How did the Particulier à Particulier (PAP) site come about?

INTERVIEW

The co-founder of the successful classifieds site, formerly on paper, PAP, de Particulier à Particulier, was at the microphone of Europe 1 in La France Bouge to tell the story of his company.

45 years ago, Patrick and Catherine Jolly were looking for an apartment in Paris but the search has proved difficult.

The couple then decided to found a newspaper regrouping real estate classifieds: PAP, de Particulier à Particulier.

"We put all our savings, 20,000 francs [or € 3,049]", says Patrick Jolly to Elisabeth Assayag and Emmanuel Duteil.

On the first day, 10,000 copies are printed, all are sold in the morning.

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In nine months, the magazine of the two entrepreneurs was profitable.

But everything was played on a poker hand according to Patrick Jolly: "I lost money for nine months then I took a risk, I did an advertising campaign in the metro, I didn't I didn't have the slightest franc at the time to pay for it, telling me 'it works or it breaks'.

The switch to the web

The announcements are now only on the PAP website.

"There was also a break-in moment: the Minitel. It was a bit of a euphoric period for us, it was enough to put ads on servers. After the internet, it was a bit the opposite, we had to find the business model because, at the beginning, it was expensive and it didn't bring in anything ”, explains Patrick Jolly.

Digital tools are now essential, like "real estate coaching", which makes it possible in particular to visit housing in 3D.

The daughter of the two entrepreneurs, Corinne Jolly, took over the reins of the company a few years ago.

Often described as passionate about the Internet, she is a computer engineer by training.

First entered as a web developer in her parents' company, she now promotes the site on the web.