Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
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Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#2A good look at France's startup scene today and what's holding them back from creating the next Uber/Google
“We set up in France around the same time as our rivals were starting in the U.S., but quickly they were raising 100 times more from investors and selling across the country,” Sapet said. “Meanwhile we were stuck translating into 20 European languages.” - Christophe Sapet (French entrepreneur)
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#3A good look at France's startup scene today and what's holding them back from creating the next Uber/Google “We set up in France around the same time as our rivals were starting in the U.S., but quickly they were raising 100 times more from investors and selling across the country,” Sapet said. “Meanwhile we were stuck translating into 20 European languages.” - Christophe Sapet (French entrepreneur)
I don't get the 2nd part, there is nothing stopping French companies translating into the one other language which they probably speak fluently, English, testing it in the UK as they're roughly the same timezone, then moving onto the big English speaking markets of the US, Canada and Australia, which are all significantly bigger than probably 17 of those 20 languages.
And the finance thing has nothing to do with Macron (or Merkel or May or any other European leader). European VCs don't speculate on potential unicorns like the US ones do. It's a different risk appetite, what are EU leaders supposed to do?
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#4Macron recently referred to the French as "change-resistant Gauls", which wouldn't be a useful characteristic for technology or entrepreneurship.
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#5A good look at France's startup scene today and what's holding them back from creating the next Uber/Google “We set up in France around the same time as our rivals were starting in the U.S., but quickly they were raising 100 times more from investors and selling across the country,” Sapet said. “Meanwhile we were stuck translating into 20 European languages.” - Christophe Sapet (French entrepreneur)
I don't get the 2nd part, there is nothing stopping French companies translating into the one other language which they probably speak fluently, English, testing it in the UK as they're roughly the same timezone, then moving onto the big English speaking markets of the US, Canada and Australia, which are all significantly bigger than probably 17 of those 20 languages. And the finance thing has nothing to do with Macr…
I interpreted it as required by regulation to support the mentioned languages. However, I would like to understand if this is the case.
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#6A good look at France's startup scene today and what's holding them back from creating the next Uber/Google “We set up in France around the same time as our rivals were starting in the U.S., but quickly they were raising 100 times more from investors and selling across the country,” Sapet said. “Meanwhile we were stuck translating into 20 European languages.” - Christophe Sapet (French entrepreneur)
I don't get the 2nd part, there is nothing stopping French companies translating into the one other language which they probably speak fluently, English, testing it in the UK as they're roughly the same timezone, then moving onto the big English speaking markets of the US, Canada and Australia, which are all significantly bigger than probably 17 of those 20 languages. And the finance thing has nothing to do with Macr…
The 2nd part relates to the statement many make here on HN.
The fallacy which is: That if you don't do business in the EU, you are missing out on 22%-25% GDP of the worlds economy.
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#7It's not limited to Startup, all small scale business in France have problems.
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#8My opinion : the low salaries of engineers, high taxes and bureaucracy hold back the startup scene. Also, the mentality toward technical positions, in France if you didn't go from engineer to manager by 35 year old people wonder what's wrong with you.
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#9My opinion : the low salaries of engineers, high taxes and bureaucracy hold back the startup scene. Also, the mentality toward technical positions, in France if you didn't go from engineer to manager by 35 year old people wonder what's wrong with you. https://imgur.com/a/MOlau0V
Low salaries should help the startup scene, not hurt it. Where would you rather create your startup - somewhere where it would cost more to hire or less?
Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France
#10My opinion : the low salaries of engineers, high taxes and bureaucracy hold back the startup scene. Also, the mentality toward technical positions, in France if you didn't go from engineer to manager by 35 year old people wonder what's wrong with you. https://imgur.com/a/MOlau0V
Low salaries should help the startup scene, not hurt it. Where would you rather create your startup - somewhere where it would cost more to hire or less?
That's only true if you don't lose capable talent due to the low salaries. If most of the talented French engineers move to Germany to get higher pay, then the low pay will hinder the startup scene.