Vendre sa boîte 800m€ à Adobe avant de monter 4 licornes

Description

Aujourd’hui dans BILLIONS, je reçois Thibaud Elzière, l’un des entrepreneurs les plus fascinants d’Europe. À même pas 30 ans, il vend Fotolia à Adobe pour près de 800 millions d’euros. Et au lieu de disparaître avec son chèque, il fonde Hexa, le startup studio derrière Front, Spendesk, Aircall, Mailjet, Slite… et des dizaines d’autres. On va parler de comment il trouve ses idées, de la vraie structure du deal avec Adobe, de sa façon de négocier avec les fonds, et de ce que les VCs ne comprennent pas sur les startup studios. Thibaud va aussi nous dire pourquoi il garde 30 % du capital dans chaque boîte, comment il gère les liquid prefs, les secondaries, et ce qu’il referait différemment s’il repartait de zéro. Si tu veux comprendre comment on construit des boites qui valent des milliards t’es au bon endroit ! ---------------------------------------------------- At not even 30 years old, he sold Fotolia to Adobe for €800 million. Then instead of disappearing with the check, he built Hexa. The startup studio behind Front, Spendesk, Aircall, Mailjet, Slite... and dozens more. Here's what we get into: - How does he find his ideas? - What was the real structure of the Adobe deal? - How does he negotiate with VCs? - And what do investors completely misunderstand about startup studios? Thibaud also breaks down why he keeps 30% equity in every company, how he handles liquid prefs and secondaries, and what he'd do differently if he started over. Want to know how to build billion-dollar companies? You're in the right place. TIMELINE : 00:00:00 - 00:01:01 : The $800M Adobe deal and staying under the radar 00:01:01 - 00:05:37 : How Thibault built and sold Photolia without venture capital 00:05:37 - 00:10:59 : Equity dilution, painful lessons, and signing a check for freedom 00:10:59 - 00:16:55 : Why Thibault created a startup studio before it was sexy 00:16:55 - 00:22:21 : Rocket Internet, Notion, and redefining what a ‘founder’ means 00:22:21 - 00:28:27 : Liquidity, cap tables, and playing the long game 00:28:27 - 00:36:20 : Investing in 350+ startups and navigating life without liquidity 00:36:20 - 00:44:00 : Iconic House: building luxury hospitality with startup logic 00:44:00 - 00:49:24 : From eFounders to Hexa: expanding verticals & scaling vision 00:49:24 - 00:54:24 : The impossible search for world-class partners 00:54:24 - 01:00:08 : Regret-proof entrepreneurship and how to know what to launch next