101–110 of 149 posts
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Spain and France have entrepreneur visas.
So if I am rich or can convince the people that I have the right sort of idea, I can try there? I don't think that's quite the same thing as letting a person succeed on their own merit in the free market. It sounds like much the same as what I saw elsewhere in Europe - the state or a group of rich people picking winners, who more often than not don't win.
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It's OK if nobody invests. There's no god given right for the well connected middle class to play Silicon Valley for their own gratification.
So only Americans can make these sort of companies? This is a deliberate investment by their government, and yes they shouldn't be handing out to Americans who can go to SV and get their handout from their VCs.
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Just as a couple of counter examples, in case you weren't aware of them - Spain has an entrepeneurship visa, that any founder from anywhere can apply for. To apply I think you need to produce a credible business plan which shows it'll employ a certain number of citizens (I don't know if EU or Spanish specifically) eventually. - France similarly has an entrepeneurship visa for founders from anywhere. I believe one of…
I've been a US expat in Europe for almost 20 years now. I spent a lot of time in Belgium (to the point I became a citizen) and am now in Barcelona starting a FinTech. Europe lacks both a risk-taking mentality and the framework to foster real entrepreneurship. Spain was able to become much more competitive thanks to the austerity they were forced to go through post-crisis, but there are still way more bureaucratic hoo…
What it actually lacks is the silly money of SV VC.
It's got the entrepreneurs, and it's got the risk taking, it's just not got the massive VCs. So Europeans make different kinds of companies.
It costs £19 to start a business in the UK, and you can do it in 5 minutes online, so again, you're wrong on the causes. If you want to talk about crazy bureacracy just raise the subject of what state/s corp/c corp/state taxes/lawyers fees/craziness you have to do in America.
It's just that the money willing to invest in startups has all congregated in SV.
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I've been a US expat in Europe for almost 20 years now. I spent a lot of time in Belgium (to the point I became a citizen) and am now in Barcelona starting a FinTech. Europe lacks both a risk-taking mentality and the framework to foster real entrepreneurship. Spain was able to become much more competitive thanks to the austerity they were forced to go through post-crisis, but there are still way more bureaucratic hoo…
Funny how there's tons of companies in Europe still. What it actually lacks is the silly money of SV VC. It's got the entrepreneurs, and it's got the risk taking, it's just not got the massive VCs. So Europeans make different kinds of companies. It costs £19 to start a business in the UK, and you can do it in 5 minutes online, so again, you're wrong on the causes. If you want to talk about crazy bureacracy just raise…
I think people here who look at Finland and Europe in general and see these social programs to help you get ahead are rather blinded by the reality that they only exist for Europeans. As a US citizen who lived in Europe for 5 years, I can assure you that it's a 100% closed game. If you are not from the EU, you can only work for a European. It makes no difference if you have a great idea, or even your own funding, you…
It's not super hard to do in Finland actually, especially if you engage a local to help you. If you want to, you can become an e-resident and run a business in Estonia completely online. https://e-resident.gov.ee
Anybody have experience as to whether this applies to an American living in Finland? Due to FATCA and the US's draconian tax laws around ownership of foreign investment assets...I'm wondering if it wouldn't make any sense to try to start a Finnish company while holding American citizenship. Assuming it would be a tax nightmare if you start producing any real income.
Why would you want to start a Finnish company? For targeting purely Finnish clientele?
Or would Finnish companies be able to pay an on-site freelancer with an American LLC just as easily?
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It's OK if nobody invests. There's no god given right for the well connected middle class to play Silicon Valley for their own gratification.
You do realize our way of life was built from investment? Scientific revolution gave us ideas but industrialization gave us the means the realize those ideas to the benefit of all mankind. To not to invest means no creative destruction, and stagnation.
European governments are throwing money at questionable startups in the hope of replicating SV. Being opposed to that is not the same as not believing in investment as a general principle (?!).
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> If you are not from the EU, you can only work for a European. I was under the impression you can start a business as long as you have a residence permit. https://www.suomi.fi/company/starting-a-business/foreign-ent...
I have no idea about Finland, but in Europe in general, you can't open a business cleanly without a permanent residence permit, which takes usually 5+ years to get. In Denmark where I've lived, it's about 9+ years last I checked, but Danes are super xenophobic, so they don't want you there period. The link you sent describes being forced to be approved by some board they have, so it also sounds like Finland has hurdl…
If you're from outside, then you need to get a startup permit from a panel of experts (and fulfill a couple more conditions), which quite difficult I guess.
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I have no idea about Finland, but in Europe in general, you can't open a business cleanly without a permanent residence permit, which takes usually 5+ years to get. In Denmark where I've lived, it's about 9+ years last I checked, but Danes are super xenophobic, so they don't want you there period. The link you sent describes being forced to be approved by some board they have, so it also sounds like Finland has hurdl…
Estonian e-residency?
> Please be aware that e-Residency does not confer citizenship, tax residency, residence or right of entry to Estonia or to the European Union. It is not a visa or residence permit. via: https://apply.gov.ee/
So while you can start a company in Estonia, you can't legally work there or stay in the EU as far as I know.
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> but they won't be cooking up the next iPhone anytime soon. It's funny you say this since Nokia, who are a Finnish company, were the globally dominant mobile phone company for years before the iPhone due to their innovations e.g. doing camera phones well. The 3310 is one of the best selling mobile phones ever. Yes they ultimately fell from that position, but to suggest Europe is some desert of mediocrity seems fooli…
I think you misunderstand. I mean an innovation on par with the iPhone, where it basically changed how people live their lives. I'm quite sure Europeans can make a phone, the problem is they can't hit an innovative home run to save their lives.
WWW had far bigger impact that iPhone, and is european innovation.
For that matter, the entire system of democratic capitalism and relatively free markets you are espousing was invented there. Fair to argue who's done the best job of "perfecting" it, but it's European ideas originally :)
I think it is very interesting to compare entrepreneurial approaches and success rates (to the degree it's meaningful) across jurisdictions, for what it's worth. But "Europe can't do this at all" is a silly line to draw.