The Rollercoaster Ride to Scaling a Unicorn, with Nicolas Brusson, Co-Founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar

“You’ll make mistakes but that doesn’t matter - it’s all about speed and growth, but at some point you’ll have to go and clean up the room.” Today’s 40 Minute Mentor is Nicolas Brusson, Co-Founder & CEO of BlaBlaCar - the world’s leading community-based travel app enabling 26 million active members a year to share a ride in 21 countries. BlaBlaCar’s environmentally and human-friendly mobility network saves 1.6M tons of CO2 and enables 120M human connections every year. On top of leading BlaBlaCar, Nicolas is also an investor in many mission-driven brands, such as Ankorstore, Home Exchange and Dust, to name a few, so there is plenty to unpack in today's episode, including: ➡️ Becoming a father and closing a $10 million fundraising round [4:41] ➡️ Missed opportunities and keeping up with competition [06:42] ➡️ Bringing entrepreneurship into schools [09:55] ➡️ From Physics to VC and Entrepreneurship [12:32] ➡️ Rebuilding after mass layoffs [14:55] ➡️ The main lesson from the ups and downs of startup life [17:03]➡️ Advert: More about Kitt [25:29] ➡️ The origin and evolution of BlaBlaCar [26:39] ➡️ The shift in the sharing economy and building the ‘Airbnb for cars’ [29:00] ➡️ Recognising and surviving different phases of the business [32:35] ➡️ The danger in doing too many things, a turning point for BlaBlaCar [34:47] ➡️ Becoming a multi-model platform, expanding the carpool idea [36:46] ➡️ Navigating Covid without layoffs [37:39] ➡️ Reshaping and evolving your company culture [40:30] ➡️ ️Questioning company values and when they’re more than just a word on a wall [42:26] ➡️ Creating a culture of mentorship [43:50] ➡️ Audience question: The future of BlaBlaCar [46:54] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Connect with Nicolas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasbrusson/ ➡️ Find out more about BlaBlaCar: https://www.blablacar.co.uk/ ➡️ More about our sponsors, Kitt: https://www.kittoffices.com/en/ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices