Having lived in and worked in France, I think it has little to do with respect for the law, and more to do with other social/structural factors. In no specific

Having lived in and worked in France, I think it has little to do with respect for the law, and more to do with other social/structural factors. In no specific order: - A much less developed culture of failure - Few(er) "real" startups. For reasons (see above), many startups in France are startups in name only. They operate under "incubators" that are internally-hosted by industry giants (e.g. AXA). This means it's harder to pivot since whatever you're working on has to serve the interests of your structure. In the AXA example, if you want to pivot from insure-tech to something else, good luck. - A culture of "I'll work a normal job for 10 years to gain experience. Only then will I be legitimate as an entrepreneur." Again, see point 1. The effect is that most people never really get started. - A culture that values job stability to an extreme that's difficult to grasp for Americans. In France, the idea that one should work his entire life in the same company is even built into the law in the form of stringent protections against layoffs. This is slowly changing, but France is not the startup nation Marcon wants it to be. All the French entrepreneurs (including yours truly, but then again I'm a French/US dual citizen...) are in London.