Patrice Thiry: The Empire State Cold Call That Launched a Global Career

“At 20 years old, I had this idea of starting this company… So I go up the Empire State Building, I ring at the door, and I say to the office secretary, “Hey, I have a great idea to sell your boss, can I see him?”

In this episode of Venturing Abroad, we’re going on a transatlantic journey with Patrice Thiry. Growing up in the suburbs of Paris, Patrice moved to Boston at 17 to pursue a degree at Babson College. After graduating, he spent five years in New York and London, combining his American mentality with his French savoir-faire to lead sales and marketing operations for Russell Athletic across Europe and Asia.

Patrice shares with us his key learnings from studying and working in the U.S., and how he translated those skills when he returned to France to build his startup, ProwebCE, which he sold in 2017 for €300M. Today, he is the Co-founder & President of startup accelerator Tomcat, an investor at daphni, and the author of “The Journey of a Successful Entrepreneur.”