YC Stories: Building from Paris to SF
Three founders were building from Paris, got into Y Combinator, closed seed/series A rounds, and are now scaling internationally. Join this event to learn what it took them to go from idea to US seed funding, told honestly, from the inside, without going to SF.
You’ve heard the advice a hundred times: “build your network,” “just get to Silicon Valley.” But what does that look like in practice? Hear about the pivots, the first weeks in SF, the YC experience, the investor meetings that went nowhere, the one that closed the round.
On stage:
Dan Elkaïm, Co-founder of Topo (YC W24)
Arseniy Shishaev, Co-founder of Superlog (YC P26)
Kabir Sethi, Co-founder of Bitstack (YC S22)
Three companies, three batches, three different routes. Join us for a great night of real talk & meeting cool people.
What does Pioneers do?
Pioneers is a talent investor for ambitious European founders. We look for people who've excelled somewhere hard - frontier science, elite sport, the military, the best technology companies, and back them at the earliest stages, sometimes before they even have a team or an idea. French ex-NASA engineers building underwater drones for EU defence. A Dutch ex-Stanford researcher building biotech infrastructure for EU labs. We bring 40 people like this together in a batch for three months, invest €100K in the top-performing teams, and take them to Silicon Valley for a month.
What to expect:
The Panel - Maxime Arnulf sits down with all three founders for a live Q&A on:
Paris vs SF: what actually changed the moment they landed in Silicon Valley, and what they'd never trade about building from Paris.
The YC value: what going through YC really gave them, beyond the brand name.
Raising seed: what closing their round actually took, step by step.
Drinks & Networking - The part where you actually put it into practice, in the room, with the people sitting next to you.
Who it's for: Founders in the earliest stages of building.
Agenda:
18:00 - 18:30 - Doors open
18:30 - 19:30 - Panel discussion + Q&A
19:30 onwards - Networking
📍 Station F - Founders Café
🗓️ September 30: 18:00 - 21:00