Sehaam Cyrene

Lauren Guy, the founder of Israel-based startup Utilis, started his career looking for underground water on Mars. Today, he is taking those same skills of data and satellite imagery to look for leaks and rogue water sources to help improve the efficiency of big engineering projects. “In the ground engineering market, water is the number one enemy,” says Elly Perets, chief executive of Utilis.

As a founder, when stuff goes great, it’s fantastic. But when stuff goes wrong, you feel every reverb of it. And not just your own mistakes — those of your direct reports and peers too. These emotional tripwires are useful pieces of information if we can use them to course-correct our approach or adjust our decision. The trouble is those strong emotions usually derail us and, longer term, send us towards chronic levels of stress.

This article is part of a series taking a deep-dive into the French tech ecosystem. For more, read the latest Sifted Intelligence report. Exceptional technical talent is one of France’s biggest strengths — and that needs to change. France has been betting a lot on homegrown brains in science-based fields like AI, robotics, and biotech, which should give it a competitive advantage in the world of deep tech.