Google France announced this morning that their country manager Jean-Marc Tassetto has left the company to pursue “an entrepreneurial project around e-Learning.” In its announcement, Google France lauded Tassetto as a great asset to the company, having notably worked on its commercial growth since his arrival in July 2010, according to Gizmodo France.
Google has always had a reputation of turning out entrepreneurs in its US offices, so this seems to be a sign that it has maintained is entrepreneurial culture in its international offices as well. While some may view this as a loss for Google – a top employee leaving to start his own company – Google has always profited from its reputation for ex-Google founders and their subsequent success. I imagine it makes it quite easy to hire entrepreneurially-minded individuals who are aware of their need for a bit of structure, education, and work experience.
Tassetto comes from a business background, having previously worked at SFR/Vivendi, so this may be signal to young MBA grads looking to start a company that Google France is a good stepping stone towards proper startup experience. It remains to be seen that any developers at Google France have left to start their own company, but all things in due time.