Pierrick co-founded Picterra, the machine-learning geospatial imagery service, six years ago. Back then he boarded the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship and has a cool and calm acceptance of the uncertainty that the ride brings.

When reflecting on how he became co-founder and CEO of a very successful company, Pierrick has a very down-to-earth view. “By accident! If you want to be an entrepreneur you have to be a bit naïve, if you know in advance all the things you would have to overcome, you wouldn’t do it!”, he says with a grin. “I wanted to do something by myself, so I did”.

When asked what advice he would give to others who want to start their own business he is very encouraging. “Just go for it, don’t think too much, it’s not about having the perfect business model, or filling a business model canvas, having all the inches covered by day one is not possible. Just go for it, you will learn and find your way. And don’t listen to people too much!”

Being a CEO comes with a lot of responsibility and is very much a 24/7 job, so what keeps Pierrick awake at night? “My baby daughter! Also, the level of uncertainty is something you learn to live with, what we are doing is not certain, developing a new product, creating a new category, trying to crack the market, the risk and uncertainty is part of the journey, so you need to get comfortable with it and you need to embrace it”.

Pierrick works closely with VI Partners’ Olivier Laplace and believes that a good relationship between an investor and an investee is based on sharing similar values and culture. “As an investee, I would say we are looking for the same people that our investors are. The most important thing is to find a match and the right fit. This is what we have with VI Partners, they share our values and our culture. The Partners are hands-on and work with us, they’re not there to do the job for us, but they help build bridges and add a lot of value”.

Entrepreneurship naturally comes with setbacks and challenges and Pierrick is a big believer that overcoming challenges is easier when you can be kind to yourself. “I try not to be very tough on myself, like I used to be. Being an entrepreneur is like you’re always on a rollercoaster, you have to get used to it and enjoy it. When you come up against challenges, you have to keep going and be kind to yourself, it’s ok to say, “I am not going to solve this today, so for today, I am done. I’ll spend time going for a run, gardening, or playing sport to let the pressure go”.

Pierrick concludes with one word he would use to describe his experience of working with VI Partners, “Hands-on!”.