November 30, 2025 • 33 mins
Joining us from Mumbai, Axel shares his fascinating transition from a material scientist in Silicon Valley to a key diplomat bridging the business ecosystems of France and India. In this episode, we explore how Axel promotes the Paris region across three crucial verticals: Investment, Tourism, and the Film Commission.
🌟 A Global Citizen's Journey Axel details a truly global career path that led him to India. Moving from studying physics in France to engineering at Stanford in the US, he was driven by a keen interest in sustainability and renewable energy, embarking on a career focused on CAPEX-heavy deep tech projects.
🔋 Deep Tech Dive: The Battery Revolution Axel shares his experience as a material scientist at the battery startup Natron Energy (formerly Alveo Energy) in Palo Alto. There, he helped develop innovative battery technology based on a Prussian blue analog material.Unlike traditional Lithium-Ion, this unique chemistry allows for super-fast charging/discharging with a significantly lower risk of thermal runoff. Axel explains the challenges of building a battery from the ground up, from coin cells to full industrial packs.
🍓 Engineering & Operations: The Agricool Era Returning to France, Axel took a 360-degree role leading engineering and operations at Agricool, a French indoor agriculture startup. He discusses the complexities of growing strawberries and leafy greens inside shipping containers—a prime example of the "Valley of Death" challenges hardware startups face.
🇫🇷 The Focus on AI & Investment: Paris vs. London Now bridging the ecosystems of France and India, Axel outlines the strategic focus of the "Choose Paris" region.
🌟 A Global Citizen's Journey Axel details a truly global career path that led him to India. Moving from studying physics in France to engineering at Stanford in the US, he was driven by a keen interest in sustainability and renewable energy, embarking on a career focused on CAPEX-heavy deep tech projects.
🔋 Deep Tech Dive: The Battery Revolution Axel shares his experience as a material scientist at the battery startup Natron Energy (formerly Alveo Energy) in Palo Alto. There, he helped develop innovative battery technology based on a Prussian blue analog material.Unlike traditional Lithium-Ion, this unique chemistry allows for super-fast charging/discharging with a significantly lower risk of thermal runoff. Axel explains the challenges of building a battery from the ground up, from coin cells to full industrial packs.
🍓 Engineering & Operations: The Agricool Era Returning to France, Axel took a 360-degree role leading engineering and operations at Agricool, a French indoor agriculture startup. He discusses the complexities of growing strawberries and leafy greens inside shipping containers—a prime example of the "Valley of Death" challenges hardware startups face.
🇫🇷 The Focus on AI & Investment: Paris vs. London Now bridging the ecosystems of France and India, Axel outlines the strategic focus of the "Choose Paris" region.
- Putting Paris on the Map: How France is competing with London and Germany to become the premier destination for Indian investors.
- The AI Boom: Why Paris is viewed as a global AI hub, benefiting from the heavy math curriculum in French education (linear algebra), and why France and India share a similar "sovereign" approach to AI development.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Startup Still Say podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Thank you for tuning in. Do us a favor like
subscribe on YouTube or LinkedIn, and be sure to give
us your feedback. Hope you enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello everyone, this is Anthony Pracashi, your host for Startups.
They'll say, welcome to a brand new episode of Startups.
They'll say, we're doing this after a tiny hiatus, if
you will. So, I'm super excited to be recording another episode,
and I have a special guest here, Axel guy On,
who is joining us from Bombay. First of all, thanks
(00:34):
so much for taking time on a Saturday morning, Axel
to record this one out of your weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
To do this.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I know we met almost twelve months ago in Bangalore. Coincidentally,
both of us were seated at the same table in
a conference and Axel and I started talking. I mean,
it was a fun few hours between the conference and
while people were talking, we were exchanging notes on what
each was doing. I've kept in touch with Axel since,
(01:02):
and I'm thrilled to have him on. Axel is currently
the country manager for the Choose Paris region, which he'll
tell us more about. But before I say more about Axel,
welcome to the show. Glad to have you on. Why
didn't you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Sure, thanks Anthony, thanks for having me. I'm thrilled to
be on the show and happy to catch up also
with you at the same time. So I, as you
mentioned now, I work for True Sperish Region, for which
I'm the country manager for India. So I've been in
this position for the last give or take a year
and a half in Mumbai where I set up our presence.
(01:41):
So True Sparis Region is the promotion agency of the
Paris regional government, so kind of like a state. We
call them regions in France, and so we promote the
region across a few verticals, the three main ones being investment,
the investment, tourism and the film Commission and so of
course are a few overlaps. We're doing all these threes,
(02:02):
but generally they tend to be like separated in other
such or similar organizations. So I talk to you know,
potential investors entrepreneurs in India to help them understand what
market opportunities and incentives they might find in Paris Region
to develop their businesses. Similarly, you know, I evangelize I
(02:24):
guess that's that's a word that I can use. I
evangelize around tourism and help tourism professionals in India understand
what this destination has to offer so that their travelers
can explore more and come back happier from their their
their holidays in France. And finally, for the film Commission,
we help producers of any formats access funding and incentives
(02:47):
from France and from Pars specifically and help them with
shoots in and around Pears. So that's you know, that's
a handful, but it's been fun. You know. I'm I have,
I guess a personal history with India, so I'm very
happy to you know, have this this position that helps
(03:09):
me bridge where I grew up and part of what
I've done before and my my interests and my love
quite literally for this country that I live in.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Now, that is amazing, actual, I mean, I'm actually envious
at what you get to do all the three parts
that you said, you know, investments, film, tourism.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I mean, who wouldn't want that job, right?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And Paris is also a pretty easy sell if you will, right,
I mean, in the sense everybody wants to go to Paris.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I'm sure you have your own.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
You know, sort of roadblocks and obstacles that you need
to come through and go through rather but let's let's
talk a little bit about you know, where you started off, right,
I mean, obviously this podcast is about startups. Obviously you've
been a startup founder of sorts yourself. But I want
to take you back early on in your career. I mean,
(04:04):
I looking at the path you've taken to get to
this point in Mumbai. I consider you a truly global citizen.
