The #1 Idea, in Plain Language

The story

France has a rule: every year, big energy companies (like the French versions of utility companies) must pay to make buildings more energy-efficient — insulating attics, installing heat pumps, that kind of thing. If they don't do enough, the government fines them.

So when a plumber installs a heat pump at your grandma's, the government generates a credit worth real money — because an energy company will buy that credit to hit its target. The plumber gets paid some of that as a bonus.

But plumbers don't sell those credits directly. Middlemen sit between them and the energy companies. The middleman collects the plumber's paperwork, sells the credit for €9, and pays the plumber €7. The middleman keeps €2 — a 20% cut.

Now multiply: France does about €4 billion of these credits every year. Middlemen are pocketing hundreds of millions in fees, and plumbers have no way to know if they're being ripped off, because there's no public price list.

What we build

Part 1 — the marketplace. A website where a plumber types in "I just installed a heat pump on this address" and 5 middlemen compete to buy the credit in 60 seconds. Basically Kayak for this one specific French paperwork.

Part 2 — the compliance tool. A €99/month subscription that keeps plumbers and small consultants from screwing up their paperwork. The rules change every 6 months — new forms, killed programs, new bonuses. Small operators can't keep up, so 1 in 5 of their filings gets rejected. We check their paperwork before they submit and warn them about rule changes.

How we make money

• A small cut of each transaction on the marketplace (€0.15 per credit).
• €99/month per subscriber for the compliance tool.
• 500 subscribers × €99/mo ≈ our $50k/mo target.

Why it works for me specifically

• Already speak French and live in France. Half the moat is just "knows how this system works."
• The buyers (plumbers, small consultants) all hang out in specific known online groups. Reachable for free — no advertising.
• The government keeps changing the rules. A solo dev who updates the site every week beats big incumbents who move slowly.
• The government just committed to growing this program 35% over the next 5 years — surfing a tailwind, not fighting one.
• V1 shippable in a weekend.

What could go wrong

The middlemen might refuse to compete on the website — because it costs them money. If they all boycott, the marketplace piece dies.

But the compliance-tool piece still works either way. Plumbers still need to keep up with the rule changes. Worst case: smaller business (~$25k/mo instead of $50k/mo), not a dead one.

Plain → technical translation

For when you're talking to someone who knows the space: