Frédéric is the founder and president of BlaBlaCar, the world leader in carpooling. He is also the co-president entrepreneur of France Digitale, Europe's largest startup association.
Frédéric holds a Master's degree in Physics from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS Ulm), a Master's degree in Computer Science from Stanford University (USA) and an MBA from INSEAD. Before founding BlaBlaCar, he was a research scientist for NASA in the USA and NTT in Japan. Frédéric is also a pianist and music lover.
It was on his way back to the Vendée to spend the Christmas holidays with his family that Frédéric first imagined his carpooling solution. All the trains were full, so Frédéric's sister picked him up by car in Paris. On the way, he noticed that most cars, unlike trains, were empty. BlaBlaCar was born to compensate for this paradox.
Once the concept had been proven in France, BlaBlaCar experienced strong international growth and became the first French unicorn and the world leader in long-distance carpooling, with a community of over 100 million members in 22 countries. BlaBlaCar is now positioned as the champion of shared, sustainable, accessible and multimodal mobility, adding home-to-work and bus carpooling to its long-distance carpooling offering.
Alongside his entrepreneurial adventure, Frédéric makes a major contribution to the French and European tech ecosystem through organizations such as France Digitale or The Galion projectas co-founder and/or Board member. His main themes are: how to attract and retain the best talent in tech, how to focus all our efforts on solutions with a positive environmental impact, and how to shape our ecosystem to ensure French and European technological sovereignty.
Laure Claire is co-founder and managing director of Launchworks & Co where she supports e-commerce companies, marketplaces and platforms in their strategic development. She was named one of the world's 8 experts on platforms and ecosystems by the World Economic Forum.
Prior to founding Launchworks, Laure Claire worked for eBay, where she was responsible for developing eBay's commercial offering for sellers across Europe (over €25 billion in GMV and €2 billion in revenues). Laure Claire also worked for British Telecom, the UK telecom operator, where she launched Voice over IP offers and e-commerce services for the consumer division. Laure Claire began her career with innovative software startups Metrica and WatchMark, before they were acquired by IBM.
She is the co-author of Platform Strategy : How to unlock the power of communities and networks to grow your business (Dunod), and lectures on platforms at ESCP Business School, HEC Paris and London Business School.
Laure Claire is a Télécom engineer (Télécom SudParis, Institut Polytechnique). She holds a Master of Business Administration from London Business School.
Benoît is the founder and president of Launchworks & Co where he specializes in executive training and coaching for organizations implementing innovative platform and ecosystem business models. For nearly 25 years, he has advised numerous companies, international groups and governments on their digital transformation strategies.
Benoît began his career as an advisor to the French government on economic and regulatory issues linked to the liberalization of the telecoms sector in the early 90s.
Benoît is the co-author of Platform Strategy : How to unlock the power of communities and networks to grow your business (Dunod). He teaches and speaks regularly on these subjects at numerous schools and universities in France and abroad (HEC Paris, ESCP Business School, Mines-Télécoms, Berkeley).
Benoît is the co-founder of the Platform Leaders communitywhich meets regularly to discuss current platform issues.
Benoît holds a Master's degree in Management Science from the Institut Mines-Télécom Business School, an MA in Economics and Competition Law from King's College, and Masters of Business Administration from London Business School and Columbia University in New York.
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