Creating the ideal conditions for tech startups

When Thibauld Favre started talking about his startup at the reception following the first day of the eG8 Forum in Paris, he could have been any eager, bright young entrepreneur. He pitched the idea of a "Windows App Store" with great enthusiasm, noting that All My Apps already had more than 500,000 users, with a billion-plus potential Windows users to attract in the future. Favre said that the platform was in open beta and, with 15 employees, his startup was growing fast.

And then he said that his next step was to move to California to be closer to the ecosystem of developer networks and startups. When I asked Favre why he would leave France, which was offering generous subsidies for his fledgling tech company, his answer was straightforward: He wanted to tap into the culture of tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

During my trip to Paris for the eG8, the following concerns about the conditions for startups in France emerged in various discussions.