Fred de Gombert

Fred de Gombert is the co-founder and President of Akeneo, a global software company helping brands and retailers create better product experiences. He co-founded Akeneo in France in 2013 and spent more than a decade as CEO, growing the company from a small open-source project into a global software leader with more than 400 employees across Europe, the United States and Australia. Along the way, Akeneo raised $196 million from investors including Summit Partners, Partech and Alven. Today, Fred focuses on strategy, M&A, key customers and whatever complex topic happens to land on his desk. His journey has included the usual founder mix of big ambitions, painful decisions, international expansion, fundraising, board meetings, mistakes and a few genuine successes, and he particularly enjoys sharing the lessons that usually get edited out of company success stories. Outside Akeneo, Fred is a long-time improv performer, which has taught him a few useful things about leadership: listen carefully, trust the people around you and accept that no plan survives the first few minutes on stage.