Roxanne Varza, director of Station F, the world’s largest start-up campus, reveals on The Big Question why It's an exciting time to be an entrepreneur in France.
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00:00 Are you in love with the problem you're solving?
00:02 Entrepreneurs, the solution is going to change a hundred times.
00:05 You have to love the problem, not what you're building.
00:14 Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews where we chat to some of the most
00:20 brilliant minds in business.
00:22 Well, in this episode, we're chatting to Roxanne Vaza.
00:27 She's the director of Station F, the world's biggest startup campus, and it's based here
00:33 in Paris.
00:34 Well, we're going to be delving into how easy it really is or not to be a startup in Europe
00:40 and to be successful.
00:41 So, welcome to you, Roxanne.
00:44 Thank you.
00:45 Thank you for joining us.
00:46 Roxanne, you grew up in Silicon Valley, possibly the most famous place in the world for startups,
00:51 but just for the audience as well, just tell us about what made you come to Paris instead
00:56 to create Station F.
00:58 It's kind of a bit of an odd journey because I think many people think, "Well, if you like
01:01 startups, you should stay in Palo Alto," and I actually was born and raised in Palo Alto,
01:06 but I was always very fascinated by France.
01:09 Growing up, I was very curious about different backgrounds and cultures, and so after my
01:14 master's and after actually working for several years in the U.S. for the French government,
01:18 I decided to come out here to do a master's degree in France.
01:21 And at that time, it was around 2009, the French ecosystem was just getting started
01:27 and there was so much to build, and I found that thrilling, and I've watched it just blossom
01:32 ever since.
01:39 But just for context initially, for those who are watching who don't know what Station
01:44 F does, can you enlighten us?
01:46 Of course.
01:47 So, Station F is the world's biggest startup campus based in central Paris.
01:50 So we like to think of ourselves a little bit like a university for startups.
01:54 We have a massive work environment, so 34,000 square meters, literally the Eiffel Tower
02:00 laying down with different startup services, 30 different programs, and we have 1,000 startups
02:05 that work out of this space, and we have a number of extensions, including where you
02:10 and I are currently sitting in our co-living facility for 600 people that live here.
02:15 It's incredible, you said there, how many incubators you have under one roof.
02:18 I'm not sure if you have this figure to hand, but how many startups have come through Station
02:23 F since it was established?
02:25 So we opened over six years ago, and we've had over 6,000 companies go through.
02:29 How has it changed since?
02:31 It has maybe done 360 degrees change, so I think everything has changed.
02:35 I mean, when I moved out here, obviously it was a different president, it was a very different
02:40 geopolitical situation.
02:42 People who wanted to start companies were leaving France and going primarily to Silicon
02:46 Valley, and I would say now we're actually, I wouldn't say we're seeing exactly the opposite,
02:52 but we're actually seeing people wanting to move here.
02:55 Some people are coming from Silicon Valley, some people that have no ties to France, and
02:59 I would say that France is kind of rising to the forefront of European ecosystems.
03:05 Do you think, Roxanne, that it's still very much a male-dominated space in the tech sector,
03:15 or has that changed as well?
03:16 Have you seen that develop and change a lot in the years that you've been at Station F?
03:20 That is something I've followed closely since I arrived in this ecosystem, and I've seen
03:25 it make huge progress.
03:27 I mean, in 2009, we weren't even seeing women, nobody was even concerned about women attending
03:32 or speaking at conferences, and today we're talking about women as investors, women as
03:36 co-founders.
03:37 Things have changed dramatically.
03:39 We're still not at 50/50.
03:41 We have still quite a ways to go, but at Station F, we're at 41% of our companies that are
03:46 co-founded or founded by women, and that's above the industry average.
03:56 And there's some suggestions that European startups are less successful than, say, their
04:01 US counterparts, for example.
04:03 What do you say to that?
04:04 I hate that.
04:05 I don't think that's true at all.
04:07 I do think our ecosystem is simply less mature.
04:10 We've been around a lot less, but I do think things are moving very, very quickly.
04:16 We have a huge benefit in France that the government really is a strong partner, has
04:20 become a strong partner for our ecosystem, and so they're actively involved in how can
04:26 we remove friction, remove barriers, and so in terms of financing, in terms of visas for
04:31 foreign entrepreneurs and talent, they have done tremendous work.
04:35 That's interesting.
04:36 And you've seen more startups in France specifically since Station F was established here.
04:41 Yes.
04:42 I mean, at Station F, we have one third of our community that comes from overseas.
04:46 The countries that are the best represented after France are the US, UK, and Morocco in
04:53 third, and before COVID, we had China, actually.
04:55 And Roxanne, obviously, as you said, though, that the startups are coming in from all over
05:00 the world.
05:01 Is there any common denominator?
05:03 Is there a theme that you're seeing from the value systems of one country, for example,
05:08 that tend to be particularly more successful than other countries or startups that come
05:12 through Station F?
