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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

#91

Post by Grustaf »

quietbritishjim wrote: post #66
Grustaf wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 star…

If you take it to mean "new small business" then there is no lack of startups in Europe, or Bangladesh for that matter.

I'm using the word in the Paul Graham sense, new companies that aim for really fast growth.

And yeah, that also sort of existed before SV but I think you actually know what I mean.

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

#92

Post by dukeyukey »

ToJans wrote: post #82

In my experience (Belgian guy that dabbled a bit with EU VCs for my SaaS) Europe is very risk-adverse, and you either have to give up ridiculous amounts of equity for a little amount (i.e. 50k€ for a 25% to +50% stake) when not established yet, or have a recurring revenue of at least 50k€/month to get reasonable propositions. Also, European culture is slightly different: most people consider a startup failure as some…

Keep in mind a unified "European" VC and startup market doesn't really exists, it's dozens of smaller ones instead. Only a handful are large enough to support a world-class ecosystem (France, Germany, and the UK) and out of those only the UK is really culturally friendly towards startups.

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

#93

Post by rapsey »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #84
rapsey wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is also a lot of money thrown in businesses in the form of EU subsidies. And that money is mostly a complete waste. EU money comes with so many strings and baggage that you are either big enough and have the resources to deal with it (and thus you don't actually need it), or you are small and make it your entire business model to live off EU funds and not produce anything of value ever.

That's unfortunate, and also ironic - most of those strings weren't there initially; they were added because of "entrepreneurs" stealing the funds and producing nothing of value.

The root of the problem is that the EU funding system is just a bad way of going about funding innovation. The US private VC model is superior in every way.

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

#94

Post by gyulai »

oblio wrote: post #12
lrem wrote: 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.

> You wouldn't even be able to open a checking account, never mention any credit again. Is this just hearsay? It seems extreme, even for French levels of bureaucracy.

Not only is it not just hearsay: In some European countries it's even enshrined in law. For example in Austria, the leader of a company ("gewerberechtlicher Geschäftsführer"), including sole traderships, partnerships, and legal entities, cannot be a person who, within the past X years (can't remember what X is) has been in bankruptcy in any country in the world. The authorities check the relevant Austrian register before giving you a business permit. For a person who has not lived in Austria for that stretch of time, you have to bring proof from the countries you've lived in, that you're not in bankruptcy there either. For some countries, this can be pretty hard to prove, as the relevant registers may simply not exist there. I remember it being a major bureaucratic hurdle when I moved from the U.K. to Austria (being an Austrian native) to start a business there.

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

#95

Post by qwerty456127 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #70
qwerty456127 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do start-ups actually use bank loans? I thought they mostly are funded by private investors who take risks more practically.

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

#96

Post by dgellow »

IMHO the main issue in Europe is the lack of a common market. So many different languages, cultures, and local regulations creates A LOT of fragmentation. If you’re in the US or China you have access to a massive pool of potential customers as soon as you release your product. In Europe that’s not the case, all your branding, marketing, or other content will have to be adapted to a specific language or culture. So instead of the EU dream of a EU market you have to take in account lot of small markets with their own specificities.

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

#97

Post by dukeyukey »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #74
mathverse wrote: post #42

The term "european" is meaningless.It's all just bunch of countries working under some framework. As a european there's no shared success if one european company succeeds.And because of that there's no synergic effects that would help "european" companies to grow and improve.

There is some though; there are little to no restrictions for one country to use a service in another european country, or traveling to visit it. No currency conversion needed either.

Unless you live outside the EU, like in the UK, Norway, or Switzerland. Or in a non-Euro country, like Sweden or Poland.

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

#98

Post by hectormalot »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #90
gyulai wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 networ…

> If you speak the right incantations at the counter, invoking the relevant legal reference What are these? > There's also nothing stopping them from making that bank account the least attractive bank account you've ever heard of Why would they want to? What do they actually risk? > restricting you to just a few machines in a restricted geographical area. Officially area-specific or just through the specific kind of…

For the Netherlands. There is the concept of the 'basic bank account'. This is an agreement that safeguards that everyone can have at least 1 bank account. [1]

You can't open an account like this if you already have an account. You can't pick the bank either. You're obliged to go to your last bank for this type of account. The price is fixed at the same level as the normal accounts. You can even have this account if you're homeless and don't have an address. Typical requests are done via support organisations rather than yourself, but it is is possible to do it yourself as well.

At least in the Dutch situation I don't see them introducing deliberately unattractive pricing or conditions once you have the bank account. There is a burden to open one though.

That said, I don't think bankruptcy would usually result in being account-less. More likely, you can't get a credit card, mortgage or other consumer loans, which can be inconvenient. Personal bankruptcy (as opposed to an LLC imploding) also likely means a few years of handing over all your income above minimum wage to the government in exchange for nullifying your outstanding debt. (Note that the Netherlands mostly runs on debit cards, and that most people don't have a credit card).

[1]: https://www.basisbankrekening.nl

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

#99

Post by agd »

stevoski wrote: post #88
ToJans wrote: post #82

In my experience (Belgian guy that dabbled a bit with EU VCs for my SaaS) Europe is very risk-adverse, and you either have to give up ridiculous amounts of equity for a little amount (i.e. 50k€ for a 25% to +50% stake) when not established yet, or have a recurring revenue of at least 50k€/month to get reasonable propositions. Also, European culture is slightly different: most people consider a startup failure as some…

> “European culture is slightly different: most people consider a startup failure as something bad that you drag along for the rest of your career.” I hear this over and over, but in my 20 years of living in Europe, I haven’t found this to be the case. Perhaps it is only in some European countries or cultures?

Certainly not the case in the UK from my experience.

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

#100

Post by ToJans »

stevoski wrote: post #88
ToJans wrote: post #82

In my experience (Belgian guy that dabbled a bit with EU VCs for my SaaS) Europe is very risk-adverse, and you either have to give up ridiculous amounts of equity for a little amount (i.e. 50k€ for a 25% to +50% stake) when not established yet, or have a recurring revenue of at least 50k€/month to get reasonable propositions. Also, European culture is slightly different: most people consider a startup failure as some…

> “European culture is slightly different: most people consider a startup failure as something bad that you drag along for the rest of your career.” I hear this over and over, but in my 20 years of living in Europe, I haven’t found this to be the case. Perhaps it is only in some European countries or cultures?

We're probably about the same age, so let me ask you this: have you ever heard or seen a European person (who failed a business he or she depended on) carrying his or her failure like a badge of honor?

In my experience with job interviews (from both sides of the table) people tend to be ashamed, or they assume you should be ashamed about it.

As for me personally, I like sharing both my failures and my successes, and receive a lot of positive feedback about this. But when I ask them to do the same, I usually get a "I wouldn't want to ruin my reputation.".

YMMV.

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