You're from Paris. You know, you went to school obviously there,
then you went to the US or in my backyard
here you came to study in Stanford, then you go
back and then now you're in India. So I mean,
(04:25):
it doesn't get better than that. Like I said, you
have a fun job. But back to where you started
your career actually, I mean, how are some of the
foundational elements.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Of where you started kind of get you to where
you are right now?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I mean, did you kind of have this vision when
you started off or things just fell and fell in
the right place at the right time.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, I think the ladder definitely. I don't think I
couldn't imagine myself that i'd end up, you know, like
being some kind of an evangelizer salesperson for Paris region
in India of all places. When I started, you know,
I guess as an engineering student in France, the jump
to the US was sort of made sense. I mean,
I was admitted, so why wouldn't I go? And so
(05:12):
after studying physics in France, I was more than happy
to fly over to the Bay Area and study engineering
at Stanford. I had developed a keen interest on everything
related to sustainability and renewable energy from like I think,
high school even and you can probably blame my dad
(05:32):
for it because he worked in the French public utility EDF,
so himself an engineer and an energy nerd. But then I,
honestly I thought this was probably going to be it.
I'd work as an engineer, have a career like you know,
similar in some ways to that of my dad's. I
did want to, and you know, that's something that I
(05:55):
do try to keep in every position that I hold.
I do want to make an impact in one way
or another in terms of sustainability and energy transition and
what I do. And so it sort of made sense
for me to go on to Stanford study this This
program was actually quite interesting because it mixed everything related
(06:16):
to the energy transition and climate science, so like pretty broad,
but you also understood why you were working on the
energy transition. And then after that, I actually was fortunate
to join this battery startup called at the time Alveo
Energy now called Natron Energy in the Bay in Palo Alto,
(06:37):
first as an intern in between my first and second
year of grad school, and then full time, and they
gave me a chance to work basically as a material scientist,
even though that was not my training. There's some overlap
with the physics that I'd studied, but really they like
showed me the lab and said, okay, there you go,
let's see if that sticks. And it did, and it
(06:57):
was a lot of fun Natron or Alveo at the time,
and the Natron developed and you know, sadly now I'll
be speaking in the past tense because they're not in
business anymore. Just from a few months ago up at
that's life in the startup world. Developed a battery technology
based on this like really cool material called Prussian blue,
(07:18):
which is used as a dye in like blue jeans
and paint, so very common material, very inexpensive, and so
you know you basically tweak it a little bit, so
you call it a Prussian blue analog, and it makes
a really cool material for battery electrodes. And its properties
that sort of justified, you know, building a company out
(07:38):
of it, are that you can charge this battery super fast,
you can discharge it super fast and still get most
of that energy out. There's no you know, overheating or
a particular risk of a thermal runoff as you have
in with your Mind batteries. That's that's a big concern.
And it's made with readily available metals materials. Precursor done it,
(08:01):
and we started this from the ground up. Basically, when
you start with a new electrode, you have to like
put like reinvent all of the building blocks of the battery,
the current collectors. I won't bore you with all the
technical stuff. I could talk about this for hours, but
everything that comes into the battery needs to find it
needs to have compatibility with those new materials. And you
(08:24):
can't just like replace, like takeul lit to Mind battery,
replace the electrodes with something else and hope that it'll work.
That's not how it works, and so we built this
from a ground up. I think when I joined there
were about ten of us, and I stayed there for
four four and a half years, and we started from
like cells that were like the size of a credit
card to packs that you can put in like a
(08:47):
lad acid battery type of format, and it was you know,
there's always this excitement in the startups that you're starting
something new. You can sort of reinvent a lot of technology,
but also ways of working with people in a new culture.
So I mean, I couldn't have like hoped for a
better way to start my career unfortunately, as I mentioned,
(09:07):
but that's just like startups in the deep tech, you know,
like Capex heavy space. This this didn't pan out, but
you know, I'd go back anytime that was that was
really a lot of fun. Yeah, very nice, and so
I guess, you know, this was sort of like along
the way that I would have imagined for myself when
(09:29):
I started my career. One thing that I would have
also expected is that i'd probably go back to France eventually,
but that's more you know, for like quality of life,
different cultures, more PTO at that point, and being the
family and so after six years in the Bay, I
moved back to France and I started looking for an
(09:50):
opportunity that would match you know what I described my
interest in sustainability. Interestingly, I guess I like a challenge.
I had come to like the idea of like capex
heavy tech projects, which of course are the riskiest ones,
but I like that. So I joined this French startup
which had just raised I think about twenty million euros,
(10:10):
which is like a big round at the time in
the French landscape for hard hardware startup, and its name
was Agricool. Again, sadly, i'm talking to the past tense.
The value of death was not key to this startup either.
That was developing growing systems, so basically indoor agriculture like
(10:33):
the you know plenty is one that's that's in the Bay,
and so we were growing and growing strawberries and leafy
greens and herbs out of shipping containers. I think there's
one based in Brooklyn that does a similar thing called
squared Roots. Really cool technology. You know. I upgrade from
like one single components of an engineering system, the battery,
(10:54):
which is a lot of fun to develop in itself,
to like the whole system and to a company that
not only has to design the product and make it
more reliable and scale it up, but also operate it
and sell and market. So that was like a more
like three sixty type of company, and that was a
lot of fun as well. Got it and then and
(11:16):
then I guess this is where I started veering off
a little bit. The first little like site turn that
I took was when this company, Agricol, had unfortunately filed
from bankruptcy. And I was at the time responsible for
both engineering and operations at the company. And so when
you fought for bankruptcy in France, I guess it might
be similar in the US. Depending on how much gash
(11:38):
you have left in the bank, the judge will give
you some time, some limited time to try and keep
the company running and look for a new investor. It's
a lot more attractive to an investor if the company
is still running, if the employers are still there and
you're still shipping product. So we had five months to
do that. Of course, a little challenging to keep everyone
as engaged when they know that probably after four or
(12:00):
five months, you know, they may not have a job.
But we, you know, we we pushed to it and
we came out on top with a new investor. So
that was a great victory for us. And this new investor,
like you know, basically made Agricul one of its business
(12:20):
units and they had a few other ones and offered
me to while I was managing this transition time for
the agrical business unit, also offered me to join another
business units of another startup in consumer electronics and handle
and trust me, I guess a lot of trust to
handle their e commerce, so digital sales and marketing, and
(12:44):
there I kind of realized that, you know, I could
also do that and it was fun. Then when I
decided to for personal reasons, I guess disclaimer I've I've
alluded to it. My wife is Indian, so that's how
I ended up in India. I'd managed to convince her
to move from the Bay to France. So now this
is you know, we're reciprocating and we've moved from France
(13:07):
to India. And so when we'd been thinking about moving
to India for some time, I mean it's like it's
a great place to be in a number of ways.
