INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
French President Emmanuel Macron came to France ginormous startup campus Station F to talk to the French tech community
The event is organized by La French Tech, the government initiative to promote and foster the startup community in France.Station F director
Roxanne Varza first took the stage to introduce the event
She announced that there will be more startups in the Fighters Program
Station F has created this program so that entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds get a chance to relocate to Station F.La French Tech new
director Kat Borlongan then talked for a few minutes about the public initiative
&My firm belief is that La French Tech should operate just like all the startups in this room today,& she said.According to her, it means
that La French Tech should think about its users first, have a data-driven approach, and test and iterate.Macron gave a very short speech
and then held a QA sessions with tech entrepreneurs
This is a surprising format for Macron.He mostly reassured entrepreneurs that things are changing and France is on the right path
He announced that the French Tech Visa would be simplified by March 2019.Some entrepreneurs said there were paying too many taxes to hire
&I like to compare a researcher in Harvard with a researcher in France,& he said
&[In France], school is free and excellent, healthcare is free, there a retirement system
On the other side, there nothing.&He also promised stronger antitrust rules at the European level
Tech giants sometimes dominate in Europe living no room for competition.Macron finished by saying that tech companies also need to promote
They need to pay fair taxes, they need to think about tech effect on society
&I know one thing, the system will implode if you&re not responsible enough,& he said.Things have changed in just over a year
When Macron first came to Station F for its grand opening, it was shortly after the elections
He was a popular President.Now, most people dislike him, just like his predecessors François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy when they were in
According to a source, he even thought about canceling today event given that he about to appoint some new faces in his government.But
Macron built his reputation on the so-called startup nation
He first became a public figure thanks to a grassroots approach built on top of the startup community
That why the startup community is still overwhelmingly in favor of Macron policies
And yet, there now a clear divide between the startup nation and the middle class at large, who think the President is out of touch and
