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Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

nextrends.swissnexsanfrancisco.org

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Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#11

Post by sailingparrot »

throwawayfinal wrote: post #9
sailingparrot wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda works against them. Works against them towards what? Not wanting to conquer the world is legitimate, I don't see why everyone should absolutely want to become the next Bezos.

It also means that they have trouble acquiring certain types of talent (reputation is free talent advertising). In addition, having a few world conquerers around helps bring talent and money which is then turned into startups - there are a lot of great companies and non-profits that make SV what it is because some founder or early employee exited with retirement money and decided they wanted to apply their skills to…

Good point :)

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#12

Post by timewarrior »

sailingparrot wrote: post #7
timewarrior wrote: post #3

I have been involved with Swissnex and been advising Swiss startups for some time. I also go to Switzerland every other year if not every year and meet with startups there. Things I noticed: 1. Incredibly smart people. 2. Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years. 3. Great work ethic and social responsibility. 4. Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda wo…

> Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda works against them. Works against them towards what? Not wanting to conquer the world is legitimate, I don't see why everyone should absolutely want to become the next Bezos.

Imagine you build an AirBnb like solution limited to Switzerland market. AirBnb will eventually come and eat your lunch.

In today's globalized world - if you are not one of the bigger players and do not have moat (govt contract, some other kind of exclusivity) - other bigger players will come after you.

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#13

Post by quickthrower2 »

timewarrior wrote: post #12
sailingparrot wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda works against them. Works against them towards what? Not wanting to conquer the world is legitimate, I don't see why everyone should absolutely want to become the next Bezos.

Imagine you build an AirBnb like solution limited to Switzerland market. AirBnb will eventually come and eat your lunch. In today's globalized world - if you are not one of the bigger players and do not have moat (govt contract, some other kind of exclusivity) - other bigger players will come after you.

Yeah plus the Y-combinators of this world won't want to throw cash at a 10-1 chance of making a few million, when they can do the same on a 100-1 chance of making a few billion.

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#14

Post by quickthrower2 »

timewarrior wrote: post #3

I have been involved with Swissnex and been advising Swiss startups for some time. I also go to Switzerland every other year if not every year and meet with startups there. Things I noticed: 1. Incredibly smart people. 2. Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years. 3. Great work ethic and social responsibility. 4. Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda wo…

> Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years.

Can you elaborate on that? Are these "best practices" around technology or process? Are they found in books, or are the books out of date and you just have to 'be there' to discover them?

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#15

Post by pkaye »

timewarrior wrote: post #3

I have been involved with Swissnex and been advising Swiss startups for some time. I also go to Switzerland every other year if not every year and meet with startups there. Things I noticed: 1. Incredibly smart people. 2. Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years. 3. Great work ethic and social responsibility. 4. Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda wo…

> Not that US is any better for Indians. Based on current estimates, if someone from India applies for an employment based Green Card now, they might get it in 70 years. And life is a pain because you have to do a lot of paperwork throughout.

I thought that is because so many Indians applying for green cards but there is a limit by country so it takes a long time?

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#16

Post by yequalsx »

timewarrior wrote: post #12
sailingparrot wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda works against them. Works against them towards what? Not wanting to conquer the world is legitimate, I don't see why everyone should absolutely want to become the next Bezos.

Imagine you build an AirBnb like solution limited to Switzerland market. AirBnb will eventually come and eat your lunch. In today's globalized world - if you are not one of the bigger players and do not have moat (govt contract, some other kind of exclusivity) - other bigger players will come after you.

This seems a bit simplistic. I mean, it's not the case that all markets are dominated by huge mega corps. There are thriving businesses that are not on the scale of Google, AirBnB, Microsoft, etc. If a startup in Switzerland gets traction and it's a space that can scale globally then it seems like it naturally will scale. I doubt anyone would not want to grow if it can.

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#18

Post by kuschku »

sailingparrot wrote: post #7
timewarrior wrote: post #3

I have been involved with Swissnex and been advising Swiss startups for some time. I also go to Switzerland every other year if not every year and meet with startups there. Things I noticed: 1. Incredibly smart people. 2. Behind Silicon Valley on best technology and product building practices by at least 2 years. 3. Great work ethic and social responsibility. 4. Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda wo…

> Do not have world conquering ambitions - which kinda works against them. Works against them towards what? Not wanting to conquer the world is legitimate, I don't see why everyone should absolutely want to become the next Bezos.

Look at the example of Taxi apps. There are many in the European market, Germany alone has half a dozen local to the country.

Yet, while uber operated in Germany, they could get basically 100% of the customers – simply by throwing billions of VC money at the task to subsidize rides.

If competitors use such methods, there’s little you, as smaller company, can do.

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#19

Post by toomuchtodo »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #13
timewarrior wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine you build an AirBnb like solution limited to Switzerland market. AirBnb will eventually come and eat your lunch. In today's globalized world - if you are not one of the bigger players and do not have moat (govt contract, some other kind of exclusivity) - other bigger players will come after you.

Yeah plus the Y-combinators of this world won't want to throw cash at a 10-1 chance of making a few million, when they can do the same on a 100-1 chance of making a few billion.

This is a great observation: we need better accelerators to incubate startups that are more realistic and not willing to salt the earth to win at all costs [1].

[1] I'm not referring to YC specifically, but investors and incubators who are comfortable with Uber-esq behavior.

Re: Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

#20

Post by timewarrior »

yequalsx wrote: post #16
timewarrior wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine you build an AirBnb like solution limited to Switzerland market. AirBnb will eventually come and eat your lunch. In today's globalized world - if you are not one of the bigger players and do not have moat (govt contract, some other kind of exclusivity) - other bigger players will come after you.

This seems a bit simplistic. I mean, it's not the case that all markets are dominated by huge mega corps. There are thriving businesses that are not on the scale of Google, AirBnB, Microsoft, etc. If a startup in Switzerland gets traction and it's a space that can scale globally then it seems like it naturally will scale. I doubt anyone would not want to grow if it can.

I agree. But my point was that there was a natural resistance to scaling to global levels. Which is detrimental if you are in a market which has a potential to be dominated by a global mega corp.
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