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In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

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51–60 of 97 posts

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#51

Ha! I bet Free employees (Free is Xavier Niel's main business) are a bit ticked off - Free is renowned for being cheap with regards to it's employees...

ex Free here, yes Free is cheap (hence the ex).

And people don't understand that 42 is another way to bring cheaper developers in the market.

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#52

I have a business in both Austin, TX and Paris. I want to share my experience. France is doomed. Taxes and red tape are harder and harder every month. Just today, they have announced they want to raise a new tax on video games (wtf) and distribute the money to french video game large editor. (wtf) You can't do violent games or game that don't picture well the french culture. (wtf!) If you are an indie game developer…

Sadly, as a French entrepreneur, I would love to contradict you. But basically, you're right. It is much more difficult to create a startup in France rather than in the US for instance.

Read PG's http://www.paulgraham.com/america.html in perspective and it still stands 7 years later, especially when considering US vs. France.

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#53

While I applaud any efforts toward entrepreneurship, I can't help but think that these "megaproject" efforts kind of miss the point. By their very nature, startups tend to originate from grungy, grassroots hackerspaces, undergrad dorms, shared apartments, graduate common rooms, and so forth. Places where weird and innovative ideas get cross pollinated. I mean, yeah, "let a thousand flowers bloom", and all. But if Fra…

>> But if France continues to be a place where 75% taxes are seen as a sane idea Can you put forward a link to some study that argues that 75% taxes, or huge taxations hampers innovation?

This tax doesn't even exist, it has been rejected by the constitutional council (the French supreme court)

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#54
post #49

The perfect location for a startup would have: 1. Low cost of living. 2. Low house pricing/rent. (As rent-seeking forces people into being wage-slaves.) 3. Low regulation and bureaucracy. 4. Low taxes. 5. Educated, creative, and risk-taking workforce. 6. Ease of finance. I see so many countries trying to compete in the startup ecosystem by just trying to cargo-cult their way into it with a bit of investment and a bra…

What about the perfect location for startup employees? New York has an astronomically high cost of living, but it's not like people are somehow tricked into paying it. It also has world-class transportation, social scene, arts, etc. etc.

If you want a "low cost of living", you're going to pay the price for it in another way. Your "educated, creative" workforce might not be all that inclined to stay.

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#55
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the taxes, deal with it. full disclosure: I'm french and I like the healthcare system. You can fire someone easily. You just have to provide a good reason for it. "Oh well, after all I shouldn't have hired him" or "This guys is not the best I could find, he doensn't give 120%" won't allow you to fire someone, no luck you're in France, labor code is sacred here. VAT is not painful at all, even an accountant…

"This guys is not the best I could find, he doensn't give 120%" is a perfectly good reason to fire someone. What other reason could there be? that he or she stole the coffee machine ?

That could be a reason. You could also agree on clear goals with the employee and fire him if goals are not met. No problem. Just take the time to agree on clear, written, and official goals with him. You can fire him if you're in a difficult situation financialy speaking. But you have to prove this.

Not being an overachiever is by no mean a reason to be fired, not in France.

Things are changing slowly though, new types of contracts are being voted. They should bring "Flexibility". Give France a few years and you will be able to fire someone just because he's wearing a yellow shirt.

Given the mindset of french workers and unions, this new type of contract should actualy lower the overall productivity.

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#56
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the taxes, deal with it. full disclosure: I'm french and I like the healthcare system. You can fire someone easily. You just have to provide a good reason for it. "Oh well, after all I shouldn't have hired him" or "This guys is not the best I could find, he doensn't give 120%" won't allow you to fire someone, no luck you're in France, labor code is sacred here. VAT is not painful at all, even an accountant…

"This guys is not the best I could find, he doensn't give 120%" is a perfectly good reason to fire someone. What other reason could there be? that he or she stole the coffee machine ?

What maz-dev does not tell is that even if an employee steals the coffee machine, you will have a very hard time firing him. I will cost you a lot upfront and the employee will most probably win in court so you will have to pay him even more.

This is by far France's biggest problem. I had the "privilege" to tell that to our president Hollande, and he just confirmed he does not even understand what's wrong with that.

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#57

I have a business in both Austin, TX and Paris. I want to share my experience. France is doomed. Taxes and red tape are harder and harder every month. Just today, they have announced they want to raise a new tax on video games (wtf) and distribute the money to french video game large editor. (wtf) You can't do violent games or game that don't picture well the french culture. (wtf!) If you are an indie game developer…

Any serious entrepreneur in France can double the company income or raided funds with the help of national and local R&D grants, funds and tax credits (Crédit Impot Recherche). Add to that two years of salary for the founders paid by the agency the help unemployed people. It's super easy to get ramen profitable in France, and you don't really need to get angel funding. This is huge and often undervalued.

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#58
post #54
post #49

The perfect location for a startup would have: 1. Low cost of living. 2. Low house pricing/rent. (As rent-seeking forces people into being wage-slaves.) 3. Low regulation and bureaucracy. 4. Low taxes. 5. Educated, creative, and risk-taking workforce. 6. Ease of finance. I see so many countries trying to compete in the startup ecosystem by just trying to cargo-cult their way into it with a bit of investment and a bra…

What about the perfect location for startup employees? New York has an astronomically high cost of living, but it's not like people are somehow tricked into paying it. It also has world-class transportation, social scene, arts, etc. etc. If you want a "low cost of living", you're going to pay the price for it in another way. Your "educated, creative" workforce might not be all that inclined to stay.

That sounds correct, though there definitely has to be a location which is somewhere in between the two polar opposites. I find it hard to believe that Silicon Valley was always as expensive as it is now...

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#59
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This guys is not the best I could find, he doensn't give 120%" is a perfectly good reason to fire someone. What other reason could there be? that he or she stole the coffee machine ?

What maz-dev does not tell is that even if an employee steals the coffee machine, you will have a very hard time firing him. I will cost you a lot upfront and the employee will most probably win in court so you will have to pay him even more. This is by far France's biggest problem. I had the "privilege" to tell that to our president Hollande, and he just confirmed he does not even understand what's wrong with that.

If someone steals a coffee machine, first get a proof. Then you need to set up two meetings before firing the employee. Once this step is done, you send him or her a letter and he/she's officialy fired.

The employee can then request a reexamination in front of a court (prud'hommes). If you have any proof it will cost you 0€, you don't need a lawyer when going on prud'hommes and this will take you max 1 hour of your time. You can then ask some money to the employee to cover the damage caused and the time lost.

If you don't have any proof, then yep, you're fucked, and for a reason "presumption of innocence".

Cool for you to meet M. Hollande, but I'm afraid his role is not to vote laws or change the labor code, other instances less centralized are already dealing with this.

Re: In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world

#60
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the taxes, deal with it. full disclosure: I'm french and I like the healthcare system. You can fire someone easily. You just have to provide a good reason for it. "Oh well, after all I shouldn't have hired him" or "This guys is not the best I could find, he doensn't give 120%" won't allow you to fire someone, no luck you're in France, labor code is sacred here. VAT is not painful at all, even an accountant…

"This guys is not the best I could find, he doensn't give 120%" is a perfectly good reason to fire someone. What other reason could there be? that he or she stole the coffee machine ?

Pretty sure you get burned at the stake if you fire someone for not working extra hard in France.
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