Pauline Laigneau has become a key figure in entrepreneurship in France. If she founded the jewelry company Gemmyo, it was her successful podcast called Le Gratin which popularized it with the general public. Focus on the journey of the serial entrepreneur.
During her youth, Pauline Laigneau confessed to not knowing which path to take. She first joined the ENS, specializing in modern literature. She trained at this school from 2005 to 2010. She then headed to HEC Paris, where she graduated in 2012, with a specialization in entrepreneurship. In particular, she will complete an internship at Hugo & Victor as the CEO’s right-hand woman. For nine months, the student will be immersed in the heart of the high-end pastry sector, carrying out various missions in sales, HR and marketing.
Pauline Laigneau will take several years to find what is really right for her. It was only in 2011 that the click came and she founded Gemmyo with her husband, Charif Debs, and her brother-in-law, Malek Debs, still president of the company today. Gemmyo positions itself as a customizable jewelry brand, available online and made famous by its jewelry in the shape of a cat’s head. With a lot of advertising featuring a pink kitten with a ring on its ear, the company quickly made a name for itself and has been profitable since 2016, after five years of existence.
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The Gemmyo adventure of Pauline Laigneau
In 2012, Gemmyo recorded a turnover of €32,000. In just two years, the company’s turnover skyrocketed to reach 3 million euros in 2014. At that time, Pauline Laigneau’s company only had around fifteen employees. It must be said that a year earlier, in 2013, Gemmyo managed to raise nearly 3.1 million euros from three investors: Justin Ziegler, co-founder of Rakuten, Cyril Vermeulen, co-founder of aufeminin. com and Alven. This will be the last fundraising round carried out by the company which will have raised a total of 5.4 million euros in two years.
At the end of 2016, the entrepreneur announced that Gemmyo had achieved profitability, a choice which was anchored in the strategy of the time in order to reassure investors. That year, the workforce consisted of 26 employees and the company’s growth reached 90%, compared to 2015.
Over the years, the Gemmyo range has expanded with brands like Gemmiaou, Wanderlust and Everbloom. The company has diversified by offering engagement rings as well as wedding rings. The online site has also opened stores, with a pop-up store in Printemps, but also its own store in Paris in 2015, then in Lyon in 2017 and Toulouse in the following months. The company, which celebrated its nine years this year, also mentioned the possibility of opening stores in Bordeaux, Marseille or Brussels. Today, the brand claims to be made in France and Pauline Laigneau indicates that she employs 100 to 150 jewelry artisans.
Today, Gemmyo is a member of the UFBJOP (French Union of Jewelry, Goldsmiths, Stones and Pearls). For her part, Pauline Laigneau is a member of the Strategic Committee for the fashion and luxury sector within the National Industry Council.
The journey of Charif Debs, husband of Pauline Laigneau and co-founder of Gemmyo
Charif Debs studied at the Lycée Louis Le Grand until 2002 before joining CentraleSupélec (at the time Centrale Paris). He left in 2005 with the First Class Honorsthat is to say that he is in the top 10% of the school’s graduates.
Charif Debs’ profile is plural. Indeed, after training dedicated to engineering sciences, he joined Oliver Wyman Financial Services as a consultant, then as a manager. He will lead international projects linked to Africa and Europe. He then joined the prestigious Harvard Business School in 2009. He completed an MBA and graduated in 2011.
The story of Gemmyo and Pauline Laigneau is intrinsically linked to her story with Charif Debs. Indeed, it was when she went looking for an engagement ring with her future husband that she realized that the choice offered by the Vendôme boutiques was quite limited. She confides in the site manager.onestating: “ The experience was very disappointing, the choice of models was limited, everything was very expensive and the atmosphere extremely intimidating. Needless to say, we didn’t really feel in our place! At that time, my partner and I felt there was an opportunity in the jewelry market for a younger, more modern audience. »
Pauline Laigneau’s podcast dedicated to success
In parallel with the success story of GemmyoPauline Laigneau started a podcast in 2018. Named Le Gratin, it features the entrepreneur and a personality who talks about her successes, but also her failures. With this project, its founder wishes to highlight various successes, sometimes interviewing athletes, doctors, CEOs, VPs, authors, artists, chefs, marketing directors, journalists or even startupers from various sectors.
