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The European startup ecosystem arrived

eu.techcrunch.com

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Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#71

Post by Aqwis »

fedd wrote: post #27
zeemonkee wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm going to work for nothing, I'll work for myself, or as a fully-vested partner. If I'm going to work for a salary, I'll work for at least the going market rate for my skills. I don't care if you're Joe McStartup or IBM. It's your dream, not mine.

this is what i understand. so, that guy in the movie, that won a drunken coding contest, must have been a fully vested partner.

The "drunken coding contest" might or might not have been made up for the sake of the movie. But say Dustin Moskovitz was a fully vested partner.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#72

Post by arethuza »

JonnieCache wrote: post #66
arethuza wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scotland would probably be one of the worst places to try living in a cardboard box - cold enough to be dangerous if you are outdoors but not cold enough to be dry. Combine that with rather unpredictable weather and rapid temperature changes (we've had temperatures changing 20C in a few days recently) and you would have a pretty miserable time in a cardboard box.

Unfortunately there are a lot of kids living on the street in scotland. It really surprised me the first time I went to Edinburgh, how many young people there were sitting in doorways. A lot of them didn't look like they'd been there long either.

There is no doubt there are "real" homeless people in Edinburgh (probably poor souls who've been thrown out of long term care) - but a lot (not all) of the younger people you see in Edinburgh are doing it because a) there are plenty tourists who will hand over some cash b) people who have traveled in from outlying towns/villages, spent all of their cash on booze and don't have enough to get home.

[NB I've helped a few people in the latter category get home, so I know it happens]

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#73

Post by fun2have »

yalforreca wrote: post #67
fun2have wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come and join us. Read our post about opening our R&D office in Portugal. http://blog.webnographer.com/2010/10/an-rd-office-in-lisbon/ Portugal salaries maybe lower but if you have not lived in Portugal for 10 years you can apply for non-habitual status which means you pay a flat rate of tax of just 20%! Also you have the sun!

I left Lisbon around 7 years ago and moved to Barcelona for games programming gig. Moved to London 3 years ago and life has become less flexible so moving back to Lisbon is just a wish for now. But I do think about it a lot. The quality of life is just great. Miss the Ocean. I know some great people there if you need some references.

As you have lived out of Portugal for more than 5 years you would probably qualify for the non habitual tax status, which means you would only pay 20% income tax if you moved back here. You would definitely get a standard of living boost.

http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/tax-law-tax-treaties-agreem...

The more contacts I have the better so yes please get in touch.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#74

Post by nickbarnwell »

tomh- wrote: post #48
zumda wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what do you consider the other startup hubs in Europe? Guessing from your comment that this is the UK scene, there should be others.

There is a lot going on in Copenhagen, Denmark is also often ranked as the best country to start a business as the costs of starting one are low (living there is not) see http://www.prosperity.com/entrepreneurship.aspx . In my country, Holland, many people mention Amsterdam, I don't agree with that in the sense that it is a hub. The up and coming region here is Utrecht, it has a province and university backed busines…

>There is a lot going on in Copenhagen, Denmark is also often ranked as the best country to start a business as the costs of starting one are low (living there is not)

The fact that living here is not means that while it may be cheap to start a company, you have to pay some very, very high salaries to attract people in the first place if they wish to maintain a decent standard of living. You also have to consider that while CPH is a great city with a ton going on for its size, it is never going to be a huge multi-cultural mecca like London or SF have become. Denmark is simply too insular and opposed to much immigration, and that is a culture that's not going to change anytime soon.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#75

Post by true_religion »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #43
ladon86 wrote: post #2

The first comment is correct - this is the UK scene more than the european scene. My real problem with the UK scene is the relative lack of talent available to startups. Where do talented graduates from the UK want to work? Banks, consultancies and accountancies. How much do they want to be paid? About £40k starting, please. With the cost of living being so high in London, why wouldn't they? Unless you can raise enou…

And London VCs are still far more risk-averse than SV VCs. This is the real problem. Most US startups pay considerably more than 40k GBP = $63k USD. $63k USD would be considered laughably low for anyone besides perhaps a middle-of-the-pack recent graduate. So it seems that startups need to either generate revenue quickly move to where the money is (NY and SV, apparently).

But 63,000 USD is far above the US media income (44,000 USD).

