Futur Garçon Deux: Doing Lunch in France

Staying in a hotel just off the Champs-Elysees might have seemed like a good idea, but it actually put Futur Garçon fairly far away from all that Web startup action in the Eigth Arrondissement. So FG was grateful when entrepreneurs could come to him, such as Benoit Bergeret. The 45-year-old CEO was FG’s first interview, and he suggested lunch in a Champs-Elysees hangout called Laduree, an elegant, 18th century establishment known for its pastries. Laduree retains the refined air of the aristocratic apartment block it once was, and its vol-au-vents and white wine selection made FG feel he had truly arrived in France.

Bergeret is the founder of two related companies: Paris-based Realeyes 3D, and San Francisco-based Quipit. After some negotiation between members of his boards, he now spends three weeks of the month in San Francisco, and one in Paris, which sounds to FG like an unbeatable arrangement. He showed FG his product, which turns camera cellphone snaps into PDFs as effortlessly as the French bake pastry. And he told FG three things that would become themes throughout the week of French startup interviews. First, that French universities churned out people with great technical knowledge that startups can take advantage of, especially a startup based around image processing. Secondly, that it’s harder to retain employees in San Francisco than in Paris, where there is way less turnover. Thirdly, that the French have no clue how to push their products. “We don’t do marketing in France,” he said. “We do lunches.”

That is changing, of course, as France itself becomes — ever so slowly — a more entrepreneurial culture. When FG asked Bergeret of an underdeveloped area where U.S. companies could make a killing, he thought for a minute and said: “air conditioners.” France gets hot in the summer, and there is no AC in private homes. “The big guys think there’s no residential market,” he said. “Come with a green proposition, make it none too expensive,” — and you’ll have a winner. Just remember to take your clients out to lunch.