French here. This is very true. The whole economic incentives are made for big CAC40 companies whose owners/CEO are friends with the lawmakers. The small and medium companies, as individuals, are the most taxed out there. If you own a company and paid yourself you had to pass through 4 layers or so of taxation.

> Financial and investing groups in France are very conservative.

A friend set up a company, like you said having first another job, and it took 3 years IIRC to get a loan from a bank. All its initial money was love money coming from family and friends investors.