Finding Your People in a New Country

I've worked across San Francisco, Tokyo, Copenhagen, and Paris. Every city has its own way of letting you in or not.

France is particular. Relationships here are built slowly and held seriously. You don't network your way in. You show up, repeatedly, and you let time do the work.

The French-American Chamber of Commerce was a genuine early resource less for the events themselves, more for the specific relief of being in a room where everyone is navigating some version of what you're navigating. Expat entrepreneur communities exist online and off, and finding them early matters.

But the relationships that have mattered most to me weren't found at events. They were found at the market, at tastings I almost didn't go to, at dinners where I explained what I did badly and someone asked a follow-up question anyway.

The honest advice: show up to things. Say yes more than feels comfortable. Let people help you. The network comes it just comes slowly, and then all at once.