People may not think of it in that way, you know,
they have this image of India if they've not been
in a while. But it's such like a booming country
in so many ways that we were really excited to
(13:29):
go there and spend not just like a few weeks
of holiday per year. So that was like more of
a personal decision to move to India. And once I
moved to India, I happened to be put in touch
with someone from the Paris regional government. There was a delegation,
you know, coming to India and exactly doing you know
what I described, which is like confronting the image that
(13:52):
they might have of India and realizing that it was
much more than they would have expected. And following this
delegation visit and a meeting that I had with, they
decided to open an office for their promotion agency and
to put me in charge of that office. And here
I am, all.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Right, well, beautiful story.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean, love the story and the way I look
at it, axel Is, I mean, every step you've taken
is kind of building towards this step that you've taken
in India, and kind of every whether it was the
battery technology in the startup or the operations role that
(14:29):
you did for a little bit of digital sales. One
kind of helps you in this job that you have
as a country manager, right, because I mean this is
almost like you've got to do it all and was
kind of setting you up for saying, Hey, training for this,
training for that, you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So few things that caught my attention in your story, right,
I mean you obviously said you are you're keen or
you're kind of drawn towards capexin intensive projects as well.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I mean in a way in this role as well.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I mean you have to kind of, you know, seed
some of those early discussions and try to make investments
in what might be help for both the startup or
the unit in India plus the Paris region.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And one thing that is so capital intensive.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
These days and not a day goes by that we
don't hear about it is obviously artificial intelligence. Right from
from your perspective and from a choose Paris region perspective,
Is that a special focus for some of those investments
in AI cross border or which which of those three
categories as fit in?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, the answer is yes, absolutely, AI is big, and
so it's big for us first because there's like a
super strong hub and expertise in AI in Paris, so
we have a good selling product and that's that's important,
you know, it wasn't necessarily meant to be this way,
of course, like the US and China are the two
(16:06):
big players, and there are a few other hubs around
the world. I think we benefit from a science and
engineering higher educational program or I guess curricula a series
a combination of higher education curricula and science and engineering
that are very math heavy. But that's what I went
through when I studied when I studied in France in
(16:28):
my undergrads, where basically, you know, even if you want
to study chemistry, you have to go through like a
whole ton of linear algebra. And I mentioned linear algebra
specifically because when I ended up taking the machine learning
class at Stanford, I ended up using these things that
i'd learned, like, you know, five years earlier, that I
didn't think i'd ever use in my life ever again,
and I was like, oh, actually, this is how you
(16:49):
use it. And that's like something that I think over time,
most like French engineering and science students have found out since.
So then AI becoming the next thing is like the
field that attracted a lot of a lot of talent
but so in AI we have a good selling product
and in AI, well there's there's two reasons. There's another
(17:12):
reason that that's quite interesting for US is that France
and India and maybe the whole of Europe also in
India have like a similar type of approach to AI
and how to develop it, you know, like not a
completely hands off approach like I would liken it to
the US, or a more like controlled approach like you
(17:36):
would have in China. And this is not to do
you know, like politics. Of course, each country has their own,
but frands in India have you know, an alignment of
vision for what they want to develop in AI, and
of course that translates into what you develop in terms
of tech in infrastructure as well. There was an AI
(17:59):
summit and pair Is last feb that was co shared
by India, so that's a strong signal. And India's coming
up with its own AI summit next February and Delhi
as well, so we'll see a lot of that continuing
to happen. And India is like really interesting, I think,
of course in terms of AI, it's developed a lot
through the special relationship that it has with the US.
(18:19):
A lot of US educated folk, you know, either still
working in the US but like started developing their businesses
in India or came back to India and you know,
developed their own Of course, there's a lot of homegrown
talent and technology in India as well, and at this
scale you can't go wrong. And with this size of
the market, since that's really growing and so digital savvy.
(18:43):
That's it's an awesome market and awesome playground for technologies
to develop. And I think it's surpassed a lot of
expertise worldwide in terms of application development specifically, so that
we do have a lot to learn from. And that's why,
you know, AI among all the other sectors that I address,
(19:05):
I think is a particular focus for us. So we
also you know, benefit from this expertise and bring it's
a win energy.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
In across the three or I mean, you know, I
think you can expand it into any different direction, whether
there's an you know, pull for the choice Paris region.
What what constitutes a win for you actually, is it
like a startup willing to invest in Paris use the
technology from there, or if it's the film sector or tourism,
(19:40):
I mean across the board, I mean, I mean for
you and the team, Okay, I mean, what what is
like when you sow the seeds? What what what is
the end result that you expect?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Sure, yeah, so I guess maybe I'll focus on the
investment part, specifically on startups, and I do happen to
talk to a lot of startups, uh, well, in any field,
but specifically focused on startups and the tech sector is
of interest to us. A success is first beyond beyond
even actually like setting up a company and hiring people
(20:17):
in Paris. The first thing is, you know, I must
admit that in India, Paris is not necessarily on everyone's
map in terms of business and investments. I think we're
we're lacking there, like you know, what we feel the
perceptions should be and where it's at. People, of course,
are very familiar and I'm drawing broad generalizations here, right, Yeah,
(20:39):
people are very familiar with you know, the US and
why they should invest there. When when you get a
little closer to Europe, the UK of course, and if
you look at continental Europe, I think Germany is really
the country that like always comes back in conversations, and
for good reasons. Of course, it's a great place for
business and industry specifically. But we feel that why when
(21:00):
I talk and when I wear my tourism hats, this
is an easy sell and we're well recognized. There's no
issue with that, or even in investments. If I talk
to people in the fashion and luxury segments, then of
course it's an easy sell in tech, in industry maybe
apart from aeronautics aerospace, because air bus people are quite
familiar with with the company. Otherwise they're a little more
(21:23):
they're curious, of course, but they're not as familiar with it.
So I think the first win for me is putting
France and Paris like back on the map where where
I feel where we feel that it should belong, which is,
you know, it should be like you know, like pretty
much at the same level as London in our opinion,
but in a lot of conversations that I have, it's not.
(21:45):
It's not. I have to be frank about that. So
that's the first win, and the second one is once
once that's done, is of course, you know, like our
KPIs would be like the number of companies that are created,
the number of jobs that are created, and generally like
the benefits that our economy arise from it. But for me,
(22:05):
it's you know, I look at it as like a
longer term type of type of project where we don't
want just people to like set up a company, try
it out, and then you know, if it works, if
it doesn't work, then then that's not a problem anymore.
We do want these companies to grow. We want them
to and because then of course, you know, coming back
to the first to the first goal, then they become
(22:26):
ambassadors of our great relays in the Indian business ecosystem
to say, hey, actually, like this is a great place
to do business. So there's some handholding that we do.
