French internetpreneur Simoncini says,”Don’t start web businesses in France”

Andy Atkins-Krüger Mar 6, 2007

According to Meetic’s Marc Simoncini, France is definitely not the place to start a web business - the US or London are much better locations, he says, and only China is more complex than France. Simoncini was speaking during the opening keynote of AdTech’s European roll-out in Paris - to be followed shortly by Hamburg in May.

Marc Simoncini amused the French audience by listing the regulatory problems a French entrepreneur faces. “We are in 22 countries,” he said, “including Brazil. And I can tell you that nowhere, apart from China, is a more complex place to start an internet business in than France”.

He was joined in his criticisms by ShopWiki founder Kevin Ryan, who said “Many of the most capable French talent is to be found working in London or New York. Simoncini said he had to face 6 meetings with regulatory organisations just in the next week or so.

Kevin Ryan added, “The French market is tougher to work in than the US, but it’s also one tenth of the size - and yet Paris was the most logical centre for a European business.” The challenging French environment was one of the reasons that many American organisations set-up their European offices in Dublin or London. Of course, Mr. Ryan is a fluent French-speaker delivering his comments in French - which might be why he didn’t mention the language barrier!

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2 Responses to “French internetpreneur Simoncini says,”Don’t start web businesses in France””

Qais Al Khateeb Says:
March 6th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Bad for france to have strict law about Internet business. Actually, Europe is more conservative in internet business unlike US which is more aggresive in this field, even the VC investments in US are bigger than Europe and this another reason for not seeing enough & remarkable online business from Europe.
Meetic crache dans la soupe at Quoi9 Says:
March 7th, 2007 at 12:10 am
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