Few foss projects and authors that started in this god forsaken country, Finland: Linux - Linus Torvalds. Finn Ssh - Tatu Ylönen. Finn IRC - Jarkko Oikarinen. Finn. Dovecot - Timo Sirainen. Finn. Robot Framework - Pekka Klarck. Finn. And maybe not fortune100 or even 500 companies but companies like Nokia, F-secure, Futuremark have had their global impact. And Yeah. These are old tech already but saying that no innova…
And this was a reply to climate_realist but somehow the mobile client made my reply a top level comment to OP.
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…
> 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 hurdles too. In my experience, Europe is happy to skip out on the next Google if it means only the local get to play and win.
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 is also why you really don't see any actual innovation come out of Europe. ...as opposed to I suppose the amazing 'innovations' coming out of the US, such as shiny overpriced phones with overpriced proprietary cables, a taxi service with an app, some media-streaming services grown large based on their media content rather than innovation per se, and a plethora of disguised surveillance programmes? Wow thanks Ame…
Can you name a single thing that you would consider innovative from Europe? I'm serious, I just can't think of anything. These are good people for making a slightly better Mercedes than last year's model, but they won't be cooking up the next iPhone anytime soon. The system there does not reward risk takers, the smart move is incremental updates to well established existing products.
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…
I am also an American who lived in Finland, Austria, and Denmark for, cumulatively, over 5 years. I now own and run a small but successful bootstrapped American SaaS. What bothered me is that in all the above countries, they try to encourage entrepreneurship through rigged government programs. These programs offer grants and other benefits to 'the right kind of startups' - usually ones that are fashionable because th…
Your experiences match mine exactly. There's a reason why the country doesn't have any anti-corruption agencies. Finland is a great country to be lower middle class in, but if you have a bit of ambition or talent, you'll probably find the environment quite demotivational.
> 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…
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…
You need permanent residence permit, that's all. The need for a permit is not dependent on nationality but instead your place of residence.
> if someone teaches you a word or a name, you can simply hear how it's spelled. Is it like Spanish where you can also know how a word is pronounced by how it's written?
Even better, because Spanish has a few letters that change pronunciation depending on context, eg the g in guerra vs Girona.
doesn't depend on any "context" in that example. Both written and spoken follow strict rules.
> 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…
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…
Not only this, but all of the taxes and regulations will only impede your growing business.
Yes, you might be able take a risk because your healthcare is covered in the beginning..but once you want to grow to an actual thriving company, it becomes very difficult.
This is why almost all of the moderately large companies in places like Finland, Denmark, or Sweden are incorporated elsewhere.