All posts in François Hollande
French President announces 10 pro-business measures to redefine French business as we know it
Yesterday, at the closing of the Assises de L’entrepreneuriat, François Hollande gave a closing speech that wrapped up a series of 9 talks (“Les Assises”) which discussed entrepreneurship in France – its problems, its potential, etc. During the closing words, Hollande gave a look into the future for the entrepreneurs, the “pigeons” who attended the […]
French President François Hollande announces ambitious plans for the Digital Economy
Speaking yesterday in Clermont-Ferrand, President Hollande sought to infuse a little optimism in what has otherwise been a disappointing week for both his administration and France. After conceding his initial 2013 growth projections were in essence a pipe dream, President Hollande chose to pivot to a more positive topic…Namely, laying out his vision on how […]
Hollande threatens to push for the Google Tax if press issue not resolved by the end of the month
French President Francois Hollande announced Monday that Google and the French press have until the end of January to resolve their proprietary issues before Hollande will push for legislation requiring Google to pay press for the snippets of text that appear in Google News. “It is normal that those who make a profit from you […]
What the Gallois report means for tech startups
Last week the French government’s Commissaire général à l’investissement, Louis Gallois, released his eagerly anticipated diagnosis on France’s competitiveness to the Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault. Encompassing six major themes and 22 specific proposals, the Pacte pour la Compétitivité de L’industrie Française is both sweeping in its analysis and prescriptive in recommending solutions. The Gallois Report […]
Rude VC: Pigeons don't poop in private
Wow, it has been quite a week ! President François Hollande’s Socialist government unveiled its draft 2013 budget comprising some potentially devastating tax dis-incentives for entrepreneurs and VCs. A revolt ensued, with the birth of the Pigeon Movement, an explosion of emotion on social media sites, worldwide media attention, and the culmination of a dialogue […]
Rude VC: Pour une France Compétitive
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of perusing France Digitale’s whitepaper “Pour une France compétitive et créatrice d’emplois.” I say pleasure, because I really did enjoy reading the organization’s pragmatic proposal of four concrete measures to include in the upcoming Loi des Finances 2013. For those who are not familiar, France Digitale is a […]
French Newspaper "Liberation" may lose €700K after LVMH CEO Bashing
This is a reprint of the Rude Baguette’s Weekly Digest. You can receive the weekly digest & more by mail by subscribing on the right The talk this week in French tech has been about Liberation, a French newspaper that I can now confirm has a socialist skew. Last week’s cover page (featured right) featured LVMH […]
Digital Media Hub Awards Nominees Announced!
Roll out the red carpet for the Digital Media Hub Awards 2012! HUBFORUM, partnered with FrenchWeb.fr, will hold an awards ceremony in Espace Cardin on October 11-12 to honor the the most influential digital personality of the year, start-up of the year, and digital marketing and communications book of the year. Expecting 600 guests in attendance, […]
SHUT UP! President Sarkozy's not-so-brilliant social media strategy
Just last week, I published an article on digital side of the French presidential elections. At the time, French President Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t have an official Twitter account. After announcing his intention to run for reelection on February 12th, he and his social media team got their act together. Well, kinda. There’s only one Sarkozy […]
Hadopi: What SOPA looks like from the Eiffel Tower
Last week, the US looked a lot more like France than it usually does, thanks to the uproar caused by SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). I probably don’t need to remind anyone reading this that the internet was flooded with the protesting voices of companies like Wikipedia, Google, Reddit and more against the would-be anti-piracy law. […]