Paris

Paris is Mike's base of operations. The GitHub profile header lists it alongside "Solo Founder" and "Runner" as one of three defining facts. Mike's postal code (75020) places him in the 20th arrondissement in eastern Paris. The city frames both the student era and the solo founder era.

Geography of the Student Years

ESIEE Paris sits in Champs-sur-Marne, a campus town east of Paris served by the RER A. The three-year engineering alternance paired ESIEE coursework with full weeks at Safran in Moissy-Cramayel, a southeastern suburb. The earlier DUT at Université Paris-Est Créteil|UPEC was delivered through the IUT de Sénart-Fontainebleau, further southeast still. The entire 2019–2024 academic path sat east of central Paris, inside the Paris-Est academic cluster.

Geography of the Founder Years

By the Solo Founder Era, the geographic center of gravity shifted into central and southern Paris. Mike's own residence is in the 20th arrondissement. Fixed meeting points in the Mike and Achraf relationship include a morning coffee shop at 12 Avenue d'Italie (13th arrondissement) and evening venues in central Paris (Felicita, Wanderlust, Grands Boulevards). Station F in the 13th arrondissement anchors the founder ecosystem. anomalie.space in the 14th arrondissement hosted the summer 2025 residency. Bagneux immediately south of Paris is Achraf's home.

The Paris Founder Ecosystem as Mike navigates it spans a relatively compact area: the 13th, 14th, and 20th arrondissements, plus Bagneux. It is walkable, metro-connected, and small enough that the same figures recur across venues.

Paris as Frame

Paris is not a character in any single entry, but the city shapes the wiki's arc in at least three concrete ways: it provides the ecosystem for the Solo Founder Era, it hosts all the failed fundraising interactions (Kima, EF, business angels), and it is the city that Mike and Achraf first named leaving in April 2026 (see Q1 2026 Reset).

West Africa Contrast

The only product built for a non-European market is Wayzze, which targeted West Africa. The contrast between the Paris base and the West Africa market connects through Mike's Yoruba Heritage — a Beninese family thread that makes the diaspora play a personal extension of Paris rather than an external bet.