05:14 So what I think is very interesting right now is I think there are a couple industries
05:18 where France and Europe in general are very well positioned in comparison to maybe other
05:22 countries, and also those are industries that at Station F we're looking at really heavily
05:27 reinforcing.
05:28 France, for AI, has really blossomed.
05:32 We have a lot of excellent talent.
05:34 We're even seeing a lot of talent come back to France now because of some of the networks
05:39 that we have here, and even in terms of benefits for building a company.
05:42 So I think AI is a clear leader.
05:45 Climate.
05:46 Climate here, I think we have a population in Europe that is way more climate sensitive.
05:50 And so I think this is really a place where we're seeing great innovation in this space.
05:54 And the third one that we've chosen, which is maybe not an obvious one, is quantum computing.
05:58 And that's where we have our latest program at Station F, is the quantum program.
06:02 And this just comes down to also, once again, the talent that we have here locally.
06:07 One thing as well I wanted to point out, in the news we've seen a lot of, we often see
06:10 a lot of, that's it with the startups, opting to, when they get to that point where they
06:15 might IPO or list on the public stock exchange to those who don't know what IPO is.
06:21 We've seen a lot of European companies and British companies as well opt for the NASDAQ
06:26 or one of the US exchanges.
06:29 Why is that?
06:30 If you had to ask me what is the biggest challenge remaining in this ecosystem, I would say it's
06:35 exits.
06:37 Our exit market is just not comparable to exit markets overseas.
06:40 It's a huge problem.
06:42 And it's industry agnostic.
06:44 And I think the government is well aware of this.
06:46 But I do think this comes back to the maturity of the market.
06:50 This comes back to also just educating the market in general and educating potential
06:54 acquirers.
06:55 We just don't have that culture yet.
06:57 So I think this is something that the government is looking to change and actively working
07:01 on.
07:07 And talking of talent, you have had a unicorn that came through Station F, which to those
07:12 who don't know, a company's valued over one billion US dollars.
07:15 Your first unicorn in 2022, a company called The Hugging Face.
07:20 Tell us about this company and how did it achieve its huge success?
07:23 So Hugging Face is an incredible story because they started from day one at Station F. They
07:29 were there from our opening and they were doing something completely different from
07:32 what they do today.
07:33 They were in the B2C space.
07:34 I think they were doing something for adolescents, a kind of AI-based chat solution for adolescents.
07:40 And they ended up discovering that a lot of businesses would probably have the same technical
07:45 needs that they were struggling with to build their product.
07:48 And so they pivoted to what they do today, which is essentially something very similar
07:51 to GitHub for machine learning.
07:53 It's kind of a platform where everyone can find different things around machine learning.
07:58 And they have just exploded.
08:00 I think they're one of the leading AI companies worldwide and we're seeing them everywhere.
08:05 And it's just incredible to see that they came out of Station F.
08:09 That must be very satisfying.
08:11 That's it when you see them in their early years and then to make it as a unicorn, absolutely
08:16 incredible.
08:17 Are there any other companies here on the brink of that?
08:19 We have a lot of companies.
08:20 We're very excited about it.
08:21 I feel like I talk about my children when I talk about the companies at Station F.
08:25 But we have especially two in the climate space that I'm really intrigued by at the
08:30 moment.
08:31 So one of them is called Neoplant and they build genetically modified plants that can
08:35 capture 30% more pollutants than a classical plant.
08:39 And they'll be commercializing soon.
08:41 That's incredible.
08:42 Well, maybe they're the next unicorns.
08:44 Who knows?
08:45 I hope so.
08:46 Absolutely.
08:47 We'll be watching those.
08:48 But that brings me as well to a big question, which many will want to know, certainly who
08:50 want to get into, want to grow as a startup or maybe they're thinking about getting into
08:55 it.
08:56 What's the key to a successful startup in your view, Roxanne?
08:59 It's so interesting.
09:00 We see so many applicants applying to Station F and I think it really, people put a lot
09:06 of pressure on the idea.
09:07 But actually the idea matters not as much as who is building it, why they're doing it,
09:12 what their driver is, what sets them apart from other people doing the exact same thing.
09:17 So I encourage people interested in starting a business to really think about that.
09:21 And then I would say actually a lot of it comes down to just building, pure building.
09:26 Are you capable to move quickly, put something into place, test it, adjust when it needs
09:30 to be adjusted?
09:31 I mean, Hugging Face is a great example of this.
09:34 And so that's what I really think people should think about when they're looking at potentially
09:37 starting a company.
09:38 Okay.
09:39 Well, take note of that advice, any startups watching, listening to Roxanne Vaza.
09:42 And what excites you now, Roxanne, with it all?
09:52 I mean, with Station F and what do you love the most about the environment that you're
09:56 working in?
09:57 I think it's a very exciting time to be an entrepreneur in France.
10:01 I think this ecosystem continues to amaze me, it continues to rise.
