From Seed to Success: A French Start-Up’s Guide to Launching in the U.S. with Caroline Faucher-Winter

In this episode of French Insider, Caroline Faucher-Winter, Co-President at La French Tech NYC, joins host Valérie Demont to discuss the French Tech 2030 program, challenges that French start-ups looking to secure funding and establish themselves in the United States may face, and how these start-ups can navigate and prepare for the U.S. market.

 

What We Discussed in This Episode:

• How would you describe the French Tech 2030 program?

• What are the DO’s and DONT’s to keep in mind for a French entrepreneur looking to set up in the United States?

• What are common mistakes French start-ups make in their first steps in the United States? How can they best prepare for this endeavor?

• What does the financing environment for French tech companies look like in the United States?

• What are the most effective ways to raise funds in the United States?

• What can French tech companies do to better position themselves to raise funds in the United States? How many succeed?

• Is it better to raise funds in Europe and then launch in the United States?

• What do you think of the role and impact of social media on start-up marketing and PR in the United States?

• What is the main advice you would give to a start-up looking to expand in the United States?

 

About Caroline Faucher-Winter

Caroline Faucher-Winter is a Senior Strategic Public Relations Advisor at Kalamari and has been involved in the French Tech New York ecosystem since 2018. Since then, she has actively participated in the development of French Tech, and was named co-president in 2022. Caroline thrives on contact with others and is committed to diversity and inclusion, in particular through the French Tech NY program aimed at helping French entrepreneurs to settle in the U.S.

Caroline has built her career around start-ups and innovation, first covertly and later openly, acting as a relay and link between business owners, VC funds, and government agencies. She is also the director of the Galion Project, a think tank for creative business people.

Through the course of her career, Caroline has established connections across ecosystems, guided many transatlantic participants (FrenchTech, BusinessFrance, FrenchFounders, The Galion Project, etc.), and helped connect, decode, and promote the production of synergies and value.

 

About Valérie Demont

In the firm’'s New York office, Valérie Demont is a partner in Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate Practice Group, where she focuses primarily on U.S. and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and securities offerings and corporate governance matters. As a leader of the firm’s French Desk team, she advises foreign companies on the establishment and growth of their operations in the United States, acting as de facto "outside general counsel" for non-U.S. companies in the United States.  

Valérie has been involved in numerous mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and dispositions for corporations and private equity funds in the U.S., Europe and Asia (including India). She also represents U.S. and non-U.S. issuers and underwriters in a wide range of primary and secondary capital markets and securities offering financing transactions involving equity, debt, convertible and hybrid securities. These transactions include IPOs, private placements and offshore securities offerings and the establishment of American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programs.

Furthermore, Valérie regularly advises companies on their reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws as well as corporate governance and other compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and stock exchange regulations.

Not only is she a frequent speaker at events focused on cross-border trade, but she is also an outside pro bono counsel to Girls Who Invest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and executive leadership in the asset management industry.

 

Contact Information: 

Caroline Faucher-Winter 

Valérie Demont 

 

Additional Resources:

Sheppard Mullin French Desk Blog

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