Philippe Brégeon was consistently described as a planner. But meeting his wife was accidental.
A serial entrepreneur and networking organizer, Brégeon first got to know Christina Reed more than a decade ago while the two were living in Paris and bar-hopping with mutual friends. They then spent the entire day together, even putting a lock on the famous Pont des Arts bridge in Paris and walking around the Louvre.
“The Mona Lisa wouldn’t normally be romantic,” Reed said, “but Phil made it romantic.”
For many in his circles, this love of adventure and connection defined Brégeon, who died unexpectedly in late August after falling off a scooter in DC and experiencing irreversible brain damage. His kidneys and his liver were donated to people, and his heart will be used for research, Reed said.
Brégeon often described himself as a “scale-upper.” People who were close with him say that’s an accurate assessment for his work and his personal life, from planning family vacations to building out the startups he cofounded.
“He could take anything from being mundane, and turn it into a top-notch, high-level experience,” Reed told Technical.ly.
Originally from a village outside of Nantes in western France, Brégeon moved to the US with Reed in 2021 and received citizenship in 2024. He and Reed have two children — Emeric, who is 8, and Eleanore, who is 4. Now, Reed, who organized a GoFundMe to help with living costs, is adjusting to life without him.
The family moved from France to Tampa, Florida, but relocated to Glover Park in DC a few years later after Reed was required to return to the office for her government job at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Reed watched her husband find his “rhythm” in the city, she said.
“He landed in the DC tech scene, he found his people,” Reed explained. “He really made a community here that was so important to him.”
An entrepreneurial track record
Brégeon leaned into starting businesses beginning in the late ‘90s, when he was still in France. He founded a graphic design startup in 1997, then a vacation property listing company in 2007, when he lived in the United Kingdom.
More recently, he and Reed cofounded The Pitch Place, a platform for journalists and editors to connect for story assignments.
The concept grew out of Reed’s frustrations navigating pitching to editors as a freelance journalist, she said. She wanted to propose stories to editors in a more streamlined way, which the Pitch Place aims to achieve.
The tool is in beta testing, and Reed said she’s still committed to seeing the startup move forward.
“As CEO … I will continue to work on providing the best opportunities for editors and freelance journalists to connect,” Reed said. “But, as his wife and mother to his two French-American children, ages 8 and 4, who he was so proud of, I’m currently focused on our family needs at the moment and surviving this devastating loss.”
The Pitch Place also boasts accolades, including being a finalist for the international media honor at the trade group CMA CGM’s startup awards in France, as well as the US-based Knight Foundation’s Next Challenge for Media and Journalism. Brégeon and Reed also took part in the DC Tech Studio accelerator program.
“He could take anything from being mundane, and turn it into a top-notch, high-level experience.”
Christina Reed
Brégeon also cofounded We Beelong, an app where family members can upload pictures and text. The platform then turns this material into a physical newsletter for elderly family members who are not as savvy with social media.
Allan Wilson, cofounder of We Beelong, said he wants the startup to continue, but that Brégeon would be “irreplaceable in terms of the driving entrepreneurial vision.” The firm is in its early stages, with a business plan in place, and Brégeon started prototyping designs, per Wilson.
The idea for We Beelong resonated with Wilson, even though he was nervous to work with Brégeon as a cofounder for the first time. But he quickly learned how driven Brégeon was.
“He won me over with his sort of energy and his vision for it,” Willson said.
Connecting tech scenes from DC to France
Outside of starting businesses, Brégeon also launched La Tech DMV, a network of French-American entrepreneurs. Reed, his wife, hopes the group will continue to host events.
“It’s going to be hard to fill Phil’s shoes,” she said.
Brégeon was very passionate about French politics and history, Reed explained. He was also the chair of the startup and innovation committee at the French Chamber of Commerce in the US.
Organizing events was his specialty, said Brendan Whitaker, a friend of Brégeon and the lead organizer behind DC Tech Studio. That includes formal meetups and more lax gatherings. He remembers a Memorial Day barbecue Brégeon hosted at a park in Great Falls with his family and friends in the tech ecosystem.
“Phil was the driver of trying to make sure we did something that was just more fun and more family-oriented,” Whitaker told Technical.ly, “everybody getting to know each other.”
Whitaker recalls Brégeon being the first person to show up to an event and the last to leave, which earned him the nickname “last call Phil.” When Whitaker first moved to the area, one of the first people he met was Brégeon, who immediately invited him to dinners and events related to technology and entrepreneurship.
“There are a lot of things that have happened over the last two years of my having been in Washington, DC,” he said, “and … Phil in one way or another, was a catalyst for those things happening.”
While he was hardworking, he was also a fun person, explained James Skiest, a former employee at The Pitch Place. He considers Brégeon a mentor, as do many others — he served as one for the incubator Station F in Paris.
Skiest said he learned a lot from Brégeon, including to always be prepared.
“He always knew what he was talking about,” Skiest said, “and I realized … that matters far more than the typical, ‘You need to show up in a suit and tie.’”
Endless lists and plans
Brégeon’s passion for planning translated to his family life, too. He was often in charge of organizing trips, per his wife Reed, including a recent excursion to France with their children.
They travelled around the Loire Valley and visited castles across the region, which Brégeon had done when he was a kid. The trip also coincided with their 10th wedding anniversary.
He had many to-do lists of activities to do as a family. Reed is now trying to make those happen, like doing a road trip to Niagara Falls.
“I am going to have to do a lot of work,” Reed said, “to keep up with what he was doing for us.”
