Meet our Founders
Frédéric Mazzella, Founder and President of BlaBlaCar
Since pioneering the idea for BlaBlaCar in 2004, Frédéric has led the company to become the world’s largest long-distance carpooling community. As a branding and communications enthusiast, Fred has built a global brand whilst relentlessly spreading the word about the virtues of carpooling. Frédéric carries BlaBlaCar’s vision of a people-powered travel network enabled by trust and technology, and is passionate about high social impact solutions. Frédéric is a regular speaker at leading international conferences and in the media, where he comments on the fast changing mobility landscape, entrepreneurship, global marketplaces and building trust in online communities.
Prior to founding BlaBlaCar, Frédéric held the role of scientific researcher at NASA (USA) and NTT (Japan). He holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Masters in Computer Science from Stanford and a Masters in Physics from Ecole Normale Supérieure (France). Frédéric is also an accomplished classical pianist. Tweet him @mazaic.
Nicolas Brusson, Co-Founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar
Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer in October 2016, Nicolas oversaw BlaBlaCar’s global operations and international growth. As Chief Operating Officer, he led the company’s corporate development, overseeing eight acquisitions, expansion to twenty markets, and three successive rounds of fundraising. Nicolas is a strong proponent of agile structures that allow quick iterations in fast-growing environments. He is also a supporter of autonomous local teams and acqui-hires, a strategy he implemented to expand BlaBlaCar’s footprint on a global scale. Nicolas is a regular speaker at leading international conferences and in the media, where he comments on the European startup scene, innovative growth strategies, and mobility.
Prior to joining BlaBlaCar in 2011, Nicolas worked for several startups in Silicon Valley during the dotcom boom, before moving on to executive and investor roles, including spending time as a Venture Capitalist at Amadeus Capital Partners in London. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Masters in Optics from Ecole Supérieure d’Optique and a Masters in Applied Physics from Paris XI University. Nicolas is also an active angel investor and tweets@nbrusson.
Francis Nappez, Co-Founder & Technology Advisor to the CEO of BlaBlaCar
Prior to becoming Technology Advisor to our CEO, Francis led the technical and product evolution of BlaBlaCar for 14 years as the Chief Technology Officer. He played an instrumental role in building the platform, allowing it to grow from hosting a few thousand members in 2006 to the millions we serve today.
Francis turns ambition into reality. He believes in building robust solutions that can adapt to rapid growth and stay relevant for the long-term, and cares about building agile cross-functional teams across locations to deliver on ambitious objectives. Pragmatic and result-oriented, he is driven by the opportunity to create disruptive solutions that seek to improve the user experience.
In 2017, Francis co-founded Tech.Rocks, the largest think tank for Tech Leaders in France. His focus today is on creating a dedicated space for leaders in the French tech space to connect, exchange and grow collectively as a community. Before joining BlaBlaCar, he led major technical developments for big names in European consumer internet, which drove impactful disruptions in their respective sectors, including Free and Meetic. Francis holds a degree in Technology and Communications Research from the Joseph Fourier University. Find him @fnapz.