Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
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Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#2Wow, awesome article. As someone who has lived in both the U.S. and Europe, this hits the nail on the head re: the difference in attitudes between U.S. entrepreneurs and most European ones.
I actually come away from this article inspired to try another start-up, after a pretty significant failure last year.
Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#3Because failure is much more expensive to European investors and it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe.
So if they did they would quickly be out of money.
This is why the Samwer Brothers from Rocket Internet is doing things the way they are and can have so many startups they do.
Their copy-cat approach is very un-european but in reality the only way for European investors to be less risk-averse.
The safty-net comes with a price. Even in Denmark which is rated as on of the easiest ways to start a business the reality is that it might be easy to start a business, but it's very hard to scale it.
Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#4There are no cited sources that support the premise of the article, that Europeans fear failure too much.
The cherry-picked 2011 was about the peak of the Eurozone crisis and austerity measures, obviously a special time.
Compare the EBAN 2011 slide in the article with optimism of the 2012 slide:
http://www.eban.org/e5-1-billion-market-shows-european-angel...
Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#5Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#6Because failure is much more expensive to European investors and it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe. So if they did they would quickly be out of money. This is why the Samwer Brothers from Rocket Internet is doing things the way they are and can have so many startups they do. Their copy-cat approach is very un-european but in reality the only way for European investors to be less risk-averse. The saft…
>> "it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe."
Why? Could you explain this further?
Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#7Because failure is much more expensive to European investors and it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe. So if they did they would quickly be out of money. This is why the Samwer Brothers from Rocket Internet is doing things the way they are and can have so many startups they do. Their copy-cat approach is very un-european but in reality the only way for European investors to be less risk-averse. The saft…
>> "it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe." Why? Could you explain this further?
Here is just a short list.
a) Different cultures
b) Different languages
c) Different tax systems
d) Different company types
e) Different legality
All these in combination creates a lot of friction that makes it harder. There are obviously exceptions (ex. skype) but in general it's just very hard to navigate compared to the US.
Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#8There are no cited sources that support the premise of the article, that Europeans fear failure too much. The cherry-picked 2011 was about the peak of the Eurozone crisis and austerity measures, obviously a special time. Compare the EBAN 2011 slide in the article with optimism of the 2012 slide: http://www.eban.org/e5-1-billion-market-shows-european-angel...
It's pretty well established though.
Check out this article.
Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> "it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe." Why? Could you explain this further?
Here is just a short list. a) Different cultures b) Different languages c) Different tax systems d) Different company types e) Different legality All these in combination creates a lot of friction that makes it harder. There are obviously exceptions (ex. skype) but in general it's just very hard to navigate compared to the US.
Most kids are (and have been for a while) taught English in schools. If you create your site with English as the first language you can target most European countries + the US. Regarding company types you set up your business in the country you're based in - you don't need a separate company for every country you operate it. I believe the same applies to tax. You pay it in the country you are based in.
Re: Why haven’t European investors fully accepted the failure is good mentality yet?
#10Because failure is much more expensive to European investors and it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe. So if they did they would quickly be out of money. This is why the Samwer Brothers from Rocket Internet is doing things the way they are and can have so many startups they do. Their copy-cat approach is very un-european but in reality the only way for European investors to be less risk-averse. The saft…
>> "it's not as easy to build huge successes in Europe." Why? Could you explain this further?
It's cultural, Europeans don't believe in making something large from nothing. The idea of a kid with a laptop building an international business, as Zuckerberg was doing, is laughable to them. (And delusional.) They'd probably tell him to go back to school so he can get a real job.