Who Am I?
Good question. I’m Chris O’Brien, an American journalist who has been fumbling around France since 2014. Before our family moved here, I spent 15 years living in Silicon Valley where I worked first for The San Jose Mercury News and then the Los Angeles Times.
I arrived in Silicon Valley in 1999 and lived through the dot-com boom, Y2K, the bust, the rise of Web 2.0, the introduction of the iPhone, and lots more. So I’ve seen some stuff. And I learned some stuff. My writing interests in France are varied, but startups and entrepreneurs have been my main focus since I landed on these shores.
Why This Newsletter?
In the 6 years that I’ve been in France, the French Tech scene has transformed. While coverage of the nation’s startups in the French press has improved, France’s entrepreneurs and startups and VCs still deserve more sophisticated coverage. And in English. Let’s face it, everyone wants their story to reach an international audience, and fair or not, almost no one in Silicon Valley is reading content in French.
There are a ton of amazing stories in France, and now I have a place to tell them. It’s not a rose garden. Things here aren’t perfect. But the French ecosystem warrants a bigger media spotlight to explore the innovation and digital transformation underway. The successes and the flops. The geniuses and the con artists. It’s how we learn. From startups that are just two people on a laptop to digital transformation efforts at “corporates,” there is
There are a wealth of stories to tell. I’m going to tell them.
Why subscribe?
I’m just getting started. By subscribing, you’ll get a newsletter on Tuesday and Thursday straight to your inbox for instant enlightenment.
Now what?
In the coming weeks, you can help get this off the ground by spreading the word and sharing this newsletter with your friends and to your social networks.
You can comment on the posts or reply to the emails to offer feedback on what you’d like to see in terms of coverage of French Tech. Or you can harass me directly at chris@frenchtechjournal.com with your thoughts and ideas.
If you are in a position to do so, you can also consider offering financial support for this work, either through a subscription or by becoming a founding member with a larger contribution. In the next few weeks, I’ll be introducing some of the paid benefits for members.
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
