About SPIN Ideas : an interview of Veronica & Stéphanie

SPINIdeas , a company based in the Netherlands, is dedicated to helping Startups, Scaleups & SMEs with their international marketing strategy and its implementation. At the origin of it all is Veronica Guguian , a Romanian marketing strategist with a desire to change the way business is conducted. She launched the company in 2017. She is also involved in facilitating business interactions and changing perspectives when it comes to marketing and business through her monthly online networking event Online Networking with a SPIN, BASE Conference, and her community. By her side, her friend and partner in crime, is Stephanie Mazier , a French marketing strategist, who is not afraid of change. She is driven by curiosity and passion, and endowed with empathy and a great sense of humor. She loves to spend her free time posting blog articles about food and recipes. And over the years, she and Veronica became more than just work colleagues: they became family.

In short, we could say that SPIN Ideas is a giant shaker that allows Veronica, Stéphanie and their whole team to mix their professional and personal experiences, their assets, their cultures, and their visions of the world on a daily basis. And all of these spinning ideas are of course put together to benefit their lucky clients.

Drinks and work plans

It all started in early 2011, as Stephanie and Veronica were both working for Expatica , a Dutch company specialized in helping expatriates to move, work and live abroad. Veronica had moved to the Netherlands in August 2010 and Stephanie in 2009. At first, what brought them closer together was a couple of beers and some good food, amongst other common interests of course.

“I was involved in traffic management for the advertising department. That was all new and exciting to me. Expatica was a nice company to work for, really dedicated to expats. And that was a very good way to meet like-minded people because most of the staff at Expatica were indeed expats themselves”, Stephanie

Veronica tells us more about what came next : “Even after Stephanie left Expatica, we met nearly every Friday for lunch. When we were tired, our conversations turned into a mixture of English, Dutch, French, Romanian, Spanish and Italian.” We could say that they are language shakers as well.

Through SPIN Ideas, they want to change the economy, with a human-centric approach. They dedicate themselves to help entrepreneurs who are actually willing to get onboard. As Veronica says : “My dream is to contribute to a new economy where people connect through values first. This is what we are heading towards and that is actually the cornerstone of a lot of initiatives that we are developing with SPIN Ideas. We work differently. Why should we go for the classic way just because people have been doing that for years ? And we want to connect with people and build relationships. For instance, I just launched a podcast with what would usually be called “a competitor”.? But why should we compete ? Let’s not! Instead, let’s collaborate and create something different. With SPIN Ideas, I gathered a team to implement marketing strategies for and with value-driven entrepreneurs. We work according to our values and figure out along the way what makes sense to all of us.”

“My dream is to contribute to a new economy where people connect through values first", Veronica

Travels & experiences

Stephanie used to be a globetrotter : “I have been traveling a lot. That is something that always kept me alive. When I was a student, I learned English and Spanish, and I lived a bit in the Netherlands and in Spain. Then, I came back to France. Quickly, I decided to go back to those 2 countries. I started with Spain, where I lived for almost 9 years, mostly in Madrid but also a bit in Barcelona. I was working in international marketing so I traveled all over the world. I enjoyed it a lot. I still do but maybe a bit less because I’ve been traveling too much. At one point, living in airports and hotels doesn’t make sense anymore. Then I spent a bit less than 7 years in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam and Haarlem. And I traveled a lot less.”

The biggest decision of her life was to come back to France after years spent abroad, knowing that she would never again feel home as she used to. But she accepted the challenge and she is now happy about it. That also gave her the chance to discover Africa : “When I came back to France I worked for an engineering school. I was dedicated to developing partnerships with French-speaking countries in Africa.? It was mind blowing to discover those countries. I realized, as Western Europeans, that we don’t understand what’s going on in Africa and that we are totally misled. The information we receive, even during education, is twisted.” Stephanie is definitely a citizen of the world. “We are all linked and connected. If we forget about that, we forget a big part of what being human means”. And when she travels, she really likes to get soaked into the local culture through meeting new people and speaking with them, listening to their music, and eating their food. She tells us more about it : “Food is such an amazing vehicle to discover and understand cultures. That actually opens doors that you didn’t even know existed. It also nurtures the way I work and create strategies. The more you know, the more you feel, the more you understand different points of view. That’s what we apply with our clients. Our goal is to build something new. That implies changing our point of view. In that regard, amongst others, Africa has been a big revelation to me.”

