Foulques Richard

Why this persona fits the audience

A part-time startup intern in Paris who uses a MacBook Air to prototype small automations in Codex, compare browser screenshots, and document steps in Notion before passing them to engineers. Has paid for basic developer tools, but not for a dedicated screen-context utility.

• Age: 24
• Location: Paris, France
• Occupation: Startup intern / student developer
• Income: €24,000
• Education: M2 in computer engineering (in progress)
• Company size: 12 employees (Series A startup)
• Years in role: 8 months

“I don't want to just write code; I want to build systems that feel like they're thinking ahead of me.”

Foulques Richard is a 24-year-old M2 student in computer engineering at Télécom Paris, currently balancing his studies with a part-time internship at a Series A startup in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Born in Lyon to middle-class parents, he moved to Paris three years ago to pursue his master's degree, drawn by the city's vibrant tech scene. His income sits at €24,000 annually, derived from his internship stipend and sporadic freelance gigs, leaving little room for luxury but enough to sustain a modest life. Foulques is defined by his resourcefulness; he has paid for essential developer tools like VS Code extensions and GitHub Copilot but draws the line at expensive, niche utilities unless they demonstrably solve a daily bottleneck. His work reality is a blur of prototyping and documentation. He spends his days using Codex to generate small automations, then painstakingly compares browser screenshots to verify behavior before documenting every step in Notion for his engineering team. This process, while effective, is prone to human error and context loss. He recently decided to stop buying individual plugins for every minor task, opting instead for open-source alternatives to stretch his budget. His recent decision to switch from a mechanical keyboard to a trackpad was driven by a desire to reduce wrist strain during long coding sessions, reflecting his growing awareness of ergonomics. Foulques is deeply interested in how AI agents can understand spatial context on a screen, a concept that aligns perfectly with his current frustrations. He views time as his most scarce resource, often sacrificing sleep to complete side projects or meet deadlines. Status is secondary to competence; he cares less about titles and more about the quality of the code he ships. His relationship with technology is pragmatic: tools are means to an end, not ends in themselves. He is constantly evaluating his workflow, looking for ways to automate the mundane so he can focus on the creative and the strategic.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Foulques wakes at 7:30 AM, brews coffee, and checks his phone for overnight GitHub notifications. By 8:45, he's on the Metro Line 9, reviewing Notion docs for the day's tasks. At 9:30, he arrives at the startup office, sets up his dual-monitor rig (though he mostly uses the laptop), and fires up Codex. Morning is spent prototyping a new dashboard feature, capturing screenshots of loading states, and writing detailed bug reports. Lunch is a quick sandwich eaten at his desk while watching a tutorial on vector databases. Afternoon involves stand-up meetings where he explains his logic to skeptical engineers, followed by more manual testing. He often stays until 7 PM, working on his own mobile app idea when the main project stalls. Evening is reserved for dinner, a run, or coding until midnight if a deadline looms. Weekends are for sleep, cleaning, and occasional socializing.

Lifestyle

Foulques lives in a sun-drenched but slightly cramped flat in Paris's 11th, sharing rent with a graphic designer. His mornings are ritualistic: strong coffee from a local roaster near Rue de la Roquette, followed by a 20-minute walk on the Metro Line 9 while listening to coding podcasts. He is financially tight; every euro spent on software is weighed against three months of savings. He prioritizes health through running along the Seine on weekends and cooking simple meals like lentils and roasted vegetables to save money. Socially, he maintains a small circle of fellow students and a few colleagues he trusts deeply, avoiding large networking events unless they offer tangible career leverage. He values quiet evenings for side projects, often staying up late debugging Python scripts or sketching app ideas in Figma.

Work life

At his startup, Foulques spends his days bridging the gap between raw requirements and functional prototypes. His workflow is a constant cycle: he receives vague feature requests from founders, prototypes solutions using Codex on his MacBook Air, captures screenshots of the results, and meticulously documents the reproduction steps in Notion for the senior engineers. The pressure is real; the team is lean, and there is no room for ambiguity. He frequently finds himself manually comparing browser states across different environments, a tedious task that eats into his day. Despite the chaos, he thrives on the autonomy to experiment, though he often feels hamstrung by the lack of advanced tooling that would automate these repetitive visual checks. His coworkers respect his speed but occasionally sigh at the volume of documentation he generates.

Relationships

Foulques is close with his parents in Lyon, who support his education but don't fully grasp the nuances of his work. He has a best friend from university, an architect, who provides a necessary non-tech perspective. His most significant influence is his mentor at the startup, a former CTO who taught him the value of shipping quickly. He interacts regularly with a Discord server of French indie hackers, where he shares wins and frustrations anonymously. He avoids family gatherings where career topics dominate, preferring to keep those conversations light.

How they decide

Foulques approaches decisions with a mix of cautious research and pragmatic urgency. He rarely buys a tool immediately; instead, he reads reviews, watches demo videos, and often tries free tiers extensively. He is influenced heavily by peer recommendations from trusted technical circles rather than marketing claims. If a solution doesn't solve a specific, recurring friction point within a week, he abandons it. He values transparency in pricing and data privacy, often reading terms of service for developer tools. His decisions are driven by ROI calculations: will this save me time or reduce stress? If the answer isn't clear, he waits.

How they sound

His speech is rapid, technical, yet grounded in everyday French. He uses English loanwords frequently (e.g., 'deploy', 'push', 'merge', 'bug'), especially when discussing code. He tends to avoid hyperbole, preferring precise descriptions of problems. He often trails off mid-sentence when explaining complex logic, assuming the listener can follow the thread. He speaks softly in public spaces but becomes animated when discussing inefficiencies in current workflows. He rarely complains about money directly but hints at it through phrases like 'It's not worth the subscription' or 'We need a cheaper alternative.' He avoids jargon when speaking to non-tech friends, simplifying concepts without losing their essence.