Interview with Samuel Mottais

To understand the genesis of Qotid, it seems important to introduce you to Samuel Mottais, its founder. Discover his journey, and how he came to create Qotid. We leave you to discover his interview.

Who are you? Can you introduce yourself?

Samuel Mottais, CEO of QOTID, 31 years old.

What were you doing before launching Qotid?

First and foremost, I like to say that I am the son of a craftsman. I lived my whole life in the bakery run by my father and I have been passionate about entrepreneurship and business management since my youngest age because I would see my father prepare orders and do the accounts at the kitchen table.   If this gave me a taste for entrepreneurship, I found, however, that he spent far too much time managing his business.

It was quite naturally that I turned to food professions. I worked 4 years in the kitchen before getting a PROFESSIONAL BAC in Cooking a few years later. Once I had my diploma, it was time to get on the field. I learned a lot about the job, but I knew that my management knowledge was quite weak. Decision made, I returned to university to pursue a degree in economics and business management. I enjoyed it so much that I continued my studies with a Master's in Finance and an MBA at ESSEC. During my studies, I worked in an accounting firm, investment banking, and investment funds. I also worked in a management group specializing in hospitality before becoming a real estate consultant for one of the leading companies on the market.  

Can you explain to us what Qotid is? Who is this solution aimed at?  

Qotid is a turnkey solution that allows SME leaders and financial management (CFOs, PMOs, Accounting Experts) to connect their business solutions and create custom management reports and dashboards to monitor their profitability and easily forecast their cash flow through the preparation of budget forecasts.

Where did the idea for this project come from?

In my various professional experiences, I spent countless hours on Excel or coding to consolidate data from different sources, process it, and create relevant financial dashboards for my managers. I loved it, but I became aware of several things:  

1. I spent more time reprocessing and standardizing data than analyzing data and thinking about concrete actions that could help the company improve its performance.

2. I realized that the company could quickly become dependent on me and that the system I was setting up would be constraining for my successor. He/she would need to spend time understanding what had been created and have the necessary skills to maintain what had been established.

It was at this moment that I realized that despite the size of the companies I worked for, data analysis was not their core business and that it was better to implement a digital solution. I couldn't find the right fit for me. The existing solutions required strong IT skills or were not collaborative enough and suited to operational staff.  I thought there might be something to do, and that's how Qotid was born. 

What is the little "extra" of Qotid compared to others?  

I would first say that Qotid is distinguished by its ease of use. Our users include both management controllers with advanced needs for analysis and user management, as well as operational staff who may be less comfortable with numbers and IT. It is not necessary to have a background in programming languages, nor in management and organization of databases to use Qotid. All users are capable of creating dashboards and graphics or entering budgets in a very simple and relevant way.

Secondly, Qotid is not just a simple data visualization tool because it is possible to enter budgets, integrate reporting validation workflows, automatically monitor cash flow, or even automate the generation of accounting entries on transactions and accruals from business software.

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