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Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

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Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#31

Post by arethuza »

arrrg wrote: post #28
arethuza wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That page on the EEA seems to imply that members have to stick to EU laws - particularly around freedom of movement, which is one of the main reasons some UK politicians are keen on leaving the EU. Personally, I think that any move to leave the EU would probably contribute to a break up of the UK.

It's absolutely non-sensical to want to be part of a common market but to not do what's necessary to actually create a common market. You can't cherry pick what you want. Freedom of labor (which necessitates freedom of movement) is just as much part of a common market as freedom of capital is. If the UK wants to leave the EU but, for example, keep freedom of capital they will be told off. If they don't want to accept…

There are lots of people in the UK who want to remain in the EU - and I'm one of them. I hope that if it looked like the UK was going to leave the EU then Scotland would leave the UK and (re)join the EU.

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#32

Post by contingencies »

jkldotio wrote: post #23

I've set up a business in Australia, average 2 days, and in Austria where the average is 25 days (and it went way over that for me) and I am not sure I'd do it again in Europe besides perhaps the UK. It's not so much the time and frustration, which is indeed wasted going to I think it was 4 different locations in 7 or 8 trips, but the shocking hostility of the process and people. It made me feel very unwelcome. There…

Even though I regularly meet French who whinge about their culture bureaucratique, I don't think they have anything on Asia (China, India, etc.)!

I'm Aussie/Kiwi/European and have set up wholly foreign-owned businesses in China (9 months) and Hong Kong (2 hours). I believe AU+NZ are pretty damn straightforward.

Have to mention: this article reads so obviously like an American wrote it, it's kind of amusing .. impatient, US spelling, notion of a 'check book'. Come on! Welcome to Europe, you're in the developed world now. We have online banking that actually functions... at minor or no cost across the whole region. We don't generally use cheques. Even China's consumer banking system is more efficient than America's, in my experience. You will learn to love it in Europe :)

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#33

Post by TelmoMenezes »

ctek wrote: post #26

Can anyone explain European rubber stamp-fetishism? Has there ever been a study done showing that rubber stamping practically everything (20 euro purchase at an electronics store) is effective in preventing forging of documents? To an outsider visiting continental Europe the practice looks redundant and almost comical.

I think it's a mix of several things:

- A bloated public sector that is protective of it's jobs and represents a large percentage of the electorate (also very motivated to go on a massive strike if you even think about reducing the complexity of the system)

- An aversion towards real capitalism. Europe is still pretty much a class system. It's ok to want to have a better education and job than your parents, but wanting to do something more spectacular is almost equated with "being up to no good"

- You cannot be fired from a public sector job, so you have absolutely no incentive to care (some people still do, but they're not the norm)

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#34

Post by jkldotio »

contingencies wrote: post #32
jkldotio wrote: post #23

I've set up a business in Australia, average 2 days, and in Austria where the average is 25 days (and it went way over that for me) and I am not sure I'd do it again in Europe besides perhaps the UK. It's not so much the time and frustration, which is indeed wasted going to I think it was 4 different locations in 7 or 8 trips, but the shocking hostility of the process and people. It made me feel very unwelcome. There…

Even though I regularly meet French who whinge about their culture bureaucratique , I don't think they have anything on Asia (China, India, etc.)! I'm Aussie/Kiwi/European and have set up wholly foreign-owned businesses in China (9 months) and Hong Kong (2 hours). I believe AU+NZ are pretty damn straightforward. Have to mention: this article reads so obviously like an American wrote it, it's kind of amusing .. impati…

It took me almost as long as setting up a business in Austria to get just a business visa for India so I agree with you on that point.

AU+NZ (check out the coverage of NZ on my site, what do you think?) are the models to follow for business registration I think. Given they've proven it can be done in one or two days I am not sure how the other countries can justify the delays.

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#35

Post by rietta »

Wow! I read through this entire article and the thing that struck home is even how painful this process sounds vs my experience incorporating businesses in my home State in the United States. Even banking wasn't as big of a problem due to the level of competition among banks and that the local smaller banks still even offer free basic checking to business accounts.

