> Good luck with that. Europe doesn't provide the environment (neither culturally nor financially) needed for these types of companies to arise. I think a larg

> Good luck with that. Europe doesn't provide the environment (neither culturally nor financially) needed for these types of companies to arise. I think a large part of the success of US tech companies is the large size of the domestic market[1], which means startups can reach new customers much more easily to who speak the same language, use the same currency and so on. For example, if you want to do business in let's say the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, you have to deal with the British pound, the Euro, the Swedish Krona, the Danish Krone and the Norwegian Krone, and have staff who can speak English, German, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. Not to mention the different laws and customs in each country. There are less exit opportunities partially because (for example) a German company flush with cash is less likely to be aware of some Swedish company that is growing like a rocket and would make a good acquisition target (made up example). Whereas in the US, many professionals are likely reading the same news and tech sources, will speak the same language as the company they are looking at acquiring and use the same currency. Not to mention if a startup captures 1% of the market in Sweden or wherever, it's a much smaller userbase than 1% of the US market. [1] Point number 8 in PG's excellent essay on the topic: http://paulgraham.com/america.html http://paulgraham.com/america.html (I would argue that points 8 and 9 are most relevant.)