Benjamin Bejbaum

Benjamin Bejbaum (born 20 November 1976) is a French entrepreneur and computer programmer renowned for co-founding Dailymotion, one of the world's leading video-sharing platforms.^[1] Bejbaum's career began in the early 2000s after studying engineering and history at institutions including EPITA and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, from which he was briefly expelled before continuing his education. In 2000, at age 24, he founded Iguane Solutions (initially Iguane Studio), a Paris-based web agency specializing in innovative digital development for clients including early streaming services like Deezer.^[1]^[2]^[3] In March 2005, Bejbaum co-founded Dailymotion with Olivier Poitrey, pooling initial resources of €6,000 to create a platform for user-generated video content, inspired by their own experiences sharing vacation footage. As CEO until 2008, he oversaw rapid growth, transforming the site into a global competitor to YouTube; by May 2011, Dailymotion boasted 114 million unique monthly visitors and ranked among the top 30 most-visited websites worldwide. That year, the company sold 49% of its shares to Orange (formerly France Télécom) for €58 million, solidifying its position in the digital media landscape. Bejbaum remained a shareholder and board member post-resignation.^[1]^[4] Following his Dailymotion tenure, Bejbaum shifted focus to cultural technology, co-founding ArtDB in 2009 as a collaborative online encyclopedia and database cataloging artworks, monuments, and cultural heritage worldwide. He served as its president until 2014. More recently, Bejbaum has contributed to education as a professor of Python programming and data science at Albert School in Paris, where he mentors students in computational skills essential to modern entrepreneurship.^[1]^[5]

Early life and education

Family background

Benjamin Bejbaum was born on November 20, 1976, in Paris, France.^[6] He was born into a Jewish immigrant family, with his father originating from Poland and his mother from Tunisia.^[7] Both of his parents were doctors, providing a stable and intellectually stimulating household environment during his early years.^[6]

Academic background

Benjamin Bejbaum attended Gérard de Nerval High School in Luzarches, Val-d'Oise, where he completed his secondary education and obtained his Baccalauréat D in 1994 with a mention of "assez bien," without any grade repetition.^[6] After high school, Bejbaum pursued studies in mathematics applied to social sciences at Université Paris 13, located in Villetaneuse, Seine-Saint-Denis, for one year beginning in 1994.^[6]^[1] He subsequently enrolled at EPITA (École d'Ingénieurs en Informatique), an engineering school specializing in computer science with integrated preparatory classes, from 1995 to 1997, though he was expelled at the conclusion of his second year.^[6]^[1]^[8] Bejbaum then continued his education at the University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne from 1997 to 1999, studying history, ultimately abandoning the program during his second year.^[6]^[8]

Professional career

Iguane Solutions

In 2000, Benjamin Bejbaum co-founded Iguane Studio, a web development agency that later evolved into Iguane Solutions, serving as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO).^[2]^[3] As CTO, Bejbaum led the technical team in creating innovative web-based solutions, focusing on custom software and digital platforms for early internet businesses.^[2] During his tenure from 2000 to 2005, Bejbaum oversaw the design and implementation of systems architecture for online platforms, emphasizing scalable infrastructures that supported emerging digital services.^[8] The company specialized in building technical backends for e-commerce sites and interactive web applications, enabling clients to establish robust online presences amid the dot-com era's rapid growth.^[2] His work involved architecting secure, efficient systems that handled user data and transactions, drawing on his computer engineering background to address the technical challenges of nascent web technologies.^[3] Bejbaum's experience at Iguane Solutions provided foundational insights into startup operations, including resource management, team scaling, and iterative product development in a high-pressure environment.^[2] This period honed his expertise in navigating the uncertainties of early-stage ventures, from prototyping solutions to deploying production-ready infrastructures, which later shaped his approach to subsequent entrepreneurial endeavors.^[8]