10:06 And right now I think with all of the interest around the three sectors I mentioned, AI really
10:12 blossoming, climate attracting people to build really meaningful businesses, and quantum,
10:17 which is just on the forefront of tech innovation, I find this is a very exciting place to be
10:22 here.
10:23 And in this time, Roxanne, what have you learned?
10:26 There must have been, of course, there's triumphs, but there's failures too.
10:28 What have you learned in your time here at Station F?
10:31 Interestingly enough, I'd say the biggest challenges maybe always remain the same.
10:35 I mean, we're really working with an early stage population.
10:38 So these are people when they have their first ideas, first products, and they need to start
10:42 commercializing or they need to start building.
10:44 They need to find their co-founders, first teammates, they need to find funding.
10:49 So actually a lot of the stuff stays the same, but how they go about it and the economic
10:54 context that impacts greatly all of those different elements changes on a regular basis.
11:00 I mean, innovation, how people build businesses have changed a lot.
11:04 We've gone through COVID during that time.
11:06 We've gone through 2021, which was an economic boom, and then followed by 2022, which was
11:11 war and inflation.
11:14 So helping companies also navigate these times has also been very, very educational.
11:19 With what you've created as well, where we're having this interview now is the flatmates,
11:24 which is the cohabitation part.
11:26 That community must be incredible.
11:28 And is that, what are the advantages of that?
11:32 I think it's a huge support network.
11:34 So flatmates also is really meant for people who are not based in Paris and finding a flexible
11:39 housing solution for entrepreneurs in Paris is very hard.
11:43 So we actually saw in the first few years of StationF how difficult that was and built
11:48 this as a response.
11:49 So today we have 600 people living here in shared apartments.
11:53 And I think that also brings together a closeness outside of the office that a lot of entrepreneurs
11:59 overlook.
12:00 We talk about burnout.
12:01 We talk about all kinds of things that people experience as entrepreneurs.
12:04 They can actually find that support in the home by people who are living similar things
12:08 or have lived them already.
12:10 And we have a number of other facilities, including a restaurant we just opened.
12:14 We also have a sports facility that's coming.
12:17 So we're also encouraging people to have more balanced lives.
12:27 And if you were to give the startups advice, Roxanne, let's narrow it down to five tips.
12:33 If we can.
12:34 Only five.
12:35 Only five.
12:36 Only five.
12:37 What would you suggest are the five key things?
12:41 What are the five key things you would say to a startup in order to be successful?
12:46 Five key tips.
12:49 Well I think the real issue that I have is that when we think about success in the startup
12:54 ecosystem, everyone tends to think about the same things, but without actually really thinking
12:59 about is it meaningful or even relevant to their own business.
13:02 Everyone thinks about funding.
13:04 We think about becoming a unicorn.
13:06 Does it make sense to raise funding for your business?
13:09 Not every startup is actually necessarily relevant for VCs or private investors.
13:15 So I think we've kind of got this tendency of just following what others have done.
13:20 So I would say that's the first thing to think about.
13:22 The second thing comes a little bit back to what I talked about earlier, but it's also
13:28 more not just what sets you apart, but are you in love with the problem you're solving?
13:33 And I think so many people have talked about this, but we see it over and over again.
13:37 Entrepreneurs, the solution is going to change a hundred times.
13:40 You have to love the problem, not what you're building necessarily.
13:45 And then I think the last piece of advice I would give is just start.
13:51 Because I think that's a hurdle and a lot of people put pressure on themselves.
13:55 They don't think that they have the right profile.
13:56 At StationF, that's something we work on a lot.
13:59 And we actually have the Fighters program for people coming from all kinds of diverse
14:03 and underprivileged backgrounds.
14:05 And it's really just give it a shot.
14:07 See if it's for you.
14:08 You don't have to even commit full time to it.
14:10 Just start working through your ideas.
14:12 Start talking to people about it.
14:13 And I think that's a huge barrier.
14:15 That's only three, but I hope that's enough.
14:17 Three, three.
14:18 And it's all about quality.
14:19 Exactly.
14:20 And this just leads us on to our last question as well, because we've read that you'd like
14:24 to start your own startup as well.
14:25 I don't know where you'll find the time, but you're very good at time management, clearly.
14:32 Any ideas?
14:33 Well, I think I've been asked this question many, many times.
14:37 Do you want to start a company?
14:38 Well, the answer is yes.
14:39 But my real problem is that I love so many industries.
14:42 What I love about what I do at StationF is I meet so many incredible people building
14:47 incredible things from a wide variety of industries.
14:51 I don't know how anyone can manage to focus on one industry.
14:54 And I think that's why I maybe am not there yet to launching a company.
14:57 Well, I'm sure we're going to see plenty, plenty more from you and doing amazing things,
15:01 Roxanne.
15:02 Thank you so much for joining us on The Big Question.
15:03 Thank you.
15:04 And sharing all of your insights to everybody watching.
15:07 Thank you so much.
15:08 Thank you.
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