Pierre Touzeau is the co-founder of Claap, a B2B asynchronous video collaboration tool for distributed teams. Following a private beta, the team launched on Product Hunt, recently winning Best Product of the Week. Pierre comes from a strong marketing background at L'Oreal, the consummate French consumer beauty and cosmetics brand but pivoted into tech at 360Learning, a leading Learning Management System (LMS) where he helped expand the business into the US by way of NYC.   

We talk about the shift to remote work, pandemic tailwinds and setbacks, no-meeting policies, bringing context to virtual collaboration, decision-making for distributed teams and applying a B2C marketing philosophy to B2B products. Enjoy! 

Learn more about Claap 👉🏼 https://www.claap.io/ 

Product Hunt 👉🏼 https://www.producthunt.com/products/claap#claap  

#remotework #frenchtech #collaboration #startup #futureofwork

Rémy Astié is the co-founder & CEO of Vauban. He is a French-born, UK-based entrepreneur working to build a new set of infrastructure for private investing. We discuss Vauban's founding story, the fundamentals of venture capital, the future of private markets, the role of blockchain and DeFi, and his perspective on the European Tech ecosystem.  

This video was produced in partnership with Vauban. To learn more, check out https://vauban.io/

Vauban is the easiest way to launch & run your venture investing. An all-in-one integrated solution to form syndicates, VC funds, & co-investment SPV programs that are built for the next generation of global venturers. From fundraising to exits, Vauban provides an automated back-office that handles the legals, banking, investor onboarding, and administration, which allows our clients to focus on what matters: finding the next unicorn & building investor relationships. Vauban has facilitated over $1bn of capital invested in companies such as Revolut, Bolt and Airbnb.

Ying graduated from HEC Paris School of Management, and worked in companies like L’Oréal, LVMH and French Tech star Devialet. She has 5 years of startup experience in both company building and scale-up phases, leading business development, strategy and marketing. Currently, she is the Co-Founder & CEO of Plantik Biosciences with the aim of shaping the future of plant breeding, starting with cannabis/hemp.   

Our conversation covered:

• Ying's background & foray into the world of startups

• Plant biodiversity, climate risk and agricultural points of failure

• GMOs versus Gene-Editing • The Politics of Hemp/Cannabis

• The Future for Plant Geneticists 

***I wrote an article on the subject in December 2021 for Startup ROI called CRISPR & Cannabis

Producer's Note: Apologies in advance for bad audio quality on my end, I did my best to clean up the sound. The most important track is from Ying!

Josh is a software engineer, developer advocate, and community builder. Originally hailing from Illinois (USA), he left for the Bay Area after graduating from university to pursue a career in web development after a short stint in consulting. His primary roles were held at Keen and Algolia (#FrenchTech!) where he pivoted from day-to-day coding into a developer advocate and full-time community builder. Currently, he lives in Paris and is the Co-Founder & CTO of Orbit, a platform for building, monitoring and accelerating your online communities. We talk about community-led growth, the potential for community-driven businesses and his experience as an international founder and leader. 

Shownotes:

• Follow Josh on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dzello/) & Twitter (https://twitter.com/dzello)

• Check out the Orbit product at orbit.love 

For more from the Finding Genius team, check out:

• Startup ROI (https://startuproi.substack.com/)

• Finding Genius (https://findinggenius.substack.com/)

• Kyle on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwobrien/) & Twitter (https://twitter.com/RoiStartup)

• Kunal on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kunal-meh...) & Twitter (https://twitter.com/kunalm107)

Elina Berrebi is a founding partner at Revaia, the largest female-led venture fund in Europe. Along with her co-founder, Alice Albizzati, and the investment team and Revaia she has successfully raised and deployed their first growth fund of roughly €250M. Revaia is a mission-driven, pan-European growth equity fund with an emphasis on ESG principles and holdings in the public and private markets (otherwise known as a crossover strategy). Her multi-cultural upbringing, rigorous scientific background and passion for helping build the next generation of positive European companies brings a fresh perspective to the venture space.  

Shownotes:

• Follow Elina on LinkedIn & Twitter

• Check out Revaia's Medium page for weekly content

Mike Charalambous is the Founder & CEO of Threedium, the leading 3D eCommerce solution on the market. As a Cypriot, Mike made his way into tech entrepreneurship from an atypical location. From his High School studies in English to the French university system, he eventually landed in London where he currently resides. The Threedium platform has enabled leading eCommerce and luxury brands create compelling shopping experiences in the digital realm. The current tailwinds behind crypto, web3 and NFTs has positioned Mike and team at the center of the transformation of the internet, what he calls Web2.5. Mike has experimented personally with practical use-cases for NFTs, participated in metaverse fashion shows and is a pioneer with regard to applying cutting-edge web3 technology to the fashion and eCommerce space.

Watch on Youtube 

Hugo Amsellem is the VP of Community at Jellysmack on a mission to educate & empower the next generation of ambitious creators. We discuss his early entrepreneurial adventures in the music industry, his seminal work developing community at The Family as well as his current role at Jellysmack, an innovative video creator platform and accelerator. Hugo has worked in primarily in Paris and Berlin and most recently resides in Lisbon, Portugal. He's a master networker, community builder and technology enthusiast with a unique and optimistic perspective on the future. Enjoy! 

📺 Watch the full Youtube Video here: https://youtu.be/hiywGjmTQu8

Watch the full video interview here

Our guest today, Sam Levy, is a founding partner at Lauxera Capital. Lauxera is an independent, international, healthcare-focused asset management company based in Paris.  Sam started his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York before moving to Boston to attend Harvard Medical School. As a second-year medical student, Samuel co-founded Allurion Technologies and built a fully-integrated, global medical device company from the idea stage to commercialization in more than 30 countries.

For more Finding Genius content check out our Substack(s) (https://findinggenius.substack.com/) & (https://startuproi.substack.com/)  

*note: we encountered some audio issues during recording. If you find a silence hit the +30 seconds button a couple times until audio returns (happens once)

I've partnered with Kunal Mehta, Partner at Cold Start Ventures & author of Finding Genius (of which the video series is based on!) to expand his lineup of guests to the European continent.

Our very first guest is French tech royalty and all around thought leader, Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Founder & CEO at Alan. This is a true full-circle moment for Startup ROI since my very first article (published on June 15, 2021) was an ode to health insurance in France and Alan's utter disruption of the market!

📺  Watch on YouTube

Musings on Entrepreneurship in French Pop Culture

Companies covered: Too many to count!

This is an Audio Version of the Weekly Newsletter: Startup ROI

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