Scale Matters, Brand Matters, Engagement Matters.

What’s required to move the national indigenous entrepreneurship needle?

A recent visit to Station F, Paris, provided an opportunity to consider what it takes to achieve transformative change in the startup support ecosystem.

Martin Murray, CEO, Furthr

Billed as the “world’s largest startup campus”, Station F is a 34,000 square metre incubation hub housed in a former railway depot in Paris’s 13th arrondissement. Opened in 2017, French telecoms billionaire, Xavier Niel, invested a quarter of a billion euro into its re-development. It houses up to 1,000 start-up companies as well as some of the largest tech companies in the world who support the work of Station F and the development of the start-up companies.

Scale Matters

Station F is something you have to see to believe.  (And they’ll be happy to show you around. You can book a tour on their website.) The 300-metre-long facility is divided into three equal sections – a meetings and venue space roughly the size of a football pitch, the core office space for startups and corporates with 3,000 desks, and finally, the largest restaurant space in Europe which is also open to the public and with 30% discounts for Station F residents. It’s not just big. This is Paris. So, needless to say, the design aesthetic is bleeding edge. Meeting rooms are in upcycled shipping containers that seem to float above your head, natural light is everywhere and, keeping in mind the heritage of the building, you can take your lunch in a real railway carriage that looks like it may have stopped at a tropical destination.

The scale does not stop with the architecture. Station F has at least 30 accelerator programs for Founders. Just two of these programs are operated by Station F itself, the remainder are outsourced to corporate partners. So, for example, Meta is a prominent tenant and sponsor of Station F where it funds and manages an accelerator program for AI-related start-ups. Station F’s own “Founders Program” has a bi-annual intake of Founders who pay €300 per month per desk while participating in the program. The other Station F owned and operated program is “Fighters”, aimed at entrepreneurs from under-privileged backgrounds.

Everyone working in enterprise support knows that often the greatest value provided to Founders is network and connections. Station F lays on 600 events per year for Founders!

If you are not yet impressed, wait to be blown away, particularly if like myself you are based in Ireland. The Station F “Flatmates” program provides quality apartment accommodation to program participants, just 10 minutes from the campus. Prices start at €499 per month for a private room in a shared apartment, a fraction of the market rates in central Paris. Obviously, this is a game-changer in terms of providing real opportunity to Founders to fully engage in Station F’s programs and is indicative of the joined-up thinking that is a hallmark of the centre.  

The hub has a staff of 45 people, including interns.

Brand Matters

The French invented entrepreneurship. The term was coined by economic philosopher Jean-Baptiste Say in the early 1800s. The French also invented bureaucracy. Up until recently, they were better known for the latter than the former. Due to the scale of its ambition, Station F has played a big part in changing that. The influence of Station F goes well beyond the 13th arrondissement and its 1,000 start-ups. The hub is a beacon for the French, and indeed the European, start-up ecosystem. It makes a statement that we in Europe can think big and execute at scale. It is estimated that Station F connected companies have raised €8Bn in investment and created 47,200 jobs.

Engagement Matters

An ambitious scale and positive brand is needed to attract the attention of the world’s largest tech companies. Station Fs corporate partners are a who’s who of the global tech world. Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google and many more want to be associated with Station F and with its Start-Up clients and are prepared to make substantial and ongoing investments of time and money to do so. This provides an unrivalled level of access to technological and market expertise in these companies for the Start-Up Founders on Station F programs.

Engagement from the Founders is also important. The hub’s selection criteria for Founders requires that they are present in the centre, actively engaged in their program and actively engaged with their peers. That’s part of the recipe for success.

Thank you to Roxanne Varza, Directrice, Station F and her team for showing us around. Station F can be an inspiration to the Irish enterprise support ecosystem.