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Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

pandodaily.com

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Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#71

Post by emilsundberg »

_delirium wrote: post #57
flexie wrote: post #22

I think the article forgets one reason why Scandinavian countries do well in IT start ups: Allmost all Scandinavians speak English quite well. Given that most new technology and research is communicated in English, a decent level of English is necessary to adapt new technology. This gives Scandinavians and Dutch entrepreneurs an edge compared to most other European entrepreneurs, except obviously the Irish and Britis…

A related factor is that it's very common for even the first iteration of a product to be in English, which means it can start to get international appeal. This is possible partly because even the domestic market is fairly open to English-language products/services, so you don't need to make something in Swedish in order to sell it to Swedish people.

It depends on your target audience. We did our app in english and it didn't catch on in Sweden before we translated it to Swedish.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#72

Post by _delirium »

progn wrote: post #65
_of wrote: post #32

Some downsides with Stockholm: (1) It is difficult to make friends in Stockholm, because Swedish people are generally very reserved; (2) It is very dark and cold most of the year; and (3) Summer is short.

It sounds just like Seattle, then: perfection.

Like Seattle but colder and darker. Example: Seattle in mid-December is typically mid-40s F with sunset around 4:15pm, while Stockholm is typically mid-30s F with sunset around 2:45pm. Also, more snow, but actually slightly less cloudy.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#73

Post by mindjiver »

progn wrote: post #66
henrik_w wrote: post #13

Yay Stockholm! Another Stockholm start-up that looks interesting is Gavagai http://gavagai.se/

Are Swedish startups (or EU startups in general) interested in talented American programmers?

Yes, I would say so. The software developer pool in Stockholm is running really dry. So the market is really hot and it has been this way for a few years now.

Here at $MEGA_CORP we did some recruiting recently and we hired from all over Europe. One good(?) thing is that the political situation in Russia is quite crappy at the moment, so there it is possible to recruit top talent from there.

I guess hiring from the across the pond is slightly harder. But if you pass the normal skype/phone/online interviews and you are good it shouldn't be a huge problem to fly you over for an onsite interview.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#74

Post by dschiptsov »

flexie wrote: post #22

I think the article forgets one reason why Scandinavian countries do well in IT start ups: Allmost all Scandinavians speak English quite well. Given that most new technology and research is communicated in English, a decent level of English is necessary to adapt new technology. This gives Scandinavians and Dutch entrepreneurs an edge compared to most other European entrepreneurs, except obviously the Irish and Britis…

Moreover, trying to study CS in a language other than English leads to lots of misinterpretations and misunderstandings.

English, fluent reading at least, is absolutely must have for a CS person.

There is a huge difference between, say, Indian guys being taught in English and Russian being taught in Russian.)

And, of course, never read any serious books, like TAOCP or SCIP in translation.) Master your English first and then enjoy non-distorted flow of author's thoughts in his own wording.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#75

Post by dschiptsov »

mbesto wrote: post #11

I love Stockholm. It's an awesome city and despite the high taxes, it's very progressive in terms of trends. In other words, there are many early adopters there, which is something that is very unique to SV. Also, much of Swedish design is built on simplicity. You can see this everywhere from web design, to store design and of course furniture. The only downside, as others have pointed out, is that its extremely expe…

The trick is that most of population is in rural area..)

btw, anyone form Dalarna are reading HN?)

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#76

Post by mongol »

beagle3 wrote: post #60
luuse wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the state tax isn't as i said it, bjourne is correct about that part. I see that extra tax as money that if not for the tax would be part of my salary (at least some of it) because it's based on how much I earn, not how much I work or when I work. Thus making it of 100% of my salary, not 131%. I never said it's bad. It's OK. I'd just rather pay for something great/world class than having someone else take some o…

Were you ever an employer? If your salary is 10,000SEK/month (to make numbers simple), then you cost your employer 13,100SEK/month. You pay 3,000 SEK in taxes, so your take home is 7,000/13,1000 = ~55%, and the tax rate is 45%. If the employer didn't have to pay those 31% to the government, he would have paid them to you, and you would have been taxed on them. It doesn't matter how the line items are listed from the…

Someone here asked what you get for the Swedish taxes. This is the post to tie in to to describe how Swedish welfare is funded.