“We are all linked and connected. If we forget about that, we forget a big part of what being human means”, Stephanie

As for Veronica, though she hasn’t been traveling as much as Stephanie, she also enjoys it a lot. But she hates packing and that will never change (LOL). To her, being inclined to travel is closely related to one's mindset. And she once went through a traveling experience that led her to some deep thinking : “What surprised me when I did a trip to the American Pacific Coast is actually Las Vegas. I thought I would find it kind of kitsch. But not at all. That really gives me the same profound feeling as Stephanie: when traveling abroad, we need to understand the culture without judgment. That allows us to discover so many things just by being open-minded and curious. It’s actually my motto: be curious. You never know what will happen. My grandma used to say that every new language you learn is a new life that you gain. I’m very aligned with that. If you speak with the locals, you discover a totally different life. For example, I just moved to a new neighborhood in Amsterdam that I'm currently discovering. It actually feels more like a village. People are fantastic. I know that because I'm actually spending time getting to know them. I am pretty sure my previous neighbors were fantastic too but I wasn't actually connecting with them much.? So in the end, it’s not about the place, even if it is important. It is more about the people. If you have a good relationship with them, life is just better.” The next step for Stephanie would be to try longer stays in one place, to change her perspective and get a real feeling of the local culture.

As for food, she also has a say about it : “Stephanie and I connected a lot through food. That was the first thing that brought us together. And it’s cultural. For Romanian as for French people, food is at the center of everything. For instance, if somebody comes to your house, you just open the fridge and it's a way to show hospitality, and that you care about people. Actually, on our website, we introduce the team through food. Each one of us shares a recipe that they would do when in a rush. It’s a good way to show our diversity and to get to know people. I’m from Romania, Steph is from France, Marleon is Dutch and originally from Angola, Anel is from Mexico and Edith is from Cameroon. A team of people with different experiences and cultures.”

Purpose, curiosity and abundance

Veronica and Stephanie definitely do not conform nor settle for the “usual”. That’s one of the core values of SPIN Ideas, as explained by Stephanie : “Patterns are reassuring and we need a system if we want to live together. But our clients are expecting us to do things differently. That’s what brought Marketrotters and SPIN Ideas here today. We are going further and beyond because we think that things can be done better. I see that with the younger generations. They are not accepting anymore what is offered just because it has been done like that for decades or centuries. They’re raising their voices. I love them for that. They have the courage we didn’t have when I was 20. But, probably, it wasn’t the time for that.”

Curiosity, as already mentioned above, is another value of SPIN Ideas. Veronica shares with us some more details about a third one, perspective : “We do believe in a different perspective and that's why we are so international. Moreover, we are coming from different places, different cultures. We have different experiences, and we are at different phases in our lives. From my point of view, diversity does not come from skin color or gender. It comes from work and life experiences. They provide people with a different perspective. And we do believe in collaborations hence our meeting with you Ma?té ( Maite Grisard ) and Virginie ( Virginie Chantry ), hence also the online networking with the Spin to bring people together.”

“We do believe in a different perspective and that's why we are so international", Veronica

To sum it up, SPIN Ideas praises collaboration instead of competition, a different way of doing things, perspective, curiosity and purpose in every action. As Veronica points out : “Don’t just do something for the sake of it or because it reflects a pattern. Do it with purpose.” She adds : “All our values are human centric. What we do differently from other agencies is that we put humans in the center instead of clients or products. That approach allows us to be comprehensive about what our clients go through as human beings, and to understand what their customers actually need. That changes the conversation. That is why one of our last values is abundance. We don’t encourage buying because it’s the last week of discount and we don’t sell on fear of missing out. It’s about humans, their needs and why they would buy this or that product”. In short, these girls, like us Marketrotters , are all about H2H rather than B2B or B2C.

Let's wrap this up with their mission. Veronica explains to us what it is they want to achieve with SPIN Ideas : “Our mission is to enable entrepreneurs to follow their passion. That means they need to externalize what they don’t like to do, what they don't know or what doesn't bring them value, focus and/or joy. I always give myself as an example. As a business owner, I am doing accountancy and the basics. I’m pretty good at it. But I want to do the things I need for my peace of mind. And I want someone to take over the serious stuff that takes so much time and is a weight in my mind. Externalizing that gave me so much space for what I really want to do.” Let’s all keep in mind that very wise advice.

Find out more on the website of SPINIdeas

Virginie, Marketrotter & Starduster