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Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

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Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#81

Post by [deleted] »

kcorbitt wrote: post #78
toomuchtodo wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~1 month ago https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/27/6408918... HN Thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17859897 > but my impression is that good health insurance is table stakes for highly-paid engineering roles. Hit or miss. Definitely depends on the company.

That's a very unfortunate story. As I mentioned, I recognize that many people in the US don't have any good healthcare options, which is something that we as a society ought to fix. However, I don't think we can learn much about the health insurance typically provided to engineers in San Francisco from the poor insurance plan available to a teacher in Houston. Those jobs have very different compensation profiles.

[deleted]

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#82

Post by captain_perl »

kcorbitt wrote: post #78
toomuchtodo wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~1 month ago https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/27/6408918... HN Thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17859897 > but my impression is that good health insurance is table stakes for highly-paid engineering roles. Hit or miss. Definitely depends on the company.

That's a very unfortunate story. As I mentioned, I recognize that many people in the US don't have any good healthcare options, which is something that we as a society ought to fix. However, I don't think we can learn much about the health insurance typically provided to engineers in San Francisco from the poor insurance plan available to a teacher in Houston. Those jobs have very different compensation profiles.

> typically provided to engineers in San Francisco

Ever notice how many companies change their health care provider every year?

Company health care premiums are going up at 20% to 30% per year, thus doubling every 3 to 4 years.

What do you think is going to happen to your co-pay in a couple of years?

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#83

Post by [deleted] »

maneesh wrote: post #68
FooBarWidget wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sigh, ditto for the Netherlands. It seems lack of culture of failure, and fixed mindset, is all over Europe.

Nassim Taleb would agree -- in Black Swan he writes: "American culture encourages the process of failure, unlike the cultures of Europe and Asia where failure is met with stigma and embarrassment. America’s specialty is to take these small risks for the rest of the world, which explains this country’s disproportionate share in innovations."

[deleted]

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#84

Post by thatfrenchguy »

hrktb wrote: post #65
presscast wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think the biggest challenge for France in regard to startup is that society is hierarchical Agreed. At this point, I usually like to point out that hierarchical societies have their advantages. A huge asset for France is it's elite schools -- the "Grandes Écoles". These schools are outstanding in a way that few Americans can even fathom, and their students are educated to a point that I didn't think possible until…

I have mixed feelings about the grandes ecoles. Brilliant people get there and you don’t get in and out without serious grit, a decent mind and a taste for effort. But I tink that’s really what it is. The best engineers I have seen didn’t care for ‘burning’ years of their life in half military schools or old institutions, they went directly to CS courses to get a diploma faster and go abroad or start their own projec…

"Put another way, people who don’t care about prestige and having a super broad education don’t go there, and in our field I tink a ton of super talented people fit that description."

But just like Americans go to ranked universities, as a student you learn how to play the game and go to the best (fit) one you can enter.

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#85

Post by thatfrenchguy »

johnomarkid wrote: post #18
axtn wrote: post #15

France has plenty of early stage startups, in fact the increase in size and quality in their ecosystem in just a few years has been very impressive. What’s missing in France right now is an ecosystem of fast-growing mid-stage startups - series B and above. I think that’s caused by a combination of: 1) mindset (thinking globally from say one is easier said than done when nobody around you has done it before) 2) lack o…

Low salaries are not a good thing for the startups! Here's an article from a French engineer that is currently on the front page of HN: https://web.archive.org/web/20180925150228/https://florentcr... tldr; he moved to SF because salaries are much, much higher than in France, even considering the social benefits that you get in France. Other threads on HN have French engineers saying that they love living in France wh…

The Numeo cost of living is bullshit though, SF is not 46% more expensive than Paris, it's much more.

That said, salaries are still much better in SV... Up until the point where you have kids.

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#86

Post by thatfrenchguy »

2trill2spill wrote: post #66
mhjas wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example it is pretty common in the Nordic countries to have a vacation home where you spend summers and holidays with friends and family. And between saved parental leave, standardized vacation periods and public holidays there is time available to do so. There are certainly people who do have that in the US, but once you or your family relocates it gets a lot more tricky. In general I just think it is a lot easi…

> For example it is pretty common in the Nordic countries to have a vacation home where you spend summers and holidays with friends and family. And between saved parental leave, standardized vacation periods and public holidays there is time available to do so. There are certainly people who do have that in the US, but once you or your family relocates it gets a lot more tricky. That's also common in the United State…

But you don't get the vacation time to actually get there...

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#87

Post by 2trill2spill »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #86
2trill2spill wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example it is pretty common in the Nordic countries to have a vacation home where you spend summers and holidays with friends and family. And between saved parental leave, standardized vacation periods and public holidays there is time available to do so. There are certainly people who do have that in the US, but once you or your family relocates it gets a lot more tricky. That's also common in the United State…

But you don't get the vacation time to actually get there...

Why do you assume that? I spent almost a month camping this year and I'm planning a 2 week snowboarding trip in the Rockies. As well as a climbing slash canoeing trip in the boundary waters area in the spring.

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#88

Post by linkmotif »

mhjas wrote: post #63
oh_sigh wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What things are you specifically talking about that 'even rich Americans barely have access to'?

For example it is pretty common in the Nordic countries to have a vacation home where you spend summers and holidays with friends and family. And between saved parental leave, standardized vacation periods and public holidays there is time available to do so. There are certainly people who do have that in the US, but once you or your family relocates it gets a lot more tricky. In general I just think it is a lot easi…

> Not having to worry about the future, managing your kids lives, the financial losses of getting sick or your career.

How does this encourage anything but complacency? Who wants to start anything when everything is a utopia with no consequences? I’m not even being facetious because that is basically what you’re describing. This is why Europe barely innovates: extreme comfort and security. These aren’t bad things. But it’s odd to me that people look for more complicated answers when this is plain as day.

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#89

Post by thatfrenchguy »

2trill2spill wrote: post #87
thatfrenchguy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you don't get the vacation time to actually get there...

Why do you assume that? I spent almost a month camping this year and I'm planning a 2 week snowboarding trip in the Rockies. As well as a climbing slash canoeing trip in the boundary waters area in the spring.

Because vacation packages in the US are 10-20 days and more like 42 days in France ?

Re: Startup Nation? Entrepreneurs Still Toil in Macron's France

#90

Post by xvilka »

Apart from higher salaries in California Paris is way better for the quality of living. They have public transportation, good food and so far one of the emerging "mega/gigacities" of the future. They even have a "Grand Paris" [1] project which aims to integrate suburbs and surrounding cities in one huge melted conurbation. So opening a business here may be a good strategy in the long term.

[1] http://www.grand-paris.jll.fr/en/paris/

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