fplanque: about

François, 42 and Ethan, 5 months old.

I am François Planque. In case you wonder, it’s approximately pronounced “france-oh-ah planck”…

I am a father of two, an entrepreneur with a tech background, a life hacker and a detail-nerd. I am fascinated with design; that is: in a broad sense, including industrial and lifestyle design…

My definition of success is being part of a loving family.

My definition of luxury is being able to spend my time as I please, doing things I love, and preferably not waking up to an alarm clock.

One thing I love is hustling to make b2evolution the best ever open-source CMS out there.

So far, so good.

Whereabouts

I was born in Germany in 1972.

I grew up in France. I studied partly in the US (UPenn), partly in France (UTC). More recently, I lived in Los Angeles for a little while. Also in Long Island and in Hong-Kong as a small kid, but I’m not sure that counts.

I’m currently living in central Europe.

To this day, I never really knew what to answer to the question “Where are you from?”

Work

My work life started with developing server software for the French Minitel when I was in high-school and college.

I made my first web page in 1993 at UPenn. (Remember NCSA Mosaic?)

I bootstrapped several Internet businesses in several countries. Some I sold, some I still own.

I also invested a bit in real estate and sometimes got involved a bit over my head with remodeling. It feels good, though, to know you can do your own plumbing when you have a leak at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning ;) I gotta say though that the most fun I have is with home automation (KNX, HomeKit…) as it combines nicely with my tech background.

Healthy Living

For the past couple of years I have been studying nutrition and more generally healthy living… Sometimes I think of these as survival skills in an increasingly toxic world.

Crypto-currencies

I’ve spent countless nights learning about blockchain technology, Bitcoin and the other crypto-currencies. That also led me to get interested into investing and trading again (which I had conveniently stopped doing just before the first internet bubble…). Market cycles is a fascinating topic…