Granted, I made that just out of college as well but I was living a whirlwind life of monthly travel, and daily partying. For a single person 63,000USD is a lot of money---money enough that when I cut back on partying I could easily consider taking on a mortgage for a house with my discretionary income.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#76

Post by echubb »

fedd wrote: post #15
echubb wrote: post #11

Here in Ireland we're constantly hearing about "the knowledge economy" but I think it has yet to materialise. Ever since Intel set up shop here we've managed to attract the biggest movers in technology to set up their European HQ. So much so in fact that the bigger European countries constantly bitch about us, citing our 12.5% corporation tax rate to mask their own failure in attracting these investments. The real re…

> our spoken English is the best in the world better than in England? :)

Yep. If you go to some parts of South Dublin, Kildare, Cork, Galway (where the technology hubs in ireland are, incidentally) the accents are very neutral and easy to understand. Several European news stations with a spoken english bulletin use Irish presenters for this reason.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#77

Post by echubb »

nfg wrote: post #13
echubb wrote: post #11

Here in Ireland we're constantly hearing about "the knowledge economy" but I think it has yet to materialise. Ever since Intel set up shop here we've managed to attract the biggest movers in technology to set up their European HQ. So much so in fact that the bigger European countries constantly bitch about us, citing our 12.5% corporation tax rate to mask their own failure in attracting these investments. The real re…

> Producing indigenous firms which don't serve niche markets is still beyond us. I'm not sure about that, I've been in Havok ( http://www.havok.com/ ) for several years now, very successful Irish startup in the Games/Entertainment space (hardly a niche), acquired by Intel three years ago ($100m+). Granted there's room to improve in terms of the number of indigenous startups, but there are success stories out there.

I'm not suggesting that Ireland is devoid of successful startups, just they seem to be the exception rather than the rule. We have also had Baltimore, Iona etc but we should be producing way more.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#78

Post by echubb »

nfg wrote: post #13
echubb wrote: post #11

Here in Ireland we're constantly hearing about "the knowledge economy" but I think it has yet to materialise. Ever since Intel set up shop here we've managed to attract the biggest movers in technology to set up their European HQ. So much so in fact that the bigger European countries constantly bitch about us, citing our 12.5% corporation tax rate to mask their own failure in attracting these investments. The real re…

> Producing indigenous firms which don't serve niche markets is still beyond us. I'm not sure about that, I've been in Havok ( http://www.havok.com/ ) for several years now, very successful Irish startup in the Games/Entertainment space (hardly a niche), acquired by Intel three years ago ($100m+). Granted there's room to improve in terms of the number of indigenous startups, but there are success stories out there.

I'm not suggesting that Ireland is devoid of successful startups, just they seem to be the exception rather than the rule. We have also had Baltimore, Iona etc but we should be producing way more.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#79

Post by echubb »

nfg wrote: post #13
echubb wrote: post #11

Here in Ireland we're constantly hearing about "the knowledge economy" but I think it has yet to materialise. Ever since Intel set up shop here we've managed to attract the biggest movers in technology to set up their European HQ. So much so in fact that the bigger European countries constantly bitch about us, citing our 12.5% corporation tax rate to mask their own failure in attracting these investments. The real re…

> Producing indigenous firms which don't serve niche markets is still beyond us. I'm not sure about that, I've been in Havok ( http://www.havok.com/ ) for several years now, very successful Irish startup in the Games/Entertainment space (hardly a niche), acquired by Intel three years ago ($100m+). Granted there's room to improve in terms of the number of indigenous startups, but there are success stories out there.

I'm not suggesting that Ireland is devoid of successful startups, just they seem to be the exception rather than the rule. We have also had Baltimore, Iona etc but we should be producing way more.

Re: The European startup ecosystem arrived

#80

Post by alain94040 »

ladon86 wrote: post #2

The first comment is correct - this is the UK scene more than the european scene. My real problem with the UK scene is the relative lack of talent available to startups. Where do talented graduates from the UK want to work? Banks, consultancies and accountancies. How much do they want to be paid? About £40k starting, please. With the cost of living being so high in London, why wouldn't they? Unless you can raise enou…

I live in Silicon Valley but organize an incubator in Paris (with other branches in other European cities). I argue these issues daily with our founders.

To hire someone in Silicon Valley, plan on spending a minimum of $80K. A senior engineer will cost you $130K easy. So I don't understand why salaries would be a barrier to hiring in Europe, people work for cheap there.

One of the barriers I see is the lack of super-angels. I don't want money from dentists and doctors, I want to raise money from entrepreneurs who know what it's like to start a company. The problem is that in France (and Europe in general), even the successful entrepreneurs tend to hide, because it's not polite to talk about being successful/rich.

In Silicon Valley, there is an endless stream of entrepreneurs with serious cash who are interested in hearing your story.

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