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

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

#31

Post by timewarrior » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:12 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #19

quickthrower2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not all global mega corps need to salt the earth. To some extent disruption will have side effects. Some like Uber are deliberately evil and others like Apple, Salesforce etc might not.

My original point was that people were attempting ideas which were in the realm of potential global mega corps. If you don't grow to be one, you get eaten up!

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

#32

Post by _nalply » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:12 PM UTC

electricslpnsld wrote: post #24

romanovcode wrote: post #5

Hey, but at least you get paid more in U.S., right?

Zurich pay can eclipse Valley pay. I have friends who went to ETH for grad school and were getting close to 100k CHF a year. This is grad school -- the pay goes up from there.

This is true. I know someone who works as a dev for CHF 150k+ in Bern, and Zurich has even higher levels of salary.

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

#33

Post by rconti » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:14 PM UTC

electricslpnsld wrote: post #24

romanovcode wrote: post #5

Hey, but at least you get paid more in U.S., right?

Zurich pay can eclipse Valley pay. I have friends who went to ETH for grad school and were getting close to 100k CHF a year. This is grad school -- the pay goes up from there.

Getting paid while in grad school? Or you're saying the pay goes up as you go from graduate degree to Ph.D?

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

#34

Post by mathgladiator » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:14 PM UTC

timewarrior wrote: post #26

quickthrower2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

I used to be in SF and in South Bay. Recently moved to Seattle , closely associated to the India and Swiss tech ecosystem. In my experience further away you are from SF, less cutting edge you are. In my experience even South Bay is 6 months behind SF. SF is a big melting pot, where a huge amount of talent are trying out new things and they are open to sharing their experiences - be it about latest technologies or lat…

There is also a lot of hot air generated by SF that may be advantageous to ignore.

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

#35

Post by timewarrior » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:15 PM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #18

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.

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.

Not just that. This happened when a Uber like model doesn't have any inherent global market place advantages. Most users in a city take a cab in their own city most of the time.

If even having this in their favor, small players are finding it difficult to survive - imagine if a bigger player comes in a space where there is a play for global level market place.

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

#36

Post by barrkel » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:16 PM UTC

romanovcode wrote: post #5

Hey, but at least you get paid more in U.S., right?

Zurich, along with London, has the highest salaries for development in Europe. You may need to work in a finance-related position, but you can make fairly big bucks.

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

#37

Post by timewarrior » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:17 PM UTC

mathgladiator wrote: post #34

timewarrior wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be in SF and in South Bay. Recently moved to Seattle , closely associated to the India and Swiss tech ecosystem. In my experience further away you are from SF, less cutting edge you are. In my experience even South Bay is 6 months behind SF. SF is a big melting pot, where a huge amount of talent are trying out new things and they are open to sharing their experiences - be it about latest technologies or lat…

There is also a lot of hot air generated by SF that may be advantageous to ignore.

Maybe choosing own network and use of own time wisely would help. Filter might be better vs ignore.

If would rather be in a position where I can get potentially useful and useless information so that I can filter vs not having much information.

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

#38

Post by OxO4 » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:19 PM UTC

msd81257 wrote: post #4

Hey all! Original author here. Seems like the server might be down. Bumping @jotaen's comment on the cached link: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0W2gpfw... Thanks @jotaen!!! Really appreciate it.

Minor comment: Stanford is $16,329 _per quarter_, not semester.

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

#39

Post by dwc » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:19 PM UTC

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…

> We are Swiss, we don't conquer the world.

I am curious what such Swiss people think of Nestlé, then. Or other companies and industries where Switzerland has a prominent global reputation?

I would just chalk it up to personal preferences and motivations, but the statement as written suggests it's a Swiss thing in general.

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

#40

Post by ZenoArrow » Tue, Jan 23, 2018, 10:20 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #19

quickthrower2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> "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]."

We already have that. They're called banks.