If you love restoring old buildings, knock yourself out; but otherwise I'd be very careful. Check what the impact of heritage laws is.
Definitely not a place to build a startup. That's one of the reasons there are no high profile startups in France: there's way too many obstacles, most french people who are serious about creating one usually leave the country.
Edit: oh, and I forgot that, in France, making money on your own, is very badly regarded. You would be assumed to be rich and evil, by default. (I am not inventing anything. Just check french forums/newspapers whenever there are economic news).
1. Government sponsoring startups. That sounds like soviet union. Remember, it's the same government that has a huge debt of thousands of billions of euros? That money won't last forever. It's going to be very expensive to get funds of the market for France, and they will have to cut into the sponsorship sooner or later. Not reliable.
2. It takes a long time to set up a company in France. NOt only the administrative tasks themselves, but getting to know what you need to do takes time prior to take action. It's not straightforward and there is not a single place to go to.
3. High taxes. High taxes are high taxes, no matter what you compare them to. Look at what an employer has to pay to the State before even paying a single employee. It's scary.
4. Talent pool. I don't argue on that point, you can find good people. Just like in every developed country with a relatively efficient education system, by the way.
5. This only mentions the trial period and the time when the employee is under a temporary contract. The situation is very different once that person is under a CDI (unlimited duration contract). Then they can take sick leave whenever they want to, and it will be very difficult to get rid of a non-performing employee. It's a fact.
6. Funny point. Most of those startups are virtually unknown internationally. And Dailymotion was bought over by a semi-public company (Orange), a well known public enemy of innovation and champion of statu quo. For a fact, there's no Twitter, no Facebook, no Google in France. Not even anything close to that.
Yeah, you are right, that says a lot about the startup investment scene in France.
Next time you want to call my claims a FUD, please find better links.
That actually seems like a huge deal. Most U.S. states are at-will, so you can pretty much fire anyone at any time. I would not want to be stuck in an unforeseen cash flow or retooling situation 8 months in and be unable to do anything about hiring.
There may be startups, but there appear to be zero home runs...
This looks like 80's way of thinking maybe :)
Very recently the court has also refused the right to fire employees to a french affiliate of a multinational company, on the basis that, overall, worldwide, the company was still making profit. This, regardless of how healthy the french affiliate was.
That's how perverted the situation is.
If people left the place there's a clear reason for that. Money is not going to bring back interest in a long-dead location. Unless you make it like a new Las Vegas.
-- reasonable short-term accommodation, e.g., high-end youth hostel type
-- Shared office space e.g., Dogpatch Labs or General Assembly style
-- good internet and coffee
-- permission to work (visas, etc)
As a dad, I am personally very happy to pay taxes in exchange for the overall infrastructure (schools, hospitals, roads, doctors, health insurance etc) and (edit) food :) (although I really dig thai food).
I will probably move half-time to such a place though, once my kids have left school :)
Sure, most Westerners can enter the Schengen zone for 90 days visa-free but after that you've either got to leave for another 90 (or is it 180?) or get sponsorship of some sort.
(Obviously this is a rather Amero-centric reply and doesn't apply to other EU citizens)
Visa is probably a favourable thing in comparison to Thailand / Philippines ...
Once a property "sinks" (becomes worth less than its back taxes), its over.
We are 2 couples of hackers/entrepreneurs located here:
http://bit.ly/zZLmrH (google maps link)
What we like about here:
- cheap yet nice houses compared to the rest of France (with gardens, woods, swimming-pools)
- well balanced climate (sunny on summer but not too hot, comfortable in winter usually)
- plenty of good food and quality restaurants
- Paris is not too far if needed (although I work almost 100% remotely)
- sea is not too far
We're not alone: I came across more and more entrepreneurs who are moving to rural areas to enjoy good quality life.
May I ask you if you did grow up in the area ? Or in a similar area ?
My point is, for someone that grew up in a (big) city, it might not be easy to adapt
On the startup + girlfriend: I wouldn't try to "convince" but rather see if it would be a good fit. My girlfriend and I are now associates: we're doing remote consulting and bootstrapping https://www.wisecashhq.com. We first gave this a try for one year, to see if things were good for us. After one year we bought a house here, as we were really happy.
On the city: I know some people from big city who do not adapt well, while other (still from big cities) did adapt very well. It's just something to think about then test, planning a rollback if it's not for you.
One important point for us is that apart from the consulting , our business project is really something we work on as a couple.
somehow I think making it a hacker haven won't do anything to endear you with the locals ...
If you go to Berlin, you'll discover many hackers are both also ravers and squatters. If you go to a security conference, you'll find many that are thieves.
I'm sure the people hanging out there are fine. :-)
As a matter of fact, I was thinking of just that the other day, coming back in my village in a couple of years and try to start a hackers/startup/"IT" hub ... (maybe just starting with a hackathon or something similar).
You could wonder who would be interested ? And how the locals would react ?
Well, first, you have to imagine being in the countryside, being able to take a bike, roam in the woods, go on the river ... Then there is complete silence (like, really really silent). And of course, the food.
There's also a plan (although I think it's partially on hold right now) to have fiber everywhere. And no doubt that the local administration would help with that if you have a serious projects.
As for the locals, they are very friendly, the only thing they ask is that you take part in the community (for instance, buy at the local bakery or butcher). In the area I come from, there has been a steady stream of Dutch people buying secondary houses for the last 20 years. They all enjoy it, and are very welcome.
Yes, there is a language barrier, but this can definitely be overcome with good will from both sides (I've seen it in action).
Anyway, just a thought ...
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17455927/40-Hague-Detroit-MI/
Detroit already has the Madison building which is filling with VC's and their portfolio companies.
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/detroit-madison-t...
As for a startup haven? Stranger things have happened.