We help people understand what the markets you know, might
hold for them, what opportunities they might find. We help
them with the logistics of you know, like setting up
finding off the space, et cetera, et cetera. But then
(22:46):
we keep in touch, We keep like connecting them with
some players that they that we think might be relevant
for them. And then you know, hopefully organically they also
come to us and we keep this relationship and it
helped them grow. And you know, I'm not just talking
about the small guys here here, like we've been doing
that with large companies like the TCS or the LTI
mind Trees of the World as well.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
You know, I would have thought, I mean, I'm a foodie,
I must admit the whole food industry and the wine
industry must be a big draw as well. And I
mean India has exploded, especially with you know, Instagram and
social media and stuff, right I mean, the world is
such a small place right now. Every everybody wants a
(23:29):
good uh you know, everybody wants a nice cheese from France.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
I mean I would have imagined even that's a big draw.
Do you see that at all?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I know, absolutely yes, And so of course we see
that as a big draw within the tourism sector, food tours,
bakery hobs. One thing that I've been suggesting to people
that you know, I've already come to Paris once is
like the tea times, the high te's and palaces, which
are like just great experiences. So yes, absolutely a big draw,
(24:00):
and a lot of people just travel to also explore that.
As you said, Instagram is a big driver for that,
but I think it's also something that we see for
people that might want to consider living in Paris. The
quality of life there is also reflected in like you know,
the food that you can have and the food seene there.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Absolutely so in your journey so far in India excellent.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I mean I think you've done this for close to two.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Years now, Yes, when you've started off to where you
are now. I mean, what are the things that you've
kind of mentally had to adapt in terms of what
you expected versus I Mean the reason I asked this is,
I mean, you know, it's a different culture, you start
off in a different region, and of course, I mean
(24:49):
in any big country, I mean there's bureaucracy. I mean,
in the type of stuff that you do, there's government involved.
Their timelines are not the same as ours. You know,
the private sector has their timeline and you know some
people work the weekend, some people don't. So there's so
many challenges that you've got to deal with, right, So
how have you change personally?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
You know, you know, in terms of approaching some of
these things.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Plus, I mean you obviously have to relay that back
to you know, your organization saying hey, I mean these
are some of the things that we need to expect.
What you might have thought two years back to what
it is right now, I mean you would have evolved
as well, right, I mean, any revelations come to mind.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
The first thing is actually find so I evangelize, you know,
Paris in India. I also eventualize India in Paris. To
be honest, this I didn't. But I'm I'm finding myself,
like you know, educating my colleagues and you know a
lot of our like other partners, local partners in Paris
about what India, like, what's happening in India first, you know,
(26:01):
like in so many things, India is leap frogging what's
happening and elsewhere in the world. Up I and the
whole India Stack is like a great example of this
huge project, government run project that has really changed a
lot of things for Indians. And now it's it's spreading
to other parts of the globe. Now you can buy
your you know, throw that one in. You can buy
(26:23):
your Eiffel Tower ticket with UPI. So that's one thing.
And so I do have to say that it's probably
not just in France. There are still like some outdated
I think ideas about India that do need to that
do need some updating. And then let's see in two years.
I guess you know, it's it's like a it's a
(26:44):
it's a common thing to say, but India is just
not one country. It's it's a whole continent. So there's
also this these very different cultures, uh and and that
reflects in business as well between different parts of India
that you do have to take into account when you
talk to, you know, a startup entrepreneur from Chennai or
(27:05):
if you know they're based in Delhi. I guess the
startup world is maybe a little less smart in that way.
In terms of business culture. It tends to be more
the startup culture and then maybe some region regional like
touches in more regular businesses. I guess that's that would
be the other way around. But that's one thing that
basically you don't you don't have the same especially you know,
(27:30):
when I think about investors, investors the same timelines, the
same the same decision making process, the same way to
even just like build a relationship when you're traveling across India.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
I think to your point, you know, you bring up
a super important point that I mean, you know, even
though you clear India as one country, I mean, all
the different states bring in their own set of complexities
and you know, yeah, I wouldn't want to call it challenges,
but I mean their own interesting As to the whole
startup world, I mean it's it's like a competition of
(28:04):
sorts between states as well as to you know, who
gets to do what first? You know, who gets to
invest I mean, you know, who invests in me, how
can I invest in you? So that that's a very
interesting dynamic as well. I don't think I see as
much in the States, right, I mean I don't. I mean,
I'm pretty sure there are parts of Europe where you
might see that. For example, I mean I've personally seen
(28:26):
that in the Bavaria region in Germany, right, I mean
they try to pull a lot of such talent into
Bavaria versus other parts of Germany.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And I'm sure you see that with the Choose Paris
region as well.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
I mean I'm sure there are other pockets of France
that are saying come invest in me as well. So
there's some commonality that I think you can drop where
you can drop paralleles if you will, to that between
India and Europe.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Very different, you know, cultures and different languages obviously, but
also sometimes some company thankfully in France. So I work
a lot with people from like Business France, which is
the counterpart organization for the whole of France, and people
from the embassy as well, and it's you know, seamless
basically for a lot of investment projects. There's not much
(29:15):
competition between Paris and the rest of the country because
that's where it makes the most sense. Again, everyone wants
to investor the new company to be successful. That's the
best way to Then you know, have investadors that can
also evangelize along with us, and so it doesn't make
sense to push for a company to go to a
specific region, specific city where they might not find, you know,
(29:37):
the right environment to thrive. So in that way, you know,
whenever I meet entrepreneurs that probably wouldn't be a good
fit for Paris, but elsewhere in France, then I'm happy
to show them the right direction and connect them with
the right person. In that way, I can't say, I
must be honest, I can't say that we collaborate with
that as much with our German friends.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
So I will I will wrap this up by asking
you a little bit of a personal question. I mean,
having been in India for two years as soul, what's
your favorite cuisine or what's your favorite go to comfort
food in India amongst the plethora of items that are there.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Okay, so my wife is a Malie Ali, so I
have to list something from Kuerla, and I'll list two things.
Comfort food is going to be what actually I used
to eat every morning. So when I moved when when
we moved to India, I decided to take a few
months off. As I mentioned, my wife is Amalieli. I
(30:39):
started learning a little bit of Malayalam Virgin Kerala when
when we met and when we got married and when
I met her family. But as a language nerd, I
was never satisfied with the level that I'd reached back then,
and so I took three months off to like just
be by myself, without my in laws you know, handholding
me or even my wife handholding me. And I went
(31:00):
to Trevandram and Guerla and took language classes and just
like you know, like fended for myself and enjoyed the
life there for three months. And so every morning I
eat pungol, which I guess is not specifically from Kuerla.
You get it in Tamilad as well. And that's just
come to like that's that's definitely become my comfort food now.
