Would It Really Be Easier to Start a Business in the US?

I just read an article by an entrepreneur who tells things as they are, not “the speech to give to sell my success story and create my buzz”: Interview with Patrick Merel, Founder of Portable Genomics in San Diego (in French).

The most amazing part is this: “[…]I quickly understood that the mandatory step, unfortunately, for an emerging innovative project was the ‘OSEO’ competition. […] Obviously, OSEO said no to me.[…]What really screwed me over, though, was that afterwards, all the French institutions for business creation support that I met all asked me, before providing any help, ‘Have you been a laureate of the OSEO competition?’, the killer question.”

Update 08/28/2011:

An article about his story and the genesis of the project: “Bioéthiquement incorrect” (in French).

Note:

It was my dad who told me about this.