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Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

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Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#101

Post by bane »

donkeyd wrote: post #31

I've posted this before, but since I think it's relevant here: People seem to forget that Europe is not a country. Europe does not have a single uniting language. What happens, is that every country starts their own smaller versions and they stay mostly within that country. If they want to move to another country, there's often already a major player there, and they might not have the means to kick them out. I think…

So what, other than language, prevents somebody from starting only European-wide initiatives and reaping the benefits of the entire European market?

I don't mean to sound like I'm minimizing the language issue, but it is surmountable.

To contradict my devil's advocate question above:

My guess and observation is that the ROI on certain localizations isn't good enough to justify the work needed to make a pan-European go at something. So people pick markets where the ROI will be good: England, Germany, France....maybe Italy, and then it all stops there. Neighboring countries with high ROI demographics usually have speakers of those major languages as a second language and can get by well enough with those offerings. And nobody really targets minor dialects for big offerings.

Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#102

Post by robk »

bitL wrote: post #99

There is no Delaware. Taxes are paid regardless of whether the company hits $1M revenue or not, salary taxes are high, health/social insurance is mandatory and paid for the most part by the employer, there is a minimal salary, extensive bureaucracy and you can't sign away most of your rights if necessary for company survival. Moreover, some countries impose rules which make starting up with little to no money impossi…

Plenty of companies can incorporate offshore though. That's probably easier than in the US.

Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#103

Post by paulsutter »

Exits are the key to a successful startup ecosystem. Scarce exits at low valuations means scarce venture capital, and less enthusiasm among potential employees and even founders.

Silicon Valley is dense with natural acquirers. China has a market for exits. Other aspiring startups hubs around the world just do not. I realized this from spending time in Tokyo and Singapore. People commonly think "everything would be different if we just had a few more VCs", or some such. But really, it's not complicated. Investors want exits, and when they dream, they dream of big exits. They're not in the business to lend a helping hand, or reward the deserving.

Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#104

Post by Scarblac »

oldmanjay wrote: post #87

If you develop a culture of risk-averse comfort that you feel needs legal barriers to protect, you can't be surprised that you have a population addicted to risk-averse comfort.

You say that as it risk-averse comfort is a bad thing. I'd much rather have comfort than a unicorn that happened to start in my country.

Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#105

Post by OJFord » 

    > The third reason I hear is that the US market is bigger and therefore it’s easier to get traction.
    > Yet there are 503 million Europeans living inside the EU vs. 319 million US living in the US.
That's a really dodgy reason to discount the "third reason".

Britons are not to Belgians what New Yorkers are to Californians!

Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#108

Post by dang »

harperlee wrote: post #94
dang wrote: post #84

Since there's much evidence we're not the only ones here who cringe at this use of "unicorns", we replaced it with "successful startups" in the title. If anyone thinks of a better substitution, we can change it again. (Edit: we changed it again.)

But OP makes an interesting case for it in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10220546 : this is more specific than "successful startups". Perhaps we should coin a new term in HN. Something with cosmic rays in it might be appropriate.

Ok, we replaced "successful" with "$1B". I forgot that we'd used that in the past.

Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#109

Post by ThomPete »

vonnik wrote: post #88

Not sure that the premise of this article is even correct. I can think of a lot of successful European startups -- Minecraft, Spotify, Skype, DeepMind, the list goes on... -- and just as many startups led by Europeans that have succeeded in America (Lending Club, etc.). But if Europe has trouble supporting "unicorns", there are probably a couple reasons: 1) Gaps in the funding ladder. 2) Talent flight. 3) A preferenc…

Not sure exactly what you mean.

I both mention that there are European startups and that there are popular european startup founders in the US.

Not sure how much more clear I could make it.

Re: Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

#110

Post by s73v3r »

bitL wrote: post #99

There is no Delaware. Taxes are paid regardless of whether the company hits $1M revenue or not, salary taxes are high, health/social insurance is mandatory and paid for the most part by the employer, there is a minimal salary, extensive bureaucracy and you can't sign away most of your rights if necessary for company survival. Moreover, some countries impose rules which make starting up with little to no money impossi…

"and you can't sign away most of your rights if necessary for company survival. "

I don't believe for a second that someone signing away their rights is necessary for company survival. Maybe you as a company leader need to do a better job so you don't come to that point, and if you have, then maybe you aren't fit to run a company.

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