french politics from afar: i left france early on in my life, lived in hong kong for the last 7 years, i spend a lot of time in the us and hang out in entrepreneurial and/or wealthy migrants circles yesterday another french founder living abroad told me that the day he sells his company, he will move back to france, build a political party and run for presidency. i can't count on two hands the number of guys who told me this in the last year most of them are dead serious all of us have the same ideas: cut costs, reduce the size of the state, pension by capitalisation, massive push on safety and security, put technology at the center of the political agenda. very similar to what we do running our companies some are my closest friends all of them are extremely smart and well on their way to massive exits. when you live abroad and watch france decline from far away makes you sad. fixing france becomes the ultimate final boss, a mix between a heartbreak and a ego question i don't know if that makes me bullish or very bearish for france but to me they all share the exact same massive blindspots: 1) they've spent so long in places that celebrate builders that they forgot the brutal truth about the country I was born in: france despise entrepreneurs (that's why most of us left or are leaving) 2) easy to run a company when all the people you have in, have choosed to be in your company. try running one of 70M people where ~half of the country didn't choose you and is against you. I don't think I would ever move back to france, i can't help being bullish these guys could easily cash out, set themselves for life, and never look back at the country that pushed them out instead, the sharpest french builders of my generation are spending their dinners plotting how to go home and walk into the fire. the day your best exiles stop dreaming of coming back to fix home is the day the country is truly dead! apparently, we're not there yet.