31–40 of 143 posts
Good luck with that, Italy and Italians are one of the most bureaucracy-obsessed country on the planet. You can think you own country has bureaucracy issues? Go check Italy, and it will be for sure worse. I mean, in 2022 AFAIK and still not every salaried person can have a default pre-compiled tax draft that they can just sign on the Internet and get approved. You have to go and compile it one from scratch (I think t…
From my experience I can tell that most people here don't want to waste time in a startup with its high risk factor, and it's even more worrying if you come from a college environment where you expect that _Let's do this, I don't care_ kind of attitude. The majority of new grads prefer a secure (and most of the time underpaid) position to pay the bills at the end of the month. It's saddening to see but a lot of my friends, super smart ones included, just opt for low level companies that will never make them grow and will give them the minimum amount of money to make a living (that's what they tell me) while in pretty much the rest of UE they will pay 3x that amount.
I think the mentality in Italy is totally different, I know only one person that would have jumped in the startup world at the time and quickly got discouraged because he didn't know how to get funded (probably not the first thing I would consider if I think I have a great idea). The rest of my colleagues wouldn't even want to listen to startup ideas.
Also, I think we Italians don't have the market for new tech related startup, our population is very old and they don't really care about new stuff/services coming out as you would expect, launching in the US would be a totally different story.
It's a multi variable problem, the lack of ideas is just the tip of the iceberg. It's not that there is a startup creation problem, it's that the few people that want to try out the startup world are smart enough to do it elsewhere where higher chances of success lie.
And don't get me started on the bureaucracy part, I'm not well informed on that because I'm pretty sure it would just waste my time.
As Italian, when I read something involving Agnellis willing to do something for Italy, I am a bit scared about taxpayers money, like Fiat has always got tax discounts and subsidies and as a thank you has closed factories, and fired people, can we just keep the people related to Agnellis in the Silicon Valley?
Off topic! I just moved to Italy, living in Torino now. How's the startup ecosystem in Italy? I've seen some interesting Blockchain-related groups at the Politecnico, but not much after that.
Well the main issue in italy is not lack of funding or lack of talent but rather the amount of taxation companies had to go through and the uncertainty behind a big and complex legal system which makes an average of 8 years for civil processing . these two things alone and the fact there are better places in europe to make a startup (hint: netherlands, germany, france, czech republic, romania, poland) makes me wonder…
As Italian, when I read something involving Agnellis willing to do something for Italy, I am a bit scared about taxpayers money, like Fiat has always got tax discounts and subsidies and as a thank you has closed factories, and fired people, can we just keep the people related to Agnellis in the Silicon Valley?
Off topic! I just moved to Italy, living in Torino now. How's the startup ecosystem in Italy? I've seen some interesting Blockchain-related groups at the Politecnico, but not much after that.
If I did another startup in Europe, I would incorporate in Delaware and raise US money from the get go. It's cool to see the YC terms borrowed directly, and hopefully that would be a shot across the bows of European investors. But to really give European founders leverage they need access to US valuations and terms. I think semi-philanthropic incubators like these could really help by guiding founders to form US enti…
From someone who hasn't interacted with the startup world much yet: what are some problems companies in Europe would have to deal with? What liberties are exclusive to the US? I'd imagine lots of complications of running a US-based company within Europe. I can't imagine moving to the US, and I'm sure that lots of smart people in the EU are in the same camp. At the same time, I'd be very interested in providing high v…
1. Market
US: a rather unified single English-speaking market of 300 million people.
EU: 27 different markets in the EU + half a dozen markets in countries freely associated with the EU (e.g. Norway and Switzerland) in different languages, cultures and expectations
2. Money
US: unlimited unchecked runaway money. All the "unicorns" we keep hearing about can easily lose hundreds of millions and even billions dollars a year for decades, and still considered a success
EU: less money, and you are expected to actually turn a profit at some point
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I always had to do several hoops and loops through the consulate to get my 1st and then renew my passport abroad. But maybe we Italians living abroad are a snowflake and an edge case in this regard (like, I still renewed 6 months ago my ID card and it is still made of fucking paper)
Soon after that I got also my e-id, what a bloody win not being watched anymore like a neanderthaler every time I had to show my ID :D (but I lost the PIN) (But then I got the SPID and didn't need the e-ID anymore :D)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are basically describing Germany. I try to put it on first-mover disadvantage to make me feel better: Basically Germany has had a relatively functioning administration for hundreds of years (Italy even for thousands). Compared to something you would design from scratch in 2022 it looks a bit archaic. I celebrate every little step forward.
The US administrative and political system is objectively older and more archaic than the ones in almost every European country (besides Britain, Switzerland and maybe(?) Scandinavian countries). Germany was established in 1949 and Italy is a fairly new country as well.
That’s a neat myth, but you’ll constantly interface with laws and bureaucratic structures from the pre-WWI empire (e.g. most of the school system, a lot of taxes, the entire healthcare system) and sometimes even Prussian laws from before the German Union.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Soon after that I got also my e-id, what a bloody win not being watched anymore like a neanderthaler every time I had to show my ID :D (but I lost the PIN) (But then I got the SPID and didn't need the e-ID anymore :D)
For SPID I'm also trapped in some loop where I can't get it easily from abroad, and I still don't understand why.
As Italian, when I read something involving Agnellis willing to do something for Italy, I am a bit scared about taxpayers money, like Fiat has always got tax discounts and subsidies and as a thank you has closed factories, and fired people, can we just keep the people related to Agnellis in the Silicon Valley?
Off topic! I just moved to Italy, living in Torino now. How's the startup ecosystem in Italy? I've seen some interesting Blockchain-related groups at the Politecnico, but not much after that.
after covid there are less meetups, but I'm sure it's going to pick up again