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by apierre 4516 days ago
The title sounds like a Bannatyne book. To be honest, I think France is definitely the last country I would try to be an entrepreneur.
2 comments

The mission of the fellow entrepreneurs, talents, public figures, hard workers of a country in which they believe and like living is to turn things right, not to give up...

This comment is a non-sense, especially if you don't know France so well from the inside.

Je parle en connaissance de cause ;-) I am not saying the project is wrong, far from it. I think you'd agree that France hasn't got the best fiscality or entrepreneur spirit compared to what you can find in the UK/US.
I'm pretty disappointed then :(

Fiscality has never stopped anyone starting things. Issues actually appear on the long run only.

Comparing US versus UK versus FR is a non-sense if your ambitions are global. You can start anything in France. Money is cheap, Engineers 3x less expensive than UK or US. And there are plenty of people unemployed looking for a great purpose. It's a wonderful play-field for someone ambitious.

Have a look here: http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

France is 38th on the list, UK is 10th and the US is 4th for "ease of starting up"

I am not sure engineers are 3x cheaper in France. Don't forget that the cost of employment (and unemployment) are horrendous for businesses.

Don't get me wrong, I know plenty of entrepreneurs in France. They are very talented, full of ambition and hard working but they all say it is very hard. There is also a complex in France with money and success but that is another debate.

Nobody said it is easy but it definitely helps if you live in an entrepreneur friendly country, because you will meet people like you and start things quicker.

Seriously, I don't know where this "France is not entrepreneur friendly" rant comes from.

France offers a tremendous amount of help to start, cost of employment is not worse than any other developed country (yes there are a lot of taxes, but salaries are lower because a lot of stuff is provided by the state) and mentalities are evolving towards a more startup-friendly attitude.

The only problem of France are French people who don't believe in their own country.

or in Hollande...

I agree with you that there is a trade-off with social advantages. NHS is not as good as having a carte Vitale but I still prefer to live in London.

Yes the fiscality is not the easiest one, but you can have a lot of help (money from states organizations quite easily for example), and the entrepreneur spirit grows stronger and stronger.
Personally I would try to be an entrepreneur in whatever country it is that I prefer to live in (and France could easily be top 10 for me).