Scaling your business – the story of Edgard & Cooper, episode 2

Vlerick Insight Talks: Professor Veroniek Collewaert meets entrepreneur Jürgen Degrande

Veroniek Collewaert

By Veroniek Collewaert

Professor of Entrepreneurship

10 January 2024

In 2015, Jürgen Degrande co-founded the healthy pet food company, Edgard & Cooper, while he was still studying at Vlerick Business School. Today, the scale-up has a team of over 200 people, working in Kortrijk (HQ), London, Paris, Rotterdam, Madrid, Düsseldorf and Milan – and its products are distributed in 13 countries and sold in over 15,000 shops and online. With over €80m in revenue, the company is now officially a scale-up, aiming to achieve zero carbon, fully sustainable packaging, and 100% ethical sourcing.

How did Jürgen achieve this? In this interview by Veroniek Collewaert, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School, he shares from firsthand experience what it takes to successfully scale a business.

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In this second episode, Jürgen talks about the added value of complementarity in the composition of the founding team, the importance of replicability for scaling and how you go about expanding your products and markets.

Thumbnail YouTube Edgard & Cooper video series

Scaling your business – the story of Edgard & Cooper, episode 2

In this second episode, co-founder Jürgen Degrande talks about the added value of complementarity in the composition of the founding team, the importance of replicability for scaling and how you go about expanding your products and markets.

When it comes to building a successful founding team, Jürgen emphasizes the importance of complementarity. While his co-founder Louis brings an eye for detail and marketing knowledge to the table, co-founder Koen is a financial expert. And Jürgen himself contributes with his sales and commercial experience. The success of their partnership is attributed to this complementarity, allowing them to remain 24/7 operationally active in the business, each within their own strength. Regarding decision-making, Jürgen mentions unwritten rules among co-founders and regular meetings to align on complex issues.

The discussion shifts to the concept of replicability, crucial for scaling. Although this is easier for digital firms, Jürgen explains how they achieved success by initially focusing on a smaller region, Belgium, understanding the market drivers of growth, and then replicating successful strategies as they expanded into neighbouring countries.

The interview also touches on the evolution of their product offerings, starting with dog food and later expanding into treats, dental care and cat food. Jürgen emphasizes the role of consumer insights, detailing how they established a consumer market insights team to involve the consumer in every business decision. This consumer-centric approach has led to the development of products aligned with regional preferences, such as sustainability considerations in the UK.

Interested in more insights by Jürgen Degrande on scaling your business? Watch episode 3 of this Insight Talks series.

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Sylien Kesteleyn

Sylien Kesteleyn

Portfolio Manager