Last year, our Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt promised to open a research and development and culture centre in France. Today, Eric returned to Paris to inaugurate our new 10,000-square meter office in a refurbished 19th century Second Empire building near the St. Lazare Train Station. It will be our headquarters not just for France, but our entire Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa operations.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy honored us with his presence. “Why as President, do I make this symbolic move and come to Google?" he asked rhetorically to a packed courtyard auditorium. “I love the United States, and its motto that everything is possible whatever your origins.” President Sarkozy also officially launched the Elysee Palace’s YouTube channel and his visit was shown on YouTube Live, the section of the site where we list all live streamed events.
The President participated in a Google+ Hangout, taking questions from French-speaking Googlers around the world. (“What time is it there?” he asked someone dialing in from California.) On a serious note, he expressed his gratification for how Google has moved to dig deep roots in France. “When I first met Eric, we had a frank conversation,” he recalled, saying his message was clear. “I asked him how long Google was preparing to make money in France without investing here. I told him that Google must have its feet in France.”
Our new Paris headquarters is emblematic of our commitment to one of Europe’s fastest-growing Internet economies. According to a recent McKinsey study that we helped sponsor, the web contributed to 3.2 percent of the French GDP in 2009 and created more than 700,000 jobs during the past 15 years. Between now and 2015, McKinsey estimates that the digital contribution will grow to 5.5 percent of GDP, and 450,000 additional jobs will be created. In order to help accelerate the French digital engine, we’ve launched a Startup Café, an online platform offering information and tools.
Our investment plan for France is ambitious, and extends far beyond buildings. We’re expanding our engineering presence to take advantage of France’s strong engineering talent pool and are making significant academic investments, including a partnership with the French national research center CNRS.
France is a global cultural leader and we’re working hard to partner with French writers, filmmakers and musicians. Over the past year, we've reached an agreement with the biggest French publisher Hachette to scan and sell digital versions of out-of-print books and are providing payment systems for French news publishers from Hachette. YouTube has signed royalty-collection agreements with music copyright societies and our new Cultural Institute will be located in the Paris headquarters. It will aim at driving innovation in cultural preservation, creation and access, not just in France, but across the world.
Just before the President left, he asked to say a few final words. He praised our “dynamism” and wished well our expanded operations, before making a parting promise. “I hope this inauguration is one of a long series,” he said. “If you invite me to another building opening, I will come.”
(Cross-posted from the European Public Policy Blog)
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I recently spoke with Naval Ravikant, Co-Founder AngelList and Co-Maintainer Venture Hacks regarding the manner in which AngelList is changing the startup funding landscape. Naval describes why Silicon Valley will continue to be less of a dominant force in the startup universe over time and how tools like AngelList are facilitating the creation of entrepreneurial communities all over the world.
JG: Naval, what is the value proposition underlying AngelList?
Naval: Venture Hacks is educating entrepreneurs on the game theory of how to raise venture capital. AngelList is the productization of that. These days, thanks to code and community, we can productize almost any process done by humans. We are productizing the raising of capital for startups.
You can watch my interview with Naval below or on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkuXQAvaKgY
JG: My venture firm, Rincon Venture Partners, recently invested in The Resumator, which we identified via AngelList. It is unlikely we otherwise would have become aware of The Resumator, as they are based in Pittsburgh. Are you finding that AngelList is an effective forum for startups located outside of traditional startup hotbeds or was our experience an anomaly?
Naval: It’s actually quite common. The core business we have built on is taking out-of-market startups and introducing them to investors. Late last year, there were more high-quality, seed-stage startups in New York than there was an Angel community to support them.
JG: Venture Hacks and AngelList are both great assets for the startup community. Other than giving back to the ecosystem, do you have plans to monetize your efforts beyond selling books?
Naval: The most important thing for an investor… is access to deals. When great companies really hit, all the investors want in and there isn’t enough room.
One of the things AngelList helps us do is raise our brand, have a pre-existing relationship with many, many entrepreneurs and give us access into great deals. We are not concerned in the short-term with making money. This is a ten year project…, we’re one and a half-years in and we have a long way to go.
Long-term, we may start investing in some of these companies as they go through. We are not taking the incubator approach…we would invest on the same terms along side the other investors and we would make sure to be a very, very small piece of the round and not to crowd out anybody.
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