Four papers so far: one published on SSRN, two in progress, and the Menlo capstone, presented at a conference. Plus the theses, contributions and talks below. The academic foundation behind the advisory.
I didn't set out to become a researcher. It started with a question I couldn't answer from reports. Why do so many promising European deeptech companies stall when it's time to scale? Answering it took 57 interviews, then data, then co-authors who pushed the methods further than I could have alone. Today the research and the advisory feed each other. The research asks the questions, the work with founders tests them, and what survives both ends up in the Playbook.
Ben Bouheni, F. and Del Vecchio, G., Menlo College. 42 pages, 2015-2025 data. OLS study of how VC backing, ESG and governance shape risk-return. In plain words: once a company is public, do venture backing and governance show up in how it performs and how risky it is? Presented in Oakland and Nice, and picked up by VC funds after release.
Ben Bouheni, F., Lahiani, A. and Del Vecchio, G. Bloomberg panel, EU vs US, 2005-2025. NLP layer scoring AI deployment intensity. The question: since 2022, has accessible AI helped European companies get from prototype to industrial scale faster? And is the gap with the US closing or widening?
Ben Bouheni, F. and Del Vecchio, G. 57 interviews across Paris and the Bay Area. The research behind the playbook. Why European deeptech stalls between a working prototype and an industrial product. And what founders can do about it before the money runs out.
57 semi-structured interviews. Argues deeptech isn't a sector but an intensity of knowledge.
101 S&P 500 stocks, 212 weeks. Delay coefficient of -34.47 bps per week of latency. In plain words: the later an AI-generated trade is executed, the more of its edge disappears. And that cost can be measured.
BNP Paribas, Act for Impact. The tension between credit risk and measurable outcomes.
Nice, June 2026. With Dr. Faten Ben Bouheni. Presented our paper in the session on private capital, venture finance and sustainability. Also served as discussant on other papers.
Oakland, April 2026. Presented the risk-return / ESG paper ahead of its SSRN release.
Sophia Antipolis, June 2026. Industrialization, critical metals, precision medicine.
Alongside Sabeer Bhatia, Patrick Eibl. Presented research and advisory work.
FHC 4.0, September 2026, online. Presented the AI trading capstone in the session on financial markets and AI, and served as discussant on another paper.
I speak about venture capital, deeptech, fundraising, go-to-market, US market entry, and how differently European and American startup ecosystems work. Not as a professor, as someone still in the middle of it: the mistakes are recent, and so are the lessons.
If your students are about to build something, I'd rather tell them what I got wrong than what I got right. I do this to share real experience and contribute to the next generation of founders.
Previous contributions: EDHEC, Mines Paris–PSL, Menlo College, Kedge Business School, Paris School of Business
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