Life On The Pledge: JB Rudelle

Please share with us a bit about yourself:

I was born in Paris in 1969 into a home where art and ideas were everyday oxygen: a painter father, a political science researcher mother. I trained as an engineer at Supélec and Imperial College London, then quickly stepped off the conventional track to build companies.

My first startup failed when I was 26. It hurt, but it taught me something I’ve relied on ever since: resilience is a skill you earn, not a trait you’re born with. A few years later, I founded Kiwee, a mobile content company acquired in 2004. That win gave me the confidence to aim higher.

In 2005, I co-founded Criteo. The early years were a masterclass in persistence: three pivots, plenty of doubt, and constant pressure to find product-market fit. When we finally cracked retargeting, everything changed. In 2013, Criteo went public on Nasdaq and became one of France’s rare tech unicorns.

The moment that truly shifted my worldview came after that success: confronting the scale of the climate challenge. Financial freedom didn’t feel like an ending; it felt like a responsibility. It changed my definition of “winning” from building value to putting that value to work on the problems that matter most.

What first drew you to the Founders Pledge and what motivated you to make the pledge?

Founders Pledge spoke my language: founders, data, rigor, outcomes. I’ve been fortunate to build in the right place at the right time, and I believe that luck comes with obligations.

What motivated me was simple: I had resources, but I didn’t want philanthropy to be guesswork. Founders Pledge offered a disciplined way to turn giving into impact, with the same clarity and accountability we expect in business. It lets me support the causes I care most about, especially climate, while benefiting from world-class guidance on what truly works.

How has your Founders Pledge experience changed the way you think about impact?

It made my giving more strategic. I used to donate based on emotion, intuition, or timing. Now I think in terms of leverage, evidence, and measurable outcomes: what is the theory of change, what’s the bottleneck, where does an extra euro create the biggest marginal difference.

That mindset feels natural as an entrepreneur: maximize impact per unit of resource. Founders Pledge also reinforced something I increasingly believe about climate: philanthropy and technology must be linked. We need breakthroughs, adoption, and systems change at speed, and that requires both capital and innovation working together.

What have you most valued about being a Founders Pledge member?

Three things stand out. First, the quality of the research. It’s rare to find recommendations that are both thoughtful and operational, and it allows me to delegate diligence with confidence.

Second, the community. Being around founders who treat giving as part of the job, not a side project, is energizing. It creates momentum and raises the bar for what “success” can mean.

Third, the tone: rigorous without being dogmatic. Founders Pledge respects my priorities while still challenging me to think broader and better. That mix of autonomy and accountability is powerful.

What charitable organisation(s) do you support?

My giving reflects a core belief: climate action needs innovation, and progress is faster when opportunities are more equal.

Alpha Program (since 2018): supporting women leading entrepreneurial or academic projects. Tech cannot be truly future-facing if it remains structurally imbalanced. This is one concrete way to help change that.

Zenon Research (founded in 2020): a think tank I created with PSL University to produce rigorous, decision-useful research on technologies for a low-carbon world. The goal is simple: help investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers move faster with better analysis. Our report Too Hot to Grow, on warming and economic growth, is representative of that approach.

Blue Foundation (established in 2022): focused on ocean protection, women’s empowerment, and sustainable tourism. The ocean is one of the planet’s most important climate regulators, and protecting it is both urgent and underfunded.

ArtuP, Mains à l’Oeuvre, Pax Musica (since 2024): organizations hosting long-form artistic residencies connected to sea conservation and women’s empowerment. Art reaches people where spreadsheets can’t: it creates empathy, shifts narratives, and builds cultural momentum.

The motivation is twofold: accelerate inspiration and encourage exceptional people to go one step further.