How to start a company in France — 2018
I’m back at being an entrepreneur this year and just launched a brand new startup here in France. This new venture is my third one in 12 years — but my last one having been started in 2007, a few things changed since then…
What is it like to launch a company in 2018?
Honestly this is easier than ever, thanks to new laws that have been able to bootstrap a whole ecosystem of startup focused on easing your “administrative” tasks as a founder!
1- Legal Setup
The time of gibberish forms and endless back and forth with the administation is over, you can now start a company 100% digitally - without hassle — and have everything ready in 3 to 4 days maximum!
For that purpose we used LegalStart.fr
The big plus is that even if you are new to entrepreneurship, LegalStart provides you with very good information and advice — definitvielty a great source of knowledge.
2- Banking
One big part of the process of setting up a company is to open a bank account (it’s mandatory) — and sadly banks are usually a huge hassle. On the consumer level a lot of new options are now available (N26, Revolut etc.), but don’t worry entrepreneur have not been forgotten!
You can now open a bank account, have an IBAN and Credit Cards in few clicks, no phone call, no paperwork and most importantly no opening hours!
For that purpose we use Qonto.eu
The nice thing is that Qonto and LegalStart are partners, making the whole capital process very simple.
Disclaimer: As of today these solutions are not yet fully comparable to “traditional” bank offers, meaning that if you plan to keep lot of money (for ex. with a VC round) you will probably still have to open a traditional bank account later. That said it might change with the future opening of MargoBank and still it’s a great solution for many.
3- Office Space
Working remotely is definitively a great option in 2018, still you might want to get an office, meet with co-workers or simply don’t feel working alone.
In France, renting an office is legally very constraining (“bail 3/6/9”), expensive, subject to taxes and therefore not flexible. That’s also changing thanks to CoWorking Spaces that boomed in the last 18 months.
If you live in Paris, there are literally dozens of very nice co-working spaces. You can rent — without any commitment — from a single desk to a 2 or 50 people closed office in a matter of hours and be ready to work asap (Internet, furniture, meeting rooms, kitchen, coffee etc.- all included).
There are even startups handling that search & find process for you!
For that purpose we used Kowffice & LeoSquare and ended-up renting at At Home.
4- Employee Pay & Health Insurance
Now that you are ready to hire people you need to manage what we call “The Pay” and everything that goes with it. Remember France is a welfare state, meaning it doesn’t come free of charge and administrative complexity!
That said this complexity is now a thing from the past — you don’t need to read the entire labor code anymore or hire dedicated people to manage it.
For the pay we use PayFit
Payfit is even able to manage employee’s expense report and obviously link that to the monthly pay. They handle every possible scenario which is highly impressive.
For the health insurance we use Alan
The nice thing is that PayFit and Alan did partner and the link between them is automated!
What else do you need to handle?
Accounting — There are startups that try to ease that part (Fred), but at the end it is a person’s job where trust is key.
Legal — Same apply to lawyers, and probably even more. Legal is about lot of different highly critical topics — corporate legal, IP, employment law etc. — that you don’t want to underestimate! The best idea is to have someone that can coordinate all those different aspects for you.
Insurance — If you have an office you legally have to get insurance and besides it’s a good idea to get one for the company. It’s fairly easy with lot of private offers, some are now even focusing on startup like YesAssurances.
I hope this post will make you want to start a company in France and even help you, remember we now are a Startup Nation!