And then the other one is just Biriani. You my god, do.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
You do you get good pongo and Mumbai?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yes? Yes, absolutely, But you know, I recently got this
hold of this awesome cookbook from Chitty Nad a cuisine
from this restaurant called the Bangala, which is like a
really nice hotel and restaurants, and so they have a
pongin recipe that now I make. My wife's starting to
get sick of it, but I make it every day. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
As a proud Tammilian myself, I'm happy that you picked
a tamer dish. But but I mean I'm biased as well.
My wife's am Ali Ali too, so I understand what
you mean by the dishes from Kerala. I'm not a
big fan of the Viri and east from there, but
I mean I do love my Caroalin dishes.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
I mean, the beef right is one of my favorites.
That's awesome, Axel.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
So with that, I want to say thanks again Axel
for coming and sharing a story, both your personal side
as well as telling us about the Choose Paris region
and the work that you and the team are doing
in India. All the best to you. Enjoy your time
in India and I hope you get plenty of investments
in the Paris region and collaboration with all the Indian sectors.
(32:37):
Wish are the best and hope to have you on
sometime in the future.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Axle Hey, thanks Anthony, Thanks for having me. It was
awesome to you know, get the chat like that with you.
And yeah, I mean all the best for your podcast.
I've been listening to the last few episodes and it's
always so inspiring and interesting, so I'm looking forward to
the next ones.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
As well, right sir, Thank you, take care, have a
great weekend.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Thanks you two.
This is the Startup Still Say podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Thank you for tuning in. Do us a favor like
subscribe on YouTube or LinkedIn, and be sure to give
us your feedback. Hope you enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello everyone, this is Anthony Pracashi, your host for Startups.
They'll say, welcome to a brand new episode of Startups.
They'll say, we're doing this after a tiny hiatus, if
you will. So, I'm super excited to be recording another episode,
and I have a special guest here, Axel guy On,
who is joining us from Bombay. First of all, thanks
(00:34):
so much for taking time on a Saturday morning, Axel
to record this one out of your weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
To do this.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I know we met almost twelve months ago in Bangalore. Coincidentally,
both of us were seated at the same table in
a conference and Axel and I started talking. I mean,
it was a fun few hours between the conference and
while people were talking, we were exchanging notes on what
each was doing. I've kept in touch with Axel since,
(01:02):
and I'm thrilled to have him on. Axel is currently
the country manager for the Choose Paris region, which he'll
tell us more about. But before I say more about Axel,
welcome to the show. Glad to have you on. Why
didn't you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Sure, thanks Anthony, thanks for having me. I'm thrilled to
be on the show and happy to catch up also
with you at the same time. So I, as you
mentioned now, I work for True Sperish Region, for which
I'm the country manager for India. So I've been in
this position for the last give or take a year
and a half in Mumbai where I set up our presence.
(01:41):
So True Sparis Region is the promotion agency of the
Paris regional government, so kind of like a state. We
call them regions in France, and so we promote the
region across a few verticals, the three main ones being investment,
the investment, tourism and the film Commission and so of
course are a few overlaps. We're doing all these threes,
(02:02):
but generally they tend to be like separated in other
such or similar organizations. So I talk to you know,
potential investors entrepreneurs in India to help them understand what
market opportunities and incentives they might find in Paris Region
to develop their businesses. Similarly, you know, I evangelize I
(02:24):
guess that's that's a word that I can use. I
evangelize around tourism and help tourism professionals in India understand
what this destination has to offer so that their travelers
can explore more and come back happier from their their
their holidays in France. And finally, for the film Commission,
we help producers of any formats access funding and incentives
(02:47):
from France and from Pars specifically and help them with
shoots in and around Pears. So that's you know, that's
a handful, but it's been fun. You know. I'm I have,
I guess a personal history with India, so I'm very
happy to you know, have this this position that helps
(03:09):
me bridge where I grew up and part of what
I've done before and my my interests and my love
quite literally for this country that I live in.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Now, that is amazing, actual, I mean, I'm actually envious
at what you get to do all the three parts
that you said, you know, investments, film, tourism.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I mean, who wouldn't want that job, right?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And Paris is also a pretty easy sell if you will, right,
I mean, in the sense everybody wants to go to Paris.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
I'm sure you have your own.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
You know, sort of roadblocks and obstacles that you need
to come through and go through rather but let's let's
talk a little bit about you know, where you started off, right,
I mean, obviously this podcast is about startups. Obviously you've
been a startup founder of sorts yourself. But I want
to take you back early on in your career. I mean,
(04:04):
I looking at the path you've taken to get to
this point in Mumbai. I consider you a truly global citizen.
You're from Paris. You know, you went to school obviously there,
then you went to the US or in my backyard
here you came to study in Stanford, then you go
back and then now you're in India. So I mean,
(04:25):
it doesn't get better than that. Like I said, you
have a fun job. But back to where you started
your career actually, I mean, how are some of the
foundational elements.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Of where you started kind of get you to where
you are right now?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I mean, did you kind of have this vision when
you started off or things just fell and fell in
the right place at the right time.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, I think the ladder definitely. I don't think I
couldn't imagine myself that i'd end up, you know, like
being some kind of an evangelizer salesperson for Paris region
in India of all places. When I started, you know,
I guess as an engineering student in France, the jump
to the US was sort of made sense. I mean,
I was admitted, so why wouldn't I go? And so
(05:12):
after studying physics in France, I was more than happy
to fly over to the Bay Area and study engineering
at Stanford. I had developed a keen interest on everything
related to sustainability and renewable energy from like I think,
high school even and you can probably blame my dad
(05:32):
for it because he worked in the French public utility EDF,
so himself an engineer and an energy nerd. But then I,
honestly I thought this was probably going to be it.
I'd work as an engineer, have a career like you know,
similar in some ways to that of my dad's. I
did want to, and you know, that's something that I
(05:55):
do try to keep in every position that I hold.
