6 ms·

I think the startup scene is growing quite rapidly here (Barcelona) however from my perspective it seems that a lot of founders are from abroad and it saddens m

I think the startup scene is growing quite rapidly here (Barcelona) however from my perspective it seems that a lot of founders are from abroad and it saddens me a little as there is a great wealth of talented people here that could be founders or technical founders they just don't seem to realise it!

lleims 11y ago
Culture mix is not bad at all, and I think that's one of the key factors that differentiates Barcelona from other Spanish cities like Madrid or Valencia. There're are many reasons why a large number of founders and developers end up in Barcelona, and the city in itself is a big one.
- scalesolved 11y ago
  Absolutely agree! Diversity is key for most aspects of a business but I'd still expect to see a higher % of founders from Barcelona and the region. I'm British so I'm not being nationalistic here or anything :)
narag 11y ago
they just don't seem to realise it Learned powerlessness.
- scalesolved 11y ago
  I think so and it is an incredible pity because I've met developers who are incredibly talented not have enough belief in their skills or to go it on their own. (Granted it's not for everyone).
hibikir 11y ago
Many of us just left, when we saw the difference in salaries between Spain and the alternatives, and the difficulty of marketing products for Spaniards: For instance, I'd not touch the B2B business in Spain, given the way people choose vendors. In my case, I realized that US salaries were on a different level, for a very similar cost of living when outside of NY and the Bay area, and left. Every time I go back home, people try to recruit me, and then quickly give up when I mention what I make, salary, in the American Midwest. But still, when I was still back in Spain, it seemed to me that the labor market was set up in such a way as to reward founders, and not so much their engineers. It's just that many of the successes I know started by having B2B customers before a single line of code was written. Very different from the idea of companies with venture capital that try to take off before running out of runway that you see in the US.
- ogig 11y ago
  > For instance, I'd not touch the B2B business in Spain, given the way people choose vendors. Can you elaborate a bit on that, please?
- adventured 11y ago
  > Very different from the idea of companies with venture capital that try to take off before running out of runway that you see in the US. That's how an extremely small number of businesses are started in the US. It represents such a tiny fraction of the total, as to be meaningless outside of half a dozen cities that dominate VC start-ups. 0.05% of businesses in the US get started via traditional venture capital. Most software companies in the US are bootstrapped and funded from personal savings, or from small angel investments from family & friends. That goes the same for most of the successful software companies, they're not VC darlings (venture capitalists have absolutely no interest in your typical, small to mid-size software start-up).
- 6t6t6 11y ago
  I am in the same situation as you but what keeps me from going back to Barcelona are not the salaries, but the kind of uninteresting jobs that are offered. I would go back home for the quality of life, not for the salary. But only if I could join a company that is actually creating something, instead of just using products created by others.
  - soci 11y ago
    Have you taken a look at www.jobsbcn.com ? More than 250 startups are "creating something" right now in Barcelona.
    - 6t6t6 11y ago
      I didn't know about this site. Thanks! Definitively, is a really good place to research about interesting startups. King are hiring like crazy! I am curious to know how good must be working with them.
  - scalesolved 11y ago

lleims 11y ago

Culture mix is not bad at all, and I think that's one of the key factors that differentiates Barcelona from other Spanish cities like Madrid or Valencia. There're are many reasons why a large number of founders and developers end up in Barcelona, and the city in itself is a big one.

scalesolved 11y ago
Absolutely agree! Diversity is key for most aspects of a business but I'd still expect to see a higher % of founders from Barcelona and the region. I'm British so I'm not being nationalistic here or anything :)

narag 11y ago

they just don't seem to realise it Learned powerlessness.

scalesolved 11y ago
I think so and it is an incredible pity because I've met developers who are incredibly talented not have enough belief in their skills or to go it on their own. (Granted it's not for everyone).

hibikir 11y ago

Many of us just left, when we saw the difference in salaries between Spain and the alternatives, and the difficulty of marketing products for Spaniards: For instance, I'd not touch the B2B business in Spain, given the way people choose vendors. In my case, I realized that US salaries were on a different level, for a very similar cost of living when outside of NY and the Bay area, and left. Every time I go back home, people try to recruit me, and then quickly give up when I mention what I make, salary, in the American Midwest. But still, when I was still back in Spain, it seemed to me that the labor market was set up in such a way as to reward founders, and not so much their engineers. It's just that many of the successes I know started by having B2B customers before a single line of code was written. Very different from the idea of companies with venture capital that try to take off before running out of runway that you see in the US.

ogig 11y ago
> For instance, I'd not touch the B2B business in Spain, given the way people choose vendors. Can you elaborate a bit on that, please?
adventured 11y ago
> Very different from the idea of companies with venture capital that try to take off before running out of runway that you see in the US. That's how an extremely small number of businesses are started in the US. It represents such a tiny fraction of the total, as to be meaningless outside of half a dozen cities that dominate VC start-ups. 0.05% of businesses in the US get started via traditional venture capital. Most software companies in the US are bootstrapped and funded from personal savings, or from small angel investments from family & friends. That goes the same for most of the successful software companies, they're not VC darlings (venture capitalists have absolutely no interest in your typical, small to mid-size software start-up).
6t6t6 11y ago
I am in the same situation as you but what keeps me from going back to Barcelona are not the salaries, but the kind of uninteresting jobs that are offered. I would go back home for the quality of life, not for the salary. But only if I could join a company that is actually creating something, instead of just using products created by others.
- soci 11y ago
  Have you taken a look at www.jobsbcn.com ? More than 250 startups are "creating something" right now in Barcelona.
  - 6t6t6 11y ago
    I didn't know about this site. Thanks! Definitively, is a really good place to research about interesting startups. King are hiring like crazy! I am curious to know how good must be working with them.
- scalesolved 11y ago