Discovering the Tech Community in Toulouse: A Three-Year Journey
It's been 3 years now since I moved from Paris to Toulouse.
When I moved to Toulouse three years ago, I knew almost no one. My only connection was my cofounder, Mehdi. It was an intimidating start, but thanks to the magic of LinkedIn, my presence in the city didn't go unnoticed. Soon, people reached out to me, giving me my first glimpse into the tech scene here. Among those early connections were Denis and Cédric, whose introductions helped bootstrap my network at an impressive speed.
Mergify is a remote-first company, so we don’t have an office where I can commute every day and rely on colleagues to easily have a social network. That forced me to go out and expand my social network out in the unknown.
In 2022, I decided to reboot the Toulouse Python Meetup. Despite having over 800 members in the group at the time, the event had gone dormant since COVID 19. I reached out to the previous (idle) organizers, and with the support of Hugo at Mergify, we organized our first meetup. I prepared a quick return of experience talk, which I presented to the three attendees who showed up (!) how we deployed mypy at Mergify.
It was a humble beginning, but it was a start. Reviving in-person events was still challenging, but we persisted, organizing more meetups until the community began to grow. This effort eventually led us to Wannes, who now runs the events, allowing me to focus on other commitments. It’s tough to get people to attend events nowadays, possibly due to the lingering effects of COVID and the convenience of YouTube.
Joining the Tech.Rocks a couple of years ago was another significant milestone. Through this community, I discovered a substantial number of tech professionals in and around Toulouse. Remote work has made it possible for people to work far from their office, and I met people working at companies such as Datadog, Elastic, Spotify, OVHcloud, Ankorstore, AWS, Scaleway, MongoDB, ManoMano, Malt, Zenchef, GitLab — and there are many others I have yet to meet. I regularly organize lunches and dinners with tech folks from this community to foster stronger bonds, which has been incredibly rewarding.
I've had the pleasure of meeting remarkable people, from experienced engineers to startup founders. Toulouse boasts a vibrant ecosystem, smaller than Paris but thriving nonetheless. While it's easy to joke about the tech economy here being heavily dependent on Airbus and its providers, that's not entirely true. There's a diverse range of companies, though the prevalence of service companies (ESNs) in France is notable, with a scarcity of product-based firms.
One of the highlights of the tech calendar here is DevFest, an annual conference organized by the Google Developers Group (GDG). It's one of the most active meetups, although the connection to Google isn't always clear. Nonetheless, it's a fantastic event that brings the community together.
As a business angel, I've had the opportunity to meet incredible founders and teams from startups like Munity, Kotzilla, Roundtable, and more. It's inspiring to see startups in Toulouse that aren't solely focused on aerospace or IoT. There's a budding entrepreneurial spirit here that’s encouraging to witness.
Finally, I must mention IoT Valley — it took me three years to understand what was that IoT Valley I heard about all the time. Originally centered around SigFox, the community has evolved and now encompasses a broader range of startups. I recently had the chance to host a dinner and podcast episode there, giving me a deeper understanding of its scope. Located near Toulouse in Labège, IoT Valley houses numerous companies, many still focused on IoT, but expanding into other areas as well. They might benefit from a rebrand, but marketing isn't typically a strong suit in French tech. Sharing my experiences of building Mergify and working as an entrepreneur and business angel was a highlight, and I look forward to the podcast episode going live.
You can listen to the podcast I recorded here.
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://widget.ausha.co/index.html?podcastId=yX4JgC5WWna7&color=%23ffffff&v=3" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>In conclusion, Toulouse's tech scene is dynamic and growing. For anyone considering a move to this city, you'll find a community that's welcoming, innovative, and full of opportunities. Whether you're looking to network, learn, or launch your next venture, Toulouse has something to offer.
And if you move there, send me a mail!