Suspect the reasons are:
1 very good free secondary and university education system
2 good English language skills
3 social safety net
Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
111–120 of 204 posts
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
France's safety net is shit for auto entrepreneurs so this could explain that.
Still doesn't explain why I can't name a hugely popular programming language, library or framework created by a French programmer but several by Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Dutch, all small countries but where English is a very strong second language. I'm sure there are great French programmers and programming languages, but doesn't is strike you as remarkable that there are not more? From a country of 5 million (…
Does England produce a lot of languages/frameworks? I encounter quite a few French developers internationally (with relatively bad English skills...)
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
France's safety net is shit for auto entrepreneurs so this could explain that.
Still doesn't explain why I can't name a hugely popular programming language, library or framework created by a French programmer but several by Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Dutch, all small countries but where English is a very strong second language. I'm sure there are great French programmers and programming languages, but doesn't is strike you as remarkable that there are not more? From a country of 5 million (…
Symfony.
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Still doesn't explain why I can't name a hugely popular programming language, library or framework created by a French programmer but several by Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Dutch, all small countries but where English is a very strong second language. I'm sure there are great French programmers and programming languages, but doesn't is strike you as remarkable that there are not more? From a country of 5 million (…
Does England produce a lot of languages/frameworks? I encounter quite a few French developers internationally (with relatively bad English skills...)
I can only think of Coral. But then again Prolog is French :-)
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
France's safety net is shit for auto entrepreneurs so this could explain that.
Still doesn't explain why I can't name a hugely popular programming language, library or framework created by a French programmer but several by Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Dutch, all small countries but where English is a very strong second language. I'm sure there are great French programmers and programming languages, but doesn't is strike you as remarkable that there are not more? From a country of 5 million (…
How about OCaml, .NET, Interface Builder for NeXTSTEP/OSX.
There are French programmers in all the opensource projects that I'm involved in.
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#116Here is a summary of the article https://summarybrew.com/p/why-does-sweden-have-so-many-start...
That summary would apply more or less to any Scandinavian country so those can't be the reason.
The statement "Country X has a lot of startups" also applies to more or less any Scandinavian country (and Finland, which isn't part of Scandinavia but part of the Nordic countries).
One thing to note about Norway: they might not have the same urge to create startups as they already are among the wealthiest countries in the world thanks to their very wisely spent oil reserves.
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Other Scandinavian countries are also doing quite well, way beyond what their size would suggest. But also well beyond other countries with developed welfare systems, such as France. I think these discussions always miss one key factor: Language. If you don't speak English quite well at an early age (already at 10-13 years old) you are much less likely to get into software development at an early age. If you don't ge…
>If you don't speak English quite well at an early age (already at 10-13 years old) you are much less likely to get into software development at an early age. china and russia beg to differ?
There are many great Russian and Chinese developers but little Russian or Chinese software has spread outside those countries. Except viruses, maybe
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#118The most important quote: "Sweden’s impressive start-up record can also be attributed to some broader aspects of how the country is set up. Its social safety net, for instance, helps entrepreneurs feel safe to take risks. In Sweden, university is free, and students can get loans for living expenses, which allows anyone to pursue higher education. Health care is free too, and childcare is heavily subsidized. None of t…
Other Scandinavian countries are also doing quite well, way beyond what their size would suggest. But also well beyond other countries with developed welfare systems, such as France. I think these discussions always miss one key factor: Language. If you don't speak English quite well at an early age (already at 10-13 years old) you are much less likely to get into software development at an early age. If you don't ge…
I'm Finnish (the lang is nowhere near English) and I've begun coding in my early 20s and I'm a technical co-founder (who actually knows his stuff). I don't think language is the reason here.
Good education, smart people, good safety nets and a culture of doing things well & properly are IMHO better explanations.
About the culture thing: go to anywhere in Europe/World and you'll find out that the Nordic countries in general have very clean cities and all broken things like door knobs etc. are replaced faster. Design & architecture is very simple, functional and there isn't much "kitsch" to be found. I'd say this helps in startups too: you'll find people who really want to do their job well and build a solid product.
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't that just encourage people to get fired instead of quitting?
If you're fired for cause, they deny unemployment benefits. You can't just stop doing your job, show up drunk, and yell obscenities at your boss all day. Well, you can, but you probably won't get unemployment benefits.
If you show up drunk or with anger management problems, the company is by law required to provide you with professional help. If that doesn't work, they can fire you and your benefits kick in from day 1.
Re: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups?
#120Completely missed one of the most important points: It's easier to take risks, if those risks actualizing will not destroy your life. In the US, there's very little social safety net to catch you. If you get sick before the startup is big enough, it means personal bankruptcy - and no medical treatment. Missing revenue targets can mean missing student loan payments, missing rent, etc. There's real risk you'll end up h…
That can't be right, Paul Graham sez that if you don't treat the poor like garbage you'll get fewer startups.
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