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As a person from northern Europe, I think this is all about envy: "I don't like you because you have success, so I have to impede you". The European politici
by silvestrov 11y ago
As a person from northern Europe, I think this is all about envy: "I don't like you because you have success, so I have to impede you".
The European politicians hate that all the major new internet companies are US based, but they have absolutely no idea about how to foster a European Sillicon Valley that can compete and they have no interest in learning how.
Danish politicians thought they could make a new mini-SV by building a few expensive office buildings in a location with really bad transportation. No politicians here think it's important to listen to the IT sector, instead they just tell us (literally!) to stop wearing white sports socks so women will like us better.
When a rich person in SV talks about all the new startups he has invested in, he will be admired and cheered. One of the major show-stoppers in Denmark is that such a person will be thought of as a cheesy show-off, and therefore will shunned and loose social status. So it becomes impossible to build the network needed for startup investments as such networks often live on "happenstance meetings".
Nobody here realizes how important easy access to money is for startups and to have investors that like to take wild chances. Google would never have been able to succeed in Europe because they would never have been able to get the investment money needed to start up.
We have the same high housing prices as SV and almost no investment money. Add the lack of any IT center and that every country tries to do their own rather than having one common SV for all of EU. It's like if USA tried to build a SV in every single state, including Utah! The marmalade is spread too thin.
- ionised 11y ago> As a person from northern Europe, I think this is all about envy: "I don't like you because you have success, so I have to impede you". As a person also from Europe I wish people would stop saying this, because it doesn't do justice to the issue that many of us actually have with these specific companies. All it does is divert from the real issues. It's nothing to do with envy (for me at least, and many others) and everything to do with the way these companies conduct themselves and the outright lack of respect they demonstrate towards the public and the laws of the countries in which they operate. They need reigning in.
- pkaye 11y agoCan you give specific examples of what these companies do that needs reigning in? I'm excluding the "sharing economy" companies (uber, airbnb, etc) which are a known problem everywhere.
- pdkl95 11y agoYou have to ask? The bad behavior of Facebook, Apple, Google, etc has been a regular topic of discussion for years. If you truly want specific examples, I suggest you start with Aral Balkan's talk[1] which covers several of the larger problems that needs reigning in. [1] https://projectbullrun.org/surveillance/2015/video-2015.html#balkan https://projectbullrun.org/surveillance/2015/video-2015.html...
- chrismcb 11y agoWhat has tesla done that needs reigning in?
- gozo 11y agoI don't know what this idea of that you have to compete fairly with Silicon Valley comes from. The US and SV success comes from looking out for their own interests and doing what they are good at. That includes cultural influence, agressive business practices, trade agreements etc. There are many examples of startup success in the Nordic countries and we have relativly good conditions for starting companies. Usually ending up in the top ten in business and lifestyle indexes. The things is, you can always sit and wait for things to be to your liking or you can do like SV and look out for your interest and do what you're good at. While outliers, Elon Musk didn't sit around complaining about the state of the US car industry and Steve Jobs didn't do the same about US telecom companies. Well, they probably did, but more importantly did also did something. Something that wasn't what whatever Europe and Asia was doing.
- silvestrov 11y agoI have said nowhere that this was about being fair. > top ten in business and lifestyle indexes Those indexes often ignore things that matters the most. It doesn't matter that it's very easy to start a company in Denmark when I can't get the needed venture capital. Try name some EU internet based companies which are well known in USA and has huge revenue. Which internet based EU company does an American citizen often buy items from?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]