It is important to note that Pauline Laigneau is no stranger to podcasts. Already with Gemmyo, the entrepreneur had launched Chalalovea twenty-minute show that featured couples talking about how they fell in love.
With her podcast Le Gratin, Pauline Laigneau explains that she wants “ also help you become the best version of yourself. » She also summarizes on her site the way she approaches her interviews: “ With this podcast, I share with you the advice, tips, principles or philosophy of people among the most brilliant in their field, to enter into their privacy to inspire you and who knows how to help you launch your own projects. »
Among the personalities interviewed are: Hapsatou Sy, Estelle Touzet (Ritz), Christophe Michalak, Steve Burggraf (Big Fernand), Bénabar, Alain Dominique Perrin (Cartier), Harry Roselmack, Guillaume Gibault (Le Slip Français) and Frédéric Mazzella (BlaBlaCar).
In addition, Pauline Laigneau has also diversified the content offered to Gratin users. In addition to its podcasts, readers can find “Lessons”, which will allow them to learn how to launch an innovative brand, differentiate themselves, delegate, etc. In its “The Book Club” section, it also highlights essential works such as “I know why the bird sings in a cage” by Maya Angelou or The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. These works are both books that talk about business, exploits, success, but also novels that you absolutely must know.
Today, Pauline Laigneau claims 250,000 to 300,000 listeners per month for her podcasts. His ambition? She entrusts it to the site Ecommerce.mag.fr : “ My idea is to make Gratin the 1st business podcast in France. »
Named for a time Le Gratin, Pauline Laigneau recently evolved the branding around this podcast to transform it into simply “Le Podcast de Pauline Laigneau”. The entrepreneur is now playing a lot more with this “Pauline Laigneau” brand, which she highlights through a website dedicated to her journey, her audio show, but also her bootcamp.
DEMIAN and bootcamp… The diversification of Pauline Laigneau’s activities
Here again, Pauline Laigneau quickly developed the activity and, as with Gemmyo, she embarked on a diversification strategy. It therefore offers training in growth hackingfor €300, but also a six-week bootcamp, the objective of which is to support a group of ten people to help them develop their business, but also enable them to better organize themselves. The cost of this device is €2,400 excluding tax.
She also launched DEMIAN, a program which aims to give its participants the keys to success to give another dimension to their career or simply help them embark on a new adventure. Here again, Pauline Laigneau claims to have supported several thousand people thanks to this personal development training. If she called this program DEMIAN, it is because it would mean “the small inner voice” in ancient Greek.
In addition, Pauline Laigneau has also launched training at €250 excluding tax to learn how to better manage your time and be more productive on a daily basis.
The entrepreneur also launched a newsletter whose objective is to offer, every Friday, tips, advice, but also inspirations that guide her on a daily basis. Pauline Laigneau wants to offer content feel good, based on “ sweet words ».
After Gemmyo
Pauline Laigneau says little in the press regarding the continuation of her entrepreneurial adventures. However, today, she focuses mainly on the development of Gemmyo, supported by her husband, both in the range of products offered and in the opening of physical stores. In particular, it has registered the trademarks “Prima” and “Primarosa” with the INPI, which should be the name of the next collection offered on the Gemmyo website. She will also continue her podcast The Gratin and offers, at the end of September, a new session of its bootcamp.
At the same time, Pauline Laigneau regularly appears in the column Le Profil de l’Emploi, broadcast on Europe 1 and presented by Sandrine Chauvin, current Editorial Director for Europe, Middle East and Latin America at LinkedIn Actualités.
Pauline Laigneau in some figures and dates:
- She studied at ENS from 2005 to 2010
- She trained at HEC Paris from 2009 to 2012
- She founded Gemmyo in 2011
- The average basket of Gemmyo customers is €1,200
- She started her podcast on Le Gratin in 2018, which later became Le Podcast de Pauline Laigneau
- The Pauline Laigneau Podcast has 120 podcasts and 250,000 to 300,000 listeners per month
