Nevers
Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the principal city of the ...
) is a French entrepreneur, known as the co-founder and co-
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of showroomprive.com, created in 2006. He is also the vice-President of France Digitale and a business angel engaged in the French online economy.
Biography
Born into a working-class family, Thierry Petit grew up in the
Nièvre
Nièvre () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019.Institut National des Télécommunications (now known as Télécom SudParis).
A trained engineer, he began working in 1995 for interactive agencies like Planète Interactive and Brainsoft. However, at a young age, Thierry Petit threw himself into entrepreneurship and in September 1999 he created the first French price comparison site on the web, Toobo.com, which was met with immediate success, before being sold a few months later to Liberty Surf for €15 million.
After this first entrepreneurial success, Thierry Petit decided in 2002 to take over the management of the performance art magazine Mouvement. An admirer of dance, this experience allowed him to also discover the publishing market which up until this point had been unknown ground for him. Previously in economic difficulty, the magazine turned its fortunes around thanks to a new business model and numerous partnerships.
In 2004, Thierry Petit fulfilled another dream: to travel around the world for two years with his wife.
Showroomprive.com
Upon returning to France, Thierry Petit met David Dayan, a recognised specialist of destocking and the then president of France Export. Already competing with vente-privee.com (known at the time as Cofotex) on the physical market, Dayan was looking to launch an online venture and joined forces with Petit to benefit from his digital expertise. Showroomprive.com is officially launched in October 2006.
Look Forward
A great believer in new and digital technologies, Thierry Petit founded Look Forward, showroomprive.com's start-up incubator dedicated to fashion and innovation. It was inaugurated on 8 June 2015 in front of
Axelle Lemaire
Axelle Lemaire (born 18 October 1974) is a French former Socialist politician who served as a Deputy for the Third constituency for French overseas residents in the National Assembly of the French Parliament, for which she was elected in 2012. ...
, the Minister of State for Digital Affairs. Each year, Look Forward selects and incubates around ten start-ups whose collective goal is to transform the way in which fashion is produced, distributed and consumed.
In February 2016, to further promote innovative initiatives in the retail and fashion domains, Thierry Petit launched the first edition of the FashionTech Festival in partnership with the Gaîté Lyrique. On the event's programme: exhibitions, discussions, workshops, as well as a prize-giving ceremony to award four promising and visionary projects chosen by the Look Forward jury. The second edition of the festival will take place in June 2017 in Paris.
Business angel
A player in the French entrepreneurial ecosystem, Thierry Petit is an important business angel in the digital sector. According to ''
Challenges
Challenge may refer to:
* Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters
* Euphemism for disability
* Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty
Places
Geography
*Challenge, C ...
'', he was the 9th most active French business angel in 2016. He has notably invested in many online companies and actively participates in their development: Avisdemaman, TagCommander, ALittleMarket, Vinted, Soubis, DoYouBuzz, Platypus, RedVisitor, storeretail, Testamento, CarnetdeMode, YouMiam, BrocanteLab, Back Market, ABTasty, Bonnegueule, Blablacar, Sigfox, talent.io, Tiller, Lendix, Whelp, Cubyn, Afrikrea etc. In total, Thierry Petit has financed more than 30 start-ups principally active in the
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...
field.
In May 2015, he, along with other heads of online companies, launched the "Reviens Léon, on innove à la maison!" movement in order to entice expatriate French entrepreneurs to return and work in France.
France Digitale
Thierry Petit is the vice-president of France Digitale, an association that brings together digital entrepreneurs and investors in France.
Prizes and awards
In 1999, Thierry Petit received the Prix
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
for "the best internet application of year" after creating the
L'Oréal
L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...