#241 Eric Larchevêque: Ledger – How to Build an Industry-Leading Cryptocurrency Security Company

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Before founding what is now one of the most successful companies in the cryptocurrency industry, Eric Larchevêque and his co-founder opened La Maison du Bitcoin, a Bitcoin education center and co-working space in the second district of Paris. It was through chance encounters in this space that Leger was born in the basement of 35 rue du Caire, where the company also operated a Bitcoin exchange desk and a handful of crypto miners.

Eric Larchevêque, CEO of Ledger, joins us again since his last appearance as a guest 200 episodes ago. We discuss the meteoric rise of Ledger from a ten-person team to now nearly 150 people across three continents. This fascinating discussion is a master class in product development, scaling at lightning speed, and staying true to your vision when everyone is pushing you to change course.

Topics discussed in this episode:
- Eric's background and how he became involved in the Bitcoin space
- La Maison du Bitcoin and the early days of Ledger in Paris
- The meteoric growth of Ledger and how the company managed to scale without imploding
- The appointment of Pascal Gautier as President how to hire the right people when scaling fast
- Ledger's various funding rounds and lessons learned from working with corporate investors
- The particularities of building products for the crypto community
- Ledger's product lineup (Nano S, Blue, and Vault) and target clients
- The upcoming release of the revamped wallet app
- Ledger Vault as a security solution for institutional investors
- Ledger's hardware technology and rock-solid approach to security

Links mentioned in this episode:
- Ledger Wallet Website: https://www.ledgerwallet.com
- Ledger Corporate Website: https://www.ledger.fr
- CoinHouse (formerly La Maison du Bitcoin): https://lamaisondubitcoin.fr
- Announcing the new Ledger Wallet desktop and mobile applications: https://www.ledger.fr/2018/02/23/announcing-new-ledger-wallet-desktop-mobile-applications/
- Former CRITEO COO joins leading security player in Cryptocurrency space: https://www.ledger.fr/2017/09/21/former-criteo-coo-joins-leading-security-player-in-cryptocurrency-space/
- Ledger raises USD 75 million to secure cryptocurrency assets: https://www.ledger.fr/2018/01/18/ledger-raises-usd-75-million-secure-cryptocurrency-assets/

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This episode is also available on :
- Epicenter.tv: https://epicenter.tv/241
- YouTube: http://youtu.be/8TK2OQcG5vE
- Souncloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-241

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Epicenter is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.