - Development of a Call Center Front Office application : CRM, quotation, indemnification (Insurance Company AGF/Allianz)
 - Architecture and Implementation of a CRM software (Mafipa/Inapa)
 - Architect & Project Manager for the Web Content Management module of a Bank's web site, management of a 10 developers team (Kredit Bank Luxembourg)
 - Project manager for the implementation of a store software (former Blue Martini Software - now RedPrairie Commerce Suite): new merchandising system & new POS application for a large DIY retailer (Leroy Merlin)

Successfully achieved all the projects, provided high quality projects and always met the customers' requirements and deadlines,
Recognized as a strong technical and functional expert, on collaborative and e-Business solutions

Technical Architect | e-Business Consultant

ARES

- Software Developer and Project Manager 
- Trainer (C++, Lotus software)
- Project Leader for a Retail POS and store operation systems for small DIY stores

Software Developer | Project Manager

SAACMA

Software developer

Tech executive, software engineer with an extensive experience in both Technical and Business roles, in IT services and Enterprise Software companies, mainly at IBM, Microsoft and as a Start-up Entrepreneur.

• Passionate about product development & execution: Driving innovation, growth strategies, envisionning, identifying value creation. Analyzing, designing and implementing solutions with a high ROI impact and a strong market fit.
• Experienced in leading and developing high-performing teams, fostering an environment of collective innovation and knowledge sharing. Defining the product vision, scope deliverables and set priorities in an agile environment, ensuring high product quality.
• Experienced in business development, including B2B sales and pre-sales, driving revenue growth and establishing strategic partnerships.
• Lead client engagements and build trusted relationships, understand client expectations and their business stakes, and ensure the success of their digital transformation projects.

• Roles = Chief Product & Technical Officer, General Manager | Solutions Architect | Business Strategist | Sales & Pre-sales Engineer

• Expertise = Software Design | AI | SAAS | UX/UI | Cloud computing | Business Intelligence | Agile Project Management | Retail Sector | e-commerce | Marketing | Direct Selling | B2B Sales & Pre-Sales | Innovation

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