Before founding what is now one of the most successful companies in the cryptocurrency industry, Eric Larchevêque and his co-founder opened La Maison du Bitcoin, a Bitcoin education center and co-working space in the second district of Paris. It was through chance encounters in this space that Leger was born in the basement of 35 rue du Caire, where the company also operated a Bitcoin exchange desk and a handful of crypto miners.
Eric Larchevêque, CEO of Ledger, joins us again since his last appearance as a guest 200 episodes ago. We discuss the meteoric rise of Ledger from a ten-person team to now nearly 150 people across three continents. This fascinating discussion is a master class in product development, scaling at lightning speed, and staying true to your vision when everyone is pushing you to change course.
Topics covered in this episode:

Eric’s background and how he became involved in the Bitcoin space
La Maison du Bitcoin and the early days of Ledger in Paris
The meteoric growth of Ledger and how the company managed to scale without imploding
The appointment of Pascal Gautier as President how to hire the right people when scaling fast
Ledger’s various funding rounds and lessons learned from working with corporate investors
The particularities of building products for the crypto community
Ledger’s product lineup (Nano S, Blue, and Vault) and target clients
The upcoming release of the revamped wallet app
Ledger Vault as a security solution for institutional investors
Ledger’s hardware technology and rock-solid approach to security

Episode links:

Ledger Wallet Website
Ledger Corporate Website
CoinHouse (formerly La Maison du Bitcoin)
Announcing the new Ledger Wallet desktop and mobile applications
Former CRITEO COO joins leading security player in Cryptocurrency space
Ledger raises USD 75 million to secure cryptocurrency assets

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/241