I do want to make an impact in one way
or another in terms of sustainability and energy transition and
what I do. And so it sort of made sense
for me to go on to Stanford study this This
program was actually quite interesting because it mixed everything related
(06:16):
to the energy transition and climate science, so like pretty broad,
but you also understood why you were working on the
energy transition. And then after that, I actually was fortunate
to join this battery startup called at the time Alveo
Energy now called Natron Energy in the Bay in Palo Alto,
(06:37):
first as an intern in between my first and second
year of grad school, and then full time, and they
gave me a chance to work basically as a material scientist,
even though that was not my training. There's some overlap
with the physics that I'd studied, but really they like
showed me the lab and said, okay, there you go,
let's see if that sticks. And it did, and it
(06:57):
was a lot of fun Natron or Alveo at the time,
and the Natron developed and you know, sadly now I'll
be speaking in the past tense because they're not in
business anymore. Just from a few months ago up at
that's life in the startup world. Developed a battery technology
based on this like really cool material called Prussian blue,
(07:18):
which is used as a dye in like blue jeans
and paint, so very common material, very inexpensive, and so
you know you basically tweak it a little bit, so
you call it a Prussian blue analog, and it makes
a really cool material for battery electrodes. And its properties
that sort of justified, you know, building a company out
(07:38):
of it, are that you can charge this battery super fast,
you can discharge it super fast and still get most
of that energy out. There's no you know, overheating or
a particular risk of a thermal runoff as you have
in with your Mind batteries. That's that's a big concern.
And it's made with readily available metals materials. Precursor done it,
(08:01):
and we started this from the ground up. Basically, when
you start with a new electrode, you have to like
put like reinvent all of the building blocks of the battery,
the current collectors. I won't bore you with all the
technical stuff. I could talk about this for hours, but
everything that comes into the battery needs to find it
needs to have compatibility with those new materials. And you
(08:24):
can't just like replace, like takeul lit to Mind battery,
replace the electrodes with something else and hope that it'll work.
That's not how it works, and so we built this
from a ground up. I think when I joined there
were about ten of us, and I stayed there for
four four and a half years, and we started from
like cells that were like the size of a credit
card to packs that you can put in like a
(08:47):
lad acid battery type of format, and it was you know,
there's always this excitement in the startups that you're starting
something new. You can sort of reinvent a lot of technology,
but also ways of working with people in a new culture.
So I mean, I couldn't have like hoped for a
better way to start my career unfortunately, as I mentioned,
(09:07):
but that's just like startups in the deep tech, you know,
like Capex heavy space. This this didn't pan out, but
you know, I'd go back anytime that was that was
really a lot of fun. Yeah, very nice, and so
I guess, you know, this was sort of like along
the way that I would have imagined for myself when
(09:29):
I started my career. One thing that I would have
also expected is that i'd probably go back to France eventually,
but that's more you know, for like quality of life,
different cultures, more PTO at that point, and being the
family and so after six years in the Bay, I
moved back to France and I started looking for an
(09:50):
opportunity that would match you know what I described my
interest in sustainability. Interestingly, I guess I like a challenge.
I had come to like the idea of like capex
heavy tech projects, which of course are the riskiest ones,
but I like that. So I joined this French startup
which had just raised I think about twenty million euros,
(10:10):
which is like a big round at the time in
the French landscape for hard hardware startup, and its name
was Agricool. Again, sadly, i'm talking to the past tense.
The value of death was not key to this startup either.
That was developing growing systems, so basically indoor agriculture like
(10:33):
the you know plenty is one that's that's in the Bay,
and so we were growing and growing strawberries and leafy
greens and herbs out of shipping containers. I think there's
one based in Brooklyn that does a similar thing called
squared Roots. Really cool technology. You know. I upgrade from
like one single components of an engineering system, the battery,
(10:54):
which is a lot of fun to develop in itself,
to like the whole system and to a company that
not only has to design the product and make it
more reliable and scale it up, but also operate it
and sell and market. So that was like a more
like three sixty type of company, and that was a
lot of fun as well. Got it and then and
(11:16):
then I guess this is where I started veering off
a little bit. The first little like site turn that
I took was when this company, Agricol, had unfortunately filed
from bankruptcy. And I was at the time responsible for
both engineering and operations at the company. And so when
you fought for bankruptcy in France, I guess it might
be similar in the US. Depending on how much gash
(11:38):
you have left in the bank, the judge will give
you some time, some limited time to try and keep
the company running and look for a new investor. It's
a lot more attractive to an investor if the company
is still running, if the employers are still there and
you're still shipping product. So we had five months to
do that. Of course, a little challenging to keep everyone
as engaged when they know that probably after four or
(12:00):
five months, you know, they may not have a job.
But we, you know, we we pushed to it and
we came out on top with a new investor. So
that was a great victory for us. And this new investor,
like you know, basically made Agricul one of its business
(12:20):
units and they had a few other ones and offered
me to while I was managing this transition time for
the agrical business unit, also offered me to join another
business units of another startup in consumer electronics and handle
and trust me, I guess a lot of trust to
handle their e commerce, so digital sales and marketing, and
(12:44):
there I kind of realized that, you know, I could
also do that and it was fun. Then when I
decided to for personal reasons, I guess disclaimer I've I've
alluded to it. My wife is Indian, so that's how
I ended up in India. I'd managed to convince her
to move from the Bay to France. So now this
is you know, we're reciprocating and we've moved from France
(13:07):
to India. And so when we'd been thinking about moving
to India for some time, I mean it's like it's
a great place to be in a number of ways.
People may not think of it in that way, you know,
they have this image of India if they've not been
in a while. But it's such like a booming country
in so many ways that we were really excited to
(13:29):
go there and spend not just like a few weeks
of holiday per year. So that was like more of
a personal decision to move to India. And once I
moved to India, I happened to be put in touch
with someone from the Paris regional government. There was a delegation,
you know, coming to India and exactly doing you know
what I described, which is like confronting the image that
(13:52):
they might have of India and realizing that it was
much more than they would have expected. And following this
delegation visit and a meeting that I had with, they
decided to open an office for their promotion agency and
to put me in charge of that office. And here
I am, all.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Right, well, beautiful story.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I mean, love the story and the way I look
at it, axel Is, I mean, every step you've taken
is kind of building towards this step that you've taken
in India, and kind of every whether it was the
battery technology in the startup or the operations role that
(14:29):
you did for a little bit of digital sales. One
kind of helps you in this job that you have
as a country manager, right, because I mean this is
almost like you've got to do it all and was
kind of setting you up for saying, Hey, training for this,
training for that, you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So few things that caught my attention in your story, right,
I mean you obviously said you are you're keen or
you're kind of drawn towards capexin intensive projects as well.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I mean in a way in this role as well.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I mean you have to kind of, you know, seed
some of those early discussions and try to make investments
in what might be help for both the startup or
the unit in India plus the Paris region.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And one thing that is so capital intensive.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
These days and not a day goes by that we
don't hear about it is obviously artificial intelligence. Right from
from your perspective and from a choose Paris region perspective,
Is that a special focus for some of those investments
in AI cross border or which which of those three
categories as fit in?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yes, the answer is yes, absolutely, AI is big, and
so it's big for us first because there's like a
super strong hub and expertise in AI in Paris, so
we have a good selling product and that's that's important,
you know, it wasn't necessarily meant to be this way,
of course, like the US and China are the two
(16:06):
big players, and there are a few other hubs around
the world. I think we benefit from a science and
engineering higher educational program or I guess curricula a series
a combination of higher education curricula and science and engineering
that are very math heavy. But that's what I went
through when I studied when I studied in France in
(16:28):
my undergrads, where basically, you know, even if you want
to study chemistry, you have to go through like a
whole ton of linear algebra. And I mentioned linear algebra
specifically because when I ended up taking the machine learning
class at Stanford, I ended up using these things that
i'd learned, like, you know, five years earlier, that I
didn't think i'd ever use in my life ever again,
and I was like, oh, actually, this is how you
(16:49):
use it. And that's like something that I think over time,
most like French engineering and science students have found out since.
