Louis Beaumont (Mediar): From Leukemia Survivor to Serial Founder
Interviewed by Xiao He for Mother of Success
Early Life and Childhood
Xiao He: Hi, Louis. So good to see you. I've always wanted to interview you because I know even though you and Matthew are co-founders, you two are so different—one Russian, one French—and you each had such different lives before your startup. I was wondering, Louis, if you could introduce yourself a little bit to our readers.
Louis Beaumont: Yeah. Hi, everyone. I'm Louis. I think there are many ways to present myself, but I’ll go with a transparent version—not like a VC version or something like that.
I started with a pretty normal life. I liked normal things that guys like—video games, that kind of stuff. But I also had a hard start that taught me many lessons. When I was 13, I was diagnosed with leukemia. It wasn’t clear if I was going to live. It was hard, but one of my first reactions was to ask the doctor: does it mean I don’t have to go to school anymore? He said yes. I laughed, but my mother definitely didn’t.
I spent about two years in the hospital. To escape reality, I played a lot of video games. I survived—but the experience taught me that humans are fragile, and life can end easily.
Gaming, Coding, and First Taste of Entrepreneurship
On the other hand, I’ve always liked competitive stuff. With gaming, I always wanted to be the best. That’s actually how I learned to code—I wanted to beat other players, so I learned to hack the games. I built bots that controlled my computer to gather items 24/7, then I sold those items on PayPal. As a teenager, I built a small four-figure business that way, which was really fun.
First Startups and Hard Lessons
I realized I didn’t like working for someone else. I wanted freedom, and I was driven to build something from scratch. So I got into startups. My first project, about five years ago, was an AI company back in the early days of OpenAI. We got into Techstars in Europe, had paying customers, but my co-founder and I broke up during the program. It was really hard. I had no money, I was poor—but I decided to keep trying.
After that, I met someone else. We built a weekend project that quickly grew to 20,000 users and got into another accelerator. We went to US, pivoted, but it didn’t work and we stopped.
Then I worked on a space project—I wanted to build ChatGPT for astronauts. But the runway was too short, so we had to stop. I left the U.S. because I didn’t have a visa, and tried continuing the project in Thailand, focused on defense applications. Did a lot of B2B sales, but it didn’t really work.
Screenpipe and Mediar
Later, back in Europe, I built another weekend project—Screenpipe. I realized AI was getting exponentially smarter but lacked interactivity with the internet. The screen is the universal interface, so I thought: let’s make it easy for AI to use the screen.
When we launched, in the first week we had 500 signups, then quickly 15,000 stars on GitHub, 100,000 users, $100,000 revenue. Then we pivoted, since value was unclear, toward automation, based on market pull. A few months ago, we raised $2.8 million and have 6 design partners. That’s a long description of me.
Childhood Reflections
Xiao He: I didn’t know you’d gone through so much, Louis. I’ve always known you as a serial entrepreneur. When I met you, you were already building this amazing business, Mediar, with Matthew. But I didn’t know all these stories, especially from your childhood. Growing up with such a rare and challenging disease, how would you describe your childhood—your life before college if you don’t mind sharing?
Louis Beaumont: Life was very lonely. I was a cancer kid with no hair, lots of treatments. I couldn’t relate to anyone. Nobody else had cancer, nobody had the same experience. I learned to deal with things on my own. I developed thick skin from it.
Education and Coding as Freedom
Xiao He: Louis, you’ve been through so much. I’m sincerely happy that you’ve overcome all of these. I’m curious about your experience studying computer science. I remember reading on your LinkedIn that one of your master’s projects involved computer vision for wildlife. How would you describe your school years?
Louis Beaumont: Honestly, I didn’t like school. It felt boring. I did the strict minimum to move forward—mainly to keep my parents happy. But I was good at computer science, math, maybe physics. I was terrible at French and similar subjects.
I was also inspired by my brother. As a teenager, he had a website, people wanted to hire him, and he taught me to code. On holidays, we built stuff together. If you look at my GitHub today, I have maybe 200 projects—just lots of experiments. Programming, for me, was a way to bend reality, especially after that constrained childhood.
