Founder communities in Paris: 14 compared (2026)

The right founder community in Paris is the one you'll go back to: a Saturday run, a Thursday evening meetup, an English-speaking morning or a desk at STATION F. Below are 14 communities, each checked on its own pages on 28 October 2026, with what each costs, how to get in and when it next meets.

A note before you read on: this guide is published by Remote Builders, our own free community for founders who build companies remotely, which you can join online from Paris. It isn't in the table, because it doesn't meet in Paris. We've left out any number we couldn't find on a community's own page.

How to choose a founder community in Paris

Weekly runs and meetups

• Founders Running Club Paris runs every Saturday at 9:30am from the Bassin Octogonal, at your own pace or with a pacer, then coffee. The next run is on Saturday 7 November 2026.
• Paris Entrepreneurs Network meets every Thursday from 7:30pm at Bistrot Romain Clichy in Paris 17e, where everyone presents themselves in a minute or two. It costs €5 and runs in English or French.
• The English Business Network holds English-first morning meetups at La Felicità, about every two weeks, with icebreakers and small-group conversations.

Dinners and talk nights

We Are Founders runs dinners, rooftop parties, talk nights and hackathons for a hand-picked community of founders and builders; its How To Fail My Startup night is on 29 October 2026 at Hexa. FoundHers Paris runs small dinners, brunches and walk-and-talks for women founders, with no formal networking. PWN Paris's Entrepreneurship Club runs business labs and co-development circles for women running or launching a business.

Pitch nights and AI meetups

Startup Valley Paris holds evening pitch nights where each team gets five minutes and feedback from angels and VC partners. AI Growth Summit Paris holds evening meetups for founders and operators working with AI, most recently at STATION F on 30 September 2026.

Campus and programmes

• STATION F, Paris 13e: a startup campus with in-house programmes. Founders Program desks start from €259 a month, Landing Zone desks cost €269 a month before tax, and the Fighters Program is free. It hosts the Paris Tech Forum on 16 November 2026.
• Moovjee: a year of mentoring by a peer entrepreneur for founders aged 18 to 30 who have started trading in France.

Peer groups and associations

The Galion Project is a members-only collective for tech founders who have raised at least €3 million from a VC fund, with retreats and themed dinners. EO Paris is the Paris chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, with peer forums of 7 to 10 business owners. France Digitale and France FinTech are national associations based in Paris with regular events.

Founder communities in Paris compared

These are 14 communities, all checked on 28 October 2026. Every row was active when we checked: an event, intake or post dated May 2026 or later, or open registration for an upcoming event. "Says" means the figure is the community's own claim.

Notes on the table

• Upcoming events. The English Business Network meets on 28 October, We Are Founders' talk night is on 29 October, Paris Entrepreneurs Network meets on 5 November, Founders Running Club runs on 7 November, STATION F's Paris Tech Forum is on 16 November and FoundHers' brunch is on 6 December.
• Approval. We Are Founders events mostly need host approval, The Galion Project needs member sponsorship, and EO Paris and Moovjee have eligibility rules.
• Language. Moovjee and The Galion Project publish their pages in French.

Communities we checked and left out

We left out groups whose last Paris event was before May 2026, sites that blocked us or need JavaScript, groups that weren't for founders, one-off launch events, and communities run mainly to sell a service. We didn't find an active Paris indie hacker or bootstrapper group with 2026 dates; if you run one, tell us and we'll check it.

Paris's founders in numbers

EY's venture capital barometer for 2025, published in January 2026, found French Tech startups raised €7.4 billion across 618 deals, and that the Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, accounted for 74% of that investment by value. Insee reported on 28 January 2026 that business creations in France reached a record 1,165,800 in 2025.

How to get value in your first month

1. Pick one weekly thing and one monthly thing. A Saturday run or Thursday meetup, plus a dinner or talk night.
2. Go to the same one three times. By the third, people know what you're building.
3. Bring one specific ask. "I need an intro to a founder who has hired their first sales rep in France" gets you somewhere.
4. Start in English if you need to. The English Business Network and Paris Entrepreneurs Network both welcome English speakers.
5. Add a broader group. Our Europe guide covers national associations, and our comparison of communities for remote founders covers the online options.

Common mistakes

• Saying yes to everything. There's more on than you can attend. Pick two or three and go often.
• Only going to pitch nights. Most of the help comes from other founders, not investors.
• Missing the entry rules. The Galion Project, EO Paris and Moovjee have eligibility rules. Check before you apply.
• Waiting for the perfect group. If nothing fits your niche, start one. Our guide to starting a founder meetup covers the first three events.