Olivier Billon, recently referred to as “fashion boy” by a certain blogger on a minor tear, is, indeed, a babe. I’ve said it before. And, after all I had to say about the “Women’s Panel,” I ended up — eventually — being glad he was there.
At first the panel members introduced themselves, and Olivier said he figured he was there because he knew how to deal with women. Demerit #1. A little later, he said he thought the women he hired preferred to work for a man, going on to imply that this was because working for women was all Devil Wears Prada. Demerit #2. Not doing too good at this point.
It was clear that the panel was wung, which is not uncommon, but it’s hard for a panel to really click when that’s the case unless you have the perfect storm of passion in the people and the topic. But one of the investors made comments that were pithy and concrete, and I immediately liked her way of seeing, so that kept me from being bored.
When the conversation inevitably turned to the paucity of women startup founders, of course someone mentioned that there weren’t many women in tech, to which shopping site founder girl responded that it wasn’t a job for women. (Did I hear that right??) And then she said it again a few minutes later. Wow. She also said that talking about business and money was not for women. I just have to chalk this up to second-language issues, because this girl does come from the land of Simone de Beauvoir, so it’s simply not possible. She did say she didn’t belong to any women-only tech groups because it wasn’t how things really were. That was lucid, so she doesn’t get any demerits, even though she was doing some superior simpering for a couple of the guys who were on the panel of investors with penises, but I’m just gonna ignore that.
Back to Olivier. When they were talking about “no women startup founders because no women in tech,” he said:
“…the Web is getting less and less tech.”
[Chorus of angels' voices]
Since that was a big part of my article on Read Write Web, I stood up after the panel and asked him to elaborate on that comment. He said that now it’s about finding new ways to use It. That’s right. He went on to say that he had five friends who’d started companies without a tech background. Of course, he (and they) went to one of the most elite Paris universities, and one that happens to have a built-in startup incubator, so he didn’t even have to think “sesame” for doors to open to him. But still. It’s a phase transition. You heard it here first. (I heard it here first, but that was a different phase transition.)
Olivier is the founder of the French startup Ykone. Olivier, I’m sorry I called you fashion boy. You made my Women’s Panel.
