Arnaud Franquinet is CEO of Gandi, the Paris-based domain registrar and hosting provider founded in 1999, known for its "No Bullshit" approach to the web and part of the Your.Online group. Gandi serves customers in more than 100 countries with domains, email, SSL and hosting through its Gandi.net brand, and addresses the corporate domain market, including brand protection, through Gandi Corporate Services.
Arnaud joined Gandi in 2017 as COO and became CEO in 2023, leading the company back to growth. He is launching Gandi Studio, a new AI-powered website creation product, while protecting the margins and retention of a mature subscription business. He works on pricing, churn, acquisition costs and infrastructure efficiency, and he has to decide what to fund next as AI reshapes what customers expect from a host.
He started in consulting and business development at PwC, Mazars, Grant Thornton and Michael Page, then co-founded WantMore.Work in 2016, an early AI start-up for the consulting industry. It did not survive, and it taught him hard lessons about finding the right target and executing well. A Sciences Po graduate, he previously served on the Board of Afnic (.fr) and on Nominet's Registrar Advisory Council (.uk).