Tariq Krim (born October 25, 1972, in Paris) is a French entrepreneur, creator of Netvibes and the founder of Jolicloud, a personal cloud content computing platform and Joli OS, a free operating system based on the Jolicloud platform. In 2008, he was the first French national named by the MIT Technology Review as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[1] He was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the French Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Minister of Culture in 2011.[2]

Tariq Krim
Krim in 2007
Born (1972-10-25) October 25, 1972 (age 51)
NationalityFrench
OccupationEntrepreneur

Early years edit

Tariq Krim spent his childhood in the historic area of Paris, Le Marais. His father was an economist and his mother a teacher. Passionate about computers from an early age (he was given his first computer at 10, and created his first Minitel server at 12 years old), Krim went on to study physics at the University of Paris VII and obtained his post-graduate degree from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications (ENST).[3]

Career edit

Journalism edit

In 1994, after meeting with Jean-Francois Bizot, Krim became a writer for Novamag and wrote articles about cyberculture. He continued his career in journalism for the financial daily La Tribune. First based in Paris, then in California (he opened the newspaper's Silicon Valley branch),[4] Krim published various articles on the Internet industry.

Entrepreneurship edit

In 1999, Krim decided to move on from writing about internet innovation.[5] That year, he founded what would become L8Rmedia, a consulting and publishing company specializing in digital media. Its first branch was in San Francisco; he later expanded to Paris.[6] Its main online publication, GenerationMP3 (formerly "MPTrois.com"), attracts 1.5 million readers per month.[3] and pioneered the use of participatory journalism in France.[7]

In 2005, Krim created Netvibes with Florent Frémont, a developer friend. The personalized dashboard publishing platform claims over 10 million users worldwide, half of whom are in the United States.[3]

In 2008, Krim left as the head of the company to create Jolicloud in 2009, co-founded with Romain Huet, the company's CTO.[8] Their vision was to combine cloud technology with a simple user interface. Krim first developed Joli OS, a free operating system, which enabled users to optimise low-cost devices or recycle older computers. In 2012, Jolicloud launched an HTML5-based cloud platform.[9] Jolicloud is backed by $4.2 million in venture capital funding from Atomico Ventures, formed by Kazaa and Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, and Mangrove Capital Partners.[10]

Mentoring edit

In 2008, Krim co-founded ISAI, "the French tech entrepreneurs' fund", which provides seed capital for web and mobile technology startups.[11] ISAI's co-founders are all members of France's digerati: Orianne Garcia, founder of Terrafemina.com; Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, founder of PriceMinister; Ouriel Ohayon, founder of TechCrunch France and AppsFire; Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, CEO of Virgin Mobile; and Stéphane Treppoz, Chairman of the Executive Board of Sarenza.[12] This combined effort has helped launch websites such as co-voiturage.fr and InstantLuxe.com. Krim has said that he has a "passion for building highly disruptive new products".[13]

Net freedom edit

He advised Adami, a French civil society that allocates the rights of performers. In 2004 he published a study called "Peer-to-Peer, a New Business Model for Music", in which he cites another study by the French Directorate of Economic Forecasting and Analysis, which concluded that "no systematic correlation can be made between downloading and the state of the music industry".[14]

Thought leadership edit

Krim is a speaker at global technology and media conferences and summits. He regularly appears on mainstream media.

In 2008, he was awarded the Information Technology for Business Creation Prize by Telecom ParisTech and its engineering association (AIST).[15] Krim is one of six French personalities to have been selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum.[16]

Krim served on the Conseil national du numérique as a vice president from 2013 to 2016.

References edit

  1. ^ Roush, Wade. "2007 Young Innovators Under 35: Tariq Krim". MIT Technology Review.
  2. ^ "Nomination ou promotion dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres janvier 2011". Ministère de la Culture. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  3. ^ a b c PAQUETTE, EMMANUEL. "Netvibes ou la liberté donnée à l'internaute créateur". Les Echos. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  4. ^ Brafman, Nathalie (16 May 2007). "Tariq Krim, le nouveau gourou du Web". Le Monde. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  5. ^ Katz, Ian (4 November 2006). "Netvibes, Tariq Krim". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 November 2006.
  6. ^ Lindsay. "Wall Strip Chat Sits Down With Tariq Krim". Wall Strip Chat.
  7. ^ "SME Speakers".
  8. ^ Sepúlveda Schulz, Rodrigo. "Interview With Tariq Krim". Wishful Thinking. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  9. ^ Butcher, Mike (27 October 2011). "Jolicloud pivots up to organise your 'personal cloud' life online".
  10. ^ "Tariq Krim". Plugg. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  11. ^ "ISAI". ISAI. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  12. ^ Chicaud, Sandrine. "Six pointures du Web créent un fonds d'investissement pour les jeunes pousses". 01Net. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  13. ^ Schonfeld, Erick (20 September 2006). "Web users feel the 'vibes'". CNNMoney. Retrieved 20 September 2006.
  14. ^ Krim, Tariq. "Le Peer to peer: Un otre modele economique pour la musique" (PDF). Study. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  15. ^ "Les lauréats Prix du Créateur d'Entreprise - Tariq Krim" (PDF). Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Tariq Krim: Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jolicloud". Retrieved 5 August 2012.

External links edit

  • Tariq Krim personal website in English
  • Tariq Krim thinktank Code Souverain in French