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Swedish tech startups and scaleups

swedishtechnews.com

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Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#61

Post by pazx »

xvedejas wrote: post #53
INTPenis wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just a layman when it comes to all that but as someone who was raised in Sweden and lived here all my life I feel like the safety net that the government provides plays a huge role in people feeling free to start their own business, or their own band. When you know you won't become homeless due to a failed venture it becomes easier to take a chance on something.

I know for many the top concern is healthcare costs; however, for me it is rent. Does the Swedish welfare system do anything that would help with rent for startup founders? Or does that still contribute as much risk as it would be elsewhere?

The swedish welfare system will give you around 2000usd in unemployment every month, depending on previous salary

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#62

Post by pazx »

archydeb wrote: post #28

I heard that Sweden's high income tax actually incentivised startups, because the only way to get _seriously_ wealthy was through capital gains. Does anybody know whether that's true? If so, it really undermines the narrative that is somewhat dominant in Britain, that high income tax will disincentivize entrepreneurship and innovation etc etc

Income tax is 30-33% up to ~4500usd/month, for everything above it is 50-55%. Capital income tax is 20-30% depending on the type of capital.

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#63

Post by xvedejas »

pazx wrote: post #61
xvedejas wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know for many the top concern is healthcare costs; however, for me it is rent. Does the Swedish welfare system do anything that would help with rent for startup founders? Or does that still contribute as much risk as it would be elsewhere?

The swedish welfare system will give you around 2000usd in unemployment every month, depending on previous salary

If you're a founder of a startup working full-time and unable to pay yourself a salary yet, can you receive unemployment? (Maybe you would count this as "underemployment"?) What if you left your previous job voluntarily?

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#64

Post by erispoe »

dijit wrote: post #9
eandre wrote: post #7

Founder of Encore here (on the list). Great to see so many wonderful companies represented. Sweden is a great place to start a startup these days.

I'm starting a subsidiary of a start-up in Germany in Sweden. It's not my experience that Sweden is a great place for startups, the bureaucracy is extremely hit/miss. Setting up tax information for example is really difficult as a non-Swedish speaker and even tripped up my Swedish speaking friend (who is a project coordinator on the new Skane hospital: so she's somewhat aware of the tax system). How much of your dail…

Do you have resources on the simplest way to establish a startup in Germany?

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#65

Post by dazc »

archydeb wrote: post #28

I heard that Sweden's high income tax actually incentivised startups, because the only way to get _seriously_ wealthy was through capital gains. Does anybody know whether that's true? If so, it really undermines the narrative that is somewhat dominant in Britain, that high income tax will disincentivize entrepreneurship and innovation etc etc

Look at Ireland, low corporation tax (we won't even force you to pay it at all if you're big enough) and a booming economy - producing feck all.

If it wasn't low taxes that achieved this then what was it?

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#66

Post by alkonaut »

xvedejas wrote: post #63
pazx wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The swedish welfare system will give you around 2000usd in unemployment every month, depending on previous salary

If you're a founder of a startup working full-time and unable to pay yourself a salary yet, can you receive unemployment? (Maybe you would count this as "underemployment"?) What if you left your previous job voluntarily?

No but there are grants you can receive for starting companies that lets you pay yourself a low-ish salary for 6 months when starting up. This was extended to 12 months during COVID I believe, unsure what it is now.

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#67

Post by pazx »

cpach wrote: post #55
ramraj07 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even without the tax angle isn’t this generally true? Except in very rare cases of becoming CEO of an MNC or something.

You have a point – however, do you know what SWEs in the big US cities earn theses days, working for “FAANG”? (Or Stripe, Square, etc.) It’s not very uncommon to have a yearly compensation of 500-600k or more (USD). In Sweden, very very few SWEs earn more than 80k/year.

I live in Sweden and most SWEs I know earn 6000usd or 72k/year after only 5 years.

Earning above 100k is not uncommon.

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#68

Post by dazc »

varispeed wrote: post #57
junofan wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing that incentivizes startups is access to capital. You need rich people.

This grinds my gears as this attitude essentially reinforces the serfdom in the society. If you are born into a working class you will remain working class. The salaries are taxed in a way that a worker cannot easily save money to start their own business, they need to beg bankers for a loan or go cap in hand to the rich people - and oh be sure they'll have to give shares to the business. In the UK we used to have a…

The Gov't believed it was tax avoidance for the simple reason that it was.

It is still possible to build a business in the UK the old fashioned way of working hard and making personal sacrifices.

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#69

Post by pazx »

LtWorf wrote: post #47
geysersam wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know any country where it does. In Sweden it certainly doesn't.

It doesn't but they are taxed the second you sell them off. So cool… you're rich but if you actually want to use the money it is taxed.

Income tax and capital gains tax are two different things and two different rules sets. In Sweden income tax is max ~56% while max capital gains is 30%.

Re: Swedish tech startups and scaleups

#70

Post by wongarsu »

carlbarrdahl wrote: post #60
pluijzer wrote: post #58

I've pasted 150 items of this list to OpenAI and let it figure out what my username would be as a Swedish startup, the answer is Pluijzer (Stockholm, social enterprise that develops innovative solutions for a plastic-free future) So guess I have to start doing that ...

What are the 80/20 pareto efforts in terms of reducing plastics today? For example in cities and oceans as target areas.

In terms of reducing plastic pollution, the big things imho would be garbage collection for 3rd world countries (in many places "dump it in the river" is the only viable solution), biodegradable fishing nets, and more waste-fired power plants for plastics we can't efficiently recycle.
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