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#36

Post by [deleted] »

contingencies wrote: post #32
jkldotio wrote: post #23

I've set up a business in Australia, average 2 days, and in Austria where the average is 25 days (and it went way over that for me) and I am not sure I'd do it again in Europe besides perhaps the UK. It's not so much the time and frustration, which is indeed wasted going to I think it was 4 different locations in 7 or 8 trips, but the shocking hostility of the process and people. It made me feel very unwelcome. There…

Even though I regularly meet French who whinge about their culture bureaucratique , I don't think they have anything on Asia (China, India, etc.)! I'm Aussie/Kiwi/European and have set up wholly foreign-owned businesses in China (9 months) and Hong Kong (2 hours). I believe AU+NZ are pretty damn straightforward. Have to mention: this article reads so obviously like an American wrote it, it's kind of amusing .. impati…

[deleted]

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#38

Post by polshaw »

thenomad wrote: post #7
davidw wrote: post #6

0. Hop on a train and do it in London instead? Is that realistic, especially if you're unsure of success and don't want to go through all the bureaucracy?

With the current British government angling to leave the EU at present, that's a decision that might have unpleasant consequences in a few years for any French entrepreneur that tried this, even assuming it's practical now.

The UK government is not angling to leave the EU. The tory party (largest but not majority party) has promised, if elected in 2015, a referendum on EU membership in 2017. This was done in an attempt to head off the rising UK Independence Party and shut up some of their right-wing back-bench MPs. The same party (and both other major parties) will be pushing to stay in with the vote. But the rise in popularity for UKIP is not rooted in a dislike of the EU (although there is some, some of which is misinformed), but in issues with mass immigration - the EU enforces free movement between any EU nation (Polish population went from almost nothing to close to 1% in the years following their accession to the EU in 2004). By 2017 Bulgaria and Romania will have already completed accession. Without any prospect of stemming immigration, and the fact that the costs/benefits of EU membership will have to be actually debated, the UK is not going to vote to leave the EU.

But coming back to the point; do you even need to hop on a train? (what can not be done by post?. assuming this was a suggestion to incorporate in the UK and not to base there). Regardless, even in a worst case scenario (which really, isn't going to happen), there is five years before anything changes, which would still make sense for the benefits to a startup IMO (if you still exist in 5 years, the cost of a man-week then will be much lower in 5 years). I'm not sure what the 'second best EU country to incorporate in' is, but it's surely not France.

In short, the idea to use EU free trade to avoid the French issues is surely a good decision.

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#39

Post by rmc »

polshaw wrote: post #38
thenomad wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the current British government angling to leave the EU at present, that's a decision that might have unpleasant consequences in a few years for any French entrepreneur that tried this, even assuming it's practical now.

The UK government is not angling to leave the EU. The tory party (largest but not majority party) has promised, if elected in 2015, a referendum on EU membership in 2017. This was done in an attempt to head off the rising UK Independence Party and shut up some of their right-wing back-bench MPs. The same party (and both other major parties) will be pushing to stay in with the vote. But the rise in popularity for UKIP…

Sure, the referendum is just a political ploy. But it might pass.... EU membership isn't up for voting in any other EU country.

Re: Starting your first business in France? Here are the steps, and some great tips

#40

Post by rmc »

arethuza wrote: post #25
_delirium wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the EEC/EC was officially abolished with the Lisbon treaty in 2009 (though it was mostly merged into the EU even before then). However, it's still possible for non-EU members to be part of the EU's common market via the EEA ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area ). EEA membership is pretty close to de-facto EU membership, though, including legislative harmonization on almost everything except agri…

That page on the EEA seems to imply that members have to stick to EU laws - particularly around freedom of movement, which is one of the main reasons some UK politicians are keen on leaving the EU. Personally, I think that any move to leave the EU would probably contribute to a break up of the UK.

I think that any move to leave the EU would probably contribute to a break up of the UK.

But that's already happening. Ireland left in 1922. Scotland was guaranteed a referendum well before this UK/EU referenedum.

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