Startups: To Outsource or Not To Outsource?
So you’re a startup and want to outsource graphic design, system administration or development? Don’t feel bad, this is very common. Often startups can’t afford to hire many people right away or do not have a team with every skill required to build the perfect product. Should I Outsource? Some will tell you that you […]
![[rant] Turning Angry Users into Users for Life](https://www.rudebaguette.com/wp-content/uploads/thumbs/placeholder-3j191od9vrd2t0luaiefii.png)
[rant] Turning Angry Users into Users for Life
This past weekend, Angel-funded startup AllThis made headlines across the internet for their seemingly sketchy practices. In short, the service allows people to ‘buy time’ from other people using virtual currency. I happen to find the idea interesting, but that’s not the point of this article. An issue came up with their ‘company practices’ when […]
John Lewis launches private accelerator DojoBoost
Earlier this month at LeWeb, I ran into entrepreneur, professor and startup mentor John Lewis. Having been funded at least 6 times by my count, John Lewis has been living in Paris for quite some time, helping startups at LeCamping, mentoring at StartupWeekend events, and as a professor of finance at both HEC and IAE […]
European Blogs to Follow in 2012
I read blogs. Lots of ‘em. Sometimes it’s a personal blog, sometimes it’s a collaborative blog (which is basically a news site, but with the editorial freedom that we used to expect from the news). I get introduced to a new blogs in a variety of ways – sometimes I meet the blogger, sometimes someone […]
France should stop saying "GET OUT" to talented foreigners
Let me preface this article with a bit of a disclaimer. A while ago, I published a response to the diversity debate that Michael Arrington kicked off in the Silicon Valley. I mentioned that – contrary to what one would think – France’s tech startup scene was incredibly diverse, including entrepreneurs of Moroccan, Tunisian, Israeli, […]
A mini wave of French acquisitions?
A while ago, I published an article titled “I’m sorry, did you think French companies don’t acquire?” Despite the fact that France lacks a company with an aggressive acquisition strategy comparable to that of Google, there ARE companies that acquire. At the time, my list was oriented towards larger companies – like Ubisoft, France Telecom […]
The Only Thing French About LeWeb '11 Was Its Name…
Last week Loic Le Meur hosted LeWeb for the 7th time on the outskirts of Paris. Silicon Valley bloggers, investors, and entrepreneurs rode in on Uber Carriages, bringing with them French companies, European startups, and fanbois of all shapes and sizes. For three days, croissant-fueled networking and wine-induced pitches filled the air as startups pitched […]
French and German Entrepreneurs: Time to Go Global
Guest Post: Thomas is the founder of EU-Startups.com, a blog that covers Internet and Mobile startups out of Europe. EU-Startups also has bloggers in Spain, Ireland and the UK. The vision behind EU-Startups.com is it to connect the European startup scene and to encourage entrepreneurship within Europe. Since France and Germany are the two largest non-English speaking markets inside […]
Sarkozy talks failure and e-commerce with Eric Schmidt
Note: All quotes are direct translations of French quotes. Yesterday, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Google CEO Eric Schmidt sat down with some French Googlers to answer questions. They came together to inaugurate the opening of the new Google France building, a big step for Google, which previously lacked substantial footing in France, despite its popularity. In […]
Philippe Laval: Turning a Nice-To-Have into a Must-Have
For the past few months, I have been using a service called WriteThat.Name. It’s a pretty nifty “nice-to-have” service – not quite a “must-have” – and it has one interesting property: once you use it, it works so well you forget you use it. To put it simply, WriteThat.Name manages your email address book. Anytime […]