Hello Tyro

Pierre Tillement, a 27-year-old French founder based in Paris, co-founded Hello Tyro in 2018 during his MBA in Belgium. The inspiration struck when a new "Student entrepreneurs" status was created in Belgium, opening doors for talented students to work on more challenging projects. Pierre and his co-founder saw an opportunity: why not match these motivated students with internship roles in Belgian startups? They believed students could develop valuable skills while giving startups fresh talent and perspective.

The journey from idea to product took 2.5 years—a gradual evolution rather than a big bang launch. They started doing everything manually, learning deeply about both sides of the market: what startups needed in recruiting interns, and what students wanted from their experience. After about a year of testing and talking to customers, they pivoted toward a recurring revenue model. Their first product iteration was surprisingly simple: a weekly email to startups featuring CVs of the top 10% of pre-selected students. When that proved valuable, they built a shared Airtable view, then eventually migrated to a full platform using no-code tools like Webflow, Airtable, Zapier, and Memberstack. Over the last 9 months, they added filters, messaging features, and other refinements. "It took 2.5 years to get to the platform we liked but it was a very gradual process," Pierre recalls.

Hello Tyro didn't have a flashy launch. They shared it within their existing networks and among startups they already knew in Belgium. Pierre's role as COO was to arm the 4 recruiters with tools to automate their work, freeing them to focus on high-value tasks. The team tried multiple growth channels—paid ads on LinkedIn, content creation (written and video), cold emails, and mailing campaigns—but only word-of-mouth worked. When startups successfully hired interns through Hello Tyro, they'd tell peers, creating the social proof that prospects desperately needed. The pricing model evolved through testing: they started with a free beta, gathered feedback, then launched tiered pricing at €49/month (annual), €99/month (semester), and €149/month (monthly).

Word-of-mouth became their only effective channel because it provided the proof that mattered. "Prospects knew it worked directly from people who they trusted," Pierre explains. However, they never cracked the broader market. The core problem: startups only truly valued the platform after successfully recruiting an intern through it, which meant a long sales cycle and high acquisition cost. Paid ads and cold email campaigns returned nothing. By their peak, Hello Tyro reached €4k MRR, but the growth never felt exponential—never felt like they'd found product-market fit. The team also struggled with no-code tool limitations when building advanced features, requiring creative workarounds.

COVID-19 in March 2020 acted as a catalyst. With recruitment frozen across the economy, existing customers—already cost-conscious—cancelled or demanded free access. Hello Tyro was already running low on cash from their €250k raise. The team laid off staff except for the two founders and kept the lights on with just €2k MRR, €1k in tool costs, and founder salaries. By summer 2020, they tried launching in France with a mailing campaign, but it generated zero results. Without product-market fit, without growth that felt right, and without cash to continue, they filed for bankruptcy. Pierre now leads community at Zetoolbox, a no-code freelancer network, and has become a vocal advocate for founder learning through failure.