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Hiring and firing people in France is particularly hard. Most companies do not scale beyond 10 employees as after this threshold the regulatory burden increases dramatically. Taxes on small to medium businesses are downright confiscatory. Most French people still see business owners as exploiters of their workers.
Hiring and firing people in France is particularly hard. Most companies do not scale beyond 10 employees as after this threshold the regulatory burden increases dramatically. Taxes on small to medium businesses are downright confiscatory. Most French people still see business owners as exploiters of their workers.
Yep you've highlighted the main issues here. Kidnapping a CEO because the company isn't making any money and shutting its doors is the culmination of an ultra-unionised population. Don't get me wrong, unions were vital in the 40-70's as there was a clear abuse of the workforce. But today, the workforce can't wrap their heads around how a balance sheet works. And all those social laws make hiring and firing very hard,…
Hiring and firing people in France is particularly hard. Most companies do not scale beyond 10 employees as after this threshold the regulatory burden increases dramatically. Taxes on small to medium businesses are downright confiscatory. Most French people still see business owners as exploiters of their workers.
I wonder how big the contractor market is in France. I mean, contractors are easy to hire and fire so it could be a good compromise (at least in the short term).
I doubt that France will be able to do this - they have many disadvantages comparing to USA: - high taxes - a lot of buerocracy - language burden to attract high qualified foreign employees - lower salaries - fragmented political system in the EU - much lower population in France comparing to USA and if you want to cover the entire EU, you have to support many different languages, currencies, etc...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder how big the contractor market is in France. I mean, contractors are easy to hire and fire so it could be a good compromise (at least in the short term).
Not living in France, but Belgium (similar market to some extent): 99% of people don't want to work as a contract. They want a long term, "indefinite" employment contract.
I don't know much about the startup landscape in France (or anywhere in the EU), but I've always heard that it is difficult to incorporate a small company and hire employees due to large regulatory/bureaucracy hurdles. The "move fast, break things" pattern of setting up a Delaware LLC and getting an angel seed in a matter of days/weeks really just doesn't work. Can anyone comment on this? Is this way off base?
even before getting your idea down you'll have to handle a monstrous bureaucracy. incorporating is easy given enough money but you'll need some expert to handle all the paperwork for getting your tax exemptions properly. also handling vat moss requires some specialized knowledge, which as a specialized programmer one is likely missing. hiring is quite complex too, and even if you don't want to dive into payrolls contract works are quite the paper generators too, so you're looking at a huge overhead - garage startup are basically nonexistant.
there are venues by which you can get seed funding for your ideas. you start, you get traction, and then there's the second issue: your market is way smaller and more fragmented than the american. each country expects being serviced in each language, with a large upfront cost if you aim to reach a wide audience.
say you grow, you reach a point where your idea is out there, the model is valid and your leverage positive, so you could really start pushing the growth. there's the third issue: private ventures are way smaller than american, the one that are here almost inaccessible and quite risk averse. so you'll have a very hard time to get that critical first round to push your growth.
and then, after all the effort and sweat, an american startup comes to realize that the same need exists (because startup aren't generated in the void) do all the same but with 10x the seed and an easy first round and you'll find yourself competing with a company that has twenty times the employees and a monthly adword budget that's your yearly revenue.
what does "startup nation" even mean?
How far has he gotten with labor law changes? I some HR folks complain at a company I worked for a while back. They complained that if someone in France was going to be fired there were three different government departments that may choose to get involved and sometimes each had a different idea on how the situation should be handled.
However, the government is running two programs that will try to improve these elements[1][2].
For instance:
- the French Public Investment Bank (BPI) will receive more money in order to create a better leverage for fund raising, co-investing with private funds in startups;
- France will work with European Union to create the european equivalent of the DARPA challenges;
- France Expérimentation will provide exemptions to some startups trying new business models;
- new APIs will be provided to help accomplishing administrative tasks automatically;
- public contracts will have lower entry barriers;
- public aids (which are really important in France) will be simplified;
- the HR thresholds will be reviewed in order to promote startup growth;
- a study will be conducted on "renting contracts" for startups (most contracts have a 3/6/9-years engagement clause, which is not adapted to startup growth);
- corporate tax will be lowered;
- ...
This is not perfect and we are indeed accustomed to a lot of rules and administrative work, but still: it is good and motivating to see that the government is trying to do something.
Moreover, we have great landscapes and food, so let's give France a try :).
[1] https://www.numerique.gouv.fr/actions-startups/elements-de-p... (in French)
[2] https://www.pacte-entreprises.gouv.fr/
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