Choosing my next entrepreneurial project was a rewarding journey. I’m sharing here the path I followed in 2019. Feel free to Follow the project or Join us.
Why start a new entrepreneurial journey?
I've always been what people call a “type A” — meaning I love action and I'm always up for a new adventure.
That’s why, after:
- the great years at BlaBlaCar, where an amazing and kind team set the bar very high for workplace happiness,
- trying to launch a SaaS company in San Francisco,
- going back to being an employee for a while,
I’ve realized that being an employee is just no longer for me. Honestly, it’s nearly impossible — a pain shared by many ex-”unicorn” employees (weird word, but everyone gets it — especially at the zoo). And I believe it’s just as true for successful or failed entrepreneurs.
Actually, it’s a blessing — let’s make something great out of it!
Figuring out what I want to do
As a nature lover, I spent the year focused on two main things:
- Discovering the impact sector (environmental, social, societal), because the destruction of wild environments is unbearable to me,
- Looking for a new adventure.
Also: a bit of cycling and quite a bit of cross-country skiing (climate change couldn’t have brought us more snow, huh? 🥶)
I was lucky enough to meet and support kind and driven entrepreneurs, mentor and invest in a few impact startups (like Loom and Poiscaille). I also spent time in big corporations… which confirmed: not for me.
At the same time, I helped B2B SaaS companies in Paris. Useful products, tight metrics, beloved by VCs for their predictability. But selling to CAC40 corporations on 24-month sales cycles? Not for me 😅
So I’m focusing on B2C, lots of users willing to pay a little. And still… all of Netflix for €10 is already “expensive”, right?
#lessons for b2c apps: always use a cat gif to ensure minimum conversion.
Realizing what I’m good at
These experiences helped me realize I wanted to design a product:
- that I’d use myself — that’s how great products are built,
- that’s universal, because software’s impact scales massively,
- that’s tech-based, because it’s what I do best,
- and that has social impact, beyond simple usage 🚀
Knowing what you want and what you’re good at is the first half. The second is understanding what people need.
Alzheimer’s and memories
Spending time with my grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, made me want to dig into the topic. After reading around ten books, I learned a lot.
I’ve always been terrified by this thought: in the morning I have only my time — and I don’t want to waste it; in the evening, I only have my memories — and I don’t want to lose them either.
Dr. Dale Pertesen explains how stress and modern-life notifications block the creation of new neurons in the hippocampus — meaning memories don’t transfer to long-term storage.
So… what’s the new project?
It clicked when I reconnected with Charles Baron over the summer. He told me about his idea — still just a concept.
Fun fact: we almost hired Charles at BlaBlaCar when he left his job as a trader in the City. He ended up joining Stootie (later acquired by Cdiscount). I was a regular user of that service during my apartment renovation.
The problem to solve
People forget. And they complain about it.
In a world where:
- half the population is hooked on social media with instant-reward loops designed to glue users and sell ads,
- the other half rejects those apps, seeing them as poison,
…well, it’s not that surprising.
These companies hire neuroscientists to make their apps more addictive. Our hunter-gatherer brains lock onto moving images, mistaking them for danger. That’s why we stare at TVs in restaurants — even the worst ones 📺
Where French romanticism collides with American pragmatism in business.
#make-b2c-apps-great-again
Why it clicked
Charles' brilliant idea was to build:
- A simple tool to capture any info using a photo (easier than note-taking),
- A representation of your memories to fight the world’s throwaway culture and show that every life is meaningful,
- A private network to share memories and aspirations.
Everyone (well, almost) takes photos. I’ve always been frustrated I couldn’t extract more value from mine.
I even noted a similar idea in my “164 business ideas” list: “universal photo tagging”, ranked 93rd. Definitely a sign we should team up.
My To Do List
I don’t know what exhibitions my friends are going to.
I don’t know what wines they’d recommend.
I don’t connect with social networks where people pretend to be better than they are.
I don’t have an intellectual space to share books with friends who don’t live in the same city.
And I believe we can train my grandmother’s memory with photos of her grandchildren ❤️
The solution: Memorizer
So we’re building Memorizer, the mobile app we need to remember better — and get closer to what really matters to us.
Memorize anything online or in real life — from the app.
About the team
So far, we already have:
- a back-end developer,
- an AI engineer,
- a UX/UI designer,
… each with 10+ years of experience.
And we’re still hiring for:
- back-end leads,
- iOS / Android developers,
- AI engineers,
- and a data engineer.
If you're interested: Follow the project or Join us.
Diversity always.
Since Memorizer is a universal project, we want more women in the tech team, among our business angels — at every level.
But we’ve realized it’s hard.
Please help.
—
Thomas
💛 Love from Memorizer
