My name is Julien Simon, and I have spent the past 20 years exploring how stories and imagination evolve with technology. I began my career as a writer and screenwriter, trained in filmmaking and storytelling, before diving into the world of digital content publishing.
‍
In 2010, I founded Walrus, one of France’s first born-digital publishing houses. Walrus was also a creative studio where we experimented with new narrative formats and playful ways to read. That experience taught me how technology could reshape the very act of storytelling.
‍
In 2018, I co-founded Rocambole, later known as Doors, a French Tech startup built around short, serialized webnovels designed for mobile reading. Over four years, we created more than 250 original IPs, gathered over 150,000 readers, reached 1 million episodes read, earned a 4.6/5 rating, and raised more than €1 million in funding.
‍
When Vivlio, Europe’s leading digital reading company, acquired Doors in 2022, I joined as Director of Content. My mission: to shape the voice and content strategy of a European alternative to global tech giants, empowering readers and the booksellers who stand with them.
‍
Beyond Vivlio, I’ve taught digital publishing for nearly a decade at institutions like École Estienne and l’École des Métiers de l’Information, helping a new generation of publishers navigate the creative and technical challenges of the digital age.
‍
Today, I continue to write, to build and to explore how AI is transforming the creative process. Not as a replacement for human imagination, but as a new partner in storytelling. I believe the future of creativity will be hybrid: human in intent, algorithmic in form, and endlessly experimental.