My Story

I started from nothing.

I had absolutely nothing going for me. My journey is proof that you can change your destiny.

I was born in Paris, to a Bulgarian immigrant mother who could not read or write, and an unknown father.

When I was 10, our home caught fire and we lost almost everything we owned. A few years later, my mother was the victim of a scam and this time, we never recovered.

We had nothing left and my mother could no longer take care of me — on top of the scam, the tax authorities came after her and seized her last possessions.

One morning, as I was about to leave for school, there was a knock at the door. Behind it: bailiffs, police officers, and a social worker. That day was the final blow — the bailiffs entered our apartment and seized everything my mother owned. The social worker took me aside and said: "Pack your bag, Jonathan, you won't be coming home tonight."

I was placed in foster care. I went from a private school in Paris to studying in a priority education zone on the outskirts of the city.

From age 12, I knew hunger, filth, cold, and the judgment of others. I had a label on my back as "a child of the social welfare system."

All my life people told me "Jonathan, you can't do that," "Jonathan, don't aim too high." Without meaning to, they always made me feel like I was worth less than others.

Once under the care of social services, I only saw my mother every other week after long commutes by public transport. Unfortunately, she was never the same — having lost everything, she fell into depression and alcoholism.

From age 14, alongside my studies, I took on odd jobs back to back. Pizza delivery, handing out newspapers at metro exits, waiter, cashier — all the way to 18, so I could earn my own money and have a minimum of pocket money.

At 19, I had €10,000 in my bank account from all those years of student jobs. I took out a student loan, put all my savings into my first property — a service room in terrible condition on the sixth floor (no elevator) of a grand building in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.

I renovated it myself and rented it out. I realized this was a way to build wealth. So I took on more loans from other banks and kept buying and renovating properties. By 21, I was earning over €5,000 per month from all my apartments.

Alongside all of this, I continued my studies and, through sheer hard work, I was admitted to ESCP Europe, from which I graduated a few years later.

After graduating, I worked in finance in London, but I was terribly bored. After a few months, I decided to quit and return to Paris because I had an idea brewing.

Business telephony and call center systems had not evolved in 15 years — it was time to disrupt them. I met my co-founders and we launched Aircall shortly after.

The pitch: Aircall is a cloud telephony solution that revolutionizes business communication by natively integrating with all major CRM and helpdesk tools. Aircall also incorporates an AI engine that allows its clients to analyze all their conversations, transcribe them, and even train call bots.

Aircall raised $225 million and became one of France's unicorns in 2021. Today Aircall generates over €250 million in revenue and is one of the world's leading professional telephony software companies.

In early 2024, I stepped down from my role at Aircall to focus on my real estate holding company, Aguesseau Capital, where I acquire buildings and hotels.

I remain a shareholder of Aircall and involved in the group's strategy, but I no longer work there day to day.

I'm sharing this story to inspire you to push beyond your limits and never give up. My difficult past was my daily engine and every failure was a lesson.

I quickly understood that I would not be like others — my life was different, and so was I.

"Nothing to Lose" is the title of my book where I tell my entire story up to today, with all the behind-the-scenes of a life spent fighting against my past.

You can get the book here.

This book is both a life story and a collection of lessons and advice for success. But above all, it is a tribute to the foster care system, without which I would not be here today.

This is just the beginning.

- Jonathan