Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom • Hacker News Board

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#41

Post by linkregister » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 12:59 AM UTC

jerrylives wrote: post #24

camus2 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Assuming Trump stays for the full term (all signs point that way right now, no matter what impeachment hopes and dreams people have), four years of damage is pretty long Bush damaged US reputation way more than Trump, USA did recover. For entrepreneurs and talents, Canada, Germany or France just can't compete, especially France with a bureaucracy that will crush one's bones.

>USA did recover Has it? I'm pretty sure most of the country's (and let's be real, many other nations) currents problems are directly related to actions undertaken by Dubya and his despicable administration.

I started out this post by attempting to defend G.W. Bush, but considering the Iraq War and his handling of the Afghanistan War, the worldwide consequences have been catastrophic beyond that of the Vietnam War.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#42

Post by flor1s » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:03 AM UTC

allan_s wrote: post #10

vmarsy wrote: post #7

I can see those cuts in corporate tax being good to increase startup competition. Some of the other big remaining issues to see highly successful startups are salaries and lack of tech talent. We could argue that startup salaries aren't the highest anyways, so if salary isn't too big of an issue if French startup can provide equity easily. It seems that when you exercise stock options in France, you don't need to pay…

I agree with you on most parts. However I come from a private "engineering" school focused on computer sciences (named Supinfo) and there's some others (Epitech / Epita ) that though they don't deliver a engineer diploma (as per the law-regulated definition of engineer) but rather a master diploma (but that you can name "engineer in computer science" or somekind of trick like that and the schools play on that to attr…

Sounds like an HBO (higher professional education) in The Netherlands.

Having done a bachelor at an HBO and a masters at a research university (and now doing a PhD at a university in Japan) I can say Computer Science at an HBO is excellent preparation to work as a programmer at a consultancy firm or at a firm doing grunt development work (business app developers, web development, etc.). Like another commenter mentioned, you probably won't easily be able to write code for startups which are doing stuff like robotics and deep learning. However in due time libraries will make it easier for you to work in that area.

Even at the PhD level I sometimes suffer because of not having a very strong background in the mathematics needed to build/use cutting edge technologies. I think most students coming from an HBO would have some problems working at a startup working on some novel tech.

That said, I have met many excellent HBO students who either joined a company and did very novel technical work or went on to be successful in academia. In the end, I guess it depends on your mindset.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#43

Post by weberc2 » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:03 AM UTC

krapp wrote: post #30

weberc2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope no one thinks that Trump is emblematic of a country that elected Obama 4 and 8 years prior. I can only imagine Trump is a passing fad; then again, I said that at every stage of his campaign...

He was elected, despite his numerous faults - so he and his policies are emblematic of at least enough of the country to be politically relevant.

What does "political relevance" have to do with political longevity? We're not a fundamentally different country now than we were last year, and policies created with a pen stroker can be struck down just as easily. Anyone who thinks that Trump's policies are a good predictor of future US policy need to explain their rationale because it doesn't follow reason.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#44

Post by astrange » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:11 AM UTC

throwaway-1209 wrote: post #39

jonny_eh wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firing the head of the FBI for investigating his campaign was an authoritarian move. It remains to be seen if he gets away with it. If he does, America has become Authoritarian (i.e. when the law no longer applies to the leader).

Comey himself stated under oath that Trump was not under investigation.

The person, not the campaign. Besides, he's under investigation now for firing Comey… although not much to investigate when you admit committing crimes on TV.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#45

Post by caf » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:11 AM UTC

aaron-lebo wrote: post #8

atonse wrote: post #2

Paradoxically, while Trump has accomplished very little but make speeches, the damage his presidency has done to our image, and perception of how welcoming America is, will be felt for years. It's bringing back memories of our dismal global perception around 2006-2008. (Although this wasn't for "America is unwelcoming" reasons)

Nah, people have short attention spans. You cite the dismal perception from 2006-2008, but what changed? In 2008 Obama was elected and everything is new again and he won the Nobel. Did the country completely change in 2 years? Has it changed that much in 8? Not really, that's why getting so riled up over singular negative events isn't worth your time. Things change fast, and countries have long histories. Germany and…

Germany hasn't even existed for "centuries", it wasn't unified until the late 19th century.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#46

Post by astrange » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:14 AM UTC

quantdev wrote: post #6

douche wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been great for my 401k, though. The best months in the past ten years were November 2016 and January 2017.

Those gains were most likely based on the anticipation of tax cuts (increasing consumer spending and the supply of investable capital), deregulation (allowing higher profits, most notably by banks), and repatriation (allowing share buy backs). So far, none of those has happened and it remains to be seen if they will. If they don't, I don't expect a market decline, but just a smaller total cumulative growth since Nove…

Tax cuts on the rich don't increase consumer spending, since rich people don't spend all their money (proof: they're rich).

Although this is a popular theory, mostly promoted by the people who don't want to pay taxes.

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#47

Post by ttoinou » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:20 AM UTC

relyio wrote: post #23

camus2 wrote: post #19

French governments like to create all these grants and loopholes, but it doesn't mask the complexity and the hostility of french bureaucracy toward entrepreneurs. Don't be fooled by these PR stunts. If Macron really wants to change things he needs to start telling the tax office to stop treating every business owner as a de-facto fraudster and criminal.

It's the same everywhere. Do you think the IRS is any better than the FISC? Tax administrations are out to get you, regardless of your country.

Both of you are right, it's about all western governments.

Still, we have in france a strong anti market thinking that is well reflected in how our government keeps piling laws and regulations. This news is indeed a PR stunt nothing more

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#48

Post by ttoinou » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:25 AM UTC

vmarsy wrote: post #7

I can see those cuts in corporate tax being good to increase startup competition. Some of the other big remaining issues to see highly successful startups are salaries and lack of tech talent. We could argue that startup salaries aren't the highest anyways, so if salary isn't too big of an issue if French startup can provide equity easily. It seems that when you exercise stock options in France, you don't need to pay…

CS classes B.S. seems to be everywhere. I would say that we in france produce a lot of good engineers but we are going abroad and not all staying in our native country :-)

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#49

Post by surfmike » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:45 AM UTC

vmarsy wrote: post #7

I can see those cuts in corporate tax being good to increase startup competition. Some of the other big remaining issues to see highly successful startups are salaries and lack of tech talent. We could argue that startup salaries aren't the highest anyways, so if salary isn't too big of an issue if French startup can provide equity easily. It seems that when you exercise stock options in France, you don't need to pay…

I disagree about the comment on French computer science education; I am continually blown away by the technical depth and effectiveness of my French colleagues (here at Google). Though maybe the problem is that a lot of the best ones moved here :)

Re: Emmanuel Macron presidency prompts French startup boom

#50

Post by superobserver » Fri, Jun 16, 2017, 1:47 AM UTC

astrange wrote: post #44

throwaway-1209 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comey himself stated under oath that Trump was not under investigation.

The person, not the campaign. Besides, he's under investigation now for firing Comey… although not much to investigate when you admit committing crimes on TV.

> committing crimes

No laws have been broken by Trump. Hillary Clinton & co. on the other hand have broken _many_ at an egregious level. Lynch and Mueller should similarly be under investigation for covering up crimes as well.