I'm Finnish (the lang is nowhere near English) and I've begun coding in my early 20s and I'm a technical co-founder (who actually knows his stuff). I don't thin

I'm Finnish (the lang is nowhere near English) and I've begun coding in my early 20s and I'm a technical co-founder (who actually knows his stuff). I don't think language is the reason here. Good education, smart people, good safety nets and a culture of doing things well & properly are IMHO better explanations. About the culture thing: go to anywhere in Europe/World and you'll find out that the Nordic countries in general have very clean cities and all broken things like door knobs etc. are replaced faster. Design & architecture is very simple, functional and there isn't much "kitsch" to be found. I'd say this helps in startups too: you'll find people who really want to do their job well and build a solid product.