Alexandre Colle has moved through three industries. He began in fashion, transitioned into luxury hospitality, and now leads a robotics company. In 2025 he completed his PhD in robotics and autonomous systems, with a focus on design. What binds the journey isn’t the sector itself, but the recurring themes of brand and network.
The First Business
In his early career, Colle co-founded a shoe business. Trade fairs, celebrity endorsements, and press coverage were the main customer acquisition channels. Because the product was familiar and transactional, the customer acquisition cost (CAC) was relatively low.
That said, cash flow was a persistent challenge. Payments often took up to a year to arrive, and frequent inventory refreshes kept pressure on working capital.
The Second Business
After the footwear venture, Alex became an associate director of Hôtel Particulier Montmartre. This boutique luxury hotel relied on networks and reputation. The property leveraged connections from Chanel and Louis Vuitton, and hosted celebrities like Brad Pitt.
Acquisition here wasn’t much about ads or direct sales—it was about relationships, exclusivity, and word-of-mouth. CAC was hidden behind the time, connections, and experience required to build trust in the luxury space. The takeaway: in high-ticket industries, CAC is often disguised as the cost of relationships and prestige.
The Third Business
Today, Alex is the CEO and co-founder of Konpanion, a Scotland-based design and robotics company. Their flagship product, Maah, is a companion robot designed to improve wellbeing in care environments.
Konpanion is human centred, elegant and respectful of its users. The company is building an ecosystem of products that can help and scale in both clinical and home settings.
They began by focusing on B2B—partnering with public and private institutions. Instead of spending heavily on ads, they hired a social-care industry veteran with decades of relationships, turning connection-building into a direct acquisition strategy.
Colle’s approach places heavy emphasis on aesthetics, and emotional design rather than pure functionality. The company’s goal is to make the brand itself a trust signal that reduces CAC over time.
Recurring Themes
High-value products often demand heavy upfront investment in brand and proof. Early CAC may be higher, but it could compound in your favour later.
Brand, trust, and readiness are the levers that can ultimately lower CAC. If you spend heavily on ads before those pieces are in place, you could be just burning money.
If you’re building a business, think strategically. Ask yourself: what brand, what trust, and what proof do I need before scaling?
Learn more about Konpanion on https://www.konpanion.com/ and about Alex on https://uk.linkedin.com/in/alexandrecolle/en