European Gang Live , European Gang Live Moderator: Paul Carr, Br. French entrepreneurs are great. Posted by Tom Foremski - December 8, 2009 I'm bowled over by the French startups and entrepreneurs I've been meeting the past two days. Lots of passion, energy, smarts, and great ideas. I'm totally surprised because I had a totally different expectation. France has a reputation for bureaucracy ( a French word), for strikes, (the taxi drivers were on strike on Tuesday), and for archaic attitudes such as a strong belief in a maintaining a work/life balance, six-week vacations, a 35-hour week, and making it near impossible to fire a worker (you will receive as much as three years full salary if you are fired). It seems amazing that France's economy hasn't shattered into pieces by now, and the country hasn't fallen below the waves of the ocean as a modern day Atlantis. Instead, France has the highest labor productivity levels of all the G8 nations.
I will be writing in more detail about some of the companies and people I've been meeting, later this week. One exemple. Posted by Tom Foremski - December 10, 2009 The quality of the French startups we have been meeting with all week, has been very good. It seems as if the French can once again claim back 'entrepreneur' instead of it being sometimes derisively labelled as an oxymoron in the French context. But it seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon and one that relies on a compelling mix of government programs and tax breaks. While many countries have tried to encourage the formation of startups through various incentives, the French appear to have gotten the mix just right. It wouldn't surprise me if in the near future, some US startups might choose Paris as a headquarters because of some of the advantages they can gain here, compared with an indifferent US government.
Mr El Moujahid was born in Morocco, studied Information Technology in Paris, and has an MBA from Stanford university. About four years ago the French government began a series of programs to encourage innovation. - Hiring can be tough. Paisano®: @cc_chapman the entreprene... Benjaminr: Europe's GDP is 30% bigger... Laurent Kretz: US vs Europe startups - th... Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot. Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection (Strict Mode) is known to cause issues on x.com. Samer Karam: #leweb #lt #europe is the... Laurent Kretz: I hate the Europe vs US st...