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That's true, a lot of European startups focus on making it in their local market and from there branch out to other countries, whereas startups in the US are fr

That's true, a lot of European startups focus on making it in their local market and from there branch out to other countries, whereas startups in the US are from their inception focussing on their large, single market with no language barriers. I think that's slowly changing. Dutch startups are told to think big nowadays and access to venture capital is also improving.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Is that really true of Silicon Valley startups? It seems that they start focusing on international sales shortly after their inception, mostly from VC pressure. Most SV startups that get big are international by default (can you think of one that wasn’t?).
- Retric 9y ago
  Uber then named UberCab was limited to just San Francisco at the start, they then did other US cities before going international over a year later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Uber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Uber Even international by default aka pure internet companies like Facebook start as English only and tend to stay that way for a long time.
  - monocasa 9y ago
    Facebook was far from international by default. They scaled very slowly, individual college by college (you needed an email address on a whitelisted .edu domain).
    - Retric 9y ago
      You could still use it in a foreign country when you went home for the summer or on a vacation etc. Edu only was all about fake exclusivity and building a network effect not inherent necessity. Uber on the other hand is only useful inside specific cities.
      - monocasa 9y ago
        No, it was about managing the growth curve. Nobody can turn on a website for the world all at once. It would be better for network building if they could.
        Retric 9y ago
        It's more than just growth curve as they could have simply limited signups to handle growth issues. Remember they where .edu only for 2 years even thought they had significant funding. Their core problem was if nobody in Australia signs up then it's boring for the first users in Australia. However, by starting with an EDU focus they could leverage word of mouth to grow a network by location. The path was starting a Harvard, then other ivy's, then other US collages, then US high-schools. That's clearly designed to leverage exclusivity.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    Sure, then how does that compare to non-SV startups in Europe? How long was Facebook English only after they got VC?
Jommi 9y ago
What are you talking about? That's the complete opposite of what happens. Nordic startups that focus too much on their local market die. The whole point of startups is to SCALE. This cannot be when the country you live in has less population than greater LA. What actually happens is that the startups here are "Global-first". They immedietly start talking about branching overseas and meeting with investors that can help them do so. It's actually the SV startups that can huddle in their bubble for years of time, before doing an easy US wide launch, that already is a huge market.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago

Is that really true of Silicon Valley startups? It seems that they start focusing on international sales shortly after their inception, mostly from VC pressure. Most SV startups that get big are international by default (can you think of one that wasn’t?).

Retric 9y ago
Uber then named UberCab was limited to just San Francisco at the start, they then did other US cities before going international over a year later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Uber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Uber Even international by default aka pure internet companies like Facebook start as English only and tend to stay that way for a long time.
- monocasa 9y ago
  Facebook was far from international by default. They scaled very slowly, individual college by college (you needed an email address on a whitelisted .edu domain).
  - Retric 9y ago
    You could still use it in a foreign country when you went home for the summer or on a vacation etc. Edu only was all about fake exclusivity and building a network effect not inherent necessity. Uber on the other hand is only useful inside specific cities.
    - monocasa 9y ago
      No, it was about managing the growth curve. Nobody can turn on a website for the world all at once. It would be better for network building if they could.
      - Retric 9y ago
        It's more than just growth curve as they could have simply limited signups to handle growth issues. Remember they where .edu only for 2 years even thought they had significant funding. Their core problem was if nobody in Australia signs up then it's boring for the first users in Australia. However, by starting with an EDU focus they could leverage word of mouth to grow a network by location. The path was starting a Harvard, then other ivy's, then other US collages, then US high-schools. That's clearly designed to leverage exclusivity.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Sure, then how does that compare to non-SV startups in Europe? How long was Facebook English only after they got VC?

Jommi 9y ago

What are you talking about? That's the complete opposite of what happens. Nordic startups that focus too much on their local market die. The whole point of startups is to SCALE. This cannot be when the country you live in has less population than greater LA. What actually happens is that the startups here are "Global-first". They immedietly start talking about branching overseas and meeting with investors that can help them do so. It's actually the SV startups that can huddle in their bubble for years of time, before doing an easy US wide launch, that already is a huge market.