"Just make sure that your answer a need before launching your startup" with Elodie Bottine

My name is Elodie Bottine, I am the mother of two adorable daughters. After obtaining my master’s degree in sales and marketing, I started my career in event management and spent the next 11 years in the publishing and advertising industry as director of business development. After moving to the USA in 2016, I took a break from my career to raise my children and I came to the realization that I wanted to do something that could make a positive impact on people’s lives.

What inspired you to start your business?

As a director of business development in the publishing industry, I had the chance to interview some of the most inspiring business leaders. Their amazing and inspirational career paths slowly led me to realize that deep down, I really wanted to embark on an entrepreneurial adventure.

But, it’s a 91 years old woman who inspired me this idea. I met Ginette at the supermarket. I helped her reach a can that was up high on a shelf, and we ended up talking. A beautiful friendship was born between a 91-year-old who didn’t have any family and me, who was far away from mine. It lasted for 10 years until she passed away 3 days before her birthday. She was the first one to meet my husband and, later, to discover my daughters. I always wondered why no one in her building had ever thought to ask her if she needed anything. That’s when the idea of launching a mutual aid neighborhood app for neighbors willing to care about each other and to help each other out by lending a hand or exchanging and sharing services, tools, food and items started,

Where is your business based?

Our neighborhood mutual aid app MyNabes is available everywhere in the USA even if the company is registered in California.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

I started working on MyNabes in 2017. The idea of MyNabes came shortly after we moved to California. Living far away from my family, I had the desire to create a community of collaboration and assistance where our neighborhood could work as a team to help each other out, need some help around the yard, shopping, or borrow garden tools.

The first steps were for me was to validate the idea through a survey and on social networks and once the idea was validated, I had to find the right development team to make my project a reality. I also took a social network marketing management class during a few months.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

My main challenge was to make people understand why we are different from this other neighborhood social network (Nextdoor). But quickly, by explaining our concept simply, our users understood why we are unique. It’s all about helping our neighbors out through kindness and collaboration.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

The beautiful goal that I am pursuing is to recreate the neighborhood spirit that existed in the past and to place communities in a more collaborative, supportive and convivial ecosystem. For that, we offer 20 categories so you can ask or offer your help to your neighbors. But MyNabes is also a mutual-aid platform where there is no comment section, just a private chat so you can easily communicate with your neighbors willing to help out without receiving off-topic comments. 

The originality of MyNabes also lies in its system of remuneration for services rendered: You can choose to say thank you with fruits or veggies from your garden or a homemade dish, you can offer services in return (I keep your dog during your vacations, you keep my pets during mine) or offer a drink, money or simply say "Thank you!".

Since the beginning of this adventure, we have committed ourselves to our users to remain free, without advertising and not to share their data because we are convinced that we must return to the values of mutual aid if we want to make this life more enjoyable for everyone and we hope that MyNabes will help connect neighbors as well as all generations in real time.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Writing a blog and promoting it on Facebook has been the most effective marketing strategy so far along with the content we post on Instagram.

We have been fortunate to get the support of several journalists since the beginning of this adventure and it helps a lot since we are a free app.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Just make sure that your answer a need before launching your startup. The surveys that I did really allowed me to develop my initial idea towards something that people wanted to find, namely more friendly and collaborative neighborhoods.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

MyNabes of course! 😊

Who is your business role model? Why?

My dad because he never gave up his business which was also his passion even when times were very tough for, he and my family. And he was right.

Michelle Obama is also someone very inspiring to me, I love how she spreads kindness and how inspiring, amazing and thoughtful she is.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Exercising! I exercise at least 4 times a week. I get up at 6 a.m. to do HIIT and strength training.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

In the same spirit we have decided to launch a new category “Connect with my City Hall”.

Through the new category “Connect with my City Hall", residents can engage with the City in order to share their ideas for a better city as well as their questions and concerns. It also gives the City Hall a new way to engage with their communities, share city communications with their residents but also to drive solidarity in the City.

-        Solidarity between generations: encourage isolated people to share their knowledge with the community and thus maintain a social life

-       Solidarity by opportunity : facilitate the connection between people in need and people who are able to help this way making it easier for busy people who are willing to volunteer to find opportunities.

How can our readers connect with you?

By downloading our app here

Or by following us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

Website: www.mynabes.com

Our social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

MyNabes description :

MyNabes is a mutual-aid neighborhood app. With this app, I am pursuing the beautiful goal to recreate the neighborhood spirit that existed in the past and to place communities in a more collaborative, supportive and convivial ecosystem.

In October 2019, Raluca Perkins and myself, Elodie Bottine, launched MyNabes, a mutual aid neighborhood app based on kindness and sharing in the community. MyNabes has been created for neighbors willing to care about each other and to help each other out by lending a hand or exchanging and sharing services, tools, food and items. There is no public forum but only a private chat.