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Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

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Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#61
post #54
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cashflow, the same as for busineses. If you don't have one months' spare cash as a "float", then you may have to resort to lending at the end of the month.

The solution to that is not to live even closer to the edge.

The solution to being poor is to have more money, yes.

(You're going to reply to this with "just cut expenses", to which I can pre-emptively reply that some of the people in this situation are already choosing between food and heating. I'm going to pre-emptively cite the link from the other branch of the thread, https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/tougher-rules-payda...

> We found some firms were using [continuous payment authority] as a debt collection method and that some borrowers therefore had difficulties paying for essentials such as food and heating.

)

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#62
post #54
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cashflow, the same as for busineses. If you don't have one months' spare cash as a "float", then you may have to resort to lending at the end of the month.

The solution to that is not to live even closer to the edge.

"Thanks I'm cured"

What's your revolutionary idea there? People wouldn't be poor if only they had more money?

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#63
post #4

This is basically failure in European startup ecosystem that companies needs to go SF, but good for Y Combinator and SF that they can attract best talent.

"Need to go", you're saying like only YC is financing startups anywhere.

Most won't even bother. And YC is not the only way to get funds (not even in the US)

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. If you live in a safe and secured society why would you want to do something risky like creating a startup. One of the biggest success for the EU startup scene was just copying what is done in California, avoiding the risk of trying out new ideas. On the top of that, regulation in the EU is much worse than in the US. This does not help either.

Yep that same scary regulation that is intended to hinder businesses from selling me food with hydrogenated fats, overloaded with sugar or salt, that same regulation that forces auto manufacturers to not create exclusive overpriced repair consortiums for basic parts, and that generally makes life a bit less corporately tyrannical. Shareholder value is only nice if you're a significant shareholder, and it is dispropor…

>> overloaded with sugar or salt

I think you live in a different region.

https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/a_spoonful_o...

https://corporateeurope.org/en/pressreleases/2016/07/food-lo...

https://www.livestrong.com/article/464851-why-is-high-fructo...

https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/default/files/nutrition_ph...

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#65
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "European startup ecosystem", it's basically "European societies". Imagine how well would SV work if being involved in a bankrupt company (co-founder, major investor, C-suite) made banks refuse to talk to you again for 10-20 years. I believe that was the case in France. You wouldn't even be able to open a checking account, never mention any credit again.

Exactly. If you live in a safe and secured society why would you want to do something risky like creating a startup. One of the biggest success for the EU startup scene was just copying what is done in California, avoiding the risk of trying out new ideas. On the top of that, regulation in the EU is much worse than in the US. This does not help either.

> If you live in a safe and secured society why would you want to do something risky like creating a startup

Safe and secure unlike... California? The founders of US startups are already in very advantageous positions in life. In fact that security helps with taking business risks which is the opposite of what you're claiming.

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#66
post #48
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "European startup ecosystem", it's basically "European societies". Imagine how well would SV work if being involved in a bankrupt company (co-founder, major investor, C-suite) made banks refuse to talk to you again for 10-20 years. I believe that was the case in France. You wouldn't even be able to open a checking account, never mention any credit again.

I don't think this is the case, in France or anywhere. And I'm certain it's not the reason SV creates more startups. The real reason is that this is where startups were invented, so for historical reasons the concentration of capital and talent is extremely high.

> SV ... is where startups were invented

What exactly do you think "startup" means? To me, the word just means a new small business. Such things have been around for centuries, before the USA even existed never mind SV. That's true even if you take startup to mean specifically those taking large outside capital with a goal to grow large quickly (which I don't think is necessary, a bootstrapped startup is still a startup IMO).

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#67
post #10

I always wanted something like https://www.carbonfact.co/ - hope it takes off and they expand the list of products.

I'm rooting for something like this too. As for the carbonfact and their focus on promoting eco brands, I'd like them to present an alternative metric if/when possible.

Measuring each individual product is complicated and doesn't have to reflect brand's entire emission output. If a company is 10% manufacturing and 90% marketing then the methodology used by carbonfact will be underreporting the emissions.

Some brands (inc. Nike) are already disclosing their total emission. Others might be forced to do so in a near future by regulators. Would it be possible to have a metric calculated simply as 'total emissions / units sold'?

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#68
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "European startup ecosystem", it's basically "European societies". Imagine how well would SV work if being involved in a bankrupt company (co-founder, major investor, C-suite) made banks refuse to talk to you again for 10-20 years. I believe that was the case in France. You wouldn't even be able to open a checking account, never mention any credit again.

AFAIK banks are legally required to open checking accounts on demand of any resident in Germany, no matter their background. But I am not sure, just a rumor.

Not just a rumor. If you speak the right incantations at the counter, invoking the relevant legal reference, a bank in Germay will be obliged to give you a "basic bank account" with no credit facilities of any kind. There's also nothing stopping them from making that bank account the least attractive bank account you've ever heard of by charging insanely high fees and prohibiting you from using the regular ATM network, restricting you to just a few machines in a restricted geographical area.

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#69
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "European startup ecosystem", it's basically "European societies". Imagine how well would SV work if being involved in a bankrupt company (co-founder, major investor, C-suite) made banks refuse to talk to you again for 10-20 years. I believe that was the case in France. You wouldn't even be able to open a checking account, never mention any credit again.

Exactly. If you live in a safe and secured society why would you want to do something risky like creating a startup. One of the biggest success for the EU startup scene was just copying what is done in California, avoiding the risk of trying out new ideas. On the top of that, regulation in the EU is much worse than in the US. This does not help either.

People creating startups in the US aren't those who are in unsafe / insecure environments. It's those who can afford to fail.

Re: Y Combinator’s European founder intake continues to grow

#70
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "European startup ecosystem", it's basically "European societies". Imagine how well would SV work if being involved in a bankrupt company (co-founder, major investor, C-suite) made banks refuse to talk to you again for 10-20 years. I believe that was the case in France. You wouldn't even be able to open a checking account, never mention any credit again.

AFAIK banks are legally required to open checking accounts on demand of any resident in Germany, no matter their background. But I am not sure, just a rumor.

That's what I'm thinking; you can't pay bills or receive wages without a bank account.

But I can see not being able to get any credit though, if the European or country-local equivalent of a credit score is not good enough.

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