Thibaut Jaime – Take Control Now Podcast

In this episode of the Take Control Now podcast, I had the pleasure of welcoming Thibaut Jaime, head of Le Wagon Lausanne and Zurich, the coding school established in Switzerland since 2019. Thibaut has an atypical and inspiring background: from engineering school to entrepreneurship, from digital nomadism to opening a franchise in the heart of French-speaking Switzerland, he has above all managed to build a rare balance between professional life, family, sport, and personal projects.

Who is Thibaut Jaime?

Thibaut is French, originally from the Paris region via Normandy and Belgium. A graduate of Centrale Paris (engineering school), he first found his footing by exploring several different worlds before finding his direction: entrepreneurship and value creation.

Since September 2018, he has been living in Lausanne with his partner Hélène and their family. He is now head of Le Wagon Switzerland (Lausanne + Zurich), a coding school that has transformed the lives of many students since its launch in January 2019.

A journey in several waves

The gap year: testing to choose

Midway through his engineering studies, Thibaut took a gap year to explore different worlds:

• Corporate finance in Paris (La Défense) → too hierarchical, not for him
• Market finance → same conclusion
• A small company in China → a turning point: he loves small teams, varied roles, and the visible impact of his actions

"I had realised that I was more comfortable in small teams where you could touch everything and where your actions have consequences whose effects you can see fairly quickly."

The first startup: electric scooters

From his third year onwards, he launched a electric scooter startup with a classmate for delivery riders in the Paris region (restaurants, couriers, local councils). His first concrete entrepreneurial experience.

After a year, they decided to stop — too many design flaws — but Thibaut took away a major lesson: he was missing commercial skills.

"The further it recedes, the more positive that experience becomes."

The digital strategy agency (4 years)

To learn how to sell, he joined an e-commerce integrator as a salesperson. His boss, Christophe Claudel, spotted an opportunity: their clients had e-shops but didn't know how to run them. Together, they set up a subsidiary specialising in digital strategy.

Four years of intense learning, sales, and team management. Then the weariness of the endless B2B cycle:

"I felt like a rat running in its wheel."

He sold his shares and took a break.

Digital nomadism (3–4 years)

Freelance consulting missions around the world: United States, Mauritius, India, Brazil. A period of freedom, discovery, and adaptability.

Then a golden opportunity: to develop business in Latin America for a French SME. He spent a year in São Paulo, grew the team from 12 to 40 people, and quadrupled revenue. But São Paulo wasn't where he wanted to settle.

Le Wagon: train, then open

Back in Paris, he was looking to strengthen his profile. He chose to learn to code via Le Wagon (a 2-month bootcamp), a company co-founded by a classmate.

"I came out transformed."

He then spent a year working as a web developer — not for the money, but to learn in real conditions. Then, with Hélène, they decided to leave Paris for Lausanne: quality of life, nature, the lake, the mountains.

On arriving, Thibaut chose to open Le Wagon in Switzerland — then absent from the market — as a franchise. The first cohort launched in Lausanne in January 2019. Since then, around twenty cohorts, a solid community, and the opening of Zurich in 2022.

His vision and advice

Balance as a driving force

Thibaut works with an annual visualisation moodboard: each year, he retreats for a day to a new, disconnected place and puts together a board with his goals across all areas of life (professional, personal, sport, family, wellbeing).

"I know that if I don't do this, I tend to become single-minded — totally focused on one thing and I forget everything else."

He gives a concrete example: by adding "club golf champion" to his moodboard even though the goal seemed out of reach, he achieved it the following year — the visualisation having helped him in a key moment of the competition.

Learning by doing

For Thibaut, this is the cornerstone of teaching at Le Wagon — and of his own life:

• Learn a skill → go and practise it in real conditions
• Education doesn't stop at 25: lifelong learning is a necessity
• To go deep, there are no shortcuts: you have to commit

Failure as learning

"Failure only exists if you consider it as such."

When his first startup failed, his mother told him he had "messed up". His response:

"I learned a ton of things. My learning curve is enormous. I'm going to start again."

Advice to his younger self

"Go where you'll learn the most. And before you go, ask yourself: what am I going to learn there?"

He would also give himself a gentler piece of advice: take the time to explain your decisions to the people around you, rather than cutting ties too abruptly.

The future of education

A deeper topic explored in the episode: how will teaching evolve?

Thibaut identifies two major shifts underway:

1. Learning by doing rather than passively — schools are beginning to integrate this
2. Lifelong learning — no more "0–25 we learn, 25–65 we work" model

"Human beings are incredibly good at adapting. And people are increasingly aware that their education is not a fixed state."

He adds a nuance: some fields genuinely require a real investment of time — there are no shortcuts to reaching a good level.

His inspirations

• Books: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen Covey (a book worth re-reading at different life stages, which says something different each time)
• TED Talk: Simon Sinek — Start With Why
• Real mentors: Eric Langronnier (Centrale Entrepreneur), Christophe Claudel, Xavier Talent, Guillaume Postel (Diadeis, Brazil)

Where to find Thibaut Jaime?

• On LinkedIn: Thibaut Jaime

Conclusion

The journey of Thibaut Jaime shows that it is possible to build a rich and balanced life by choosing to learn at every stage, accepting mistakes as accelerators of growth, and regularly pausing to visualise where you want to go.

Whether at Le Wagon, on a golf course, or in his real estate projects, Thibaut always applies the same logic: set a course, commit to it fully, and adjust along the way.

👉 A dense and inspiring episode, ideal if you're looking to better balance the different areas of your life while continuing to grow.