Imagination Machine

Rob Spiro is a serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley who made his way to Nantes, France. Rob was previously the cofounder of Aardvark, a social search engine that was acquired by Google; a product manager at Google on Hangouts and other products; and he was the founder and CEO of Good Eggs, an online grocery store in the Bay Area focused on local food from high-integrity food producers. He founded Imagination in 2017 to focus startups based on idealistic & big ideas.

Emilie was a founder of two startups before becoming the manager of the Startup Incubator at HEC Paris. She later served as the Executive Director of the HEC Entrepreneurs Master program. She has therefore coached over 500 students & alumni, and almost 200 startups. She is now in charge of operations & growth for Imagination Machine, where she is actively sourcing & coaching talented entrepreneurs.

He co-founded 5 startups in 10 years including Horsecom, a life science startup funded by Seventure Partners in 2015. He is also at the origin of Infl8, an industrial ingredient brand of which he is a member of the board. At Imagination Machine, he is in charge of the product management of the idealistic startups that they co-create.

Aude has held various positions in the management of people and organizations at Kellogg’s. As a business sales & marketing partner, she led all reorganizations, recruitments and team performance. Currently a co-founder of Il Etait Plusieurs Fois, Aude leads operations and teams while providing administrative and financial management of the company.

In 2017, after several years in the digital and children’s games industry (Oxybul Eveil et Jeux, Avenuedesjeux.com), Coline embarked with Dorothée Barth at the start-up studio Imagination Machine in a project born from indignation: the composition of periodic protection is totally opaque, even toxic. The idea of a brand of clean organic period protection that really respects women, sprouted very quickly and Jho opened their e-commerce site 6 months later. Today, Jho continues to claim their values with a good dose of self-deprecation; And above all, it is THE brand that tends by women in all stages of their intimacy, from the first period to menopause, with healthy and responsible products. Jho has already donated €135,000 to 5 partner NGOs that help at-risk women.

Dorothée is a former journalist covering health & wellness. She met Rob and Coline in 2017, and together they launched Jho: a new brand of tampons & pads made from 100% organic cotton, available online for monthly subscription. For each box purchased, a box is given to a woman in need.

Nicholas is a former director of sales & marketing, a father of 2 kids, and a lover of small-scale fishing and agriculture. Last summer, the whole family moved from Norway to Nantes for the entrepreneurial adventure of ViteMonMarché. He loves triathlons, running and tennis...and his work!

Co-founder of river home, Charlotte was a product manager for the Beaumanoir Group and Maisons du monde, where she managed important markets and performance with vigour. She was behind several new product launches and piloted strong CSR issues. She was also the brand manager of the Startup “Follow me”, within the Eram Group. In 2019, she decided to shake up the decoration/interior design field, and cofounded river home, an online interior design service with a focus on natural materials. Its goal? to make everyone's interior the most natural and the most respectful possible for the planet!

Co-founder of UpTogether, Emmanuel has managed various types / sizes of teams, either tech, product, and more. He has started several new products / business units as an intrapreneur within BNP Paribas. Today he is in charge of the general management of UpTogether, the learning network designed for managers.