So then AI becoming the next thing is like the
field that attracted a lot of a lot of talent
but so in AI we have a good selling product
and in AI, well there's there's two reasons. There's another
(17:12):
reason that that's quite interesting for US is that France
and India and maybe the whole of Europe also in
India have like a similar type of approach to AI
and how to develop it, you know, like not a
completely hands off approach like I would liken it to
the US, or a more like controlled approach like you
(17:36):
would have in China. And this is not to do
you know, like politics. Of course, each country has their own,
but frands in India have you know, an alignment of
vision for what they want to develop in AI, and
of course that translates into what you develop in terms
of tech in infrastructure as well. There was an AI
(17:59):
summit and pair Is last feb that was co shared
by India, so that's a strong signal. And India's coming
up with its own AI summit next February and Delhi
as well, so we'll see a lot of that continuing
to happen. And India is like really interesting, I think,
of course in terms of AI, it's developed a lot
through the special relationship that it has with the US.
(18:19):
A lot of US educated folk, you know, either still
working in the US but like started developing their businesses
in India or came back to India and you know,
developed their own Of course, there's a lot of homegrown
talent and technology in India as well, and at this
scale you can't go wrong. And with this size of
the market, since that's really growing and so digital savvy.
(18:43):
That's it's an awesome market and awesome playground for technologies
to develop. And I think it's surpassed a lot of
expertise worldwide in terms of application development specifically, so that
we do have a lot to learn from. And that's why,
you know, AI among all the other sectors that I address,
(19:05):
I think is a particular focus for us. So we
also you know, benefit from this expertise and bring it's
a win energy.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
In across the three or I mean, you know, I
think you can expand it into any different direction, whether
there's an you know, pull for the choice Paris region.
What what constitutes a win for you actually, is it
like a startup willing to invest in Paris use the
technology from there, or if it's the film sector or tourism,
(19:40):
I mean across the board, I mean, I mean for
you and the team, Okay, I mean, what what is
like when you sow the seeds? What what what is
the end result that you expect?
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Sure, yeah, so I guess maybe I'll focus on the
investment part, specifically on startups, and I do happen to
talk to a lot of startups, uh, well, in any field,
but specifically focused on startups and the tech sector is
of interest to us. A success is first beyond beyond
even actually like setting up a company and hiring people
(20:17):
in Paris. The first thing is, you know, I must
admit that in India, Paris is not necessarily on everyone's
map in terms of business and investments. I think we're
we're lacking there, like you know, what we feel the
perceptions should be and where it's at. People, of course,
are very familiar and I'm drawing broad generalizations here, right, Yeah,
(20:39):
people are very familiar with you know, the US and
why they should invest there. When when you get a
little closer to Europe, the UK of course, and if
you look at continental Europe, I think Germany is really
the country that like always comes back in conversations, and
for good reasons. Of course, it's a great place for
business and industry specifically. But we feel that why when
(21:00):
I talk and when I wear my tourism hats, this
is an easy sell and we're well recognized. There's no
issue with that, or even in investments. If I talk
to people in the fashion and luxury segments, then of
course it's an easy sell in tech, in industry maybe
apart from aeronautics aerospace, because air bus people are quite
familiar with with the company. Otherwise they're a little more
(21:23):
they're curious, of course, but they're not as familiar with it.
So I think the first win for me is putting
France and Paris like back on the map where where
I feel where we feel that it should belong, which is,
you know, it should be like you know, like pretty
much at the same level as London in our opinion,
but in a lot of conversations that I have, it's not.
(21:45):
It's not. I have to be frank about that. So
that's the first win, and the second one is once
once that's done, is of course, you know, like our
KPIs would be like the number of companies that are created,
the number of jobs that are created, and generally like
the benefits that our economy arise from it. But for me,
(22:05):
it's you know, I look at it as like a
longer term type of type of project where we don't
want just people to like set up a company, try
it out, and then you know, if it works, if
it doesn't work, then then that's not a problem anymore.
We do want these companies to grow. We want them
to and because then of course, you know, coming back
to the first to the first goal, then they become
(22:26):
ambassadors of our great relays in the Indian business ecosystem
to say, hey, actually, like this is a great place
to do business. So there's some handholding that we do.
We help people understand what the markets you know, might
hold for them, what opportunities they might find. We help
them with the logistics of you know, like setting up
finding off the space, et cetera, et cetera. But then
(22:46):
we keep in touch, We keep like connecting them with
some players that they that we think might be relevant
for them. And then you know, hopefully organically they also
come to us and we keep this relationship and it
helped them grow. And you know, I'm not just talking
about the small guys here here, like we've been doing
that with large companies like the TCS or the LTI
mind Trees of the World as well.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
You know, I would have thought, I mean, I'm a foodie,
I must admit the whole food industry and the wine
industry must be a big draw as well. And I
mean India has exploded, especially with you know, Instagram and
social media and stuff, right I mean, the world is
such a small place right now. Every everybody wants a
(23:29):
good uh you know, everybody wants a nice cheese from France.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
I mean I would have imagined even that's a big draw.
Do you see that at all?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I know, absolutely yes, And so of course we see
that as a big draw within the tourism sector, food tours,
bakery hobs. One thing that I've been suggesting to people
that you know, I've already come to Paris once is
like the tea times, the high te's and palaces, which
are like just great experiences. So yes, absolutely a big draw,
(24:00):
and a lot of people just travel to also explore that.
As you said, Instagram is a big driver for that,
but I think it's also something that we see for
people that might want to consider living in Paris. The
quality of life there is also reflected in like you know,
the food that you can have and the food seene there.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Absolutely so in your journey so far in India excellent.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I mean I think you've done this for close to two.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Years now, Yes, when you've started off to where you
are now. I mean, what are the things that you've
kind of mentally had to adapt in terms of what
you expected versus I Mean the reason I asked this is,
I mean, you know, it's a different culture, you start
off in a different region, and of course, I mean
(24:49):
in any big country, I mean there's bureaucracy. I mean,
in the type of stuff that you do, there's government involved.
