The adventures of a Silicon Valley native discovering the tech startup scene in Paris, France
Everytime I meet a new entrepreneur – French, American or otherwise – the topic comes up: What are the differences between being an entrepreneur in the US and in France? In my former job, I was constantly confronted with the opinion from the other side of the Atlantic vis-à-vis doing business in France: “The French are always […]
Read More Dear US Entrepreneurs, You Have it Easy.Yesterday, Marc Thouvenin (Regioneo founder) posted a tweet that caught my eye: “Can interns make good community managers” with a link to this blog post by Benjamin Rosoor of Web Report. Traditional recruitment meets realtime web. For anyone that can’t read French, Rosoor’s post argues against younger employees – and more specifically, interns – doing the […]
Read More Trying to Make Sense of the French Job MarketIn an earlier post, I applauded the French VCs that I found on Twitter. Turns out a majority of the French VC adoption of Twitter is from the younger VC crowd. I’ve included them in my FrenchVC list on Twitter but here is a quick look at who they are. Serena Capital Has funded companies like […]
Read More The Truth: (Young) French VCs ARE on TwitterOne of my first posts was called “A Letter to Silicon Valley” where I named 3 things in France that desperately need to be exported to Silicon Valley: SOS Medecins, the TGV and the Freebox. Add electronic ticketing to the list. I don’t care if public transporation is more popular in France than in the […]
Read More Eticketing: What Silicon Valley is Bad AtI think the VC community in France had a promising start for 2010. The month of January included the launch of the Paris Founder’s Club and tech innovation cluster System@tic launched its investment club with 17 VC firms. In addition, quite a few start-ups got funding, including (and obviously not limited to): eYeka (@eyekafr) This company likes to […]
Read More French start-ups that got VC funding in January 2010It’s been almost a month that I’ve had this blog and I must admit, so far it’s been a success! I just published my first article in TechCrunch Europe on the CEO drama @ French Start-up Deezer. Please don’t hesitate to let me know what you think and keep me posted on other events in […]
Read More The Little Lady Got Published in TechCrunch Europe 🙂Yes, it happens. French companies get funded, regardless of what Silicon Valley may like to think. Hot start-ups like Deezer, Eyeka, DailyMotion, Streamezzo, MXP4, etc. can all vouch for this. But would someone like Twitter ever get funded in France? French VCs tend to position themselves as different types of investors than their American or […]
Read More Would a company like Twitter get funded in France?Through January 28th, start-ups and entrepreneurs can apply to receive between €45,000 and €450,000 from the government and OSEO (French parapublic SME support organization). And you don’t have to be French to score funds. The contest is open to entrepreneurs of all nationalities (although the company needs to be set-up in France). If you’re just a Francophile […]
Read More Looking for funding? Why not ask Sarkozy…01Net published an article on Friday based on a recent study by Ifop (The French Institut of Public Opinon) on the progression of various social media platforms in France. Facebook is still not #1. According to this study. Of the 1,002 people to participate in the study, 49% had an account on French social network site […]
Read More Facebook: Still Not the Leading Social Network in France?Just a quick note for French tech companies interested in developing activites in Silicon Valley or establishing relationships with some of the big US tech stars: La Mission Economique and UbiFrance are now accepting applications for the 2010 French Tech Tour. From June 4-11, 15 leading French companies hand-picked by the following list of leading […]
Read More France goes to Silicon Valley: French Tech Tour 2010
TechBaguette 