'france' Tag
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When engineers mix with artists, amazing things can happen. So why segregate them?
July 7, 2015Skimming through the alumni magazine of my undergraduate engineering school, I stumbled onto an article about a student project from a course called Data as Art. Data as Art is a course that groups students from my engineering school alma mater with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in a combined art-meets-engineering curriculum. […]
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5 Ineffective approaches to VC funding in France
April 30, 2013Although there are no guaranteed methods to successful VC funding in France, some approaches are doomed from the start. Here are five such missteps I’ve witnessed, all from just the past few months, and of course kept anonymous because I believe in second chances. Send me a blind teaser, aka Project X, containing such a […]
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Moody Blues in France
November 27, 2012It has been a demoralizing 10 days for France in its standing in the business world. A week ago Friday, The Economist published a damning report on the parlous state of France’s economy with a cheeky cover story calling the country The Time-Bomb at the Heart of Europe. Then on November 19th, Moody’s downgraded France’s […]
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Okay President Hollande, you’ve got our attention !
September 11, 2012{The following is merely a tongue-in-cheek attempt at an imaginary letter I could write to President François Hollande. Its opinions are purely personal and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or my industry.} Dear Mr. President, First off, thank you for opening my mail. If you’re reading this letter, you would be the […]
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Boards: Control vs Support
July 3, 2012Admittedly, I still have a lot to learn about how to be a good boardmember. It’s still early days into my second career after selling my company and becoming a VC. I haven’t even witnessed a full decade-spanning macroeconomic cycle, which is a prerequisite for a venture capitalist to become an experienced practitioner. I am, […]
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The easy money period (relatively)
April 17, 2012In France we’re now entering what I think of as the “easy money period” for startups. The easy money period begins roughly around April 15 (purely coincidentally, the U.S. tax filing deadline) and runs until June 15 (the French wealth tax filing deadline, and that’s no coincidence). To be fair, fundraising in a startup is […]
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France’s Chopra moment
February 13, 2012It has been interesting to follow the recent transatlantic flap triggered by Ilan Abehassera’s interview in Betabeat. Abehassera denigrated the French entrepreneurial scene in a piece that oozed of auto-pr; Liam Boogar of Rude Baguette called b.s. In reality, I suspect both individuals were viewing the same market but through the lenses of different eras. […]
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Calling all geek girls
November 10, 2010I’ve written in the past about the dearth of women entrepreneurs in France, and Vinita Gupta’s column yesterday in BusinessWeek zeroes in on the scarcity of women in senior roles within tech companies. Her data centers on the U.S. but many of her observations apply to some European countries as well, others less so. For […]
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Internet bubble 2.0 in France ?
September 24, 2010It seems that since the return from summer holidays in France this season, not a day goes by without some significant announcement in the internet space here. Some notable strategic fundraisings have taken place (e.g. Groupe Casino’s investment in Rue du Commerce), Opodo and Meetic have put themselves up for sale, and there’s the highly […]
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France’s internet pure players
September 10, 2010Le Journal du Net today presents a concise summary of the performance of France’s internet pure players, segmented by domain and business model. For the internet portals, the general diagnosis is negative, largely due to the decline in online ad spending and the ensuing downward pressure on CPM’s during the economic crisis. AOL France closed […]
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Too big to care
June 22, 2010There is a subtle but insidious trend burgeoning within France’s private equity industry. This trend is a shift in fund objectives from a “capital gains generation” model towards a “fee generation” model. In other words, the financial benefits accruing to private equity GP’s are increasingly coming more from management fees than from carried interest. As […]
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A modest proposal for the retirement age debate
May 31, 2010Saturday, Martine Aubry, head of France’s Socialist Party created a stir when she expressed her impression that « when Nicolas Sarkozy gives us lessons in budget control, it’s a bit like Mr. Madoff administering accountancy courses. » Madame Aubry’s trenchant remark came in retort to the Head of State’s recent attacks on François Mitterand’s « legacy » of the […]