The LSE Connection: Roxanne Varza on curiosity, entrepreneurial culture and building networks
Every other month we interview an LSE alumnus, who has gone on to forge a path in the startup and venture ecosystem. This month we chatted to Roxanne Varza, Director of STATION F, the biggest startup campus in the world, based in Paris, an angel investor and scout for Sequoia Capital (and before that, for Atomico). She previously led Microsoft Ventures Paris, was Editor of TechCrunch France, worked for several London-based startups and co-founded StarHer (now part of SISTA), Tech.eu and Failcon France. She has also been a member of the French Government’s Conseil National du Numérique (CNNum) and the European Commission’s European Innovation Council (EIC). Alongside the London School of Economics, she holds holds degrees from UCLA and Sciences Po Paris.
What made you want to study at the LSE, and what degree did you do?
I first discovered LSE in a philosophy class while learning about Karl Popper — a class I really enjoyed. And when I discovered that he had been a professor there, I became more curious. The more I learned about LSE, the more I discovered just how many incredible people had attended. Given that I wanted to pursue something in the realm of economics and outside of the US, I felt that there would be no better place than LSE for me to go. My mother had also been accepted to LSE and unable to attend, so it gave me more motivation to go.
I did a Masters in Political Economics. It was a dual Masters program with Sciences Po in Paris.
What impact do you think the LSE had on your career and your view of the world?
In full transparency, I don’t think I took advantage of my time at LSE enough (I was also writing for TechCrunch at the time). But LSE, first and foremost, exposed me to some incredible people. The people I was surrounded by in class already had incredible backgrounds and work experience. Some held positions in international institutions or ministries in their home countries. The professors — I particularly remember Dr. Razeen Sally — were also clearly leading experts in their fields. Naturally, I also absolutely loved the topics we covered.
In addition to the school itself, LSE brought me to London. I ended up spending 3 years in London and came to really love the place and my time there. It helped me develop my network there, learn from the London startup ecosystem, and I think it has benefited me greatly.
You grew up in California — is this where your curiosity in technology stemmed from?
Ha! It came from being interested in France! I actually was not particularly interested in tech growing up. My dad would try to teach me to build computers on the weekend, but I hardly paid attention. After studying French in university, I got a job for what is today Business France. My job was to convince companies like Facebook and Twitter (who didn’t yet have offices in France) to consider putting a local office there. Through this job, I came in contact with all the Silicon Valley companies that did not have offices in France — and, therefore, entrepreneurship as well. I started to meet the founders of these companies that were building the products of the future, and I became addicted to their creativity, intelligence and optimism. But oddly enough, it was not my youth in California that necessarily exposed me to this.
How has that curiosity weaved its way throughout your career to date?
Where has curiosity not been in my career? I think careers are shaped by curiosity, but especially in this field, we are always questioning everything. I’d say curiosity led me to France, led me to work in tech and continues to drive me every day. I love discovering new ideas and new people — and I am fortunate to be able to do this every single day.
What drew you to taking up the challenge to build Station F?
How can one turn down something like Station F?! When I heard about the project, I just knew I wanted to be involved. I have so much admiration and respect for our founder, Xavier Niel; there was no question in my mind that I wanted to work for him. And being part of such a big and ambitious project, I couldn’t see any reason not to go for it :)
You’ve seen the French tech and venture ecosystem develop over the past c.10 years — what do you think has been the biggest factor in its development and growth?
I think that if we put a lot of geo-political factors aside (which have naturally contributed a lot), there is something in the mindset of the local ecosystem I really love. It is a tight-knit community. Many foreign investors have told me that it is a difficult market to penetrate; you really need to be an “insider”. I think this reflects just how important relationships are here — maybe it’s also cultural.
So with that in mind, I find that the ecosystem has, in many ways, worked really well collectively to solve some of the challenges. The government has listened and worked with the startups. When the government has not been able to respond to something, the ecosystem has built its own solution. I find a lot of this comes from the various communities that exist — there are many — and people working together to move things forward has clearly made a mark.
Station F is one of the best examples of a truly thriving tech ecosystem — what would you say are the key ingredients for this?
I think there are so many ingredients that went into making Station F what it is — and a lot of them also come from the greater ecosystem. I think also we really made an effort to build something that would respond to local needs and not try to “copy and paste” something that worked elsewhere. We spent months interviewing hundreds of people from the ecosystem to find out what they liked, didn’t like and then we worked from there. And we continue to do this regularly today as the ecosystem evolves.
We are regularly approached by other countries that seek to replicate our model, but I think there are 2 factors that are very hard to find: first, I think having someone like Xavier Niel behind the project, with his entrepreneurial credibility, makes all the difference. Second, I think we are fortunate to benefit from Paris, which naturally attracts incredible people from around the world on a regular basis.
Having grown up in California, studied in the UK and France, and settled in the latter, do you have an opinion on how different regions shape entrepreneurs/ entrepreneurial talent and mindsets in different ways?
To be honest, I haven’t really seen that much difference. I feel there is a lot of emulation in Europe of US entrepreneurial culture — so we have adopted a lot of the practices, jargon and whatnot. I do think there are slight local differences that are changing as our European ecosystems gain in maturity. For example, when I first moved to France, it was very taboo to talk about failure and even money as a motivation behind building a company. I feel this is less the case now — but probably still not exactly the same as in the US.
You are also a scout for Sequoia — what is it that you look for in founders? And from the founders you’ve met over your career, what do you think sets the strong ones apart from the rest?
Even prior to scouting for Sequoia, I was always particularly interested in understanding why a person had decided to build what they are building. Was it due to a personal experience or frustration? Just an opportunity they saw in the market?
And now, I think as a scout, I am more interested in what makes a particular team better than another team working on exactly the same project. Do they have industry expertise? Access to a specific network? Some other way of really setting themselves apart? I also try to look at execution, I feel strong teams are able to move quickly and surround themselves well early on with excellent people. I’m naturally looking for these elements as well.
We think a lot about how LSE can nurture a spirit of entrepreneurship at the university stage/ age — do you think this is something that can actually be nurtured?
Completely. I’ve seen it happen in France. When I arrived for my Masters in 2009, most of my classmates had no idea what I was doing writing for TechCrunch and why anyone would care about tech. Now I think a majority of the graduates each year go into something related to entrepreneurship, if they don’t start a company themselves. The industry has become incredibly attractive and with a wide range of jobs — it doesn’t only cater to founders.
What would you say to an LSE student, at the start of their career, considering a path into the startup world?
I would say entrepreneurship isn’t just in a classroom, and whatever you can do outside the classroom will help you immensely. As a student, you can experiment and take risks that you maybe can’t take later on. You don’t need to worry about failure. While a student, I was writing for TechCrunch and I founded an entrepreneurial association to support women in tech as well as a conference on failure. These different projects allowed me to build my network, do something entrepreneurial (even though it wasn’t building a startup) and helped me set myself up for everything that came next.
As an alum and given our thesis at HSVC, backing LSE-alum-founded ventures, globally, we’d love to see whether you think there’s anything about the DNA of LSE alumni that makes them stand out as entrepreneurs?
Well, I think great entrepreneurs can and do come from literally everywhere. But there hasn’t been a single LSE student that hasn’t impressed me to date. LSE attracts top people from around the world. I also found that despite their brilliance and experience, they also often are very humble — and this is quite key. I think great entrepreneurs need to be bold but also willing to learn and adjust, which is difficult if you are not humble. As we all know, the team and the people are what really make a project succeed, I think that shouldn’t be taken lightly :)
