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Driven by optimism, powered by AI: the future of an essential business with Racem Flazi, Founder of LegalPlace
Article published on « Voix d’entrepreneurs » in partnership with Le Figaro on 16 October 2025
In a world where running a business has become simultaneously more accessible thanks to digital tools and more complex due to the amount of red tape, changing fiscal rules and strict regulation, how can technology help release the brakes and give business founders a smoother ride? We bring together Racem Flazi, co-founder of LegalPlace, a legal platform that allows entrepreneurs to complete their business formalities online, and Maxime Dubouloz, Director of Corporate Advisory at Lombard Odier, to explore how efficient automation, service quality, and interpersonal relations are powerful engines for the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
Key takeaways:
Simplifying administrative processes allows you to free up energy and make the entrepreneurial ecosystem more inclusive
AI accelerates file handling, but only human expertise brings learning, support and trust
The challenge is no longer solely to create, but to build sustainable and meaningful businesses capable of addressing society's real needs
Watch the video of Racem Flazi and Maxime Dubouloz:
Being enterprising also means simplifying: how is technology changing the situation for entrepreneurs?
Racem Flazi: Our mission at LegalPlace is clear: to make setting up a business as easy as flicking a switch. The idea was born out of my own personal experience. I launched my first business when I was a student, because I needed to fund my studies. And I hit a wall, one constructed of French red tape. Setting up a business involved entering a bureaucratic jungle where the tiniest of mistakes could cost you dearly. I experienced this phobia of red tape from the inside. And at the time, there was no technology available that could really get to grips with the problem. I realised that something needed to change.
At present, 12% of all businesses set up in France use our platform, and the number continues to grow
LegalPlace enables thousands of entrepreneurs, including those who would have never dared to launch a business, to set up their company easily, quickly and at very low cost. By radically simplifying the set-up process – from choosing the legal form and gathering the necessary documents to registering the business – we are enabling thousands of entrepreneurs to launch their business. At present, 12% of all businesses set up in France use our platform1, and the number continues to grow.
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What LegalPlace does is essential. Such players are often invisible to the general public but play a key role in safeguarding the continuity of businesses and ensuring the economy runs smoothly
Maxime Dubouloz: What Racem describes is a form of innovation that is discreet but structured. Because what LegalPlace does is essential: it reduces systemic frictions and helps thousands of businesses get launched or consolidated. Such players are often invisible to the general public but play a key role in safeguarding the continuity of businesses and ensuring the economy runs smoothly. They are like the cogs in a watch: you don't often think about them, but without them nothing works. As investors, we have the responsibility to identify and support them because they are helping to build a more robust and resilient economic ecosystem.
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What will the "essential" business of tomorrow look like?
Racem Flazi: An essential business must combine simplicity, technological depth and tangible impact. At LegalPlace, we want the process of establishing and managing a business to become as natural as breathing. Going forward, administrative complexity must disappear entirely. AI will play a central role, provided that it is more reliable than humans. People are less forgiving of AI errors than they are of those made by a human advisor. So, while performance is required, so too are ethics and security.
Maxime Dubouloz:An essential business is one which finds its place in a sustainable ecosystem that is at once human, environmental and fiscal. It does not necessarily look for all the answers but delivers practical, measurable solutions that can be scaled up. These are the businesses that form the heartbeat of the economy and guarantee its stability. LegalPlace is an example of this, simplifying often discouraging processes and making thousands of entrepreneurs' operations run more smoothly. It is vital that we identify, support and strengthen these models if we are to build a more robust and resilient economy.
How can we reconcile automation, performance, and human support in the era of AI?
Racem Flazi:AI, and in particular language models such as LLMs, are radically transforming the way we think about service. Law and accounting are highly codified fields that are written in natural language, making them ideal terrain for generative AI. We were among the first in France to invest in this technology and have always been very committed to it.
Humans can now be deployed where they are most valuable; providing reassurance, support and explanation. AI manages complexity, while humans help relieve anxiety
Today, 80% of the businesses set up via LegalPlace are validated without any human interaction, thanks to our AI agents who analyse, detect and correct in real time. This technological advance does not spell the end of human involvement, however. Quite the opposite, as humans can now be deployed where they are most valuable; providing reassurance, support and explanation. AI manages complexity, while humans help relieve anxiety.
Maxime Dubouloz:This is exactly what we are observing as well. AI is an efficiency lever, but it can never be a substitute for listening, for human intuition or for managing emotions. In my job, when it comes to passing on or transferring a business or raising funds, emotions are always involved. Establishing or transferring a business are also moments in a person's life. They represent a delicate passage, which can give rise to anxiety. In these moments, no algorithm can replace a human presence.
How can rapid growth be reconciled with quality requirements?
Racem Flazi: This is one of the most challenging trade-offs. In tech, growth is our North Star. It plays a key role in ensuring our fundraising and the way in which we are evaluated. But growth that is not well-calibrated ends up undermining the product and the brand image.
The value of a technology is determined by its ability to simplify entrepreneurs' lives, not make them more complex
At LegalPlace, there have been times when we have delayed a launch in order to test our hypotheses with the clients and the team first. Although this might seem like a detour, it avoids producing an unfinished solution and transforms each iteration into a competitive advantage. The value of a technology is determined by its ability to simplify entrepreneurs' lives, not make them more complex.
Racem Flazi: We want to get away from the idea that to be an entrepreneur you have to be an exceptional seller, a marketing expert, or an flawless strategist. There is no single profile for success. What we often notice is an optimism bias. Many entrepreneurs feel that they are lucky, even if that is not necessarily the case. This bias pushes them to act, to bounce back, and to persevere. And it is by being active that opportunities arise. This optimism, which is sometimes irrational, provides the momentum for growth and action. You discover what works and what doesn't by moving forward, not by waiting for the perfect five-year plan to appear.
Successful businesses are those that know how to adapt, to pivot, to navigate between growth and quality, and between speed and robustness. This calls for a framework, a network, strategic support, be it technological or human
Maxime Dubouloz: To be an entrepreneur is, above all to dare. In Europe, there is still too often a culture of blame for failure, while other parts of the world value the process, the experience, even if it is fraught with difficulties. What we are seeing at Lombard Odier is that successful businesses are those that know how to adapt, to pivot, to navigate between growth and quality, and between speed and robustness. This calls for a framework, a network, strategic support, be it technological or human.
At what point do the people around them play a decisive role in the journey of an entrepreneur?
Racem Flazi: Throughout their journey, an entrepreneur needs to be able to rely on an outside perspective, whether to help them choose between two strategies, navigate a crisis or simply take a step back and see the bigger picture. An isolated entrepreneur exposes themself to risk for no purpose. Intuition alone is not enough: counterpoints, feedback, and collaboration are essential.
Maxime Dubouloz: The people surrounding an entrepreneur are a strategic lever that is just as important as the capital and the technology. A network of allies cannot be improvised. It is built through deliberate choices, earned through trust, and nurtured over time. Successful leaders are not content just to listen; they know how to challenge their allies' ideas, seek out demanding counterpoints, and transform these exchanges into more refined decision-making. This human ecosystem gives them a real competitive advantage. It reduces blind spots, accelerates reorientation, and strengthens a business's resilience when unforeseen challenges arise.
This is a marketing communication issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd (hereinafter “Lombard Odier”).
It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a marketing communication.
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