Inc. Goes To France

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In a few days I'll be traveling to Paris to co-moderate the French American Conference of Entrepreneurs. Some big entrepreneurial names will be in attendance from the American side, including Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist and Reid Hoffman, the founder of Linkedin.

There will also be some big names from the French side, but most Americans aren't familiar with these French companies. Two of the more prominent French entrepreneurs that are planning to attend are Fabrice Sargent of cellfish.com, a mobile phone media company and Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet , founder of Priceminister.com, a hugely popular site that sells new and used merchandise online, including cars.

It shouldn't be surprising that the French have their own great entrepreneurs. The word "entrepreneur," of course, is a French word. The truth is the French are great inventors and innovators and always have been. We can thank France for a lot more than just great wine, bread and cheese, although we can certainly thank them for that as well. France is the country that has given the world such marvels as the bicycle, the gyroscope, the parachute, and the hot air balloon. Let's not forget Jaques Cousteau's invention of the "acqua-lung," the first ever SCUBA gear. And, depending on whom you talk to, there's also a strong case to be made for the French inventing the airplane and the movies, or at least movie projectors.

What's so amazing to me is the strength and depth of entrepreneurialism in France today despite labor laws and an overall business culture that is often hostile to starting and building businesses. Despite the efforts of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to bring reforms, France remains one tough place to build a business. It's a place where government bureaucrats can fine business owners if their employees put in more than 35 hours of work a week. And it's a country where it's so hard and expensive to fire workers, that many small companies decide not to hire more help when they could really use it, thus crushing their chances for real growth.

Yet even with all those obstacles, the French manage to create and grow fabulous companies. One of my favorite stories of French entrepreneurialism is that of Francis Holder, founder of Maison Paul, a fabulously successful chain of boulangeries that have multiplied across France and can now be found in England, the Middle East, Asia and, in the U.S., in Florida. All told, there are nearly 300 Paul boulangeries across the globe. Yet Francis Holder started life with none of the connections and elite schooling that so often are requirements for success in France. Holder learned the virtue of hard work waking up at 4:00 AM to help his dad prepare and bake the daily dough. Then he'd help out his mother in the storefront after school. What a great success story. If Francis Holder had built his business in the U.S., we'd surely be writing about him in Inc.

Over the course of the next several days, I'll be blogging about some of the French entrepreneurs I'll be meeting at the FACE Conference. I suspect I'll come across some fascinating companies and I look forward to sharing with you the best of what I find. So stay tuned!