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A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

visa.lafrenchtech.com

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Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#21

Post by weberc2 »

oelmekki wrote: post #16
bogomipz wrote: post #4

Does anyone know how big of an impediment is not knowing French? EDIT: I should have articulated my question better by saying "in the short term." I agree its foolish to not learn the local language if you plan on staying. But if the office language is French that is going to be almost a non-starter for someone who doesn't already speak it. It can be intimidating enough changing jobs in your native language. I know S…

If you live in Paris, you would probably be fine, but outside Paris you may have hard time finding people speaking english (that is, in the street, shops, etc). Sadly, foreign languages are not proper priorities in our education.

I lived in Rennes, and frequently visited Paris. Your post summarizes my experiences exactly. What's more--I learned French in university, but my accent and the native accent were mutually unintelligible for quite a long time.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#22

Post by weberc2 »

endymi0n wrote: post #12
bogomipz wrote: post #4

Does anyone know how big of an impediment is not knowing French? EDIT: I should have articulated my question better by saying "in the short term." I agree its foolish to not learn the local language if you plan on staying. But if the office language is French that is going to be almost a non-starter for someone who doesn't already speak it. It can be intimidating enough changing jobs in your native language. I know S…

Honnêtement, je pense que vous allez être bien sans parler un mot.

This wasn't my experience living in Rennes, trying very hard to speak French. :(

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#23

Post by nkkollaw »

paraboul wrote: post #14
bogomipz wrote: post #4

Does anyone know how big of an impediment is not knowing French? EDIT: I should have articulated my question better by saying "in the short term." I agree its foolish to not learn the local language if you plan on staying. But if the office language is French that is going to be almost a non-starter for someone who doesn't already speak it. It can be intimidating enough changing jobs in your native language. I know S…

Like not speaking the local language of any country : won't work in the long term.

I disagree. Not every country is the same.

I was in Berlin, and I was never spoken to in German (since I don't really look German), and I would ask the person if they spoke English just to be polite before I started speaking to them, and they would almost get offended. Actually, I hardly heard any German being spoken.

On the contrary, in Warsaw I had problems getting basic directions in English even if I asked young people on the street. They were either self-conscious or didn't know English, but either way they wouldn't speak to me in English. When I went to mini-markets and places where you'd find less educated people at the cash register, absolutely zero. Not even "bag".

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#24

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal »

Good to see things like this. Even though I would not participate in this particular scheme because I cannot speak French and have no interest in living in France it's still great to see this sort of thing happening if only for freedom of movement for hard working talented people.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#25

Post by bru »

adamnemecek wrote: post #15

Isn't it like super hard to setup a startup in France? That being said, the talent coming out of all the grandes ecoles seems definitely underutilized.

> Isn't it like super hard to setup a startup in France?

It's been getting way easier each year. This book[1] by Criteo's founder explores the question in details.

> the talent coming out of all the grandes ecoles seems definitely underutilized

I'm really not sure what you're hinting at here, though. Some of the concerned people will choose more relaxed jobs over intensive ones, but that's a personal lifestyle choice, and not really frowned upon.

1: "They Told Me It Was Impossible: The Manifesto of the Founder of Criteo" https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_gA0DQAAQBAJ

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#26

Post by hocuspocus »

thibaut_barrere wrote: post #20
adamnemecek wrote: post #15

Isn't it like super hard to setup a startup in France? That being said, the talent coming out of all the grandes ecoles seems definitely underutilized.

As an interim CTO who helped a number of clients find good hires, I can say I'm definitely under the impression that a large part of grandes ecoles talents is siphoned every year by FB, Google, MS and the likes (which makes it harder for new startups to hire).

And that's when they don't go to finance/consulting/audit instead. But you can't really blame them given the salary difference.

Re: A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France

#29

Post by esquevin »

laurent123456 wrote: post #19
esquevin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that big a deal. French people in startups tend to speak english.

Won't it be a problem when looking for funds though? People who can fund startups tend to be a bit older and might not have a good level of English (or will simply be more likely to help the startup if they can communicate in French).

You raise an interesting point. I mostly answered from the point of view of an engineer, for whom it's not the biggest issue not to speak french. For a founder though it'd make things more complicated. They'd need to have someone close who speaks french, especially since there is a bunch of paperwork to do to start a company here and some physical interactions with french administration where english speaking might not be guaranteed.
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