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A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

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161–170 of 228 posts

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#161
post #148

They want to raise 3 billions in 3 years to build a Cloud from scratch and with no real USP. What a joke. This guy probably think that you can throw money at a hard problem and it will fix itself by magic. Building the tech that power a cloud service at hyper scale is no small feat. You can have all the money in the world, building a team that can do that is hard and will take time. It's not like he can install OpenS…

> .. to build a Cloud from scratch and with no real USP. What a joke.

Using a cloud not owned by a US company is quite a big USP for many non US organisations. I can't name any big EU cloud providers, but I imagine that a large chunk of that 3 Billion will be spent on marketing so people will have heard of evroc in a few years.

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#162
post #102
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU is pouring huge amounts of money into development grants, because they want to decrease their dependency on the global markets. Expect GAaaS startups (grant applications as a service) to pop up left and right, offering extremely slick pitch decks, founders in well-fitting suits and ridiculous pie-in-the-sky business ideas. It’s some version of ”build it and they will come”. Granting millions in free money to anyon…

It was never entirely clear to me how I actually get this money except by making friends and rubbing backs with the people in Brussels. It certainly doesn’t seem to be based on likelyhood of success.

Seems like you already answered yourself. Crony capitalism and nepotism are the traditional EU way of doing business. That’s why our companies tend to lose on the global market, when faced with a level playing field and real competition

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#163

There is nothing defensible about this business model. It's entering a crowded category with entrenched players who have far deep pockets and can negate all of this startup's so-called advantages. It's really about the worst kind of business to enter besides the restaurant industry.

Why restaurant business is bad for you?

No OP, but restaurants are the most competitive industry possible. Anyone can start a restaurant, and lots of people want and can do it. Because it's intrinsically a physical business, the market reach is limited to a small area unless it's in downtown or a highly trafficked area - where it also costs a lot more in rent.

There's almost no way to make a restaurant profitable as many restaurants are a labour of love, basically.

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#164
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving away from your established life, friends, family to a country where you will (at least initially) be foreign, where the lifestyle is different are burdens that should not be underestimated. I'm sure everybody in the EU would like US level salaries, but most wouldn't move for the money alone

America is the ~only country where you may truly be "local" in the eye of the locals. In all other countries you'll always be a foreigner (your kids will be local though).

UK as well, it's very welcoming to foreign workers compared to most of continental Europe where even if you learn the language you're still a a foreigner with glass ceilings.

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And 10x for healthcare elsewhere.

Health care costs shouldn't be of too much concern for young professionals (those more likely to move). Eating well and exercise should come first, because even if healthcare is free or cheap - who wants to be sick in the first place?

Your well being doesn't always depend on your diet and exercise. Viruses like Coivd or other bugs you can get from a simple surgical procedure like a root canal, preexisting and congenital conditions that hit you later in life, accidents, are a thing for many people despite balanced lifestyles.

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#166
post #148

They want to raise 3 billions in 3 years to build a Cloud from scratch and with no real USP. What a joke. This guy probably think that you can throw money at a hard problem and it will fix itself by magic. Building the tech that power a cloud service at hyper scale is no small feat. You can have all the money in the world, building a team that can do that is hard and will take time. It's not like he can install OpenS…

There is a USP and it is very strong. If you are a government organisation, you don't have many clouds to chose from, given the legislative situation. It is a greenfield basically. I am surprised not more people have seen it.

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#167
post #162
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was never entirely clear to me how I actually get this money except by making friends and rubbing backs with the people in Brussels. It certainly doesn’t seem to be based on likelyhood of success.

Seems like you already answered yourself. Crony capitalism and nepotism are the traditional EU way of doing business. That’s why our companies tend to lose on the global market, when faced with a level playing field and real competition

Pretty much yes, that's why all EU funded tech projects are half-assed. As soon as the EU public money dries up, all investors pull out as well because they know nothing they do is meant to be competitive on the free market, they're just there to suck on the teat of easy EU money and take off when it's dry.

The sad part is, without EU money, nothing in tech would happen in the EU. We have no VC investors willing to put their money in something as risky as tech when they can put their money in much safer places with surer returns like real estate which sacred in the EU compared to let's say the US.

The EU start-up I was working for was looking for VC investors and we found some German guy who was like "yeah I can invest 100k in your company" at which point our boss was like "bruh, that will barely cover scientist, dev wages and infra for 3-5 months". Then came and American guy with an initial investment of 2 million. Nuff said.

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#168

There is nothing defensible about this business model. It's entering a crowded category with entrenched players who have far deep pockets and can negate all of this startup's so-called advantages. It's really about the worst kind of business to enter besides the restaurant industry.

In that case they need to negotiate with Washington first, to remove the legislation that sets them apart from this startup.

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#169
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>stay poor Have californians started thinking of Europe as poor?

the poorest american state is still richer in per capita terms than france or germany. europe is poor and getting poorer, relative to america.

Yet the life expectancy in most EU countries is much higher than in America. Wealth isn't the only relevant metric.

[1]: https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy#differences-in-li...

Re: A Swedish startup’s bid to build a green rival to AWS

#170
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this blurs further with UK leaving Europe. Berlin doesn't pay much. And what's left then? Paris? Or Stockholm Sweden? Even the CxO's there don't make much more than 200K

Berlin pays the most in EU.

I thought Dublin did, actually.
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