Why French Tech is Having a Moment
French Tech is having a moment. While Britain has often dominated the discussion of tech startups in Europe, because of Brexit and other economic pressures, France is making a strong bid to become the next “tech capital” of Europe. Scores of companies are looking to optimize business challenges, build new connections, and give consumers new entertainment experiences.
It was only a matter of time before these French companies would want to make waves in the United States. With the tech sector booming internationally, many French tech startups are setting up shop and making plans to expand their operations in the United States.
Consider the organization French Tech in NYC — it lists over 200 startups in its directory serving every sector from medicine to finance to social media. This site encourages French tech startups to network and offer each other resources. It shows the strength of French tech and talent on the world stage.
A few that are on our radar:
- PeopleDoc is a cloud-based HR service delivery platform enabling organizations to effectively manage HR operations and communications. As companies go increasingly paperless and want to optimize their operation in order to provide better services to employees and data to their companies, we see tech like PeopleDoc becoming more and more essential.
- AB Tasty helps companies optimize their websites through a platform that simplifies testing, data analysis, and personalization so teams of all technical skill sets can build engaging omnichannel user experiences with ease. AB Tasty joins a crop of promising data-driven startups that are all about getting their customers a competitive edge.
- Contentsquare is a digital experience platform that helps companies to optimize customer journeys and increase conversion rates. Like AB Tasty, it is entering a market where analytics are becoming increasingly sophisticated and increasingly important in marketing, growth and customer retention strategies.
- Adyen is a global payment company that allows businesses to accept e-commerce, mobile, and point-of-sale payments. Adyen’s platform is instrumental for many companies in making their payment processing more seamless through using a single system rather than a patchwork of solutions.
The lifecycle of a tech startup
Tech startups usually start with a small team. A founder or founders raise a seed round of funding or self-fund or “bootstrap” their initial product or go-to-market strategy. The goal in those early months is to determine whether or not an idea has “legs” or can gain traction in the marketplace. With B-to-C companies, that means acquiring a certain number of users. With B-to-B or “enterprise” products, it can mean a certain number of users and/or contracts.
As these startups scale, they require a different approach to staffing. Where initially, employees may have worn many hats, growing startups require highly specialized expertise. In addition to a marketing director, these startups may require a “growth hacker” or chief revenue officer. The org chart grows more complex and so does the board and management structure.
ACCUR Recruiting is often involved at this stage of maturity, where hiring specialized executive talent can mean the difference between reaching a new level of business or running out of funding. We source executives in finance, marketing, operations, legal, and many other areas for this sector.