Dailymotion

In March 2005, Benjamin Bejbaum co-founded Dailymotion alongside Olivier Poitrey in the living room of Poitrey's Paris apartment, pooling €6,000 from six individuals to launch the video-sharing platform.^[9]^[10] The site was conceived as a space for users to upload and share videos, capitalizing on the emerging broadband era to enable self-expression through user-generated content.^[9] Bejbaum, drawing on his prior technical experience in web infrastructure, served as CEO from inception, directing product development and steering the company's early strategic direction.^[11] Under Bejbaum's leadership, Dailymotion secured its first major venture funding of €7 million (approximately $9.5 million) in September 2006 from Atlas Venture and Partech International, enabling infrastructure scaling and international expansion.^[7] This was followed by a €25 million (approximately $34 million) round in August 2007, led by Advent Venture Partners and AGF Private Equity, which supported hires and offices in London, New York, and Barcelona.^[12]^[13] The platform experienced rapid growth, attracting 37 million unique monthly visitors by mid-2007 and reaching 32 million worldwide by early 2008, establishing it as YouTube's primary European rival with a focus on high-definition uploads and localized content.^[12]^[9] In France, Dailymotion even overtook YouTube in unique visitors, with 10.2 million compared to YouTube's 8.8 million in February 2008.^[9] However, the platform also encountered legal hurdles, including a June 2007 ruling by a Paris court holding Dailymotion liable for copyright infringement in a lawsuit filed by TF1.^[14] Bejbaum stepped down from day-to-day operations as CEO in June 2008 after three years at the helm, though he initially remained on the company's board to advise on ongoing development.^[14] By then, Dailymotion had raised a total of approximately $43.5 million in funding and forged key partnerships, such as with Warner Bros. for ad-supported channels, solidifying its position in the competitive video-sharing landscape.^[14]

ArtDB

In 2009, following his departure from Dailymotion, Benjamin Bejbaum co-founded ArtDB, where he served as chairman and president.^[10]^[8]^[15] ArtDB functioned as an online collaborative encyclopedia and database dedicated to artworks, monuments, and cultural heritage, enabling users to share photos and information about artistic and historical objects in a manner comparable to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) for cinema.^[16]^[17]^[10] During his tenure from 2009 to 2014, Bejbaum oversaw the platform's development, emphasizing crowdsourced contributions to build a comprehensive repository of art metadata and supporting technical architecture for efficient user searches and content organization.^[8]^[16]^[17] The initiative highlighted the integration of digital technology with cultural preservation efforts, allowing global users to contribute and access detailed records of visual and heritage assets, thereby democratizing access to art historical knowledge.^[16]^[17] Bejbaum exited ArtDB around 2013–2014, transitioning to advisory and educational pursuits thereafter.^[8]^[10]

Teaching roles

Following his background in serial entrepreneurship, Benjamin Bejbaum transitioned into academia, focusing on imparting practical skills in technology and data to the next generation of business leaders. Bejbaum serves as a professor at Albert School in Paris, where he teaches Python programming and data analysis as part of the institution's data and AI curriculum.^[18] His role, which began around 2022, emphasizes hands-on learning to develop students' analytical capabilities for data-driven decision-making in business contexts.^[8] Through his teaching at Albert School, Bejbaum contributes to curriculum elements that integrate real-world projects, fostering an understanding of how data tools can drive innovation and strategic thinking in professional settings.^[18] This approach equips students with the ability to critically interpret complex information and apply programming skills to solve practical challenges in entrepreneurship and digital environments.^[18] Bejbaum has also held professorships at Sciences Po and the École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs Léonard de Vinci (ESILV), where he delivers courses on Python and related topics in digital transformation and entrepreneurship.^[19] These positions highlight his expertise in bridging technical programming with broader business applications, including the impacts of digital technologies on organizational strategy.^[19] In addition to regular coursework, Bejbaum has participated in summer schools and masterclasses, such as a 2017 session on "From Digital to Analog" organized by IMT Business School, exploring the interplay between digital innovation and traditional business models.^[20] His contributions extend to mentoring students on tech startups and data science applications, remaining active in these areas as of 2025 to guide emerging professionals in navigating digital entrepreneurship.^[18]