Customer Interview: Cercle des Investisseurs Privés

We never would have predicted that a group of angel investors in Europe would be among the first Rollbase customers to build applications for managing dealflow quite like Cercle des Investisseurs Privés (ci-privés) has. The diversity of our initial customer base is a testament to the broad applicability of PaaS (Platform as a Service) and it continues to be an eye-opening experience for us to see how Rollbase has quickly adapted to very different domain-specific requirements. Check out the interview below with Peter Propper, Research Associate at ci-privés in Geneva, Switzerland, to learn more.

Rollbase: What kind of business is ci-privés?

Peter: ci-privés is a business angel club operating on European french speaking markets

Rollbase: What kind of applications are you building using Rollbase?

Peter: Applications to essentially manage our dealflow and, due to the nature of our business, our events.

Rollbase: What kind of applications were you using before Rollbase?

Peter: We were using Lotus notes, which we hated. However this gave us ample time to look for alternatives. We were afraid to commit to a high cost and hardly adaptable alternative, since we are still a young company.

Rollbase: What problems did you face that caused you to look for a platform like Rollbase? Did Rollbase solve these problems?

Peter: CRMs are not appropriate for our business, we really needed a tailored solution; a solution which Rollbase obviously provided.

Rollbase: What are your favorite Rollbase features?

Peter: We like a lot of them (if I had to state ONE, it would be the portals), but more importantly, since we could still be considered a startup, our business model and processes are still not yet set in stone. Rollbase gives us the unique opportunity to adapt our IT rapidly efficiently and at practically no cost. If I had to state a USP for Rollbase, it would be the latter.

Rollbase: What features would you like to see Rollbase add to it's platform?

Peter: Integration with email clients, hand-held synchronization capabilities (iphone). We'd also like to see a more interactive (web 2.0) interface - e.g. where you don't necessarily have to open records, but simply click on them and open them in a drop down style (google reader). We believe this could be great to quickly open communication logs without having to keep opening a new pages.

Rollbase: Would you recommend Rollbase to a friend or colleague in your own personal network?

Peter: Absolutely, I frequently talk about Rollbase with friends in IT departments of larger companies and startup companies in our dealflow. I already converted one very enthusiastic friend (Kurt from Switzerland). We like Rollbase for the product, its differentiation, but also the fact that we've been on it since the start and have a certain (perceived) proximity with the support and management.

We wish you the best,
Peter & the team of Cercle des Investisseurs Privés

Thanks Peter! All of the features you've listed are on our roadmap and we look forward to bringing them to you as things progress.