What is called "employment tax" in the thread above, partly is a kind of insurance premium. For example, of the close to 32% that are added on top of the "salary you see", 11% goes to pension, 5% pays mandatory sickness insurance, 2,6% pays for maternity / paternity leave privileges. That gives you kind of sense "what you get for your taxes in Sweden".

The 30% that everyone pays of their salary goes for services in their local municipality: schools, child care, care for the elderly, hospitals, roads, local infrastructure such as water, drains etc,, and also subsidies for commuter traffic.

The approx 20 % that are added on top for some, together with the 25% sales tax is taken by the government, and goes into the national budget.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#77

Post by mongol »

unwind wrote: post #24
Peer wrote: post #3

The article missed Tobii, which this year got a $20 million investment by Intel, and has raised over $50 million in total. They're making a very cool eye tracking product that you (among other use cases) can use to control a computer with your eyes.

But Tobii has been around since 2001, and has 340 employees (both facts from Wikipedia). That's hardly a "startup".

Skype is from 2003. The article mentions Skype, Tobii is about as old.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#78

Post by mongol »

_of wrote: post #32

Some downsides with Stockholm: (1) It is difficult to make friends in Stockholm, because Swedish people are generally very reserved; (2) It is very dark and cold most of the year; and (3) Summer is short.

The darkness and the lightness evens out though.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#79

Post by winter_blue »

beagle3 wrote: post #19
mbesto wrote: post #11

I love Stockholm. It's an awesome city and despite the high taxes, it's very progressive in terms of trends. In other words, there are many early adopters there, which is something that is very unique to SV. Also, much of Swedish design is built on simplicity. You can see this everywhere from web design, to store design and of course furniture. The only downside, as others have pointed out, is that its extremely expe…

How high are the taxes in Sweden? Highest bracket in Tel-Aviv is, as far as I know, ~60% (50% income tax + 10% health/social taxes) + 17% VAT (=~sales tax equivalent, essentially applicable to individuals but less so to companies) Highest bracket in NYC as of 2013 (unless the "fiscal cliff" is averted) is a few % short of 60% (40% federal, 13% state, 2% fica, 2% social security, and a few more). If the fiscal cliff i…

The U.A.E. is a country where you have zero, yep zero taxes. Dubai is a pretty great city to live in, and it's not that expensive. You could live well easily on $1000/month. The only downside to U.A.E. is that the tech scene is barely starting up. So you'd have to find talent abroad. On the bright side, it's fairly easy to get visas both to bring people over and to start your own company.

Re: Why tiny Stockholm has the most stunning startup ecosystem since Tel Aviv

#80

Post by winter_blue »

winter_blue wrote: post #79
beagle3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How high are the taxes in Sweden? Highest bracket in Tel-Aviv is, as far as I know, ~60% (50% income tax + 10% health/social taxes) + 17% VAT (=~sales tax equivalent, essentially applicable to individuals but less so to companies) Highest bracket in NYC as of 2013 (unless the "fiscal cliff" is averted) is a few % short of 60% (40% federal, 13% state, 2% fica, 2% social security, and a few more). If the fiscal cliff i…

The U.A.E. is a country where you have zero , yep zero taxes. Dubai is a pretty great city to live in, and it's not that expensive. You could live well easily on $1000/month. The only downside to U.A.E. is that the tech scene is barely starting up. So you'd have to find talent abroad. On the bright side, it's fairly easy to get visas both to bring people over and to start your own company.

As a pointer: if you're thinking of doing a startup in Dubai, it's best to open a company in one of the two techno parks there: Dubai Silicon Oasis & Dubai Internet City.

The minimum investment to register a company (FZ LLC) in one of these technoparks is about $12500 (AED 50'000) which you could then pay yourself as salary over the months.

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