In 2016, Paris to be home to the biggest startup incubator in the world • Hacker News Board

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

#91

Post by hbbio » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 6:07 PM UTC

pietro wrote: post #88

hbbio wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why do you even try? It doesn't make any sense to me. Moving to the UK or Scandinavia would be trivially easy, and you'd instantly find yourself in a super business friendly environment compared to France. Is it the food?

Generally, yes. The quality of life in France is very high. If you are employed by a big company or the state, you can have a perfect life.

But from the day you create a company, you discover problems one by one. My first startup was French and I still love living in Paris. But I'm pretty sure, unless things change, that I'll move out as most of my friends did.

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

#92

Post by workhere-io » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 6:47 PM UTC

lhnz wrote: 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…

Most places that have a low cost of living and low taxes are also high on crime, bureaucracy, and corruption, and have poor infrastructure (roads, Internet access, etc.). It sounds cool to open your business in a country with low costs - right until the local mafia pays you a visit and demands 50% of your income. And you'll need a thousand permits for doing anything business-related, and everyone involved in granting you those permits will need some money under the table.

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

#93

Post by camus » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 9:08 PM UTC

forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #39

I prefer down-top approaches like YCombinator than top-down, central planning effort. Ycombinator grew organically, as an experiment. This sounds to me like yet another bureaucratic effort to replicate Silicon Valley. Politicians always think big, they don't want to fix holes in the roads, they want to make new super highways so everybody could see how great they are. As European and entrepreneur I avoid France for a…

> Every French person enjoys life, wants to work the less they could and they feel entitled for everything. More than half the people there work for the government and are more worried about their rights than what they could do.

I dont think so ,french people are not lazy at all , and it's common for employees in a private business to do extra hours FOR FREE !!! yes for free. And we dont take 3 hour breaks for lunch, we eat at the office. Whatever you heard about french public service is not true in any private business in France, people work very hard.

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

#94

Post by cdavid » Wed, Sep 25, 2013, 9:53 PM UTC

forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #39

I prefer down-top approaches like YCombinator than top-down, central planning effort. Ycombinator grew organically, as an experiment. This sounds to me like yet another bureaucratic effort to replicate Silicon Valley. Politicians always think big, they don't want to fix holes in the roads, they want to make new super highways so everybody could see how great they are. As European and entrepreneur I avoid France for a…

What a nonsense. Your facts don't even pass the smell test: around 25 % of people in age of working work as a public servant.

As for the working less than possible and the comment regarding Germany: French workers work more than German on average, thought that's likely skewed because 'forced' part time is more prevalent in Germany (http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=ANHRS). The whole idea of # hours as a meaningful metric is not a good one anyway: some of the countries from OECD that work the most ? Mexico, Turkey, Greece, etc...

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

#95

Post by VMG » Thu, Sep 26, 2013, 10:04 AM UTC

medlazik wrote: post #26

VMG wrote: post #8

Are they still legally obliged to call computers ordinateurs and use Megaoctet over there?

You know most people outside your country speak a different language than yours?

People speak other languages than German?? I'm amazed!

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

#96

Post by conradfr » Thu, Sep 26, 2013, 10:09 AM UTC

hartator wrote: post #69

maz-dev wrote: 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…

> Regarding the taxes, deal with it. full disclosure: I'm french and I like the healthcare system. Sure.. How long will it last? > VAT is not painful at all, even an accountant fresh out from school could handle this easily. Protip, hire an accountant. If you're a business, VAT is transparent for you. It only impacts french customers. It's a myth. Companies pay VAT, you pay 19,60% of the value added by your company.…

Sorry, you don't understand how VAT works.

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

#97

Post by jefm » Fri, Sep 27, 2013, 10:41 AM UTC

hme wrote: post #82

hartator wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the CIR (The structure in charge of this tax credit), you can only do: applied science, pure research and experimental development. Sounds more PHD tasks than regular designer or regular engineer tasks.

Nope, it's totally ok. Tested for 4 years with a control from a government agent lately with 2 engineers and a 3D artist without any engineering degree. CIR is way broader than what people think, and it has been made even broader this year (you can now include tasks from pilot programs). This is really super undervalued, CIR and other grants is totally a game changer in assessing if France is a good country to start…

Totally agree, I've been leading our R&D program for 4 years. No PhD at all, a product owner, 4 engineers (some with an engineering degree, some without) and a UX designer. Design and testing are eligible as far as it is related to R&D operations. Some of the support costs, such as accounting, technology watch or hardware requirements, are eligible.

We also obtain the JEI status that allows huge tax discounts.

The fact you can't innovate in France is a myth.