# Olivier Pailhes

> Olivier Pailhes is the French co-founder and CEO of Aircall, a business communications company founded in 2014. A former Boston Consulting Group consultant and ArcelorMittal manager, he helped take Aircall past $100 million in annual recurring revenue in 2022. After moving to its board and an interim return in 2023, he has returned as CEO to focus on AI voice agents and customer conversations.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Aircall
- **Organizations:** Aircall, The Boston Consulting Group, ArcelorMittal, eFounders
- **Nationality:** French
- **Education:** MBA (as described in Aircall’s official biography), HEC Paris
- **Known for:** Co-founded Aircall in 2014., Led Aircall through its $120 million Series D funding in 2021., Helped scale Aircall to $100 million ARR and more than 13,000 customers across over 100 countries by 2022.

## Career timeline

- **1999** — HEC Paris identifies Pailhes as a member of its H.99 class.
- **Before 2008** — Worked at Boston Consulting Group, including European telecommunications strategy.
- **2008** — Moved to Spain to work with ArcelorMittal’s steel operations.
- **2013** — Reconnected with Quentin Nickmans and began a telephony project within eFounders.
- **2014** — Co-founded Aircall with Jonathan Anguelov, Pierre-Baptiste Béchu and Xavier Durand.
- **2015** — Participated in 500 Startups in San Francisco with the founding team.
- **2016** — Moved to New York to build Aircall’s US operation.
- **2021** — Aircall raised $120 million in Series D funding, exceeding a $1 billion valuation.
- **2022** — Aircall surpassed $100 million ARR. Michael Haske succeeded Pailhes as CEO effective September 2; Pailhes remained on the board.
- **2023** — Returned to lead Aircall after Haske’s departure, describing this tenure later as an interim CEO return.
- **2026** — Announced another return as Aircall CEO, focusing on AI voice agents and renewed proximity to customers and product.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Aircall in 2014.
- Led Aircall through its $120 million Series D funding in 2021.
- Helped scale Aircall to $100 million ARR and more than 13,000 customers across over 100 countries by 2022.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Publicly announced his return as Aircall CEO and a focus on AI voice agents and human conversations.
- **2026-09** — Reflected on the 2023 interim return, the lessons of watching other CEOs from the board and his hobbies.
- **2026-10** — In a public LinkedIn update discussing September results, reported 30% month-on-month voice-agent volume growth and discussed safeguards and restraint in outbound AI calling.

## Links

- Website: https://aircall.io/blog/author/olivierpailhes/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivier-pailhes/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Olivierpailhes

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/olivier-pailhes
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-13