Aller au contenu principal

Diary of an immersive trip to the Silicon Valley for the winners of the Start-up Challenge

Entrepreneurship Article published on 29 March 2022 , Updated on 08 June 2022

In February, the winners of the 2021-2022 Start-up Challenge headed to the Silicon Valley for an immersive week in the American entrepreneurial ecosystem. The student entrepreneurs share the details of their trip, day by day. 

Day 1 – Sunday 27 February 2022
Arrival in San Francisco, sightseeing and rest

Leaving from Paris around 11am, almost all of us arrived on American soil at around 2pm (local time)! A member of the group unfortunately got stuck at customs for more than 4 hours …We were welcomed by Valérie Millet, our tour director and logistics coordinator for the trip, who started by showing us around the city by bus, where we saw the Twin Peaks, with its beautiful high view of the city, the Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate Bridge. To end this first day, we had dinner at Capurro's Restaurant, the San Francisco Fish House, with Katie Renati, our tour operator.

Day 2 – Monday 28 February 2022
Introduction and pitch training

The morning was focused on how to pitch. Katie Renati introduced us to the Silicon Valley ecosystem and gave us several tips on how to improve our pitches in front of future investors, partners, etc. Most of us went for lunch at the Aquatic Park Cove. In the afternoon, two women entrepreneurs came to share their experiences: Helena Merk, Co-founder & CEO of Glimpse (acquired by Twine) and Elsa Jungman, Founder & CEO of ELSI Skin Health. In the evening, we had dinner at the Bubba Gump: so many references to the Forrest Gump film!

Day 3 – Tuesday 1 March 2022
Professional meetings and pitches

In the morning, we went to the French Consulate in San Francisco, where we met Jean-Baptiste Bordes, Science and Technology Attaché, and Florence Tison, Managing Director of Business France, whose role is to help French companies set up in the United States. The presentations were very enriching and helped us understand how the Silicon Valley is such a unique business ecosystem. One of the key figures that stood out: "When 1 billion is invested in France, 45 billion are invested in the Silicon Valley..."

In the afternoon, we met Carlos Dias, a serial entrepreneur. We joined him in Golden Gate Park where he shared his experience and vision with us, insisting on the Silicon Valley mindset which is at the origin of the region’s success (the Silicon Valley is not a place, it is a mindset). Once his presentation was over, he challenged our pitches. Each team got valuable advice for the future of their start-up. Some of the comments which often came up were "the importance of vision" and "not trying to do better but doing things differently". He concluded the exchange by reminding us of the unique goal of a pitch, which is to spark the interest of our audience and secure a second interview with them.

Day 4 – Wednesday 2 March 2022
University of California, Berkeley

Starting the day in the famous fog of San Francisco, we went to the University of California, Berkeley. We were welcomed by Ricardo Rodriguez, Global Programs Coordinator of the UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. We then spoke with people from the university’s start-up ecosystem, including students, to whom we also pitched our projects. In the afternoon, we discussed various interesting topics with Satya Goncho A. Goncho, a researcher in astrophysics. She reminded us of the importance of taking care of our pitches and our image, even in everyday life, so as not to miss out on opportunities.
As they say at UC Berkeley, GO BEARS!

Day 5 – Thursday 3 March 2022
Networking and Stanford University

On Thursday morning, we took the bus to the Silicon Valley. We made our first stop at the BootUp World launchpad. Once more, we pitched in front of Luigi Bajettiun, Founder & General Partner of Lombard Ventures, who gave us some concise and interesting feedback. He shared his secret for successful investments with us: "the most important thing is the team". We then attended an entrepreneurship class taught by Mukul Agarwal, Founder & CEO of BootUp World. What we took away from the class was the rule of 5Ps: Purpose, Passion, Perseverance, Progress, and Pivot all help to make an entrepreneur successful.

Then, we took the bus back to Plug and Play, one of the best incubators in the Silicon Valley which has incubated, among others, PayPal and Google. During lunch, we had a speed dating session with the people on site to practice pitching and meet potential investors and associates. In the Silicon Valley, everyone is very open and ready to interact with anyone. This cultural behavior associated with the high concentration of talent creates a sense of competition from which ideas and start-ups grow. This is the main reason behind the success of the Silicon Valley. After lunch, we took part in an improvised pitching session: 3 minutes to pitch in front of a crowd of investors, entrepreneurs, etc.

Running out of time, we left for Stanford University. There, we joined six French engineers finishing their studies and an alumnus from Université Paris-Saclay who is currently Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator at Burlacot Lab. While visiting the campus, we spoke with them about their experience as students at Stanford University. They were also very interested in the evolution of Université Paris-Saclay, our goal in the Silicon Valley and our entrepreneurial projects. The meeting ended with an informal session of pitching!

Day 6 – Friday 4 March 2022
Meeting with Université Paris-Saclay alumni

Our last day in San Francisco! In the morning, we met with Université Paris-Saclay alumni who have moved from France to San Francisco:
- Ketan Bacchuwar, graduate of a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics, Computer Vision and Machine Learning, now Co-founder and CTO at Crosscope
- Nicolas Thiebaut, PhD in Physics from ENS Paris-Saclay, now a Machine Learning Engineer
- Omar Yamak, graduate in Biotechnology from Université Paris-Saclay, now a research assistant at the SFSU Bioelectronics Lab, MS SFSU
- Zélia Sevaux, Pharm.D, MSc at Université Paris-Saclay, now Regulatory Intelligence Associate - US Product Development Regulatory at Genentech.
- Hortense Berthoux, graduate of a Master's degree from Université Paris-Saclay, now employed at Business France SF.

Day 7 – Saturday 5 March 2022
Travelling home

We had one last free morning before leaving for the airport at around 12 p.m. Some of us took the opportunity to rent bikes and go to the Golden Gate Bridge, others went to Coit Tower or for one last walk around the Fisherman's Wharf area where we were staying.

Relive the highlights in the trip’s video

A few photos from the trip

Golden Gate Bridge, Day 1
Helena Merk, Co-founder & CEO of Glimpse, Day 2
Business France, Day 3
Visiting the business district in San Francisco, Day 3
Carlos Dias, Founder of Diaspora Ventures, Day 3
UC Berkeley, Day 4
Satya Goncho A. Goncho at UC Berkeley, Day 4
BootUp World, Day 5
Pitching at BootUp World, Day 5
Netwkorking at Plug and Play, Day 5
Delegation at Plug and Play, Day 5
Meeting our students (Erasmus exchange) at Stanford University, Day 5
Meeting our Alumni in San Francisco, Day 6
Cable Car, Day 7

Thank you to all of the 2021-2022 Start-Up Challenge winners for their commitment and kindness throughout the trip. Thank you to the coordinating team for organising the trip and accompanying the student entrepreneurs. Thank you to Quentin Barreau (start-up Cocagne.Art) and Nicolas De-Rosa (start-up Light Cycle) for this detailed journal. Thank you to Valentine Quiniou and Eline Koch-Scheidt for editing the video, and last but not least, thank you to Sylvie Retailleau, President of Université Paris-Saclay, for making this trip possible!