Jean Schmitt on Pauline Laigneau’s podcast

Jean Schmitt was Pauline Laigneau's guest on episode #223 of one of the most popular French business podcasts (https://chartable.com/charts/itunes/fr-business-podcasts).

0:06:12 why dubbing “unicorn” a company with a crystal-ball estimated value over 1 billion was a bad idea (and why most of them are B2C).

0:09:30 valuation is not a science, but it shouldn't be an uneducated guess either, and there should be a reasonable time horizon for investors to recoup their money.

0:10:45 some business plans are downright fake, some companies produce candy floss why others create genuine value and wealth.

0:12:30 contemporary art, cover ups, engineered bubbles, and passing the buck between investors (and why Europe should forego its passion for LBOs).

0:15:30 Europe should build its own path and stop mimicking the US (Silicon Valley will never be duplicated).

0:17:25 Jolt Capital's manifesto hinges on European strong intellectual property and thousands of existing deeptech mid-cap companies, to curate, strengthen and defend a series of technological bastions.

0:21:40 why most VCs have abandoned the field of deeptech in Europe and concentrate instead on platform, service, digital innovation, and why this is bad news (for Europe).

0:25:00 the Heptagon journey, a true story that looks like a fairy tale, growing from 100 to 10000 people in 4 years to build the ultimate face recognition for smartphones.

0:26:35 the 2 reasons behind founding Jolt Capital in 2011, and why many incumbents will rejoice if you fall when you are trying to break away from the pack.

0:31:00 why recruiting a Joltian is based on criteria like fighting spirit and generosity rather than background, degrees, and strict match to the job description.

0:36:05 Jean Schmitt as a young startup founder (starting and selling 4 companies in the fields of polls quality control, customer behaviour prediction, and applied statistics).

0:41:18 the success factors, ranging from a rock-solid core team to the undisputed visionary leader, by way of carefully selected board members.

0:46:35 adoring than dropping the Tesla, a metaphor for the disappointing (not perfect) second product after a promising (however flawed) first one.

0:50:36 why owning a restaurant is one of the most difficult businesses in the world, much more than growing a semicon fab.

0:58:15 something Jean regrets: not having found the recipe to grow the French company that had invented and patented contactless payment, and turned it into a multi-billion behemoth.

1:00:35 something Jean would do differently: ask the best people to join your company or your board, you'd be surprised how many will agree.

1:04:40 something that Jean finds fascinatingly beautiful: a plan well executed.

1:05:20 something that gets on Jean's nerves: French people who criticise their country while enjoying life abroad, thanks to the benefits they reaped from the collective and social wealth in the home country.

1:06:04 something big Jean will devote his time to, one day: the decaying French school system, after 40 years of systematic demolition, which currently puts the country at risk.

1:09:40 something Jean still believes in, when most people don't: science and technology have the potential to save us, not de-growth.

1:13:50 something that changed Jean when he read it: 1/ an Henri IV biography when he was 14, 2/ Regain, by Jean Giono, the story of a guy who sells his donkey, buys a barren land with the proceeds, and turns it into a fertile cornucopia, 3/ Dans la classe, by Alain Amariglio, how an engineer turned elementary school teacher can reenchant the world while teaching.

Listen to the full episode (in French) here.