Health, Music, and Daily Habits
Xiao He: Wow. I have a lot of respect for you, Louis. People often say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. You went through so much as a kid—so later, startups may feel hard, but compared to that, they’re not as hard. Even co-founder arguments pale in comparison.
I want to ask about music. Last time you and your co-founder hosted Matthew’s birthday party, I was impressed by two things: one, how caring you are; and two, that you played classical music. Was music a big part of your life growing up?
Louis Beaumont: Not really. I played flute in school, but I don’t have a special relationship with music. I just see it as a kind of nootropic—it rewires your brain, like coffee. Music is like coffee—it changes how you think.
Xiao He: That’s true. Speaking of music and coffee, I have another question—about your diet. We often have lunch in the office, and I’ve noticed your meals are always extremely healthy: edamame, fresh avocado. I know you’re French, so I expect good food, but I’m curious—was this a habit growing up, or something you adopted later in the U.S.?
Louis Beaumont: I’ve always eaten healthy, probably because of my past experience. Health is just so important. My first co-founder used to joke that I don’t eat human-friendly food—always green stuff. For me, meals are only about nutritive quality and speed, at least during the week.
Work Ethic and Lifestyle
Xiao He: Very practical—nutrition and speed. When I got to know you, I noticed you work very intensely. Both you and Matthew at Mediar have such a strong work ethic. How did you develop this style?
Louis Beaumont: Even in school, I’d come home and work on personal projects for fun, then code on weekends, push to GitHub—everything open source. I like building things. It doesn’t feel like work.
Xiao He: That’s awesome. What does your schedule look like nowadays?
Louis Beaumont: These days, I wake up at 5am and go to bed at 8pm.
Xiao He: I remember that! That’s awesome. Another question: you’re such a strong programmer, but you never worked at Google, Apple, or a big tech company. You’ve always gone straight into startups. Have you ever thought about it? Did your parents pressure you at all?
Louis Beaumont: A few years ago, before OpenAI really took off, I almost joined them. But I preferred to start something myself. Startups are so hard—they’re one of the best personal development exercises. They’re very generalist, and I want to be a generalist, not just a specialist.
When founding a startup, the curve is non-linear—more risk, but more potential upside. The closer you get to big tech, the more linear it is. For me, even if it takes 20 years of startups, eventually one will work.
U.S. vs Europe
Xiao He: Absolutely. You’re a good developer, a good person, and very hardworking. With those three, it’s just a matter of time.
Another thing: you came to the U.S., then left, then came back. How do you compare building startups in Europe versus the U.S.?
Louis Beaumont: The metaphor I use is: in the U.S., building a startup is like driving a Ferrari. In Europe, it’s like riding a horse. Even if you’re the best rider, you can’t match the speed of a Ferrari.
Xiao He: That’s awesome. Why do you think that is?
Louis Beaumont: Europe isn’t startup-friendly. Life there is more linear—you work 40 years and retire. In the U.S., people take the hardcore path—work 10 years very hard, maybe retire early. Americans want to change the world. Europeans prefer stability and 9-to-5.
Discipline and Learning
Xiao He: What’s your daily routine now that you’re running Mediar?
Louis Beaumont: I wake up at 4:45, bike to the gym, work out for an hour, come back, get ready, meditate for 10 minutes. By 7am, I’m in the office. I journal and plan my day, then work—mostly product, sometimes marketing. I work until about 6:30, then go home and read before bed. I want to learn something new every day.
Xiao He: You’re very disciplined. What do you read before bed?
Louis Beaumont: Everything. Recently, a biography of Bill Gates. Also a book on evolution by David Buss, which I love. Sometimes philosophy, mostly non-fiction. I’m not a fan of social sciences—I prefer very scientific books.
Closing and Book Recommendation
Xiao He: That’s awesome. I always ask guests to recommend a book for our readers. What’s one book, film, or podcast you’d recommend?
Louis Beaumont: A book: Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger.
Xiao He: Amazing. I love Charlie Munger too. Thank you so much, Louis, for taking our interview.
Louis Beaumont: Thank you, Xiao.