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Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

english.martinvarsavsky.net

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Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#111

Post by walshemj »

GFischer wrote: post #62
james4k wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that, but when I was working in the Netherlands, my colleagues and I were repeatedly told that we could not stay to work in the office past normal working hours. Even with impending deadlines that for the life of the company could not be moved, which is why we were working the long hours in the first place. To put it in perspective, at one point we were even told to work from home if needed, but to not tell t…

In my country (Uruguay), labor laws have a mandated maximum of overtime. If a work inspector finds your company violationg that, the company is liable for some serious fines. Also, employees can sue for unpaid overtime. This makes companies extremely serious about employees leaving on time. In the company I work for, the computers automatically shut down at 6 p.m. (we're supposed to leave at five thirty).

You can sue for unpaid OT in the USA as well.

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#112

Post by GFischer »

martinvars wrote: post #74

I stand by my comment that I could not start a company in the garage of my father in law in Mulheim an der Ruhr. Many of those commenting here should see how companies get started in USA. And yes kudos to Germany for its changes in recent years. Other European countries should follow its lead. But lets remember one thing, a deregulated work environment in USA has led to engineers getting paid 2 or 3 times as much and…

That is true, however the article did come off as very strong criticism, some of it unwarranted (I thought your criticism of severance was too strong).

Looking forward to hearing your keynote at Punta Tech :)

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#113

Post by walshemj »

aes256 wrote: post #50
k-mcgrady wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I don't think people are resentful to entrepreneurs but it isn't glorified the way it is elsewhere. If I told an American friend I ran my own business they would usually be very interested and tell me how great that is. Most of the people I know (Europeans) tend to think of it as 'not a real job' and regular tell me 'I should get a real job'. These aren't people trying to hurt me, they legitimately believe…

Certainly, in British culture, hard work carries a certain amount of respect, and those who are perceived to have obtained wealth without putting the work in (as applies to many 'entrepreneurs') are absolutely resented. Perhaps related is the fact ostentatious displays of wealth are generally frowned upon. In the US it seems fashionable for entrepreneurs to become fabulously wealthy, then flaunt their wealth as 'insp…

Not sure id agree with you "old" money will look down on new money. Apparently some old money Sloanes used look down Kate Mideltons parents self made millionaires.

Her Mum as an ex Air hostess was refered to as ‘doors to manual'

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#114

Post by walshemj »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #76
RyanZAG wrote: post #14

I don't live in a country with the kind of employee protection rules as in Germany, but the article still comes off as a rant against employee protections. Can't afford to treat your employees like humans? Want to give them big bonuses and then fire them the following year so they can't pay the mortgage on that house they put a deposit down on with that bonus? Don't want to shell out a bit of money on decent offices,…

This article is worse than a rant. People rant in response to intolerable conditions. But this fellow has been entrepeneur-ing in Europe for more than 15 years, he has done quite well by his own admission, and now, after all this time, comes up with this hit piece against employee rights. It's deeply dishonest.

Doesn't seem to have learned much in 15 years then.

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#115

Post by drone »

Xylakant wrote: post #42

There's some light and some shadow in this article. I can't tell about southern europe, but most of this does not apply in germany - even the parts that are specifically about germany. There are recommendations about how a work-place should look like but they are mostly common sense [1] and not mandated by law, at least not in the IT Business. There is a law about workplace safety [2] but that's like 12 pages long an…

EDIT: mis-read post.

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#116

Post by reinhardt »

krzyk wrote: post #33
raverbashing wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, actually, in practice it's the other way round Because then the law (text) is usually more complicated, and the bureaucracy adds complexity to it.

But you don't have to have a list of all the previous verdicts, just the law book.

Code analogy time: "But you don't have to have a list of sample code and examples, just the language reference." :)

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#117

Post by reinhardt »

venomsnake wrote: post #32

Firing is not hard. When my country telecom was privatized and the contract limited the amount of layoffs they could legally make - they just put every parasite in his own room with no internet, no pc-s, totally forbidden to use personal devices and gave them no tasks. They were also under strict monitoring for misusing the company time(reading on work), phones and being strict on arrival/departure. The ones that did…

Interesting.. out of curiosity, which country is this?

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#118

Post by skrebbel »

james4k wrote: post #75
skrebbel wrote: post #43

Even though most of the dismissal comments here are fair and true, I find that this article contains some true gems: > When starting a company in the US, informality rules, we all know the HP story that HP was started out of a garage. Now in Europe work is so regulated that you can’t start a company out of a garage because you can’t legally work in a garage. > A friend of mine was fed up with an employee who worked p…

Stock options give employees a sense of ownership and responsibility in the company, which is a powerful thing.

I don't know why people downvoted you.

I understand the point behind stock options, I just daresay that the reasoning is a bad cultural fit for most of Europe. I know too little about American culture to be sure here, but this line of reasoning gives me the impression that many Americans start a company or join a startup in order to get rich.

My impression is that this is an uncommon motivation in much of Europe. All (few) successful European enterpreneus that I know (including the founder of my current employer) started a firm for other reasons, typically independence, creating the ideal workplace, or the wish to create some dream product.

Stock options give you the opportunity to get rich, but they don't give you any actual say in what the company does until it goes public. In other words, while it may help motivate employees to make the company a financial success, I can't see how stock options help encourage employees to contribute to a nice workplace environment, having interesting work for yourself and your colleagues, and general workplace happiness.

Now, at the risk of mixing "European culture" and "my opinion" a bit, and I may sound like a softie here, but I just don't think that getting big fast is the only measure to company success.

I think that a small but stable company that's a great place to work at may in well be more considered successful than a company that goes to a massive IPO in two years of work stress, little sleep and broken love relationships.

Re: Advice for US entrepreneurs who move to Europe

#119

Post by driverdan »

drone wrote: post #115
Xylakant wrote: post #42

There's some light and some shadow in this article. I can't tell about southern europe, but most of this does not apply in germany - even the parts that are specifically about germany. There are recommendations about how a work-place should look like but they are mostly common sense [1] and not mandated by law, at least not in the IT Business. There is a law about workplace safety [2] but that's like 12 pages long an…

EDIT: mis-read post.

I think you misread that. He's saying it's harder to fire someone in Germany than in the USA because in Germany you need a reason.
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