alban denoyel

French 🇫🇷 entrepreneur, creator & investor.

Creative projects and things I made.

pumpfoil.com

pumpfoil.com is a website aggregating resources for people who want to get started with pump foiling: foils, boards, tutorials, spots...

alfoil

A low cost pumping foil, the project I worked on for my masters degreee at ENSCi. The front wing is made of extruded aluminum with 3D printed wingtips, the stabilizer is made with laser-cut plexiglass. See it in action here, check out my diploma presentation here.

Foil in wood

Another pumping foil, made in plywood, based on flukes designs.

Lamps in wood

Marqueterie

One scan a day

In 2021, after Apple released the lidar 3D capture technology on the iPhone, I embarked on a journey to make one scan every day for a full year. One scan a day is the output, featuring 365 3D scans, with captures mostly in NYC and Paris, but also upstate NY, Versailles, Bretagne, the Alps, Belgium and more. Click on the picture to see a larger version. You can see the collection in 3D here.

VR sculptures

I sculpted those in Virtual Reality using Oculus Rift and Oculus Medium, then 3D printed them. You can see more of my VR sculptures here.

Photogrammetry

I’ve spent over 10 years scanning everything around me with photogrammetry, gathering over 2,000 3D scans. Here are some sample collections.

Shoes

Shoes I made. For the left one, I followed a shoe making class in Brooklyn. For the right one, I used sneakerkit.

Tables

I put small checks early in great founders I know well enough to trust their ability to execute on projects I'm interested in. I am an angel investor in startups including:Aive,
Alpic,
Amata,
AMI Labs,
Entropia,
Fairmint,
Finegrain,
Gumroad,
Jaiio,
Jumbo Privacy (exited),
Landroval,
LightTwist,
Memorizer,
Newav,
Opal,
Photoroom,
Polka,
Quest,
Rerun,
Random Walk,
Sans Strings Studio,
Scenario,
Sesame,
SportEasy,
Spot (exited),
Streamroot (exited),
Unlock Protocol,
Yuma,
ZML.I am a limited partner in
Marble Studio, Climate Club, Galion.exe and Partech.

This is the story of how a tiny French startup defied the odds to become the largest platform for sharing 3D files on the internet."Why would anyone want to view a 3D model if they can't use it?" was the typical reaction to the initial pitch for Sketchfab. "This doesn't work on my device" was the other. These responses didn't deter the three co-founders - Cédric, Pierre-Antoine, and Alban - who persevered through hundreds of rejections until Sketchfab earned the nickname "the YouTube of 3D." That's when both Google and Microsoft launched copycat platforms, backed by unlimited resources and global reach. Both shut down four years later. Sketchfab had dwarfed them.Relocating from Paris to New York. Getting a button in Photoshop. Being whitelisted in the Facebook newsfeed. Shipping with Microsoft HoloLens. Turning down acquisition offers from Google and Amazon. Enduring the VR winter. Reaching profitability with weeks of cash remaining. These are some of the milestones in a decade-long journey that took Sketchfab from a simple 3D viewer to a community of millions of users and a nine-figure exit to Epic Games.Part founder's memoir, part startup survival guide, this book is an honest account of what it actually takes to build something from nothing - the fundraising gauntlets, the partnership wins, the personal sacrifices, and the stubborn belief that the world will eventually catch up to your vision."If you're a founder, read this for what it actually feels like to build something through cycles that don't cooperate, with the giants circling and the market refusing to arrive on time. If you're an investor, read it for the reminder that the companies that endure rarely look like the ones we get excited about at the seed stage. And if you just want a good story about guys from Paris who, against the odds, built something patient and real, and then went home, that's here too." - Matt Turck"What a superb read! Alban recounts a story of success against all odds, how a small group of French engineers managed to beat all the tech giants in a highly technical field. This story of ingenuity and persistence, written in a sweet and funny way, will captivate and inspire most would-be entrepreneurs." - Bernard Liautaud

French 🇫🇷 entrepreneur, creator & investor.In 2012 I co-founded Sketchfab, which became the largest platform to publish 3D files, and was acquired by Epic Games in 2021 in a 9-figure exit.Before Sketchfab, I worked for 4 years in photojournalism at Polka.I graduated from ESSEC Business School (2008) and ENSCi les ateliers(2025).I am an angel investor in a few startups & funds.I'm passionate about pump foiling.After a decade in NYC, I am now based in Versailles with my wife and 4 kids.You can contact me at alban @ denoyel.com

Interviews, podcasts, keynotes

"One billion 3D views and counting", TechCrunch, 2018