Their timelines are not the same as ours. You know,
the private sector has their timeline and you know some
people work the weekend, some people don't. So there's so
many challenges that you've got to deal with, right, So
how have you change personally?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
You know, you know, in terms of approaching some of
these things.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Plus, I mean you obviously have to relay that back
to you know, your organization saying hey, I mean these
are some of the things that we need to expect.
What you might have thought two years back to what
it is right now, I mean you would have evolved
as well, right, I mean, any revelations come to mind.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
The first thing is actually find so I evangelize, you know,
Paris in India. I also eventualize India in Paris. To
be honest, this I didn't. But I'm I'm finding myself,
like you know, educating my colleagues and you know a
lot of our like other partners, local partners in Paris
about what India, like, what's happening in India first, you know,
(26:01):
like in so many things, India is leap frogging what's
happening and elsewhere in the world. Up I and the
whole India Stack is like a great example of this
huge project, government run project that has really changed a
lot of things for Indians. And now it's it's spreading
to other parts of the globe. Now you can buy
your you know, throw that one in. You can buy
(26:23):
your Eiffel Tower ticket with UPI. So that's one thing.
And so I do have to say that it's probably
not just in France. There are still like some outdated
I think ideas about India that do need to that
do need some updating. And then let's see in two years.
I guess you know, it's it's like a it's a
(26:44):
it's a common thing to say, but India is just
not one country. It's it's a whole continent. So there's
also this these very different cultures, uh and and that
reflects in business as well between different parts of India
that you do have to take into account when you
talk to, you know, a startup entrepreneur from Chennai or
(27:05):
if you know they're based in Delhi. I guess the
startup world is maybe a little less smart in that way.
In terms of business culture. It tends to be more
the startup culture and then maybe some region regional like
touches in more regular businesses. I guess that's that would
be the other way around. But that's one thing that
basically you don't you don't have the same especially you know,
(27:30):
when I think about investors, investors the same timelines, the
same the same decision making process, the same way to
even just like build a relationship when you're traveling across India.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
I think to your point, you know, you bring up
a super important point that I mean, you know, even
though you clear India as one country, I mean, all
the different states bring in their own set of complexities
and you know, yeah, I wouldn't want to call it challenges,
but I mean their own interesting As to the whole
startup world, I mean it's it's like a competition of
(28:04):
sorts between states as well as to you know, who
gets to do what first? You know, who gets to
invest I mean, you know, who invests in me, how
can I invest in you? So that that's a very
interesting dynamic as well. I don't think I see as
much in the States, right, I mean I don't. I mean,
I'm pretty sure there are parts of Europe where you
might see that. For example, I mean I've personally seen
(28:26):
that in the Bavaria region in Germany, right, I mean
they try to pull a lot of such talent into
Bavaria versus other parts of Germany.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And I'm sure you see that with the Choose Paris
region as well.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
I mean I'm sure there are other pockets of France
that are saying come invest in me as well. So
there's some commonality that I think you can drop where
you can drop paralleles if you will, to that between
India and Europe.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Very different, you know, cultures and different languages obviously, but
also sometimes some company thankfully in France. So I work
a lot with people from like Business France, which is
the counterpart organization for the whole of France, and people
from the embassy as well, and it's you know, seamless
basically for a lot of investment projects. There's not much
(29:15):
competition between Paris and the rest of the country because
that's where it makes the most sense. Again, everyone wants
to investor the new company to be successful. That's the
best way to Then you know, have investadors that can
also evangelize along with us, and so it doesn't make
sense to push for a company to go to a
specific region, specific city where they might not find, you know,
(29:37):
the right environment to thrive. So in that way, you know,
whenever I meet entrepreneurs that probably wouldn't be a good
fit for Paris, but elsewhere in France, then I'm happy
to show them the right direction and connect them with
the right person. In that way, I can't say, I
must be honest, I can't say that we collaborate with
that as much with our German friends.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
So I will I will wrap this up by asking
you a little bit of a personal question. I mean,
having been in India for two years as soul, what's
your favorite cuisine or what's your favorite go to comfort
food in India amongst the plethora of items that are there.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Okay, so my wife is a Malie Ali, so I
have to list something from Kuerla, and I'll list two things.
Comfort food is going to be what actually I used
to eat every morning. So when I moved when when
we moved to India, I decided to take a few
months off. As I mentioned, my wife is Amalieli. I
(30:39):
started learning a little bit of Malayalam Virgin Kerala when
when we met and when we got married and when
I met her family. But as a language nerd, I
was never satisfied with the level that I'd reached back then,
and so I took three months off to like just
be by myself, without my in laws you know, handholding
me or even my wife handholding me. And I went
(31:00):
to Trevandram and Guerla and took language classes and just
like you know, like fended for myself and enjoyed the
life there for three months. And so every morning I
eat pungol, which I guess is not specifically from Kuerla.
You get it in Tamilad as well. And that's just
come to like that's that's definitely become my comfort food now.
And then the other one is just Biriani. You my god, do.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
You do you get good pongo and Mumbai?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yes? Yes, absolutely, But you know, I recently got this
hold of this awesome cookbook from Chitty Nad a cuisine
from this restaurant called the Bangala, which is like a
really nice hotel and restaurants, and so they have a
pongin recipe that now I make. My wife's starting to
get sick of it, but I make it every day. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
As a proud Tammilian myself, I'm happy that you picked
a tamer dish. But but I mean I'm biased as well.
My wife's am Ali Ali too, so I understand what
you mean by the dishes from Kerala. I'm not a
big fan of the Viri and east from there, but
I mean I do love my Caroalin dishes.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
I mean, the beef right is one of my favorites.
That's awesome, Axel.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
So with that, I want to say thanks again Axel
for coming and sharing a story, both your personal side
as well as telling us about the Choose Paris region
and the work that you and the team are doing
in India. All the best to you. Enjoy your time
in India and I hope you get plenty of investments
in the Paris region and collaboration with all the Indian sectors.
(32:37):
Wish are the best and hope to have you on
sometime in the future.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Axle Hey, thanks Anthony, Thanks for having me. It was
awesome to you know, get the chat like that with you.
And yeah, I mean all the best for your podcast.
I've been listening to the last few episodes and it's
always so inspiring and interesting, so I'm looking forward to
the next ones.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
As well, right sir, Thank you, take care, have a
great weekend.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Thanks you two.
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